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Say after President Nicolas Maduro last month named a committee to restructure the OPEC nations oil industry Venezuela's oil sector is struggling under sanctions designed to force majeure Rose ouster as well as years of mismanagement corruption and declining cash flow nearly 50 people have been rescued following the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility and Guang Jo eastern China state media said 67 people were initially trapped when the building crumbled c.c.t.v. Said that 48 people have been rescued but no deaths have been reported video from the site showed rescue workers scrambling over piles of twisted metal and rubble taking injured people to ambulances the cause of the collapse is not known Lebanon's prime minister said Saturday the government will suspend payment of a 1200000000 dollar loan marking the crisis hit country's 1st ever default on its sovereign debt prime minister Hasan made the announcement in a televised address to the Lebanese people saying the country will seek to restructure its massive debt the $1200000000.00 euro bond matures on Monday the 6 week old government is grappling with a severe financial and economic crisis that has led to months of protest and up ended trust in the Lebanese banking system the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is down to 2 and former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders spent Saturday on the campaign trail in the Midwest A.P.'s Ben Thomas has more. There are Bernie Sanders like the make up of the crowd that showed up for his rally in Dearborn Michigan I got inspired because I talked to groups like this I look around this room and I see people coming from so many different backgrounds it's beautiful. This is what other go looks like at its best Meanwhile Joe Biden was campaigning in St Louis you know Senator Sanders likes to say you'll need a record turnout if you don't trump he's right and we're the campaign's going to do that record turnout in Michigan both hold primaries on Tuesday I'm Ben Thomas for more on these stories be sure to visit our Web site v.o.a. News dot com I'm David Berg away news. This is Encounter on v.o.a. Here's Carol Castillo. Welcome to Encounter on The Voice of America on this edition of the program fall out from the Democratic primary in South Carolina and Super Tuesday the collection of Democratic contests in 14 states that a lot approximately one 3rd of the delegates Hello again I'm Carol Castiel having won South Carolina with a large margin and 10 of the 14 Super Tuesday primaries Vice President Joe Biden made an extraordinary comeback that even the most jaded of pundits could not have predicted when we were at these microphones just a few weeks ago the former vice president had garnered 4th place in Iowa and 5th place in the New Hampshire primary it looked like self described democratic socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was going to be the front runner in a Democratic Party that he often vilifies then along came South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn the 3rd ranking Democrat in the u.s. House of Representatives the legendary African-American lawmaker forcefully endorsed Joe Biden several days before the make or break primary in his home state and rallied black voters in South Carolina and beyond to back Biden African-Americans are the backbone of the Democratic Party his endorsement citing Biden's electability and impact on what we called down ballot races for members of Congress marked a turning point in Biden's presidential bid leading to massive wins in South Carolina and across the South on Super Tuesday in the Super Tuesday contest Joe Biden won most of the Southern states and unexpectedly a number of northeastern states he triumphed in Virginia North Carolina Alabama Tennessee Oklahoma Arkansas Minnesota Massachusetts Texas and Maine Senator Bernie Sanders won his home state of Vermont as well as Colorado and Utah he is also leading in delegate rich California. Shortly after the South Carolina primary moderate Democrats Mayor Pete booted judge and Senator Amy Klobuchar announced the suspension of their campaigns and threw their weight behind Joe Biden then despite his tens of millions of dollars in advertising and a formidable campaign infrastructure former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday revealed that he had no pathway to the nomination Reportedly Mr Bloomberg will bring his formidable financial and organizational resources to bear to bolster Joe Biden and try to defeat Donald Trump and by Thursday of this week Senator Elizabeth Warren the only remaining viable Democratic candidate in a field that started with more than 20 an ounce that she too will exit the race clearing the way for a Sanders Biden showdown Well joining us to discuss the fallout from the Super Tuesday primary contests are our favorite political analysts Gianforte a director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way and both gentlemen join me here at the v.o.a. Broadcast Center in Washington welcome back to the program thank you Carol great to be here well Jim Kasler let's start with you the last time we were at these microphones you said for Joe Biden to resurrect his campaign he would have to win South Carolina and you also said that the moderate lay needed to be winnow down because that was a big disadvantage Well here we are after Super Tuesday he not only won big in South Carolina but also he did so during Super Tuesday and the moderate lane is now his because of the others who just dropped out what's your reaction it's been an extraordinary couple weeks in the Democratic primary we went from a situation where there was really no clarity whatsoever you had Bernie Sanders leading and he is a late comer to the Democratic Party is a democratic socialist he doesn't even call himself a Democrat who are the front runner Joe Biden stumbling badly and you had 4 moderates in the race competing for votes and resources and one. Of the Michael Bloomberg who's worth more money than most countries so everything was aligning poorly for Joe Biden and then suddenly everything started to align correctly form the 1st thing that happened was that was the 1st debate that Mike Bloomberg participated in it was right before the South Carolina primary he was a disaster and Elizabeth Warren frankly eviscerated I'm in this debate and suddenly a bunch of Democrats who were wondering which of these moderates should I choose all said at once across the country it's going to be Joe Biden and the 1st place was South Carolina which voted this past Saturday and he got a huge victory and then it went to Super Tuesday and he got votes that really nobody could have imagined in places that no one thought could happen he is now in command in this race it's not over Bernie Sanders can come back but Joe Biden now is really in a commanding position so I'd like to get your take John 40 a add or subtract to what Jim Kasler said I think there was also a lot of worry in the Democratic Party about the rise of Bernie Sanders a self described democratic socialist who passes the Democratic establishment not so much for the ideology he espouses but also because he would be a very bad general election candidate and almost ensure a trump victory but let me get you to weigh in on what we've just seen what I think what you say is right although these races are not all about rationality they involve many forces especially with a large field and so I think you know the couple of big moves that Joe Biden really did better South Carolina than expected we always expected him to do well with the black vote but he consolidated it in a very large way and then secondly the dropping out of people to judge and Amy Klobuchar I think even with the dynamic of the race people didn't expect that it was only a couple days after South Carolina and had they not done that you know Biden would have done better but Bernie Sanders probably would have still had the majority of delegates on Super Tuesday so today I do agree with Jim that Joe Biden is sitting in a very good position a leading position. We still have a couple of things out there other than of California our system there counts incredibly slowly that's a state that Bernie Sanders is probably why I'm here and leading the late vote may come in a little bit more for Biden but perhaps Bernie Sanders get some more delegates from there and then a week after Super Tuesday another set of states smaller set if Bernie Sanders is going to come back he's going to need to come back in places like Michigan in the Midwest and should he do that the delegate count is not so large in Joe Biden's favor but really he is the favorite today if the dynamic continues as it is today Joe Biden will continue towards the nomination back to you Jim Kasler Bernie Sanders is strong as John 40 said in California he seems to be relatively strong with young voters ironically and he evidently is doing well with the Latino community and of course we know that Biden is very strong in the African-American community with older voters with working class whites with suburban women which are critical for the coalition but what does Biden have to do to break into and try to woo some of these Sander's voters how do you see him doing with the Latino community explain to me how you see the demographics I think Joe Biden will do fine with Latino voters in the general election who do very very well Sanders is doing very well with Latino voters really for one reason he had a lot more money than any of the other candidates in the race and he has been advertising in campaigning to Latino voters in California in how Arizonans in Texas and in Nevada while Joe Biden did not have enough money to do so so Joe Biden just was resourced in California by margin of 15 to one by Bernie Sanders I think once resources even out Joe Biden will do just as well as Bernie Sanders he will target those voters he wants regulator's Yes Joe Biden clearly has some problems with the younger voters though that is not a advertising problem and I think that should Joe Biden win the nomination when it comes time to pick a vice president and he's going to have to check some boxes there on diversity in one of them places where there needs to be diversity is in terms of age. I think it will be a young nominated will pick a nominee who's a person of color and a nominee who is a woman so I think that's how he's going to try and overcome some of the places where he's got some gaps so how do you see the match up Gianforte a and some weaknesses on Biden side with respect to these communities and how Sanders is going to play going forward I mean I guess anybody who tells you you can have a lot of free stuff young people in particular you know free college and free health care that is appealing but it's not necessarily very realistic I guess what I would say is boy I do think Biden has the advantage the place that we should look at the Midwest the Midwest really has not weighed in on this campaign yet Michigan comes next week as well as Missouri and this is a place where arguably Bernie Sanders could do well he did well in against Hillary Clinton and has some appeal among white working class voters there less educated college white voters and so we'll see I mean the polls seem to have moved a little bit in favor of Joe Biden there but that's the mystery region we know that Joe Biden is going to do well in the remaining southern states which have very large African-American populations pretty sender's going to do pretty well in the West I think he'll actually do better in the northeast then he has Elizabeth Warren leaving the race will help him there the states that Joe Biden won in the Northeast were heavily because Lisbeth Warren took votes from him in Massachusetts and Maine and even in Minnesota so I think the Midwest for Bernie Sanders if he wants to come back he's got to have a strong showing there then it makes it more of a race other than that I think Joe Biden is the nominee speaking of Elizabeth Warren where do you think her voters are likely to go Jim Kasler some say well she's pretty much alive with Bernie Sanders but I don't think it's that simple she even says I'm in a 3rd line I'm neither on the moderate part of the Democratic Party but I don't necessarily describe myself as a democratic socialist Yeah I think her votes are going to split about evenly between Sanders and Biden the votes that she has already lost in the past like she was much higher in the polls and she went down those early votes mostly went to Sanders the votes that she has left some of them are with her for. Purely illogical reasons and I think some of those will drift toward Sanders others are looking for a very strong woman to top the ticket while Sanders has a gender problem you know there is a real gender gap in the Sanders vote that Biden did 12 points better than Sanders among women so you're going to see I think a lot of women voters particularly suburban women voters who were with Warren going towards Biden let me just say one more thing about the vote those who are undecided this election is a lot about what race you are where you live and how would you are so if you are one supporter who's 30 years old you'll probably go to Sanders because he's winning younger voters if you're a one supporter who lives in the suburbs you're probably going to go to Biden and if you're a person of color if you're African-American you're probably going to go to Biden tell so John 48 where do you think Elizabeth Warren's voters would go we hear about Bernie Bros so I guess that also underscores a potential gender gap for him but we'll see to the extent women will go for Biden or the younger women is Jim cast aside might vote for him I mean how do you see it well look it is too simplistic to say that all of Elizabeth Warren's 4 is going to go one place or another I think Jim probably a little too optimistic that the vote will split evenly I think Bernie Sanders will get more of that support but of course you also have Michael Bloomberg dropping out of the race and most of that support is going to go to Joe Biden and that but was a slightly bigger vote I do think in key areas again in the northeast also in Minnesota those are places a little bit more and did pretty well and Bernie Sanders would have probably won those states if she had not been in the race at that time so I think Bernie gets a little bump from Elizabeth Warren but the overall math is not so great for Bernie because of Bloomberg also dropping out and he's going to have to do well there and really some other strengths other places we'll have more in just a moment but 1st you're listening to Encounter on The Voice of America our guests are John 40 a director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center from whom you just heard and Jim Kasler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way we're discussing. Former Vice President Joe Biden's victories on Super Tuesday have changed the shape of the race this is a reminder that our encounter podcast is available on our website at v.o.a. News dot com slash encounter You may also follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook at Carol Castiel v.o.a. Here's a shout out to valued Facebook fan from Nigeria Yusuf if you want to hear your name and home country on the air please send an e-mail to encounter at v.o.a. News dot com or like us and leave a comment on our Facebook page well that try to scuttle about the Democratic race for president back to you Jim Kasler speaking of Michael Bloomberg and the fact that he has a lot of money and resources it sounds like he is going to leverage them to benefit Joe Biden do you have any reason to believe that that won't happen and how much of a difference will that make I have every reason to believe that Michael Bloomberg will spend a lot of money to help Joe Biden and to defeat Donald Trump I don't think Mike Bloomberg was as wedded to running for president as maybe he needed to be if he was going to get into this race but he does have some very passionate beliefs about climate change about education about guns he's been very involved in philanthropy in the United States and throughout the world and I know a lot of his people actually and I've talked to them on many occasions their goal really is to defeat Donald Trump and I think they're perfectly happy now to take a secondary role I'm going to get John 40 to weigh in but one follow up question to you what about Bernie Sanders we see the moderates uniting incredibly you know close sharp blow to judge now Michael Bloomberg either on the eve of a right after Super Tuesday throwing their weight and indorsements behind Biden but what about Bernie Sanders if he does come up short at the end of the day what do you think he will mobilize his people it's almost like a cult it seems to some of us they are very rigid about their support of Bernie Sanders I just was wondering how you think that part of the party can unify around a strong candidate to. To defeat Donald Trump that's really an open question and you know there's still a lot left to this primary race but the next few weeks if Bernie Sanders doesn't really have a good couple of weeks like it's over for him the map does not look great for him there's some states like Florida and Georgia that are going to give delegate halls to Biden the question is will he do what he did in 2016 which was he sort of pretended to help Hillary Clinton but really didn't do much or will he push all the chips in and really trying to help Joe Biden I am optimistic that he will be a more positive influence on this race for Democrats than he was last time for a couple of reasons one is I think he has a personal finance for Joe Biden that he did not have for Hillary Clinton they've known each other for decades Number 2 is people thought that Donald Trump could not get elected president while he did so the idea of a 2nd term is really too dangerous to think of and then 3rd is I think he'll probably extract some demands from Biden and get some things I don't know what but some things that he wants and we'll be able to claim some sort of victory back to you John 48 so that 2 part question 1st Michael Bloomberg any reason to doubt that he wouldn't mobilize his fermentable machine behind Joe Biden and what extent that will make a difference and then the question of Bernie Sanders if he doesn't succeed in getting the delegates needed for the nomination will he take back some of his criticisms or at least rally around Biden should he become the nominee and then try to rev up his base his supporters to back the candidate So 1st a tactical point Michael Bloomberg even though our campaign finance laws are a relatively loose and generous about how you can spend your money he cannot literally give his money to Joe Biden or work directly with Joe Biden now he certainly can run a campaign that favors Democrats that broadly helps the Democratic Party without working with Joe Biden directly and I expect that he will do that now will he spend as much money on that campaign as he did on his own he spent $500000000.00. Or more to a lot of American Samoa yes much less which is nearly the g.d.p. Nul g.d.p. Of American Samoa So that's a lot of money so I think he will be helpful now look there are other billionaires out there that raised a well funded system but for a candidate for a Democratic Party which is on the outs which is not the party in the White House to have someone who might be helpful financially in the time before Joe Biden can really get going raising money if he ends up being the nominee that's a helpful thing on Bernie Sanders again I think Jim's probably a little more optimistic than I am I think if this race closes up a little bit Bernie Sanders could be pretty bitter if he loses he certainly has things that he has supporters will point to about states that he did well and that didn't report quickly California ends up being this case in a different situation where Sanders might have won the day of delegates we might not have known about it for a long time California all of the consolidation behind Joe Biden which seems like the party is just looking down at kind of outsiders of Bernie Sanders I think those might factor in but if the race goes pretty quickly and he's not a candidate I think he'll be unhappy kind of mildly helpful but won't cause trouble but I don't actually see him coming in and being actively supportive of a Biden nomination more neutral if things go the way that they look like they're going to go with Biden winning I do think that the Elizabeth Warren non endorsement of Bernie Sanders is really significant in terms of whether this party is going to unify because it is a logical he she is much closer to Sanders than to Joe Biden they have the exact same health care plan for example and their tax plans are very similar She is signaling number one I don't think that Bernie Sanders is going to win and number 2 we better get behind Joe Biden and she's not ready to say I'm with Joe But I think it's a very strong signal there so that when Bernie Sanders does say well this election was rigged the person who 1st started talking about a rigged system is a little bit more and she'll say no it wasn't it was fair that's a very good point and John 40 I think another factor for many do. Kratz are the so-called down ballot races and the importance of having someone at the top of the ticket who will help to retain those seats in the House of Representatives that many Democrats one defeated Republicans and they need someone who's a moderate and somebody like Bernie Sanders many analysts say could hurt their chances I agree with you about the value of having somebody uniting the ticket of the top again I think for voters broadly being electable or broadly $1000000000.00 Trump is in their minds thinking that far down the road I think it's probably not the 1st thing on their minds but it is a good thing if the party unifies behind Joe Biden if he's the nominee he's a stronger nominee then the Bernie Sanders that is also helpful for these down ballot races but broadly speaking it's good for the congressional majorities as well well let's take a look at the g.o.p. Interim strategy going forward how do you think he's weak calculating his campaign in view of the Biden victories he looks more likely to be his opponent in the general election at least so far than Bernie Sanders someone who many say he would like to have competed against because once again Bernie Sanders is unlikely to win in a general election but how do you think he in the Republican Party are calculating what you think their strategy will be going forward so this was not a great night for Donald Trump for the Super Tuesday or for the g.o.p. They really wanted Bernie Sanders I mean Sanders would have been a terrible candidate for Democrats he definitely would have lost to Donald Trump and he'd be a disaster at the top of the ticket especially once the Trump team spent a half a $1000000000.00 educating voters on Sanders record in promises and what would happen with taxes and they don't want Joe Biden I mean that's what the whole impeachment was about it was about a plan that was hatched inside the White House to try and deny Biden the nomination by getting Ukraine to conduct some phony investigations so they see Biden as someone who can take a bunch of voters the Trump guy particularly white working class voters who are a bit disaffected with the Democratic Party these tend to be more men than. Women although there are definitely some women in these areas of the country that would flip back and Biden will be very strong in the suburbs and 2018 the midterm elections the Democrats did so well and it was really a suburban led revolt against Republicans so of course Donald Trump is the incumbent that is very good position to have he's more likely to win reelection than not at this point Biden is the strongest candidate the Democrats could have and I think we're going to see a dog fight from here on in so Biden is probably the strongest candidate on the Democrat side for President Trump in addition to that right now President Trump used to tout the stock market as if that was the best measure of the economy that's sung quite a bit then he has been accused of mishandling this coronavirus So he's got a lot of let's call them you know shortcomings and challenges how do you see the Republican Party Mr Trump going forward you know should Biden consolidate and look like a very formidable opponent in the general election well I agreed 10 days ago Don Trump was on top of the world he was at its highest level of approval rating definitely high for him the nominee looked like Bernie Sanders the economy was plowing along certainly we have now a different front runner in the Democratic race Joe Biden but we also have the corona virus which is not absolutely clear that it will hurt or help Donald Trump or whether it will be a temporary phenomenon or will be something the last so it's something that is a crisis kind of foreign policy crisis that we know that might come up but it's certainly not the kind of certainty and just sitting on a great economy that we had before I do think that the Trump White House would have liked to run against Bernie Sanders better than Joe Biden but I don't think they think of Joe Biden as a candidate that is the strongest candidate that they could have faced and while I do think he potentially appeals to some of the voters in the Midwest which again was the key swing region you look at Joe Biden the Trump campaign is talking about him as another version of Hillary Clinton now Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but is a very establishment figure and while Joe Biden has a history in some ways from. Unsling Yeah and from Delaware he also will be tagged as someone who voted for the Iraq war is pro NAFTA pro free trade is pro-immigration some things that I think Donald Trump is using against Democrats to appeal to these white working class voters the gritty centers would have been overall much weaker candidate but in some of those areas Bernie Sanders would have had some likenesses to Donald Trump So look I think it's not something that the Republican Party says oh I can't believe it's Joe Biden we can't beat him but certainly Bernie Sanders would have been an easier opponent and as we close there's no question that Joe Biden is often gaffe prone and anything can happen nonetheless a friend of mine who's from Pennsylvania my home state said that after hearing Biden after Super Tuesday said he's going to go down very well in Pennsylvania that is a state that Mr Trump 12016 which is normally a blue state but going forward the upcoming contests in Michigan State of Washington Idaho North Dakota do they favor Biden or Sanders how do you see it going forward in the next week so the next week has some states that I think are good Bernie States Washington should be a Bernie state Michigan is going to be the real fight and Michigan was the place where Bernie really ignited his candidacy against Hillary Clinton post Super Tuesday if Biden has a good showing in Michigan which is very possible the race is really going to proceed towards a finish because then you get to the week after and it's Florida and then after that there's Georgia the map really starts to tilt towards Biden So I think the last gasp for Bernie Sanders possibly could be this Michigan primary on the 10th well you get the last word John 48 but to what extent do you think some of these surrogates like Pete but a judge and Amy clovers Shar could they help Joe Biden in Michigan Well I think they're dropping out of the race was very significant at the time and that was a Porton factor for Super Tuesday in general circuits don't help you very much at all so you've got to be on your own so I'm not worried about that and I agree with Jim Michigan is the place I would watch Bernie Sanders is going to do well in some of these western states like Washington but Michigan and to some extent Missouri which I. On the ballot next week Bernie Sanders has to show strength in the Midwest if he does it's a race again because there are other Midwest states coming behind it which have significant populations but if he does not show some strength in Michigan I think we can say that the race is continuing as it is now with Joe Biden as the very likely winner and of course we will be bringing you all that news and the weeks ahead but for now that's just about all the time we have on this edition of encounter I'd like to thank my guests Gianforte He's the director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way gentlemen once again thanks for a terrific conversation thank you encounter was produced in Washington thanks to Kim Lewis for booking our guests our engineer was just in Thwaites I'm Carol Castillo join me again next week for another encounter on the Voice of America. a special edition of plugged in I'm Jim alone filling in for Greg have ancestors it was a night of high drama for the Democratic Party and a huge comeback for Joe Biden a Democratic field that began last year with more than 2 dozen contenders now appears down to only 2 Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders We begin with the latest in what remains a developing story primary votes in some states are still being counted but the biggest take away after Super Tuesday was the resurgence of Joe Biden and what is now a 2 man race between the former vice president and Senator Sanders So to help us on pack these Super Tuesday results we have a 0 a reporter standing by and 2 of the Keystone states that voted on Tuesday Elizabeth Lee joins us from the southwestern state of California where more than 400 delegates are in play and Carolyn presumably ends. Texas were 228 delegates will be divvied up among the qualifying candidates let's begin now with the always Carolyn presuming who's been covering primary voters in the Lone Star State she joins us from Fort Worth Carol and you had quite a race down there in Texas. Absolutely it was much closer than anyone thought it proved the pundits wrong and actually prove the polls wrong too and from when I spoke with the voters it's attributed to 2 things Joe Biden surge wind because of these huge win in South Carolina the Saturday before Super Tuesday and 2 because of the rally he held here in Dallas now his 1st rally was with one of his rivals former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete moody Gedge and then in the hour he showed up at another rally with another rival it was Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar shark both judge and club which are endorsed Biden So a lot of their voters went over to the Biden camp and when clubbish are introduced Biden she said this is a candidate who will put our country back together to heal and that was mirrored by a lot of the voters that I talked to they said that they want to get back to politics as usual they don't really want to see reform they want someone with a track record and hence they were voting for Joe Biden but you know Jim Biden has some issues that he has to deal with and one is the younger vote at that at that rally with Khloe Bashar I spoke with 3 people at the front of the line and actually the line of wrapped around a Dallas ballroom several times so there were a lot of people coming out to see Biden and to hear Biden but the 3 at the top of the lying were college freshman and I said to them well wait a 2nd where is everybody else where is everybody from your dorm floor where is that all your buddies and they said well they're voting for sander. And I said why are you and they said well you know we know that not everything is free healthcare for all and free college we know that there has to be a catch there and so they said we face reality and that's why we're going with Biden on the other hand Biden does have an issue too he's not getting the African-American vote here in Texas I spoke with a couple African-American voters yesterday at a polling location one man rode the bus and he said he didn't care how long he waited he was going to put in his boat his vote for Biden he said because President Obama chose Biden and he said that was a man who had good judgment and that's why I'm voting for Biden who can win and we're all not around you're on the ground in Iraq and Carolyn you were on the ground in the final days there could you actually feel it shifting from Bernie Sanders to Biden. Absolutely because it was those endorsements that were key the people that had previously supported former South Bend their people to judge and Amy club which are the senator from Minnesota they were switching over to the Biden camp and you could feel the excitement in the room to during the rallies the night before Super Tuesday what were Democrats looking the people you talk to what are they looking for in a candidate to take on President Trump in November what was their number one priority. That's it though you said it they want somebody who can beat President Trump That's their number one mission I spoke to somebody who wouldn't tell me who you voted for but he said to me no socialist is ever going to be beat anyone in this country and that being of course a reverent reference to self described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders So just briefly Carolyn around what is it in fact a close race but this latest surged. From Biden starting in South Carolina last Saturday really seem to have turned the tide in Texas a key state in terms of the Democratic primary. Absolutely we are definitely a key state here with 228 delegates up for grabs everyone who wanted to crisscross Texas everyone wanted to get there about here did you get it and you did it and you know Texas came out in full force right did you get a sense they did not occur to turnout here. Did you get a sense that Democratic voters were engaged and turned out in strong numbers in this primary. Absolutely I didn't have anyone that I talked to say to me I'm going to decide in the voting booth or I decided in the voting that they are in you walk into the polling place they are going to vote for it they were and they had already made up their minds and it didn't come out in full force you know 4 years ago in 2016 for the Democratic primary here in Texas one and a half 1000000 people voted we had more than 2000000 vote on Super Tuesday this year all right Carolyn presumably in 4 worth saying so much for that ballots are still being counted in California which is by far the largest of the 14 Super Tuesday states $415.00 delegates will be awarded proportionally to candidates to reach the required threshold of at least 15 percent of the votes it appears right now that Sanders is leading in California we're joined by via ways Elizabeth ladies been covering that primary race she's with us from our bureau in Los Angeles Elizabeth Bernie Sanders had a big night in California so I guess that's the sort of silver lining in an otherwise big night for Joe Biden. That's right Bernie Sanders has been the front runner in California and continues to be popular here and there are many reason why that implicates 1st of all very familiar with California. And the people who live here know him very well he campaigned here in 2016 very popular then and from that experience he's really is a movement here in California and this time his strategy is also just really tackling the grassroots he has a lot of volunteers who knocked on doors for him phone bank for him they are passionate about Bernie Sanders and they say that he is the movement those who support him are largely millennial voters young voters and many Latino voters really favor Bernie Sanders and they say they like his message of universal health care college free college tuition and they also fail that they feel that the establishment of the traditional Democratic Party failed them and they're holding the party accountable for Donald Trump being in the White House so they say they want to change they want something different and they feel that Bernie Sanders is that answer now as we heard from Carolyn in Texas Elizabeth we had a late surge for Biden in Texas did you sense any sort of last minute sort of support in California for Joe Biden. In those that I spoke to at the polls yesterday all worried mostly Sanders supporters in a few Warren supporters now California is known to be a more progressive state perhaps more progressive than the middle of the country or the south of the country so mainly sander supporters not so much Biden but again there are some moderates in California and I spoke to a couple who say they like Sanders ideas but they think it's too Pine this guy they don't think it's realistic and for those people they are undecided but they could be swayed towards vote. For a more moderate candidate like you're buying Yeah I was going to ask you about that in 2016 Democrats had trouble patching up the differences in their party and the Sanders voters you talk to would they be willing to support the nominee it's Joe Biden down the line. At the end of the day what they all have in common all the Democrat here including Sanders supporters is that they want somebody other than in the White House though they thought yet if Biden becomes the nominee for the Democratic Party they will vote for him or whoever becomes the nominee because they don't like the current system they think it's broken and they believe the Democrats will be the answer to fixing that broken system and finally did you did you get a sense of how energized Democratic voters were Amine if California is unusual a lot of people do vote early by mail and you're going to be counting those votes for the next several days but do you sense the Democratic voters are energized not only for the primary but for the upcoming general election in November. Yet they are definitely energized people were waiting in line for 2 to 4 hours yesterday to cast their vote people are excited and there are people because as you mentioned who voted early because the polls have been the voting centers have been open for more than a week and some even 24 hours a day and those who voted for any close our people to judge their vote than if they voted before super to well before the 2 dropped out suspended their race well it didn't really count so they are really looking forward to the general election when they can again make their vote count they are excited I spoke to some college students and they finally feel like perhaps their vote will count. Will matter and also minority in both one of the. Main thing Captain thanked me more minority about this time than 4 years ago but there is definitely energy here in California all right the always Elizabeth Lee in Los Angeles thanks very much. Since President Trump is running virtually unopposed for a 2nd term Super Tuesday is a foregone conclusion for the Republican Party but for Democratic candidates who want to beat him in November Super Tuesday was a game changer it's the single largest primary voting day 14 states representing 40 percent of the u.s. Population deciding which candidate moves closer to the winning number required to receive the nomination to explain the Super Tuesday math and the role delegates have in choosing a presidential nominee Here's plugins mil or Sega. Most Super Tuesday voters marked a ballot for specific presidential candidates but those votes actually went to a slate of delegates who had pledged to vote for that candidate at the Democratic Party's nominating convention in the summer the delegates are allocated to each state in proportion to its population on Super Tuesday more than one 3rd of Democratic convention delegates were at stake ranging from $415.00 delegates in California there's 16 in Vermont now candidates win pledged delegates in proportion to the votes they get from each state but they must reach a 15 percent threshold in order to win a portion of those delegates with $3979.00 total delegates and Democratic convention a candidate needs a majority 1991 to win the party's nomination if no one reaches that magic number on the convention's 1st ballot unpledged delegates a group of 771 party leaders called superdelegates will step in and those superdelegates who can endorse any candidate of their choice have the power to sway the nomination potentially subverting the candidate with the most support which could divide Democrats in effect the general election in November for plugged in I mean are saying it. Democrats have been building toward Super Tuesday since July of 2017 when a little known congressman from Maryland John Delaney 1st announced his intention to run for president but that was just a start old told a total of $28.00 Democrats would jostle for attention votes and campaign contributions but here we are just a day after Super Tuesday only 4 candidates remain in what is now essentially a 2 man race plugged in Steve redish takes a look at where the remaining candidates stand. Trying very hard we are very much alive. All but written off by many political pundits Joe Biden won 10 of the 14 Super Tuesday primaries ensuring the race for Democratic presidential nomination will not be a run away thank you all very much let's go on to the White House thank you Bernie Sanders won for Super Tuesday states but was able to keep its status as a front runner for the nomination it is now a 2 man race Biden in Sanders personified the battle between the liberal versus moderate split within the Democratic Party the u.s. Senator from Vermont is a self described democratic socialist if elected he promises significant tax hikes on wealthy Americans reshaping the u.s. Health care system to eliminate private health insurance and a cut u.s. Defense spending bringing u.s. Troops home from post $911.00 deployments Biden is considered a centrist within the Democratic Party he too would raise taxes on the rich but not to Sanders level on health care Biden wants to build on the existing Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration and keep private insurance Biden also favors for defense spending Biden has run for president before. In the 1980 s. And 2008 and was Barack Obama's vice president this is the 2nd try for Sanders to win the presidential nomination losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016 in a bitter campaign to other Democrats Lizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg competed in the Super Tuesday primaries but trailed Biden and Sanders in the delegate count another Democrat Tulsa Gabbert is also running but far back in the pack Steve redish v.o.a. News. So how much has the political landscape changed as the Democratic race turned into a war between the progressive versus the establishment wing of the party and where does the party go from here well to help us answer these questions and more we're joined by 2 experts with keen insights on the state of American politics Penny Lee is a Democratic strategist who served dad served as a political advisor to former u.s. Senator Harry Reid She's the former executive director for the Democratic Governors Association and David Barker a professor of Government at American University here in Washington and director of the University Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies he's also an expert in political psychology and voting behavior Well thank you both very much for being here I want to get some quick takes on where we are the day after Super Tuesday Penny let me start with you it would I would say that what we saw last night was momentum slash Joe my momentum is there kind of out the money and out out be them a movement and you saw just an unbelievable turnaround in the last 72 hours or $24.00 from South Carolina moving on in into Super Tuesday and he saw a real reverse I mean it was stunning Joe Biden winning in places like Virginia without any infrastructure whatsoever I mean not in office hadn't spent a dime on Monday he saw a record crowds though turnout and saw them turn out for Joe Biden So you saw a real it is amazing to see if Isaac shut. And you the voter present that preference wasn't just a very short time David your take That's right so while in the last 72 hours or so this dramatic shift in Biden's favor it's also kind of interest saying that after all these debates and all these different things that have happened over the course of the past year and a half we are essentially where we thought we would be if you would have asked somebody 3 years ago who will be vying for the nomination on the Democratic side they would have said probably Biden versus Sanders and Biden would be the front runner and that's where we are and I would say at this point Biden's odds of getting the nomination are about 3 in 4 wow that's high in fact let's hear from Joe Biden he was in California last night at a victory celebration commenting after his big night. Let behind this year your campaign. We're just a few days ago in the past the pundits who declared a campaign. Issue we're. Going to go to Super Tuesday after. We have seen this dramatic turnaround in the race it's only been a few days it seems as though Biden's victory in South Carolina really changed the dimension of the race let's talk about Bernie Sanders for because this race is not over at all and David what is your take on this sander strategy now from here on out west to look similar to what he did in 26 team you know we've got an insurgent wing of the Democratic Party against him a stablish man Wing and Senator percents that insurgent wing they have a lot of enthusiasm they have a lot of money they have a lot of people and so that's what it's going to be from this point on I think there are significant reasons to suspect that he ultimately is not going to do as well as he did in 2016 for one thing. The fear and loathing of Joe Biden is less than it was of Hillary Clinton as a substantial portion of Sandor supported $26.00 team was really more anti Hillary Bennett was pro Sanders and the fear and loathing of the current incumbent president is much much greater than that man who has of the former president and so this is part of what's fueling Biden's comeback and that's going back and tenure and certainly we heard last night from Bernie Sanders at his celebration in Vermont that he's not going anywhere and he certainly had an energized crowd Let's hear a little bit from Bernie Sanders last night. You know. It's a funny thing 31 years ago today we won the mill you were raised in Burlington Vermont was born with raised against. Your want to everybody said it couldn't be done was and when we began this race for the presidency everybody's. It couldn't be done was the what's in the mind hard to tell you were the absolute competent we're going to win the Democratic nominee should be the law and we're going to defeat the most dangerous president in their history how this country was Bernie Sanders in Vermont last night. We also had some news on Wednesday about Michael Bloomberg he's ending his campaign he's endorsing Joe Biden I guess it's just keep coming in for Joe Biden at this point and look I mean what comes with Mike Bloomberg is also an incredible infrastructure behind it I have gone up to the campaign headquarters and seen all that they are been doing and are staying committed until November which is unprecedented so to have not only that personal endorsement but to then have it and complete infrastructure behind them really will I think said Joe Biden are on a true path to victory I mean David if you're a Biden fan and you can't believe the good fortune that seems to be coming his way that's right given the the tension in the party and it stems from 4 years ago with Clinton in Sanders the other any risks here about exacerbating you know the strains where it looks like everyone's consolidating 4 By think that by his surrogates need to be careful about the language that they use and the tack that they take think they're then to be careful not to start acting overconfident or or gloat or talking down to Sanders supporters and particular I think they need to make some efforts to I would actually frankly the void going negative even when Sanders is going negative on him I would try to be a unifier try to praise Bernie and try to praise the movement praise the energy and the idealism and try to to do. Either best you know there's another debate coming up on the 15th important states are going to come after that this time it's going to be a 2 person debate so you know Biden has another chance to blow it and a serious thing twist back and the opposite direction so that'll be fun to watch you know speaking of people weighing in of the Democratic race we're hearing a lot from President Trump he's got some opinions in fact he was talking about it at the White House just the other day. Well I think there's no question the establishment the Democrat establishment has tried to take it away from Bertie said before you got better by so that's the president likes to fan the flames about this a majority or are pretty slim odds of him having a reasonably significant plurality and then picking up those delegates from Bloomberg from blue to judge in the few delegates that closure have that should be enough to put him over the top without any superdelegates having to get involved and that is critical for the party not be income plea at war with itself heading a little bit but I think that work we're going to see is a nastier more personal campaign on the part of the Trump camp Trump team we're going to see a lot more supposedly corrupt Joe a lot more references to Ukraine they're going to try to turn that into Hillary's e-mails and you know for his base right for that roughly 45 percent of the country are about right at this point it will probably work right and so we can expect a pretty personal campaign in the fall well I want to thank both of you a Democratic strategist Penny Lee and political scientist David Barker 1st sorting this out it's been a big few days here in American politics and we really appreciate your gods thank you very much and that's all the time we have for today stay plugged in by liking us on Facebook at Voice of America or follow us on You Tube and on Greg his Facebook page I'm Jim alone Thanks for watching and thanks as always for being plugged in. 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Near Michael Bloomberg on stage with his rivals for the 1st time Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete booted judge entered the debate fresh off of strong performances in Iowa New Hampshire the 1st 2 states to make their selections in the nominating process contest Minnesota Senator Amy Cobra sure is looking to ride momentum from a surprise 3rd place finish in New Hampshire and among the candidates for whom the debate and Saturday's voting are a chance to breakthrough and recapture the support that made them strong contenders in earlier national polls are former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren the White House is denying reports that President Trump offered to pardon Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange if he would say Russia had nothing to do with leaking Democratic e-mails in 2016 we get more from a.p. Correspondent Mike Ross at a preliminary hearing in London Wednesday an attorney for Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange read a statement from another lawyer who says that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher went to see a songe at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in $27.00 team on instructions from President Donald Trump according to the statement from Attorney Jennifer Robinson Rohrabacher relayed that Trump was offering a pardon or some other way out if Assad said Russia had nothing to do with the leaks from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election White House Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says Trump has never spoken to Rohrabacher about a songe a full hearing for a song she is fighting extradition to the u.s. On spying charges is scheduled to begin next week I'm Mike Ross 8 people were killed on Wednesday and 2 shooting incidents in a German city near Frankfurt and special forces were chasing the gunman who fled in a car local media said the gunman had opened fire to a shisha bars and heavily armed police sealed 2 streets in the city this is the only news President Trump has tapped a staunch supporter to serve as acting director of National Intelligence e.p. . Correspondent Jackie Quinn Richard Grinnell's been serving as the u.s. Ambassador to Germany now he'll replace Joseph McGuire who was acting national intelligence director since August the move puts a loyal Trump ally in charge of the nation's 17 spy agencies there are some who are criticizing the announcement they say this sensitive a job should go to someone with deep experience in intelligence and by naming Grinnell as acting director the president is able to sidestep a confirmation hearing in the Senate Jackie Quinn Washington more than 100 Hong Kong residents who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise in Japan for over 2 weeks landed Thursday morning in the Asian financial hub where they will face a further 14 days of Korean teen authority said 55 of the 364 Hong Kong residents on the ship were infected with the coronavirus they will remain in Japan along with 33 other citizens who have been in close contact with them one alert recently says that 2 people have died who were on the ship u.n. Officials express alarm on Wednesday at the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria gear Petersen the u.n. Special envoy for Syria briefed the Security Council Wednesday are along by the rapid deterioration of humanitarian situation in Libya Syria and the tragic suffering of civilians and the u.n. Humanitarian affairs chief Mark Lowcock called on the warring parties to present fact the displaced the filming of women and children living on the scraps of plastic sheeting and in freezing conditions is cruel beyond belief we are still trying to count the number of civilians killed yesterday backed by heavy Russian airstrikes Syrian government forces have for weeks been conducting a crushing military campaign to recapture the Aleppo countryside and parts of neighboring itll a province in northwestern Syria. Mexican law enforcement has arrested dust the suspects in the killing of a 7 year old girl whose murder rocked the capital with protest and the body of a team of Sicilia was discovered over the weekend and not plastic garbage bags sparking outrage over their rolling violence there u.s. Secretary of state Mike pump Ale has condemned China's expulsion of 3 Wall Street Journal reporters after the paper's opinion section published a piece critical of China's handling of the corona virus outbreak and a statement from pale said mature responsible countries understand that a free press publishes facts and expresses opinions I'm Tommy McNeill below in. Good morning Africa welcome to daybreak Africa for the Voice of America but in Washington today is Thursday February 27th here are some of the stories we are covering Italy's government says it is ready for such a this presidential election giving us a ball some local observers from monitoring the polls in the months to. Over the weekend if that independent and. Vote for you but. If you go about why Rice told us myself a public administration has Polonetsky passes to keep the Electoral Reform motions will have an update on Guinea Bissau electoral crisis and Libya's un by the government says it has suspended talks with General. Us forces the shelling attack on a cargo ship in Tripoli Harbor by Libyan forces during Easter a commander General start to stay appears to Adele to set back to the way sponsored talks in Geneva That's correspondent Ed where you radio in Cairo Uganda says export amazed grain to Zimbabwe is a win win situation and an identified Zimbabwean woman has me admitted to a hospital in Harare after showing symptoms of the corona knows there is a more coming up on Daybreak Africa. The government says all is ready for Saturday's presidential election even as it barred some local observers from monitoring the polls Togo's Election Commission said Wednesday that it has counseled the accreditation of the national consultation of civil society of Togo and its 500 observers from monitoring Saturday's vote the commission has also blocked the monitors. The Catholic Church Gilmore by law Togo's Minister for Public Administration says the tool musicians are not neutral president for not simply was seeking another term is being challenged by opposition coalition candidates and from a Prime Minister I by all means call Joe information minister but while Russia says all has been put in place to make such a dizzy lection transparent and peaceful become. The company will be. So we will. Include Election Day. Also very. Simply and all the required by the village. Election. So how do you think oh you know kind of the president for nothing but I usually don't when the you think he's going to be reelected Yeah yeah yeah well you know they got the population. All over the country from the. From the. West and the level of. Commitment. You know down on the 2nd. We hear that the elections commission says that the national consultation of civil society of Togo and also the Catholic Church cannot observe the election is that true I think . Quite. Independently and it. Will be. When you said they are not independent What do you me I think when you take. The. Political debate by giving the impression that the. Defendant. Probably but happily and this is what happened we've. Got to. Go But what about the Togolese diaspora I think we spoke the last time maybe last year that the government was making an Irishman's phone to Billy's diaspora to register and to vote in this election will they be able to vote definitely do it every. One of them have not left. Anyhow we will grow from the situation and see how we can improve. In the next election it seems that the government has made it difficult for the diaspora to have the necessary preparation because what we understand is that the government is demanding a valid to Willy's passport want and a state issue id card and the issue register with the embassy of Togo some of these people being here have less if I sample in the United States for 1520 years and still when they get in their valid passport How do you know that we live if you cannot. Speak out or you don't have the power how can you prove that not live in Tokyo but. In the United States. If you don't have the balls or you don't have people how do you prove that you are in the United Nations . If you don't have a document from the embassy so this is the problem of what I've been talking and them all sitting here and they're preparing themselves. Thank you for. The possibility. This is not the fault of the government but at the point of. Truthfully Anyhow I thought you would drop some level of that yes and are we going to thank you very much again we look forward to speaking with you again probably on Saturday thank you very much thank you Reza Gilbert but while I still go Spanish to full public administration he was speaking with us from the capital loamy Malawi's parliament on Wednesday adopted 2 motions to amend the Electoral Commission Act in the palm entry and presidential election at the moment as part of electoral reforms recommended by the Constitutional Court is Feb 3rd ruling knowledge find the May 200-1000 presidential election results Rafique I jot is that could have done a ton of the Institute for Policy interaction in Malawi the Kharif Bill was the 50 plus one majority stipulation. In addition the amendment of the Electoral Commission bill to change the composition of the electoral commission so that they are no longer pointed by the president but more by the public appointments committee of Parliament so in reality this one's a victory for the civil society groups that have been protesting and then electron reforms yet support is a victory for those groups and it is a victory for the people of Malawi or it is a victory kind of ocracy they really d.p.p. . The Court ruling they have members in parliament I mean did they also vote for this 50 plus one on one no it was quite close I think it was 96 or so and 84 was against. Their will but 30 abstentions what happened in Parliament on Wednesday how much impact would they have on this challenge on this appeal does been launched by the ruling d.p.p. And president it will have a profound impact on the whole truth system in Malawi so whatever happens at the Supreme. Court is not going to change this I think the issue that the Supreme Court is the order for Iraq and reran will take place in roughly about 4 months from now Point months before well so the impact can be quite profound quite soon if the appeal is upheld and the rerun it doesn't take the next election that takes place will be a very very different election in pretty 24 but let's assume that the court order election which is supposed to take place I think is July 2nd is going to go ahead literally some of the political party leaders I had a talk the other day on my program with act to play live and they're talking alliances now how they're not playing well alliances and coalitions are normal feature of multi-party democracy it's not new in Malawi in the past we had good reason of coalition which was an alliance of the n.c.p. And host of smaller parties so I think all the parties are jockeying for position especially with the 50 plus one stipulation they were big can no longer rely on the relative votes they will need an absolute majority which is 50 plus one so obviously people are marshalling their forces together when the Parliament talked about the composition of the Mali electoral commission what does that do with said the country. I know she has refused to step down protesters have demanded her resignation does she stay on or she will have to step down there will be a new recruit Commission there's no doubt about that thank you very much you're most welcome stay well run think a judge is a sensitive director of the Institute for Policy interaction in my law week speaking with us from the capital Langley You're listening to Deborah got for come on The Voice of America I'm James but in Washington today is Thursday February 20th the break Africa time 15 minutes past the hour. Guinea-Bissau the Supreme Court late last week asked the National Electoral Commission to once again conduct in national a counting of the votes from the December of presidential election I'm a do. This is like it of secretary of the Guinea Bissau Observatory of democracy and governance he tells rakish trying that the commission has already done the national accountant but the losing party d p a g c keeps contesting the results that would the accept you know I ask request that if the West has made and it was that then and then they did it are tensions Shoko investitures President elect Obama has been traveling a lot are these visits official state visits. Are they you know who is paying for them do we know is who are they sanctioned by and it's kind of interesting for our president elect to make so many international visits so quickly that when I never do but the truth he's he's traveling the elected president. I think he's capable of dealing with the costs I'm a huge amount because executive secretary for the Guinea Bissau Observatory of democracy and governance was speaking to reconstruct that from baseball Libya's Tripoli because the u.n. Back to national unity government says it is suspending talks with forces on the the command of General Khalifa Haftar following an attack by his forces on the port of Tripoli on Tuesday which target the ship reportedly carrying weapons from Turkey and when you read the reports for viewing from Cairo. The shelling attack on a cargo ship in Tripoli Harbor by Libyan forces under Eastern commander General after Tuesday appears to have dealt a setback to u.n. Sponsored talks in Geneva after members of the Tripoli based governing council said they would no longer be tough there's rep. Is that it is rival Libyan government's disputed the details of the attack on the Lebanese ship which forces under huffed our claim was carrying weapons from Turkey sources and Tripoli dispute the claim an accused Hof there of killing several civilians in the attack after his forces deny the allegation huffed are met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Schwager who in Moscow Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in Tripoli after meeting with the top u.s. Diplomat in Libya at Hof there is headquarters in the eastern Libyan town of rash on Tuesday. You don't know how dumb I do but it just made my dad my dad was the speaker of Libya's House of Representatives and he let Sala put forth a 12 point plan to result the Libyan conflict on Wednesday according to Arab media the plan calls for the disarming of militias in the capital Tripoli and authorizes Hof there is forces to carry out the disarming the plan is unlikely to be welcomed by the Tripoli based unity government the United Nations Libya envoys asan celeb mate is calling for a cease fire between the warring parties that will be transformed into a permanent agreement the European Union says that it would be willing to monitor the cease fire an arms embargo on the rival parties the e.u. Offer is unlikely to be accepted by Hof there who says his forces goal is to capture all of Libya including the capital in the corrupt Turkish president Raj of tire bared to one insisted that the e.u. Has no authority to make any decisions regarding Libya and went on to say that Turkey would continue to support the Tripoli based government of Prime Minister Fayyad. The b I r must must really did not enjoy all of that in the letter. He says it will continue. Support the legitimate government in Tripoli against haft are who reclaims is trying to carry out a coup not an Arab one also says that Turkey is gradually strengthening its position in the region alluding to an agreement over maritime borders with the Tripoli government that is disputed by regional states including Greece Egypt and Cyprus Edward you're rainy and for v.o.a. News Cairo Uganda says it sees exporting maize green to Zimbabwe as a win win situation reducing food shortages in its neighbor while benefit then farmers at home bright Ramey Rama Uganda's minister of state for Agriculture says businessman already mobilized in shipments at the request of the Zimbabwe government David Brock Origi reports from Com Palla. Say Zimbabwe contacted Uganda asking for me a place he says the government is mobilizing my tents to organise enough grain to make the request in their comments or is it about least we should do. Among Go ahead of us even if we may know Tavor too much but if we are going to give half of what they need is Ok so they engage him in his book and within the framework of commision we have a brain in the companies they have really been a conducted this is a different thing we are doing so we did you do you know we. Were the doing what from that Zimbabweans faced from prolonged drought raising inflation the edges to Ses countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Zimbabwe sas Today did an article Republic of the Congo and its interest head region all need immediate attention Zimbabwe in particular faces overheating with their faces raising foot a degree Celsius making it impossible for food production according to if the report released earlier this year or so quickly the report details at least 7700000 people or of the country's population will fail. The security at the peak of the links isn't there because it comes at a tame that Uganda is cooperation with the invading look. But officials have stayed at affected the rest of the harvests. They move will highly benefit. By about where to buy your maize from Uganda is here is it and here we do business . As a business so even in the city of maize to Zimbabwe good people going to see them is to do anywhere is a good and easy of all quantities easier. Whatever quantities we can raise whatever quantities of from us can you get it if it can be sold of good news for you good afternoon to the head of the in Food and Agriculture Organization in Uganda to stand in the right the election we need to promote the more this commercialization among ourselves and as you know this is the food of ask it of this region and the potential is there are the sources are 1st the water is here so this creates morning says center for farmers to to do more of the cranes expected start being transported to Zimbabwe by road in the coming days for the news I am a gloomy deficit income Palace Uganda and only then the 527 year old Zimbabwean woman who works in one city in China has been admitted to an infectious hospital in Harare for monitoring after showing symptoms of the corona virus Robert City Council Director of Health Services Dr Prosper says the woman was part of a group of people who arrive 10 Zimbabwe today it's a goal from China where at least 2000 people have died and more than 74 farmers they have infected by the disease Dr Charles e. Says technical team is suspected to deliberate on the status of the woman today Thursday while also making. Follow up on some of the people who were on the same flight with a lady we need to gauge invade the airports from the ports there be observing. Good temperature and I'm sure that sometimes a day needs information of incest a good case because we did the 3 of travel. Between country France was not pleasing to me since you made that claim cherry to gap between us to get to. Convince people. On the right of. Us with their assurance chance to go to Germany normal seem to use this trip through just as no danger of it for the. It's strange that. You seem to be that. Serious command you. Don't still give them today when. You need to. Be reported. Case we need to. Continue to assess what the kids see. That. The need to do full color number so what does that mean I will keep big their ha ha that's right now no reason for us to keep a end but. We have to go hungry big Wall Street is. Here to look at all the developments from the time since you can. Spend you know the last thing you know when you come up with the Commission tomorrow morning so again not yet say that you're going to release the patient Oddly he. Expects. The commission in the morning it should be. I think you'll be out. You know the Malaysians will be. Dr prosper chancy is the Harare city council health director he was speaking to will get to be a viewing Zimbabwe service briefly before we leave you a summary of Africa news at least 10 Somali government soldiers and 16 militants were killed Wednesday when Islamist group al-Shabaab attacked 2 military bases in Somalia's lower region the 1st attack started when the militants used an explosive laden vehicle driven by a suicide bomber to target a military base run by a local militia allied with the Somali federal government according to multiple reliable sources in the town at least 10 militants and 6 fighters belonging to the pro-government militia what killed during the battle the cabinet of South Sudan's president Salva Kiir has endorsed his decision to return the country to a system of 10 states with the addition of 3 administrators areas ahead of Saturday's deadline to form a transitional government care bowed to pressure from opposition parties last weekend and scrapped a 32 state system that he established unilaterally during this South Sudan's civil war and Italy's government says all is ready for Saturday's presidential election even as they involve some local observers from monitoring the polls Togo's Election Commission said Wednesday that it has counseled the accreditation of the national consultation of civil society of Togo and its 500 observers from monitoring Saturday's vote and that's it for this Thursday February 25th edition of daybreak Africa on b. Of the daybreak Africa crew and James Butty in Washington wishing you a very good day. Hello everyone the best of it is still yet to be heard Don't forget to tune in on their state every day 24 billboard best songs of 2019 you'll get to hear your favorite artist Billy. Jones struggle. To live only on my 2nd marriage. This is should post of play talk Africa on the next straight talk Africa Education has always formed bridges between the u.s. And Africa a number of African leaders were educated in America the education bond between the u.s. And the continent on the next straight talk Africa tune into one of the day that they do in the federal u.c.c. Right here. Africa. Hello there today is Thursday February 20th this is below is international edition and Lori London in Washington coming up a presidential debate before the next state votes as the candidates go after the former mayor of New York has been surging in the polls. Always work. Churches a special group of Republicans a lot of close friends associates to be sentenced in federal court as many speculate the president will deliver us with a pardon Also ahead questions surrounding a prominent lawyer wand and gospel singers death it's all on today's international edition. The Democratic presidential candidates have been gathering in Nevada for the 9th debate in the race to be the party's nominee to deny u.s. President Donald Trump a 2nd term when Americans vote in November general election for months Senator Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete booted judge entered the race of the debate fresh off strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire the 1st 2 states to make their selections in the nominating contest Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign has made a big gamble and it is being tested in Las Vegas where he makes his debate debut a.p. Washington correspondent Saager Madani reports Mike Bloomberg will make his Democratic presidential debate debut tonight at a loss of a guess but it's a big night for the other candidates as well Saint Anselm College is Chris Gayle Geary says while Bloomberg will be the focus of Bernie Sanders needs to avoid missteps after essentially winning Iowa and taking New Hampshire and not give people reasons not to vote for 2 others will try to keep up momentum keep good and getting a mix which are really need to at the very least avoid mistakes he says the pressures on the 2 who had. And done as well as expected so far police have both woring and Joe Biden I don't know if he's still a viable candidate actually went about the nation Tufts University is Jeffrey Berry wonders if Biden's done with the more wounded Saugor Magni Washington. Here's some other stories we're following in v.o.a. News dot com The latest on the people quarantined on the large for a ship in Japan a just been released from the fires the Pentagon's top policy official as an impeachment fallout continues police report several people that shot to death in a German city and a new report finds children's highest risks are from climate change and commercial marketing find expanded coverage of the stories in more News dot com and on our v.o.a. Mobile app this is international edition. President Donald Trump's long time advisor Roger Stone who since his arrest in 2900 repeatedly tested the patience of the federal judge providing out of the trial later today District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson will sentence stone about her own Republican operative whose friendship with Trump dates back decades to 12 member jury in November found stone guilty on all 7 counts of lying to Congress obstruction and witness tampering the judge Tuesday rejected Stone's bid to delay the sentencing the high profile case has taken an important additional importance since Trump last week blasted federal prosecutors who won Stone's conviction as corrupt after they recommended to the judge a presence on talents of 7 to 9 years Attorney General William Barr intervened and the Justice Department withdrew the recommendation as excessive with all 4 prosecutors then quitting the case Meanwhile the. House is also denying reports that President Trump offered to pardon Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange if he would say Russia had nothing to do with leaking Democratic e-mails in 2016 Mike Ross has that at a preliminary hearing in London Wednesday an attorney for wakey Leaks founder Julian Assange read a statement from another lawyer who says that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher went to see a songe at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 27 team on instructions from President Donald Trump according to the statement from Attorney Jennifer Robinson Rohrabacher relayed that Trump was offering a pardon or some other way out if a songe said Russia had nothing to do with the leaks from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election White House Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says Trump has never spoken to war Bachar about a songe a full hearing for a son she was fighting extradition to the u.s. On spying charges is scheduled to begin next week I'm like Rossiya. Well joining us now is Robert diet's professor of policy and Governmental Affairs at George Mason University thank you for being with us to unpack all of this so 1st off let's start with Roger Stone do you think the president is going to immediately pardon his longtime associate I think the president has put the judge in a very difficult plight place and if I were Mr Stone's lawyers I'd be really really concerned because if she caves to what look like the president's wishes she'll be regarded as somebody who's caving in to the president on the other hand she might well have an inclination to go on to have given a lighter sentence in the prosecutor's an issue recommended So he's put her in a terrible bind my instinct is that she's going to go with a point of stiff sentence somewhere between the very high recommendation of the initial d.o.j. Recommendation and above the later recommendation with respect to a pardon the president's pardon power is viewed has generally been viewed as absolute and there's never been any particular reason to test that but I think it's a mistake to think that pardons are cost free you take a risk with your supporters and of course you also pay a price from people that study the presidency and I don't think that the vanity of our president would like being viewed as sort of the lowest of the low in terms of being a you know handing out pardons and supporting those that that have been his buds so certainly it's possible he may he may pardon him but I I'm not so sure that's going to work quite that way what do you thing you don't you don't believe the president will pardon Roger sounded on your side at least not now he definitely seems to enjoy pardoning and it's not as though as you mentioned you know he doesn't seem to be pardoning people that of come remorseful right for any of the things they were convicted of there right basically talking about the injustices they were all there I mean you notice. Actually all of them are people who are who are convicted of crimes involving corruption and that's of course precisely what the Trump himself was accused of the in the impeachment proceedings people talk about the former Illinois governor all these people are people that were people of not great reputation but people of money and that really in many respects sort of describes our president well it's interesting that you said the impeachment because there was this whole issue of a quid pro quo the president you know offering time with him with him in the White House and young you Ukraine if they cooperated in investigating potential rival Joe Biden Yes And we're hearing from the attorney of Wiki Leaks founder Julian a song yet still faces an extradition hearing as well according to this attorney a well known lawmaker told the songs that if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee e-mails at the heart of the Russian vest a Geisha and that the that he would get a pardon by the dropping ministration how damning Could this be for the president that's a very hard question to answer given the fact that I kind of assume that the accusations that the president faced you know 9 months ago were pretty damning to me I would take those as a really serious accusation but as you know Mr Trump has been able to flirt with disaster from almost the start of his administration would just constant to approve a quid pro quo as well a potentially thing I'll do you do this for you if you do this for us. That is a that to the best of my knowledge has never been adjudicated that is you you do whatever you want to do or whatever I may ask you to do and if you get caught and or convicted I'll pardon you I think the answer is yes it would constitute such a crime but it's never been tested because again the Pres. Pardoning power is generally viewed of absolute or close absolute right Robert dieties a professor of policy and Governmental Affairs at George Mason University thank you for being with us well a big security conference in Munich this week had European leaders coming up with a new name for their concerns West lessness Joining us now to talk more about this is Paris based journalist Catherine field Catherine what exactly do they mean and why are they expressing concern there is growing a lot about the u.s. Commitment to Europe and so the Beyond that the very essence if you like the transatlantic alliance itself you know whether it's in private or whether it's in speeches you know hearing European leaders being can know what they think is the American disengagement not just from Europe but from the wode generally and from your role in the world and so does notion of what listeners is why I am getting countries particularly here in New York to stop thinking about you know where everyone goes from here where did these. Very traditional tie these alliances when should they be going to now now it looks as though Europe will have to defend itself it may well have to create some kind of security architecture for itself and perhaps even it's time to stop talking to rush through again and make this good news so good and where did this time come from all the time came from it because there are so many so-called liberal democracies that seem to be under strain at the moment and not Johnston You know I think for it felt that there's a move away from this liberal democracy but also countries within Europe for example. And instances as well in Poland and some of the democratic foundations being. That particular when it comes to Supreme Court and when you know . Other countries it just seems that the. Moment that this Great Western idea of the free market economy all the structures in place for it to be just really under so much strain at the moment I understand your President Emanuel Chronos speaking out especially to try to sort of bring European leaders together on the us and indeed and then you know my own really does feel that there's this or you could tell widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of all that a lot of these uncertainties and a lot of these are coming from for example Syria and Russia and his idea is that Europe must create its own security architecture it has to come together and be able to act can be prepared to become sober and more autonomous and to be capable of taking care of its own security and defense and that really is something that we have not heard from the Syrians when European leaders for a long time the idea that Europe takes control of its own destiny it no longer rely upon America for its leadership and when you know could about you look at the complaint about the lack of traditional American leadership you're hearing a lot and also you're hearing about the possibility that domo Trump will get a 2nd and the possibility of not is that you want to in the 1st America pulled off of the Paris climate agreement to put out Iranian nuclear deal if there is a 2nd. Don't know try presidency then there is the possibility that you may even pull out of NATO. NATO had so much disregard for the very essence of the NATO alliance selfhood called into question how they talk about waiting are they watching the presidential campaigns going on here in the United States. Is there talk of sort of waiting to see what happens before they do make any moves or are they preemptively already discussing what they will though they're already discussing what they do and one of the big issues. Don't forget is what America is going to do and the saw how when you look at. Me and Molly these areas which really talks about your rights to your problems well they're already on the telephone making me think well people in the State Department the Defense Department saying the Americans have to stay there that got to stay and help and so that you would be seeing them reacting to help but there is just this idea is realized that Donald Trump gets a 2nd and really needs to start thinking about whether or not America will be a reliable ally for the next 4 years beyond that or at that is Paris based journalist Catherine Field thank you so much. As the death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 2000 people Tuesday all but 6 of them in mainland China according to the World Health Organization it now says Beijing is taking the right strategic and tactical approaches to effect to curb the spread of covert 1000 epidemic they always Julie Todd reports speaking in a press. Michael j. Ryan executive director of health emergencies program praised China's efforts in giving critical care to patients often for a sustained period of time. People are. Critical Care. Quarantine measures in place travel. Said China's measures have proven effective and buying more time and. Limiting the overall global spread of the epidemic said Sylvie Briana Rachael's director of global infectious hazard preparedness but it is ation us showing that. Those measure on movement restriction of delayed. Dissemination of the outbreak of 2 or 3 days was in China and she weeks outside China sue based on the said then it shows that zoos measure if well implemented could have an impact on the propagation of the outbreak at the same time China's success and restricting people's movement reflects the government's ability to impose extreme measures by taking very directed measures to ensure the people returning to the city are observed are monitored how you can argue. Whether those measures are excessive or whether there are restrictions on people but there's a lot at stake here in terms of public health and in terms of where not only the public health of China but also of all people in the world. Professor I mean Marty said no other country could have done more to contain the outbreak when China has enough partly because of a lack of individual wife and family very authoritarian in China and it can impose much more. And can control its people more effectively resigning is not something I generally like but l. Great like she did her slow down the outward and I don't know considering how clearly needs this bars is that had China not done what you did there were down in that way and service of that goal the w.h.o. Is calling on all countries to accelerate research into the disease and share more information on cases with the organization Julie Tabeau the way News Washington. F.b.i. Director Christopher a recently called violent extremism motivated by race or ethnicity as a top level priority on the same footing as ISIS and these extremist groups are using ISIS tactics to recruit new members often young impressionable alley unaided teenagers according to a former member of a hate group male are saying God has the story Christian preacher Leni is an expert on hate in 1907 I was recruited into America's 1st neo Nazi skinhead group for Giuliani's testimony to Congress in 2019 was just the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager from a loving and hard working immigrant family and wrote so I went searching for a sense of identity community and purpose sort of on the fringes having been bullied for most of those 14 years and on those friends as I found a narrative a man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old and I was smoking a joint and he pulled a joint from my mouth and he looked me in the eyes and he said that's what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile and I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person or even what the word meant but it was the 1st time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me that had included me he stayed with the movement for 8 years I started a record store in 1905 to sell racist music that I was importing and making as well but at the record store I was also selling different kinds of music things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and and I started to meet people who were black and who were Jewish and who were gay for the 1st time really and have a meaningful interaction with them so over you know the course of having their record store I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with Humanisation and it was those people that I'm so grateful for. Because they knew who I was and yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion and it was the compassion that I received from them at a time when I really I least deserve that was the most powerful transformative moment for me pitcher Leni has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called free radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism what I'm seeing with white nationalism today is very similar to what I saw me early days of let's say al-Qaeda or ISIS the propaganda tactics are the same recruitment is very similar the use of high quality you know marketing videos showing kind of this this hope of glory if you join the fight picture Leni says he's trying to be the person he wishes would have approached him when he was just 14 years old so many years ago Miller Sega the only news Washington you know listening to international edition we will be back in a moment. Are you suffering. With. The African continent. 100. I guarantee. One thing about. Talking about sharing stories of development. Around the world and. That in. And change the world is. With me. And. Feeling voices. International Edition continues some of them negative effects of life lived online become more and more apparent there are now digital wellness groups forming to promote ways to maintain healthy lifestyles Deanna Mitchell reports. Many people spend much of their waking hours looking at screens and that has spawned a growing health sector called Digital wellness it live in this age of the attention economy and this notion of there starts that our attention is the most precious resource for sure the social worker and the c.e.o. Of the digital wellness collective a trade association dedicated to finding the best use of technology for mental emotional and physical health for her sure the fighting in screen time is personal struggling with a stutter as a child she replied An eye contact to let people know she's trying to communicate a massive shift and eye contact and presence as mobile phones and as texting became more prevalent and I made it my personal and professional mission to really see why this was happening and how we could take back our presence one organization in the collective America offline offers a device free camping experience for teenagers was started by a youth basketball coach frustrated with what he saw as a lack of team unity due to screen time with life spent online is generating new maladies one of them is known a phobia which is the fear of being without one's phone you can get tech night from holding beheaded a 45 degree angle and email apnea happens when holding your breath while reading you know Else mean high is based on superficial clicks of likes that are constantly changing then it's can be very detrimental it's enough to make one want to do a good. Still detox some are trying looking at my phone Well I was nursing my new baby and then looking at my baby and thinking why am I looking at my phone it was really it that day I decided to use my phone a lot laughed her sure said going completely offline is unrealistic for most people she hopes to help people find the optimal use of tact for their well being. For viewing news Tina Mitchell Scott's Valley California. This is any minute. Medical professionals have long recommended a healthy diet exercise and medication to patients who have high risk factors for maladies like heart disease diabetes or stroke a new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego and the song constitute for Biological Studies provides evidence that a form of sporadic fasting called time restricted eating helped improve the health of volunteer participants who had some of those risk factors before with time restricted eating program you read your entire daily intake of food over only a certain number of hours each day and fasting from the manger of the day the researchers found that when their study volunteers limited their eating to 10 hours or less each day over a 12 week period they lost weight reduced abdominal fat motor their blood pressure and cholesterol and were able to maintain stable blood sugar and insulin levels I am you always right pencil a 0. 00 in experience losing his father during the 1994 genocide and found it because Ito Mohai go around ation to use art as a healing he was one of the several artists who helped composer Wanda's national anthem but he ran into problems with authorities after recording a song in 2014 titled The meaning of death which was interpreted as criticizing the government wandering Rolonda and president also Kwame and questioning the government's version of genocide behind go was arrested days after the song was released and later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder city in a terrorist attack and conspiracy against the government he remained in prison until 29 when he was released along with many other prisoners by a presidential pardon according to the government this time Heigl's arrestable trying to cross the border to day where he intended to join or not stray missed group of his friends dispute the account saying the singer named meaning the country simply to return to Belgium where he once lived.

Radio-program , Writers-from-new-york-city , Latin-legal-terms , American-politicians , Chief-executive-officers , Democracy , Election-commissions , George-mason , Association-of-public-and-land-grant-universities , Forms-of-government , Elections , Liberal-democracies

VOA [Voice of America] Global English-20200220-060000

York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Wednesday night 6 Democratic party hopefuls took to the debate stage in Los Vegas Bloomberg qualified for the n.b.c. News debate after party officials eased the rules and he placed 2nd in a poll released this Tuesday and it's just behind the front runner Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders one time Republican Bloomberg spent millions of dollars of his own money and on advertising and undergone comparisons with u.s. President Donald Trump a Senator Elizabeth Warren Democratic candidate said the Democrats take a huge risk if they just substitute one arrogant billionaire For another she said the country has worked for the rich for a long time left everyone else in the dirt Bloomberg pointed to his background as a successful businessman and former New York City mayor. The White House is now denying reports that President Trump offered to pardon Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange if he would say that Russia had nothing to do with leaking Democratic e-mails in 2016 we get more from a piece Mike Rasiah at a preliminary hearing in London Wednesday an attorney for Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange read a statement from another lawyer who says that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher went to see a songe at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 27 team on instructions from President Donald Trump according to the statement from Attorney Jennifer Robinson Rohrabacher relayed that Trump was offering a pardon or some other way out if Assad said Russia had nothing to do with the leaks from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election White House Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says Trump has never spoken to Rohrabacher about a songe a full hearing for a son she was fighting extradition to the u.s. On spying charges is scheduled to begin next week I might Rossiya and this is the news 8 people were killed when seen 2 shooting incidents in a German city near Frankfurt and special forces were chasing the gunman who fled in a car. President Trump has tapped a staunch supporter to serve as the acting director of National Intelligence a.p. Correspondent Jackie Quinn Richard Grinnell's been serving as the u.s. Ambassador to Germany now he'll replace Joseph McGuire who was acting national intelligence director since August the move puts a loyal Trump ally in charge of the nation's 17 spy agencies there are some who are criticizing the announcement they say this sensitive a job should go to someone with deep experience in intelligence and by naming Grinnell as acting director the president is able to sidestep a confirmation hearing in the Senate Jackie Quinn Washington u.n. Officials expressed alarm Wednesday at the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria gear Petersen the u.n. Special envoy for Syria brief the Security Council Wednesday they are along by the rapid deterioration of humanitarian situation in northwest Syria and a tragic suffering of civilians the un humanitarian affairs chief Mark low caught called on the warring parties to protect the displaced the filming of women and children living on the scraps of plastic sheeting and in freezing conditions is cruel beyond belief we are still trying to count the number of civilians killed yesterday and backed by heavy Russian airstrikes Syrian government forces have for weeks been conducting a crushing military campaign she recapture the Aleppo countryside in parts of neighboring itll a province in northwestern Syria the last rebel held areas in the country hundreds of thousands have fled that fighting the u.s. Secretary of state might come pale has condemned China's expulsion of 3 Wall Street Journal reporters after the paper's opinion section published a piece critical of China's handling of the corona virus outbreak and a statement that Palm pale said mature responsible countries understand that a free press publishes facts and expresses opinions. China's Foreign Ministry said the piece which ran under the headline China's the real sick man of Asia and criticized Beijing's handling of the virus outbreak was races and then a great at China's efforts to fight the outbreak the foreign ministry said it asked the newspaper to apologize which it had declined to do however the journal's publisher William Lewis said in a statement that he was deeply disappointed by the decision to run that headline he said the opinion pages in the reporting part of the journal or separate entities and it was not the journal's intention to offend anyone I'm Tommy McNeil be away news. Good Morning America welcome to daybreak Africa for the Voice of America but in Washington today is there's the February 27th here are some of the stories we are covering that hillbillies government says it is ready for Saturday's presidential election giving us about some local observers from monitoring the polls and it was a. Big hit that independent and it. Took the vote both the budget and electoral Although that it could go about wara is Togo's Minister for Public Administration has parliamentary passes to keep the Electoral Reform motions will have an update on Guinea-Bissau is electoral crisis and maybe as you embattled government says it has suspended talks with General. Us forces the shelling attack on a cargo ship in Tripoli Harbor by Libyan forces under Eastern commander General Khalifa Haftar Tuesday appears to Adele to set back to you when sponsored talks in Geneva last correspondent Ed Will you radio in Cairo Uganda says export amaze grain to Zimbabwe is a win win situation and an identified Zimbabwe a woman has been admitted to a hospital in Harare after showing symptoms of the corona virus knows there is a Hmong coming up on Daybreak Africa. Lead to believe government says all is ready for Saturday's presidential election even as it bought some local observers from monitoring the polls Togo's Election Commission said Wednesday that it has counseled the accreditation of the national consultation of civil society of Togo and its $500.00 observers from monitoring Saturday's vote the commission has also blocked the monitors. The Catholic Church Gilmore by law Togo's many stuff a public administration says the tool musicians are not neutral president for not simply was seeking another term is being challenged by all the coalition candidates and former prime minister a bio mean cordial information minister about why Russia says all has been put in place to make such a distinction transparent and peaceful. The company will be. So we will. Include an election day. Also very. Simply and all the required by the village. Election. So how do you think oh you know kind of the president for nothing I usually don't weigh the you think he's going to be reelected Yeah yeah yeah well you know they got the population that's. All about the country from the. From the. Well and the level of. Commitment. On the 22nd of. We hear that the elections commission says that the national consultation of civil society of Togo and also the Catholic Church cannot observe the election is that true I think. Requirement for our. Independence and it. Will be. When you said they are not independent What do you me I think when you take. The. Political debate by giving the impression that you are. On. Dependent. Problem we've been happily and this is what happened we. Didn't go bad well what about the total lease diaspora out I think we spoke the last time in the last year that the government was making an Irishman's fuck Togolese diaspora to register and vote in this election will they be able to vote definitely do it to every. One of them have not been well. For them. Anyhow we will. Let them from. Princeton in the next election it seems that the government has made it difficult for the diaspora to have the necessary preparation because what we understand is that the government is and then evaluate to Lily's passport and I state issue id card and the issue register with the embassy of Togo some of these people being here have less if I sample in the United States for 1520 years or so will when they get in their valid passport How do you know it will be live if you. Don't have to pass how can you prove that. You will live. In the United States. If you don't have. Or you don't have. How do you prove that you have lived in the us i did mention that if you don't have a document from the embassy so this is the problem of the Dublin Well I've been talking and them all sitting here and they're. Bearing the. Brunt of it thank you for. The possibility. This is not the fault of the government but at the point of. Truthfully Anyhow I thought you would drop some level of that yes and see how we can go about thank you very much again we look forward to speaking with you again probably on Saturday thank you very much thank you Reza Gilbert Rice Togo's Minister for Public Administration he was speaking with us from the capital loamy Malawi's parliament on Wednesday adopted 2 motions to amend the Electoral Commission Act in the palm entry and presidential election at the moment as part of electoral reforms recommended by the Constitutional Court is Feb 3rd ruling knowledge find the May 200-1000 presidential election results rough because John is they could have done a ton of the Institute for Policy interaction in Malawi the Kharif there was take the 50 plus one majority stipulation. In addition the amendment of the commission bill to change the composition of the electoral commission so that they are no longer pointed at the president but more by the public appointments committee of Parliament so in reality this was a victory for the civil society groups that have been protesting and then electro reforms yes of course a victory for those groups and it is a victory for the people of Malawi it is a victory for democracy they really d.p.p. Has the court ruling they have members in parliament I mean they also vote for this 50 plus one on one no it was quite close I think it was 96 or so and 84 was against and but 30 abstentions what happened in Parliament on Wednesday how much impact would they have on this challenge on this appeal does being launched by the ruling d.p.p. And president it will have a profound impact on the whole truth system and so whatever happens at the Supreme . Court is not going to change this I think the issue that the Supreme Court is the order for Iraq and reran will take place in roughly about 4 months from now Point months before goes well so the impact can be quite profound quite soon if the appeal is upheld and the rerun it doesn't take the next election that takes place will be a very very different election in 2024 but let's assume that the court order election which is supposed to take place I think is July 2nd is going to go ahead literally some of the political party leaders I had a talk the other day on my program with Act 2 player and they're talking alliances now how they're not playing well alliances and coalitions are normal feature of multi-party democracy it's not new in Malawi in the past we had good reason of coalition which was an alliance of the n.c.p. And host of smaller parties so I think all the parties are jockeying for position especially with the 50 plus one stipulation they will they can no longer rely on relative votes they will need an absolute majority which is 50 plus one so obviously people are marshalling their forces together when the Parliament talked about the composition of the electoral commission what does that do with said the country. I know she has refused to step down protesters have demanded her resignation does she stay on or she will have to step down there will be a new commission There's no doubt about that thank you very much you're most welcome stay well run think a judge is a sensitive director of the Institute for Policy interaction in Malawi speaking with us from the capital Langley You're listening to the Bergen for come on The Voice of America I'm James but in Washington today is Thursday February 20th the brick Africa time 15 minutes past the hour. Guinea-Bissau the Supreme Court late last week asked the National Electoral Commission to once again conduct in national a counting of the votes from the December of presidential election I'm a do this is I could have Secretary of the Guinea-Bissau Observatory of democracy and governance he tells Ricky strata that the commission has already done the national accountant but the losing party b.p. a G.c. Keeps contesting the results that was the accept you know I ask that request that it always has made and it was that there in n.m. costs I'm not a huge amount because executive secretary for all the Guinea Bissau Observatory of democracy and governance was speaking to reconstruct that from baseball Libya's Tripoli because the u.n. Back to national unity government says it is suspending talks with forces on the command of General Khalifa Haftar following an attack by his forces on the port of Tripoli on Tuesday which target the ship reportedly carrying weapons from Turkey and when you read media reports full view of from Cairo. The shelling attack on a cargo ship in Tripoli Harbor by Libyan forces under Eastern commander General Sally Foster Tuesday appears to have dealt a setback to u.n. Sponsored talks in Geneva after members of the Tripoli based governing council said they would no longer be tough there's rep. Presented as rival Libyan government disputed the details of the attack on the Lebanese ship which forces under huffed our claim was carrying weapons from Turkey sources and Tripoli dispute the claim an accused of killing several civilians in the attack after his forces deny the allegation Hoft are met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Schwager who in Moscow Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in Tripoli after meeting with the top u.s. Diplomat in Libya at Hof there is headquarters in the eastern Libyan town of rash on Tuesday. I don't know how dumb I do but it just made my doubt no doubt it was the speaker of Libya's House of Representatives and Sheila Sala put forth a 12 point plan to resolve the Libyan conflict on Wednesday according to Arab media the plan calls for the disarming of militias in the capital Tripoli and authorizes huffed there is forces to carry out the disarming the plan is unlikely to be welcomed by the Tripoli based unity government the United Nations Libya envoys asan celeb mate is calling for a cease fire between the warring parties that will be transformed into a permanent agreement the European Union says that it would be willing to monitor the cease fire an arms embargo on the rival parties the e.u. Offer is unlikely to be accepted by Hof guard who says his forces goal is to capture all of Libya including the capital in the corrupt Turkish president Raja tie affair to one insisted that the e.u. Has no authority to make any decisions regarding Libya and went on to say the turkey would continue to support the Tripoli based government of Prime Minister Fayyad. U.b.i. And must must really did not enjoy all of that in the letter. He says that will continue to. Support the legitimate government in Tripoli against haft are who reclaims is trying to carry out a coup no era to one also says that Turkey is gradually strengthening its position in the region alluding to an agreement over maritime borders with the Tripoli government that is disputed by regional states including Greece Egypt and Cyprus Edward you're rainy and for v.o.a. News Cairo Uganda says it sees export amaze green to Zimbabwe as a win win situation reducing food shortages neighbor while benefit then farmers at home bright Rami Rama Uganda's minister of state for Agriculture says businessmen are already mobilized in shipments at the request of the Zimbabwe government Davis rockery g reports from com Paula. Say Zimbabwe contacted Uganda asking for me a place he says the government is not blazing much sense to organise a nothing green to make the request. Is it about this we should do. Among Go ahead of us even if we may know Tavor too much but if we are going to give half of what they need is Ok so they engage him in his approach and within the framework of commision we have greatly companies they have been a conducted this is a different fame we are doing so we did you do you know we were the doing what for programmers when that Zimbabweans faced if. Brought out raising inflation the edges the Ses countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Zimbabwe Sadan didn't the public of the Congo and its interest had region or need immediate attention Zimbabwe in particular faces overheating with their faces raising foot a degree Celsius making it impossible for food production according to if theory put released earlier this year or so quickly the report details at least 7700000 people or the country's population will fail. The security at the peak of the lean season there just comes at a tame that Uganda is cooperation with the invading look. But officials have stayed at affected is the rest of the heaviest. They move we highly benefit local. About where to buy your maize from Uganda is here is it and here we do business. Is a business so if farmers are going to say to Mrs to Zimbabwe good people going to see them is to do anywhere is a good and easy quantities is it really doesn't matter whatever quantities we can raise whatever quantities of needed it if it can to be sold off good news for you good afternoon to the head of the in Food and Agriculture Organization in Uganda to step in the right direction we need to promote the more this commercialization among ourselves. As you know this is the food of ask it of this region and the potential is there of the sort of our 1st the water is here so this creates more incentive for farmers to want to do more of the grains expected that being transported to Zimbabwe by road in the coming days for the news I am a gloomy deficit of income Palla Uganda and only then the 527 year old Zimbabwean woman who works in one city in China has been admitted to an infectious hospital in Harare for monitoring after showing symptoms of the corona virus Robert City Council Director of Health Services Dr prosperous Transit says the woman was part of a group of people who arrive teens and bubbly 2 days ago from China where at least 2000 people have died and more than 74th follows an infected by the disease Dr Charles e. Says it technical team is suspected to deliberate on the status of the woman today Thursday while also making. A follow up on some of the people who were on the same flight when they made the new gig invade the airport from the port here being so red. Temperature and one share that. Information with themselves a good case positively still travel. Between country tries to seem to me since he needs that creativity to get from the. Ticket to. Convince people that a. Real chance to global temperature is normal you seem to use this trip through just as no danger eventually. It stresses that. You seem to be doing that. When circling over. Syria they don't still get them to do. That to be reported. To us we need to. Continue to assess what the kids can use. And that is. The need to do. So what does that mean I will keep it there. For us right now no reason for us to keep a end but. We have to go green. Spaces that can communicate all the developments from the time c.b.s. Can to. Spend you know I figure you cannot begin mission tomorrow morning so it cannot be it that you're going to release the patient advisory. Experience in the commission in the Morning should be. Are you going to be out. There or Malaysians will be. You know. Dr prosper chancy is the Harare city council health director he was speaking to get to a bit of the Zimbabwe service briefly before we leave you a summary of Africa news at least 10 Somali government soldiers and 16 militants were killed Wednesday when Islamist group al-Shabaab attacked 2 military bases in Somalia's lower region the 1st attack started when the militants used an explosive laden vehicle driven by a suicide bomber to target a military base run by a local militia allied with this Somali federal government according to multiple reliable sources in the town at least 10 militants and 6 fighters belonging to the pro-government militia what killed during the battle the cabinet of South Sudan's president Salva Kiir has endorsed his decision to return the country to a system of 10 states with the addition of 3 administrators areas I had of Saturday's deadline to form a transitional government care bowed to pressure from opposition parties last weekend and scrapped a 32 state system that he established unilaterally doing this South Sudan's civil war and Italy's government says all is ready for Saturday's presidential election even as they involve some local observers from monitoring the polls Togo's Election Commission said Wednesday that it has counseled the accreditation of the national consultation of civil society of Togo and its 500 observers from monitoring Saturday's vote and that's it for this Thursday February 25th edition of daybreak Africa of the daybreak Africa crew I'm James Butty in Washington wishing you a very good day. Everyone the best of them is still yet to be heard Don't forget to tune in on their state every day 24 billboard. Songs of 2019 you'll get to hear your favorite artist Billy. Jones struggle. To tune in only on place of canary. Yellow This is a shocker post those played talk Africa on the next straight talk Africa Education has always formed bridges between the u.s. And Africa a number of African leaders were educated in America the education bond between the u.s. And the continent on the next straight talk Africa tune in to one of the day that they do in the federal u.t.c. Right here. Africa. Hello there today is Thursday February 20th this is below is international edition and Lori London in Washington coming up a presidential debate before the next state votes as the candidates go after the former mayor of New York has been surging in the polls. Always work out turf is a special good brand of Republicanism is a close Trump associates be sentenced in federal court as many speculate the president will deliver us with a pardon Also ahead questions surrounding a prominent lawyer wand and gospel singers death it's all on today's international edition. The Democratic presidential candidates have been gathering in Nevada for the 9th debate in the race to be the party's nominee to deny u.s. President Donald Trump a 2nd term when Americans vote in November's general election for months Senator Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete booted judge enter the race of the debate fresh off strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire the 1st 2 states to make their selections in the nominating contest Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign has made a big gamble and it is being tested in Las Vegas where he makes his debate debut a.p. Washington correspondent Saager Madani reports Mike Bloomberg will make his Democratic presidential debate debut tonight at last a Vegas but it's a big night for the other candidates as well Saint Anselm College is Chris Gayle Geary says while Bloomberg will be the focus Bernie Sanders needs to avoid missteps after essentially winning Iowa and taking New Hampshire and not to people reason not to vote for to others will try to keep up momentum keep good and giving him a club which are really need to at the very least avoid mistakes he says the pressures on the 2 who had. And done as well as expected so far police have both woring and Joe Biden I don't know if he's still a viable candidate actually went about with Tufts University as Jeffrey Berry wonders of Biden's done thank you Morley wounded Saugor Megami Washington. Here's some of the stories we're following in v.o.a. News dot com The latest on the people quarantined on the large cruise ship in Japan I've just been released from fires the Pentagon's top policy official as an impeachment fallout continues police report several people have been shot to death in a German city and a new report finds children's highest risks are from climate change and commercial marketing find expanded coverage of the stories and more at Rio News dot com and on our v.o.a. Mobile app this is international edition. President Donald Trump's longtime advisor Roger Stone who since his arrest in 2900 repeatedly tested the patience of the federal judge providing of the trial later today District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson will sentenced about her own Republican operative whose friendship with Trump dates back decades to 12 member jury in November found stone guilty on all 7 counts of lying to Congress obstruction and witness tampering the judge Tuesday rejected Stone's bid to delay the sentencing the high profile case has taken an important additional importance since Trump last week blasted federal prosecutors who won Stone's conviction as corrupt after they recommended to the judge a prison sentence of 7 to 9 years Attorney General William Barr intervened and the Justice Department withdrew the recommendation as excessive with all 4 prosecutors then quitting the case Meanwhile the. House is also denying reports that President Trump offered to pardon Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange if he would say Russia had nothing to do with leaking Democratic e-mails in 2016 Mike Ross has that at a preliminary hearing in London Wednesday an attorney for a Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange read a statement from another lawyer who says that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher went to see a songe at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017 on instructions from President Donald Trump according to the statement from Attorney Jennifer Robinson Rohrabacher relayed that Trump was offering a pardon or some other way out if Assad said Russia had nothing to do with the leaks from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election White House Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham says Trump has never spoken to war Bachar about a son a full hearing for a son she was fighting extradition to the u.s. On spying charges is scheduled to begin next week I might cross. Well joining us now is Robert diet's professor of policy and Governmental Affairs at George Mason University thank you for being with us to unpack all of this so 1st off let's start with Roger Stone do you think the president is going to immediately pardon his longtime associate I think the president has put the judge in a very difficult plight place and if I were Mr Stone's lawyers I'd be really really concerned because if she caves to what looks like the president's wishes she'll be regarded as somebody who's caving in to the president on the other hand she might well have an inclination to go on to have given a lighter sentence in the prosecutor's an issue recommended So he's put her in a terrible bind my instinct is that she's going to go with a point of stiff sentence somewhere between the very high recommendation of the initial d.o.j. Recommendation and above the later recommendation with respect to a pardon the president's pardon power is viewed has generally been viewed as absolute and there's never been any particular reason to test that but I think it's a mistake to think that pardons are cost free you take a risk with your supporters and of course you also pay a price from people who study the presidency and I don't think that the vanity of our president would like being viewed as sort of the lowest of the low in terms of being a you know handing out pardons and supporting those that that have been his buds so certainly it's possible he may he may pardon him but I I'm not so sure that's going to work quite that way what do you thing you don't you don't believe the president will pardon Roger sounded on your side at least not now he definitely seems to enjoy pardoning and it's not as though as you mentioned you know he doesn't seem to be pardoning people that has come out remorseful right for any of the things they were convicted of there right basically talking about the injustices they were all there I mean you notice. Actually all of our people who are who are convicted of crimes involving corruption and that's of course precisely what Trump himself was accused of the in the impeachment proceedings people talk about the former Illinois governor all these people are people that were people of not great reputation but people of money and that really in many respects sort of describes our president well it's interesting that you said the impeachment because there was this whole issue of a quid pro quo the president in offering time with him with him in the White House and you Ukraine if they cooperated in investigating potential rival Joe Biden Yes And we're hearing from the attorney of Wiki Leaks founder Julian a song yet still faces an extradition hearing as well according to this attorney a well known lawmaker told the songs that if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee e-mails at the heart of the Russian vest a Geisha and that the that he would get a pardon by the troponin astray ssion how damning Could this be for the president that's a very hard question to answer given the fact that I kind of assume that the accusations that the president faced you know 9 months ago were pretty damning to me I would take those as a really serious accusation but as you know Mr Trump has been able to flirt with disaster from almost the start of his administration would just cause the to approve a quid pro quo as well a potentially thing I'll do you do this for you if you do this for us. That is a that to the best of my knowledge has never been adjudicated that is you you do whatever you want to do or whatever I ask you to do and if you get caught and or convicted I'll pardon you I think the answer is yes it would constitute such a crime but it's never been tested because again the Pres. Pardoning power is generally viewed of absolute or close absolute right Robert dieties a professor of policy and Governmental Affairs at George Mason University thank you for being with us. Well a big security conference in Munich this week had European leaders coming up with a new name for their concerns West lessness Joining us now to talk more about this is Paris based journalist Catherine field Catherine what exactly do they mean and why are they expressing concern there is growing a lot about the u.s. Commitment to Europe and so the Beyond that the very essence if you like the transatlantic alliance itself you know whether it's in private or there isn't speeches you know hearing European leaders being can know what they think is the American disengagement not just from Europe but from the wode generally and from your role in the world and so to this notion of what if listeners is why getting countries particularly here in New York to stop thinking about you know where everyone good from here where did these. Very traditional tie these alliances when should they be going to now now look who's there Europe will have to defend itself it may well have to create some kind of security architecture for itself and not be even it's time to start talking to Russia again and make this good news so good and where did this time come from all the time came from it because there are so many so-called liberal democracies that seem to be under strain at the moment and not Johnston the United States where it felt that there's a move away from this liberal democracy but also countries within Europe for example hungry and instances as well in England and some of the democratic foundations being. That particular when it comes to Supreme Court and when you don't fight our way out of a country that just seems that the. Moment that this Great Western idea of the free market economy all the structures in place for it to be just really understand under strain at the moment I understand your President Emanuel Chronos speaking out especially to try to sort of bring European leaders together on the us can. And then you know macro on really does feel that there's this or you could tell widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of all that a lot of these uncertainties and a lot of these are coming from for example Syria and Russia and his idea is that Europe must create its own security architecture it has to come together and be able to act can be prepared to become sober and more autonomous and to be capable of taking care of its own security and defense and that really is something that we have not heard from a serious when European leaders for a long time the idea that Europe takes control of its own destiny it no longer rely upon America for its leadership and when you know could you look at the complaint about the lack of traditional American leadership you're hearing a lot and also you're hearing about the possibility that don't know Trump will get a 2nd and the possibility of not is that you want in the 1st America pulled off of the Paris climate agreement to put out a nuclear deal if there is a 2nd. Don't know try presidency then there is the possibility that you may even pull out of NATO. NATO had so much disregard for the very essence of the NATO alliance selfhood called into question how they talk about waiting are they watching the presidential campaigns going on here in the United States. Is there talk of sort of waiting to see what happens before they do make any moves or are they preemptively already discussing what they will though they're already discussing what they do and one of the big issues. Don't forget is what America is going to do and the saw how when you look at. Cheney and Molly these areas which really talks about Europe's defense you problems well they're already on the telephone making me think well people in the State Department the Defense Department saying the Americans have to stay there that got to stay and help and so that you would be seeing them reacting to help but there is just this idea is realized that Donald Trump gets a 2nd and really needs to start thinking about whether or not America will be a reliable ally for the next 4 years beyond that as Paris based journalist Catherine failed thank you so much. As the death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 2000 people Tuesday all but 6 of them in mainland China according to the World Health Organization it now says Beijing is taking the right strategic and tactical approaches to effectively curb the spread of covert 1000 epidemic. Julie tab reports speaking at a press for. Michael j. Ryan executive director of health emergencies program praised China's efforts and giving critical care to patients often for a sustained period of time. People are getting into critical care. With quarantine measures in place and bans on travel. Said China's measures have proven effective and buying more time and. Limiting the overall global spread of the epidemic said Sylvie Briana Rachel's director of global infectious hazard preparedness modernisation us showing that. Those measure on the movement restriction of delayed. And dissemination of the outbreak of 2 or 3 days was in China and she weeks outside China so based on these then it shows that zoos measure if well implemented could have an impact on the propagation of the outbreak at the same time China success and restricting people's movement reflect the government's ability to impose extreme measures but taking very directed measures to ensure the people returning to the city are observed are monitored how you can argue. Whether those measures are excessive or whether there are restrictions on people but there's a lot at stake here in terms of public health and in terms of not only the public health of China but also of all people in the world. Professor Eileen Marty said no other country could have done more to contain the outbreak thank China has left partly because of a lack of individual rights and have a very authoritarian government in China that can impose much more men and can control its people more effectively resigning is not something I generally like but l. Great like she did her slow down the outward and I don't know considering clearly needs this bars that had China not done what you did there would be a worldwide in there and service of that goal the w.h.o. Is calling on all countries to accelerate research into the disease and share more information on cases with the organization Julie tab the way News Washington. F.b.i. Director Christopher Ray recently called violent extremism motivated by race or ethnicity as a top level priority on the same footing as ISIS and these extremist groups are using ISIS tactics to recruit new members often young impressionable alley unaided teenagers according to a former member of a hate group mill are Sega has the story. Christian be Cellini is an expert on hate in 1907 I was recruited into America's 1st neo Nazi skinhead group for Giuliani's testimony to Congress in 2019 was just the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager from a loving and hard working immigrant family and wrote so I went searching for a sense of identity community and purpose sort of on the fringes having been bullied for most of those 14 years and on those friends as I found a narrative a man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old and I was smoking a joint and he pulled the joint from my mouth and he looked me in the eyes and he said that's what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile and I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person or even what the word meant but it was the 1st time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me that had included me he stayed with the movement for 8 years I started a record store in 1905 to sell racist music that I was importing and making as well but at the record store I was also selling different kinds of music things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and and I started to meet people who were black and who were Jewish and who were gay for the 1st time really and having meaningful interaction with them so over you know the course of having their record store I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with Humanisation and it was those people that I'm so grateful for because they knew who I was and yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion and it was the compassion that I received from them at a time when I really I least deserve that was the most powerful transformative moment for me picture Leni has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called free radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism what I'm seeing. With white nationalism today is very similar to what I saw in the early days of let's say al-Qaeda or ISIS the propaganda tactics are the same recruitment is very similar the use of high quality marketing videos showing kind of this this hope of glory if you join the fight picture leader he says he's trying to be the person he wishes would have approached him when he was just 14 years old so many years ago. No our Savior the only news Washington you're listening to international edition we will be back in a moment. With its. African continent. I guaranteed. Our voices we're talking about the news you're talking about sharing stories of development in Africa around the world and in our life topic info. And change the world it's time for me I didn't speak Patrick. And to n.p.r. And. Joining us I. Feel. International Edition continues. Some of the negative the facts of life lived online become more and more apparent there are now digital wellness groups forming to promote ways to maintain healthy lifestyles Deanna Mitchell reports. Many people spend much of their waking hours looking at screens and not have spawned a growing health sector a digital wellness you live in this age of the attention economy and this notion really asserts that our attention is the most precious resource for sure the social worker and c.e.o. Of the digital moments collective a trade association dedicated to finding the best use of technology for mental images. And physical health for her sure the fighting in screen time is personal struggling with a stutter as a child she relied on eye contact to let people know she's trying to communicate a massive shift and eye contact and presence as mobile phones and it's texting big and more prevalent and I made it my personal and professional mission to read They see why the shift was happening and how we could take back our presence one organization in the collective America offline offers a device free camping experience for teenagers was started by a youth basketball coach frustrated with what he saw as the lack of team unity due to screen time hours life spent online is generating new maladies one of them is known a phobia which is the fear of being without one's phone you can get tech night from holding the head of the 45 degree angle and email apnea happens when holding your breath while reading emails to me hi is based on a superficial clicks of likes that are constantly changing then it's can be very detrimental it's enough to make one want to do a digital detox and some are trying looking at myself well I was nursing my new baby and then looking at my baby and thinking why am I looking at my phone it was really at that day I decided to use my phone a lot less pressure said going completely offline is unrealistic for most people she hopes to help people find the optimal use of tact for their well being. Or viewing news Dina Mitchell Scott's Valley California. This is in a minute. Medical professionals of long recommended a healthy diet exercise and medication to patients who have high risk factors for maladies like heart disease diabetes or stroke a new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego and the song constitute for Biological Studies provides evidence that a form of sporadic fasting called time restricted eating helped improve the health of volunteers. Participants who had some of those risk factors before with time restricted reading program who read your entire daily intake of food over only a certain number of hours each day and fasting for the remainder of the day the researchers found that when their study volunteers limited 30 eating to 10 hours or less each day over a 12 week period they lost weight reduced abdominal fat lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol and were able to maintain stable blood sugar and insulin levels I mean always Rick pencil a 0. 0 church. Challenge losing his father during the 1994 genocide and founded because Ito my hypo he sounded a shanty as art as a healing he was one of the several artists who helped composer Wanda's national anthem but he ran into problems with authorities after recording a song in 2014 titled The meaning of death which was interpreted as criticizing the government of the wandering Rolonda and president also Kwame and questioning the government's version genocide. Was arrested days after the song was released and later convicted of conspiracy to. In that murder in a terrorist attack conspiracy against the government he remained in prison until

Radio-program , Writers-from-new-york-city , New-york-republicans , Chief-executive-officers , Latin-legal-terms , American-politicians , Democracy , Liberal-democracies , Election-commissions , Forms-of-government , George-mason , Association-of-public-and-land-grant-universities

BBC Radio 4 LW-20200216-050000

This drill and the suicide of a well known television presenter sparks shock in Britain with thousands paying tribute to her on social media that's all coming up on the newsroom Hello this is the b.b.c. News if you know MacDonald there's been a drop in the number of new cases of Corona virus in China for the 3rd consecutive day official said more than 2000 people were confirmed infected on Saturday the vast majority were in who be Province over 1600 have now died from covert 90 mm The Japanese health ministers are known 70 more cases of the disease on board a cruise liner docked off the port of Yokohama more than 350 people are now known to be infected 2 thirds have yet to be tested our correspondent in Tokyo Rupert Wingfield he's has more details the Diamond Princess is now by far the biggest coronavirus hotspot outside China the ship is in its 11th day of quarantine health experts say if the quarantine were effective the number of new cases of the virus should now be starting to decline but that is not happening today the Japanese government confirmed another 70 infections from those on board the ship follow 67 new cases yesterday. The Venezuelan government says Huge numbers of soldiers and civilians have begun a 2 d. Military drill to prepare for what it describes as the threat of invasion by u.s. Led forces the opposition leader why do dismiss the maneuvers as a propaganda exercise Here's our America's editor Leonardo Russia Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Reno has said that over 2000000 members of a militia force created by the late August charges were among those deployed in several parts of the country President Nicolas Maduro alleges that terrorist groups backed by the United States have been training in secret camps in Brazil and Colombia the opposition says Mr model is simply trying to create a diversion from the real problems created by his government including poverty violence high inflation in widespread human rights violations police in Paris of arrested a Russian performance artist Republican ski who is behind the release of a sex video the brought down an hour of President Emanuel McCrum prosecutor said he was being questioned about a separate incident Grant ferret has this report the video ended bones remain Quivers election campaign to become the mayor of Paris its publication on social media has been widely condemned across the political spectrum in France Mr Polanski said he posted it online to expose what he called Mr Quivers hypocrisy the Russian has previously made headlines for a number of dramatic artistic exploits notably setting fire to the front door of Russia's secret police the f.s.b. In Moscow his efforts to highlight a lack of freedom of speech in Russia include sewing his lips together rolling naked in barbed wire and nailing his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square. That report from ground ferret world news from the b.b.c. . A number of rockets have hit in the area near the u.s. Embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad sirens were heard across the heavily fortified Green Zone where the embassy is located a military base of the u.s. Led coalition is nearby It's not clear whether the attack caused any damage or casualties Israel says its air force has carried out reads targeting the ism as movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip it's not yet known if anyone's been killed or injured the airstrikes followed rocket fire on Saturday into Israel from the Palestinian territory the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who's facing another general election in just over 2 weeks recently warned of a crushing response if the rocket fire by Palestinians continued. Early voting has begun in the u.s. State of Nevada as the Democrats continue their campaign to choose a candidate to stand against Donald Trump in November the week long process in the State finishes next Saturday is seen as an important test for Joe Biden who lost heavily in Iowa and New Hampshire his team argues Nevada with its more diverse population could help to improve Mr Biden's fortunes the suicide of a well known television presenters cause shock in Britain Caroline Flack who stood popular reality programs including love violent she was found dead at her home on Saturday the presenter who is 40 had been facing trial next month on charges of assaulting her boyfriend Our correspondent David Sillett who has been looking into the tribute online there are hundreds and hundreds of comments one from her management team expressing both sadness but also I think a degree of anger here and immensely talented young woman who was at the top of her game loved by television viewers she had been under huge pressure because of an ongoing case that was being pursued when it was known how vulnerable Caroline was b.b.c. News. Hello and welcome to the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service with me tonight jail we start in China where officials say the number of new cases of Corona virus has fallen for the 3rd day in a row but that still means more than $140.00 need deaths bring the total killed by the virus to more than $1600.00 while China is insisting it's on the path to bringing the outbreak under control even going so far as disinfecting and quarantine banknotes health experts say there's no room for complacency more than 2 dozen countries have confirmed cases the World Health Organization says governments need to do more to protect their citizens get barley reports China has thrown the weight of its collective communist might against the coronavirus emergency hospitals both in days thousands of medical workers in the military deployed to aid the infected entire cities in quarantine officials claim the outbreak is generally under control despite criticism of their handling of the virus also known as covert 19 on Saturday they announced a sharp fall in the number of new cases but speaking in Munich the World Health Organization Director General Ted you said had them good reactors said the show still has many concerns we are concerned by the continued increase in the number of cases in China we are concerned by reports from China yesterday about the number of workers who have been infected or with cancer by their lack of urgency in finding the response from the international community a joint w.h.o. Chinese team is on the ground in Hue Bay the province where the outbreak began to gather more information on the virus China has sent to all punished hundreds of government and health workers it accuses of shortcomings in the handling of the crisis the country's foreign minister when he has defended the response being real which is the history of civilization. It is one of struggle against disease viruses respect no borders in the spirit of openness and transparency we promptly notified the world about the outbreak and shared the genetic sequence of the virus we have been working closely with the debate show increasingly the focus is on the rest of the world the World Health Organization is cooling for more money to help countries not ready or capable of coping with a possible epidemic so far 26 countries have recorded cases Margaret Harris is a spokesperson for the w.h.o. We know of about 30 to 40 countries that have got very frightened health systems that we are working intensively with to build the systems but we do lack of funds and we do lack the resort's us to get those countries ready it's just over 6 weeks since the outbreak was 1st identified in China since then it spread around the world and affected tens of thousands of lives the message from health experts is there's still a long way to go before they can be confident of getting complete control of the corona virus following on from the w h O's concerns the Microsoft founder and global health pioneer Bill Gates has warned the virus could devastate Africa if it establishes a hold there Meanwhile Japan has reported a sharp rise in the number of infections on board a cruise ship docked in Yokohama walk out he joins me now live in studio and Gareth a significant number of new cases in that Chris ship what we know yes this is the Diamond Princess it's been docked off York Harbor at the port there now for the last 11 days there's 3700 people on board all of that 1200 have so far been tested for Corona virus and now we know that 355 people on board have tested positive those who have tested positive then taken on to the mail undertaking to health facilities this cruise ship alone is now the largest single outbreak of Corona virus outside of China it's possibly the most densely populated outbreak as well as. Such a high number in such a small space people there in St Coren seem confined to their cabins if they don't have a balcony they can have very limited access to the deck as well to get out and get a bit of fresh air but we're now hearing is the United States is sending charter aircraft to remove its nationals who have post tested negative for the corona virus in the u.s. Embassy in Tokyo has written a letter and I just read some of it here it says based on the high number of coded 19 the other name for Corona virus identified on board the Department of Health and Human Services has made an assessment that passengers and crew members on board were high risk of exposure the letter then goes on to say these charter flights are your only option to fly into the United States before the 4th of March at the earliest and those people who are taken to the u.s. Will then be put into coronating for another 14 days as well and it's not just the United States we know that Canada is also sending an aircraft so its Hong Kong Australia is sending an expert to go and get a greater understanding of the situation on board the Diamond Princess and there's been a bit of criticism of Japan because it's so strict and so strange about this but Japan is very keen to keep as few cases on the mainland as possible hence people being kept on the ship and what about cases of coronavirus elsewhere in the world we saw in France the 1st recorded death of coronavirus outside of China that was a Chinese national who had arrived in France meanwhile in Egypt the 1st confirmed case in Africa now the authorities in Egypt are saying that it's a foreigner They've not given a nationality but as we were hearing earlier from the World Health Organization there particularly worried about 30 to 40 countries that they are trying to get funding for and to work with that maybe don't have the capacity to deal with the potential of an epidemic and I think it's fair to say that if this is now being seen in Africa that will heighten those concerns because those countries there that don't have the financial might the you know the medical might to places like Japan . And of the United Kingdom or the United States so the emergence of create a virus in there for care will of course cause greater concern Garrett thank you very much for that in a show of strength Venezuela's military is holding 2 days of exercises with civilian militia President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States of backing terrorist groups and planning an invasion of an Israel or speaking on state television the defense minister Vladimir Padrino said the militia had a vital role to play in the country's defense so much they don't mean you are at your community selling you know he said look there are more than 2300000 militia men and women who have joined this drill incorporation of the militia as a special component of our national armed force gives it substantial added importance for all defense purposes of Venezuela but the opposition leader has dismissed the military drills as a propaganda exercise are America's editor or not a Russia told me more about them for the 1st time the Venezuelan government is having joint operation a joint drill with the army in this militia that was created by the late August Chavis they are civilians who've been trained to defend their country from an invasion or to basically be at the disposal of the government if something happens so more than $2000000.00 took part in several parts of the country in a way this is President Maduro sending a message to the United States say don't try anything here I have the support not only all you have the army but of armed civilians who are willing to fight for for the Bolivarian Revolution and How credible are missed amid duros claims of a possible Bay of Pigs style u.s. Military invasion Well the possibility of an invasion like the United States tried in Cuba in the 1960 is slim at the moment we have an election here in the United States it's. To be out of the question but the rhetoric has been quite vociferous quite strong from both sides among the refers to trump as the head of the Empire and Trump calls him a dural a dictator in the we have the problem also the United States increasing the sanctions against Venezuela so we have the possibility off aggression somehow and in the past Donald Trump didn't rule out the possibility of military action to get rid of because my daughter are not a Russia in the United States all eyes are Nevada as early voting has begun in the race to pick the Democratic candidate to take on Donald Trump in November as presidential election and is a key contest for Joe Biden he's playing catch up after a poor showing in New Hampshire and Iowa at a rally in Las Vegas he reminded the crowd of his vice presidential credential zx I was really proud to be Brock's vice president President Obama is right. There we're proud. That the day we passed Obama Care Thank you it was a stalwart a strong work achievement now Donald Trump and I might add some Democrats want to get rid of it won't bother my dead body they're going to get rid of it. Mr Boyd's main rival is likely to be the senator Bernie Saunders currently the front runner in the Democratic Party race so just how important is the Nevada contest for Mr Biden is the question on put to our portion and that they kiss havea chunk it's definitely a very important race for him because his performances in Iowa and New Hampshire would be in a disappointing and in some ways sound like embarrassing considering he's a poll the vice president said particleboard name recognition than the other candidate but he had a theme I've been playing down the defeat in Iowa and New Hampshire and what they tell you is that in developed it is a state that's much more and it looks a lot more like in the rest of the u.s. And so they would say that this is a state where he's hoping to put in the best to performance and I'm right now so post I'm just he's a distant 2nd behind the sand and hope to suggest that Mr Senator the plans 4 percent so he's on 16 percent coming in 2nd which isn't as bad as what happened in Iowa and New Hampshire but suggests he still faces a very strong challenge convention. And there are concerns out there in Nevada off to the the voting chaos we saw in Iowa because the technical problems there and the organizers in Nevada hoping the no can see a repeat of that kind of chaos yes in fact that's one of the biggest questions people have you know about their ballot because yeah it was out so badly delayed that in the posse Chiefs had to resign and Donald Trump quoted a yes but I'm initially to state the end of the with citing the same thing at but after the problems in Iowa emerged now they say Well the latest we've heard is that precinct will be using Google phone to tell you the results but they will have paper copies as the best but then I've also talked to experts who say they don't expect to see the same pulp in the so I will read it simply because there has been a lot of the early those who take and say things that we think a majority of people will take us into the caucuses rather than caucus night which gives them more time to tell me everything up hand is shown tributes have poured in for the British television presenter Caroline Flack who has died at the age of 40 she. As found dead at her flat in London on Saturday having taken her own life Caroline Flack was best known for hosting the hugely successful dating reality show Love Island but she stood down in December after she was alleged to have assaulted her boyfriend she denied the offense and had been due to stand trial next month her management team have criticised British prosecutors for pressing ahead with the case entertainment correspondent David Slater reports. Love Island x. Factor I'm a celebrity can we please all gather around the fire Caroline Flack was a presenter on some of the biggest programs in British television to save one island from each couple she was until a few weeks ago the face of the glamorous escapist fun of Love Island but everything I don't ruffled after she was arrested and charged with assault her boyfriend in court in December it was clear she was deeply distressed she was found dead as a flat a lawyer said she had taken her own life friends and colleagues have spoken of their shock and heartbreak Love Island as a show that thrives on its impact on social media thousands were expressing their grief and sympathy but in recent weeks in the wake of a court appearance the attention from the press and online has been intense and Stayman journalist Caroline Frost social media is a very powerful tool for these percenters because they can effortlessly and immediately communicate with so many different fans and really bring their own personality to the fore the problem is is that on the bad days that scrutiny and attention doesn't go away it stays with them for these increasingly public figures isn't that means of escape from there. Is a bit of a surprise element Frank's t.v. Career went back to early 20 years from tear my own children's b.b.c. To winning Strictly Come Dancing and 2014. The night she won there was a late but she spoke afterwards of a struggle with depression then came the assault charge. She was accused of hitting her boyfriend while he slept he stood by her but they weren't allowed to communicate before her forthcoming trial and Caroline Flack was advised to stay off social media but she did post this on Instagram she thanked those who had been kind to her and added this kind of scrutiny and speculation is a lot to take on for one person another post read simply in a world where you can be anything because I'm David Letterman porting You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service the time is now coming up to $520.00 g.m.t. . And they relieve the b.b.c. World service to begin our day here on b.b.c. Radio 4 Good morning this is Diana speed welcoming you to the network the time is 20 past 5 on Sunday the 16th of February and in a moment Sarah Keith Lucas will bring you a shipping forecast with a full and more general forecast of what the weather is up to across the country during news briefing 1st a look ahead to this afternoon and a new Radio 4 series starring Glenda Jackson. Isn't easy. She's fingers around your heart. Tell me about dramas inspired by the works of Emile Zola you know in life slings one thing after that I guess been made with an all star cast led by Glenda Jackson never seen me cry before more to the point neither had I fault lines money sex and blood on b.b.c. Radio 4 she was worth 10 of you I am glad about that I really am begins this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Now over to Sara thanks Diana good morning and now the shipping forecast issued by the Met Office on behalf of the maritime and Coastguard Agency and I 5 o 5 on Sunday the 16th of February 2020 there are warnings of gales in all areas except Trafalgar the general synopsis of midnight low 100 miles south of Iceland $9.00 to $3.00 expected Pharaoh's 945 by midnight tonight and the area forecasts for the next 24 hours biking north etc south at 0 forty's southerly or south westerly 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 6 at times rain then showers good occasionally poor Cromarty 4th time in dog or fish or German bite Humber. Southwest 6 to Gale 8 increasing severe gown 9 at times rain then showers could occasionally pour. Thames dovo white Portland Plymouth Northwest Biscay westerly or southwesterly 7 to severe down 9 occasionally storm Tenet 1st rain then schoolie showers moderate occasionally poor . Southeast Biscay southerly becoming cyclonic 5 to 7 occasionally Gale 8 in north becoming variable 2 to 4 then south westerly 5 to 7 later occasional rain good occasionally moderate. South Fitzroy south westerly 6 to Gale 8 occasionally severe gal 9 at 1st in North varying westerly 5 to 7 rain then showers good occasionally moderate North Fitzroy Seoul Lundy Fastnet. Westley or southwesterly 7 to severe gale 9 increasing storm 10 at times except in Lundie rain then school the showers Well occasionally poor. Irish Sea Southwest 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 6 at times rain then school the showers good occasionally poor Shannon Rockall Mallon Southwest veering West Gale a 2 storm 10 occasionally 7 later school the showers wintery at times wandered occasionally poor Hebrides Bailey Southwest becoming cyclonic 7 to severe gale 9 increasing storm 10 at times schoolie wintry showers moderate occasionally poor. Fair Isle Southwest becoming cyclonic latest 7 to severe gal 9 perhaps storm 10 later schoolie showers moderate occasionally poor ferries southerly becoming cyclonic 6 to Gale age decreasing 5 at times perhaps of a go 9 later in South squally wintry showers good occasionally poor southeast Iceland cyclonic 5 to 7 increasing Gale 8 at times becoming variable 2 to 4 then cyclonic 3 to 5 later schoolie wintry showers good occasionally poor. And the weather reports from coastal stations for a Ford. Tyree automatic Southwest 7 recent rain 6 miles 964 now rising Stornoway Southwest 5 recent rain more than 38 miles 959 now rising Loic South by West 612 miles 966 Falling Slowly Lukas southwest by West 6 recent rain 19 miles 969 now rising. Bridlington Southwest 4981 falling more slowly Jessie south southwest 6 recent rain 4 miles 1001 falling channel light vessel automatic southwest by South 81000 meters 995 falling silly automatic west by south 6 slight drizzle one mile 992 rising slowly for mention southwest by West 6 recent rain 6 miles 982 now falling Wells way west southwest 6 recent rain 7 miles 976 Falling Slowly man in head southwest 79 miles 969 now falling and here is the weather forecast for the Ensure waters of Great Britain and Northern Ireland voted for the following 24 hours issued by the Met Office at a 5. General situation a very deep area of low pressure to the northwest of the United Kingdom will continue to bring its strong south westerly winds Jaring Sunday and into Monday with gales expected in all parts and storm force winds affecting northern and southern areas at times Cape Wrath to Rattray head including Orkney southwesterly varying Westley later 7 to severe gale 9 perhaps storm 10 at later in North schoolie showers did occasionally pour rasher a head to bear upon Tweed Southwest 7 to severe gale 9 occasionally 6 at 1st rain then showers moderate or good occasionally port 1st but upon Tweed to Whitby Southwest 6 to Galle to casually 5 at 1st then increasing severe go 9 times rain then showers well to talk good occasionally port 1st. With b. To Gibraltar point south west 6 to Gale 8 occasionally 5 at 1st then increasing severe gale 9 at times later rain then showers what it all did occasionally port 1st Gibraltar point to North Foreland south westerly 70 s of a gallon 9 decreasing 4 to 6 for a time at 1st rain then showers but are told good occasionally port 1st will fall into cell c. Bill Westley or southwesterly 7 to severe gale 9 occasionally storm 10 at 1st then decreasing 5 or 6 for a time rain then showers or to a good occasion report 1st Selsey bill to Lyme Regis west or south west 70 s. Of a gale 9 occasionally storm 10 at 1st then decreasing 5 or 6 for a time rain then showers schoolie later or 3 whole good occasionally port 1st Lyme Regis Lands End including the hours of silly west of Southwest 7 to survey again 90 creasing 5 or 6 for a time at 1st rain then school early showers moderate or good occasionally poor at 1st Land's End use in David's head including the Bristol Channel west coast Southwest 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 6 at times rain then schoolie showers water to a good occasionally port 1st seen David's head to great on heading to ding St George's Channel Southwest 6 to Gale 8 increasing survey down 9 times rain then school he showers one or 2 a good occasionally port 1st great on head to the mall of Galloway south west 6 to Gail 8 increasing survey girl 9 times rain then school he showers well ditto good occasionally port 1st I live man Southwest 7 to survey gal 9 mainly fair moderate or good. Look full to conning for luck Southwest 7 to severe gale 90 creasing 6 at times schoolie showers good occasionally poor. Lot of Galloway to Mull of Kintyre including the 1st of Clyde in North Channel southwesterly $72.00 Civic Al 9 decreasing 6 at times schoolie showers good occasionally poor man of Kintyre to add an American point Southwest varing West later 70 civic and 9 increasing storm tenets times schoolie showers moderate occasionally pour. Are American points to Cape Wrath Southwest alleviating Westley later 70 s of a gallon 9 increasing storm 10 at times schoolie showers 100 occasionally pour Shetland Isles South 6 to Gale 8 bearing Southwest 7 to civic hour 9 schoolies showers good occasionally poor and that completes the shipping bulletin I'll be back with a general weather forecast in a few minutes thank you this is b.b.c. Radio 4 it's half past 5 on Sunday the 16th of February Good morning this is news briefing with Diana speed. Families have been evacuated from their homes as a storm Dennis causes rivers to flood in the Scottish Borders Caroline flex management have criticized the Crown Prosecution Service following the television presenter suicide just days before she was due to stand trial for assault the number of new coronavirus cases in China has dropped for the 3rd consecutive day and in sport Liverpool established a 25 point lead at the top of the Premier League with a heart for victory against Norwich. A number of homes have been evacuated in the Scottish Borders as Storm Dennis continues to bring heavy rain and strong winds across the u.k. Rivers in the horrific area are causing flooding while 2 people have been rescued from a car which was swept off a road in Newcastle and after a river burst its banks. More than 200 flood warnings are in place across Britain with 3 severe warnings in Scotland meaning there is a danger to life Crabtree who's a flood warden in top Morden in West Yorkshire says people there are prepared all of Hawk-Eye after last weekend we were hammered we were caught a little bit on the hop we knew it was going to be I remember don't think anybody realise just how body was we got more places would have been we had on previous occasions new places that don't normally flood so we've been telling everybody it's on its way make sure you're prepared for it Caroline flex management company have criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for pursuing a trial against her even though she was vulnerable the Love Island presenter was found dead at her home yesterday having taken her own life she was due to stand trial next month accused of assaulting her boyfriend which she denied the c.p.s. Said it couldn't comment on the specifics of the case the celebrity Agent Jones and Shanna to represents Love Island contestants says the media has to bear some responsibility for what's happened these people might be famous but they're still vulnerable individuals I remember looking at the press before Christmas about the whole case against our law and it was horrendous about press use galaxy was getting more negative press the terrorist. Officials in China's Hu Bay province which is at the center of the corona virus outbreak have announced another drop in new cases just over 2000 new infections were confirmed yesterday the 3rd day in a row that the number has fallen the outbreak has now killed 1665 people. A British couple quarantined on a cruise liner off the Japanese proved to be a harm or have accused the u.k. Government of ignoring their pleas for help the United States and Canada airlift their citizens off the Diamond Princess which is reported 355 cases of the coronavirus the biggest cluster outside China in a video post on Facebook David Abel and his wife Sally said they had little hope of a similar rescue I'm now given up on anybody in the u.k. Quite frankly and realize that all us Brits are just going to have to do our own thing now is that he talking to us yeah no message from the u.k. Foreign Office. They just don't give a damn Seanie American and Afghan officials say the 1st phase of a plan to end the 18 year conflict in Afghanistan could begin the soonest tomorrow the Taliban is due to start a weeklong reduction in violence and if that goes well is expected to sign a longer term deal later this month. Rockets have hit and there it near the u.s. Embassy in Baghdad sirens were heard across the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital there's been no confirmation of any damage or casualties. Police in Paris have arrested the Russian performance artist pure trip of Linsky who released a sex video that brought down President mackerels candidate in x. Months Merrill election prosecutors said he was being questioned about a separate incident involving an alleged fight at a flat in the city 6 weeks ago. Now back with a more general forecast for you this time his circus Lucas thanks Diana well Storm Dennis will continue to cause disruption today we've currently got about 250 flood warnings in place across the u.k. Including 3 severe flood warnings for southern Scotland and South Wales too and Amber warnings from the Met Office still in force for more heavy rain particular cross old England Wales south west England and southeast England many areas saying about 50 to 80 millimeters of rain in parts of South Wales we've already had over 100 millimeters that could be about 120 millimeters in places today so some very heavy rain around today and some strong winds too now was that the country north to south so all of southern England Wales the Midlands and eastern England a very wet starts the day we've got some heavy rain and some strong gusty winds in store today wind gusts about $45.00 to $55.00 mph strong in that around expose case so could see some trees down some power cuts and certainly flooding with that persistent rain which will just slowly clear off towards the southeast during the season and then a return to clearer spells and heavy showers. The Northern England Scotland and Northern Ireland early persistent rain for northern England clears south quite quickly and then it's a day of sunny spouse and heavy showers with hail thunder and some snow over the mountains of Scotland very strong winds particular by this evening we could see gusts up to about 75 miles per hour it is a reason the mild day with temperatures between about 7 to 12 degrees for most of us today but tomorrow another very windy day with sunshine heavy showers and they will be wintry and the hills of Scotland thank you Sarah Turner for a look at the front pages of this morning's newspapers and pictures of Caroline Flack and coverage of her death feature on most the Sunday Mirror describes it as a valentine tragedy saying she had spent Friday on her own and unable to respond to a supportive social media message from her partner Louis Burton the television presenter was banned from contacting her boyfriend ahead of her trial for allegedly assaulting him charges he had urged prosecutors to drop the Mail on Sunday describes her as a troubled romantic who never did find true love while the Sun on Sunday runs an article written by her friend Clemmie moody which says she was brilliant witty fun and just wanted someone to take care of her the Sunday Times says Downing Street has vowed to scrap the television license fee and make views pay a subscription for b.b.c. Services it is the national broadcaster could also be compelled to sell off most of its local and national radio stations and reduce the number of television channels it runs and number 10 sources quoted as saying The pm is firmly of the view that there needs to be serious reform and he is really strident on this. It's lead Sunday Telegraph says it understands that anyone suffering flu like symptoms could be ordered by health officials to self isolated home for a fortnight if the number of coronavirus cases in the u.k. Hits the hundreds he says millions of Britons with coughs and colds could end up in quarantine as part of attempts to contain the outbreak. The paper also reports the Boris Johnson has abandoned plans to impose a mansion tax on owners of expensive homes following a major backlash from Conservative M.P.'s and grassroots members he says the prime minister is understood to have cooled on the idea of concluding the measure in the upcoming budget after discussing it with Sajid Javid before he resigned as chancellor. The Mail on Sunday leads with reaction to the candid pod cast interview by the Duchess of Cambridge sharing her anxieties and doubts about parenting The paper says it was an unprecedented insight inter-personal life and one of the most intimate ever given by a senior will look at the morning papers now sports and a pool have edged closer to claiming their 1st Premier League title with more on that and the rest of this morning sport headlines is pulsars Liverpool moved a massive 25 points clear of the top of the table with a one mil win of a bottom club at Carrow Road yesterday that 25th win from 26 matches in the Premier League this season that monitor you can plop isn't getting carried away despite his team's mom athlete it's incredible 25 games mentality of the years of this group but we sit here and I if you would have asked me about ever during my career but $76.00 points out of whatever match. I would defeat I probably would have said thought I'm in the bus already on the way home drinking celebrating whatever it doesn't feed at all like this in the days of the Premier League match Burnley beat Southampton c one at St Mary's in today's games Arsenal host Newcastle before Tottenham travelled to Aston Villa a win for Spurs would see the move within a point of 4th place Chelsea West Bromwich Albion state's top of the Championship after that 22 draw with 5th place Notts in forest while promotion hopefuls Leeds United got back to winning ways with a one nil victory over Bristol City American born Swedish pole vaulter. Broke his own world record clearing 6 metres 18 at the indoor grown Prix in class yesterday the 20 year old has his sights set on even bigger things there's a lot of things left for me to achieve I'm no one Olympics and I want to watch I mean chips and there's a lot of meets that I'm never one that I want to win and you know I want to be the best I want to have the summer and then I don't know from there yet you have accomplished some more things than I have so I keep trying. To keep them. Because I'm really having a blast at their job and right now and you know I think good things will happen elsewhere the wins for Britain's To me 1500 and lure him you're in the 1000 meters the controversial Australian rugby player Israel Folau made his debut for Catalans Dragons yesterday scoring after just 6 minutes of his 1st rugby league appearance in a decade as the French side because with a 3618 impact in your in his The B.B.C.'s rugby league correspondent thank you it's all eyes are on Israel Folau and pull all the off field control for sea he showed a flash of undoubted on the field at letters over the leaping catch to score after only 6 minutes his role there after was limited but his teammates led by fullback Sam talking to scored a hat trick did a terrific job Castleford scored 3 eyecatching tries themselves what they were always 2nd best to a drug inside the looks very good and I'll be expecting more from follow on the field and England's cricketers take on South Africa in the 3rd and final t 20 international that century and later with the series tied 11 and look ahead now to some of the items in the diary for later in the day the contenders for the Labor leadership and deputy leadership will take part in a hustings in London hosted by the co-operative party sickest Rebecca long Bailey and this and then to remain in the running to replace Jeremy Coogan. Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban will give his annual State of the Nation speech the Nationals leader is expected to lay out steps to boost the economy and comment on the E.U.'s migration policies and finally a look back at some of the stories that are making news on this state in earlier years the angel of the North was unveiled in Gateshead in 1998 the 70 foot tall steel sculpture of a man with wings took 70 is to design and build the sculptor Antony Gormley spoke to reporters at the end veiling I'm absolutely thrilled it's fantastic to see the cars slowing down on the a while as they get to grips with this new visual scene in front of them I become very something of what it means to be alive at the end of track just century I hope that it conveys a feeling of an immense potential and an almost danger the last major battle of the 1st English Civil War The Battle of Tarrant and took place on this date in 16462 Commons burial chamber was unsealed by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1903 Fidel Castro was sworn in as Cuba's youngest ever leader in 1959 after President who was driven into exile the previous month in 1965 the 2nd beaching report was published which led to the closure of a quarter Britain's railway system and look the loss of nearly $70000.00 jobs. The Shia Islamist militant group Hezbollah was founded in 1985 and in 2005 the Kyoto Protocol game into force 7 years after it was 1st agreed requiring countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the world's largest polluter the United States did not sign the treaty. And so not all of us for you on this date include the founder of Cadillac Henry m.l. And in 843 the former leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il in 1941 the author in banks in 1954 The Rapper and actor Ice-T. In 1958 The 7 time Grand Slam winning tennis player John McEnroe in mind 159 the actor Christopher Eccleston in 1964 the Australian Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Cathy Freeman in 1973 the Italian motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi in 1979 and the former England international footballer Rickie Lambert in 1982 happy birthday to them and that completes this morning's news briefing. Well time now for bells on Sunday which this week comes from St John's Church in Sid Cup in the county of Kent the tower contains appeal of 6 bells the 4 lightest were cast by Thomas Ms The 2nd in 1843 the 5th and tenor were cast by John Warner and sons in 1001 or 6 bells were retuned by Mears and Steyn bang in 150 the tenor weighs 8 and 3 quarter 100 weight and is tuned to the key of a. Part of a full repeal of single Oxford of mind of. I so Britain has a new chancellor out goes Star Trek Sam Sam did Javid teleported out of office after refusing a number 10 downgrade and demand to sack is advisors and then comes another side Star Wars obsessive She says neck down flat all you care about taking over in these circumstances. Like to be appointed not to get on with thanks very much good writing is a. Puppet regimes soon and has always wanted to be a Jedidiah Knight you know mess with them I am a huge Star Wars fan and I've gone to midnight showings of the movies I read had all I read all the books I have lots of stuff home toys lightsabers Lego impressive on top of his brief to do as he demonstrated on the B.B.C.'s political thinking with Nick Robinson podcast a few weeks ago quiz that in episode one which politician loses a vote of no confidence Oh senator a lawyer the chancellor of Laurel correct which planet becomes the subject of a trade war between the Senate and the Trade Federation Abu which intergalactic you named as can't do cruise ship movement want to leave. Which are which are all big big like the guy with Republicans that yes yeah correct and now he's chancellor in charge of Britain's post breaks it a commie gone May the Force be with him. Rishi soon ark was born in Southampton in May 980 the eldest of 3 children to Indian parents his grandparents emigrating to Britain from East Africa in the 1960 s. George Packer political editor of The Financial Times as followed his career and takes up the story his father was a a family doctor his mother was a pharmacist and he regards himself as British Indian That's what he puts on the census he talks about his religious and cultural heritage being Indian and he's open about being a Hindu but you know he's from that generation a thinks of 2nd generation of Indian immigrants who worked extremely hard studied extremely hard and made a massive success of their life as a boy Rishi helped out with the family business from time to time my mum's a pharmacist there in chief at some point when I was a teenager you know she she bought her own pharmacy but there was also then a small business owner and I did you know I did all the accounts and the books and did the bookkeeping and the accounts for so from quite early age I kind of got the import You know I could see right when the national and contributions go up all this tax goes up because I was doing the books innovate he returned every week. He got a top class education went to Winchester College on a Britain's most prestigious boarding schools school motto manners make a man sadly they were. Make of this program so no school friends no teachers with fond memories of their former head boy but we do have George a 15 year old boy from a North Yorkshire comprehensive who recently interviewed his m.p. Rishi So you know about his school days for a podcast he was making a few Well if you go George what did he say oh it was it was a really nice go to be you've had a bit of a career you know you've interviewed the man is now chancellor of the u.k. Yeah and the video I did to that is that you got work quite soon news overnight and I bet. You asked about school in what what did it tell. Whether any scrapes adventures are going into well the one time he wanted to watch the Euros and I don't think it was actually a lot so he had like a little old t.v. And he snuck up on to like so root servers as college he was watching it with his friend England scored a goal and started celebrating and celebrate and turned around the head teachers actually stood behind him Strom Torres. Didn't seem to affect him though if he did well at school in the art of got to go to school. Thanks to their. After Winchester College Richie soon act went to Oxford to study p.p. Philosophy politics and economics he joined the university's investment club started trading stocks and shares did well in the studies too says Katie Bowles deputy political editor at the Spectator he achieved a fest I think what's interesting about his academic background is next stands out as some He's very intellectual academic after a few years in investment banking he did a business masters degree at California Stanford University a smart decision not just for the qualification he met his future wife muti there too soon ex-wife well connected explains Asho ray of the Times of India his father in law is not an animal he is the co-founder of this technology company based in Bangalore Clyde in for service and then billionaires I think at least a couple of millions more of these very famous in Bangalore guess if you don't ask anybody to name a businessman in Bangalore and show their name what the 1st year the pair married in Bangalore in 2009 it was big news says Asher a it wasn't a big size down what they are but it has made this really Dan and they in my did everybody their friends from all over the world their staff their family. Relatives there you maybe before going into politics really soon Arquette a successful career in finance there is not one to blow his own trumpet says George Parker he has a about me web page where he glosses over some of the myths of his business career including the fact he works for Goldman Sachs the famous vampire squid of global capitalism and also the fact he worked for hedge fund these are 2 things which most politicians would rather leave off their off their cd so he likes to present himself as someone who worked with startups helping struggling new companies rather than 20 much in the fact that he had a well remunerated career with companies like Goldman Sachs you can have no doubt at all that you knock would be by far the richest member of the British Cabinet he became an m.p. In 2015 selected as the conservative candidate for the safe seat of Richmond in North Yorkshire former Tory leader William Hague's old seat at the time not everyone was convinced that he was the right man for the job Rickles Chris Lloyd features writer with the Northern Echo he rather came out of nowhere and to the blue so at 1st he was greeted with suspicion perhaps a little bit of cynicism because he clearly is not from Yorkshire he is from outside. In and he does indeed look different in a constituency that is 101 percent white is from Southampton that's practically as far south as you can get it is another world from your career both in terms of geography and of course in terms of football as well he supports Southampton f.c. I think he is a big Saints fan yes yes and that probably doesn't go down too well and that part of North Yorkshire which looks to Leeds as its football team you know I'm a Leeds fans I know exactly what to say and. It is up most to try to win them over mind here was the new bloke who was all over the place he was going to all the right places he was wearing is new green Wellington boots and standing beside mock ups. With pictures of dry stone walls in the background and he went into the cattle markets and he spoke with great knowledge about the intricacies of milk pricing and that sort of thing and that did make a difference the Maharajah of the Yorkshire Dales journalist Ben Judah Dobbs Tonight can earn the article he wrote for Us Magazine Politico Juda spending time following the want to be m.p. On the campaign trail one of the more remote corners of the constituency there was a lot of confusion about what hedge fund actually was one gent got confused about really soon x. Profession and that he wouldn't. Come along and help him attention instead of a hedge fund manager in the end he won with a 19000 majority ones in the Commons Richmond's new m.p. Didn't hang about says Kati balls soon after entering parliament he became a member of their environment feeder or the fast committee now again you might think this is not particularly impressive things he is clearly relevant but I do think you have to remember that often when M.P.'s have small the majorities they will Gates these great efforts if you have one of the safest seats you don't need to have as I think he someone has always bought the team so he's worked hard for this even though he probably didn't really have to soon at compressing the committee's chairman the conservative m.p. Neil parish I remember how he impressed me Eyebright ably was and I remember going back and saying to my wife we've got a very bright guy come onto the committee goldrush ysu not I reckon he's going to go quite far he says Sue not was always prepared to fight his corner we were talking as of all things of splitting sheep carcasses and he got quite excited about that one day he felt the processes were not giving a fair price to the farmers they were holding up the processing and he for really strong. On the committee and so like that I thought the side of him then where he could really dig in and was fight in the corner for his farmers he stuck to his guns to a year later in the run up to the e.u. Referendum when he defied his leader David Cameron and back believe campaign nor neckers Chris Lloyd again he went straight out there and held a series of town hall meetings a couple of which I chaired and he was very manly pro breaks it and he answered with great knowledge he had really done is research I was surprised given the lukewarm attitude of the Cameron government that he was a very ambitious chap who was really nailing is colors to the bricks that most long before those joining come lately like Michael Gove or Boris Johnson were in that particular camp after David Cameron resigned and to reason may became prime minister she appointed him a junior housing and communities minister he voted her breaks it deal the each time it went before parliament and when she stood down he was nearly backer of Boris Johnson for Pm a significant moment says spectator deputy political editor Katie balls within Boris Johnson's team met recently seen act is seen as crucial actually in retrospect there was a point in the leadership campaign when not that many M.P.'s had come out and back Boris Johnson and from the center of the party and I think since then there is a special level of loyalty towards lity. He is seen as someone who is on the wavelength of Boris Johnson when Johnson got the keys to number 10 rewarded soon act by making him Chief Secretary to the Treasury when we came into office Labor had left this country on the brink of bankruptcy but because of the actions we took the economy is now stronger soon at filling in for Johnson and t.v. Debates during December the general election campaign an odd choice as the f t's political editor George Parker. I think people when watching some of those election debates someone who on earth us they are pretty soon I was barely known outside Westminster standing in for the prime minister but he's articulate he's good on television he can be a bit stilted he can sound sometimes like he's reading off a party scripts it didn't seem to harm him in fact quite the opposite on Thursday when Sajid Javid quit as chancellor it was Rashidi soon act that Boris Johnson turned to replace him meteoric doesn't really cover his career he's gone from being a Local Government Minister to running the treasury in the space of little more than 18 months it's absolutely incredible and it's notable that in Cabinet meetings Boris Johnson often go to receive sooner for economic advice and people often said that he was Boris Johnson's favorite minister so he's extremely competent he's extremely sharp he can muster a spreadsheet I suppose if you looking for weaknesses what needs to be able to do is communicate sums of the human side of the public to really go to where many people think he is going which is a bench number 10 Downing Street I've had many people in the government I've had M.P.'s I've had some government aides that just really seen act as a future prime minister in the short term soon Ark has his work cut out is meant to deliver a budget in little more than 3 weeks' time there's also the question of his mettle his independence historically chancellors stand up to prime ministers keep them in check but with Boris Johnson and his chief advisor Dominic Cummings now trying to bring numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street even closer together people wonder whether Richie soon has the experience the bottle to confront or challenge his political patron is George Packer again reducing that needs to quickly establish himself as an independent figure running an independent treasury and if it looks like the Treasury is just working at the whim of the prime minister or indeed his chief advisor Dominic Cummings that's a difficult position for a c c Not to be and so he needs to assert himself very quickly I think. It was presented by Mark Coles and I'm the producer was. This is b.b.c. Radio 4. I heard footsteps which were leather shoes on a hard pavement. And this is shock runners are very cute are these noises when you hear of a dog way before you are attacked by a short that Comanches funny unusual heartbreaking and exciting. In the refrigerator night the cockroaches will be dancing along the countertops and up the smooth white holes and with that my coach that run like hell starts on Tuesday afternoon at 3 on b.b.c. Radio 4. B.b.c. News at 6 o'clock on Sunday the 16th of February this is Diana speed Good morning Caroline flecks management company has criticised the decision to pursue a criminal trial against her after the television presenter took her own life. Storm Dennis has brought strong winds and heavy rain overnight with 4 severe flood warnings now in place in the Scottish Borders and South Wales the us is sending aircraft to Japan to pick up American citizens stranded on a cruise ship hit by the corona virus outbreak.

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Russian from the world's 2nd largest economic powerhouse feelies Henry Ridgwell the u.s. Delegation came to Munich with a clear message China presents the largest threat to the west secretary of defense Marcus but the stage Saturday morning more internal repression more predatory economic practices more heavy handedness and most concerning for me a more aggressive military posture the warnings were echoed by Secretary of State Mike Pompei who took aim at Chinese telecom for. We can't let information go across networks that we don't have confidence won't be hijacked by the Chinese Communist Party is just unacceptable key ally Britain will allow While way to build sections of its 5 g. Mobile network to Washington's dismay officials in Munich said the u.s. Is pushing to develop its own 5 g. Technology and really rich Well the way news Munich Germany and A.P.'s been Thomas tells us that esper also talked more about a truce between the u.s. And Taliban It looks very promising to France secretary Martin esper says it would involve a 7 day halt to Taliban attacks before signing that means taking some risks peace talks between the Taliban in Afghanistan's government will begin within 10 days of the signing we can only be governed in a democratic system we are a pluralistic society president Ashraf Ghani says as long as Afghanistan remains Democratic The Taliban is not much of a threat I think the society it's been immunized against that type of radicals because if the Taliban and support why would they be so afraid of a lecture it all could lead to an 18 month phased withdrawal of u.s. Forces Ben Thomas Washington this is v.o.a. News and find more at v.o.a. News dot com Again this is v.o.a. News. China's National Health Commission reported Sunday that by the end of the day Saturday the country's death toll from the Corona virus had risen by 142 from the previous day the total number of dead has exceeded 1665 across mainland China the total accumulated number of infections so far has neared 70000 Meanwhile the United States and Japan are coordinating the return of nearly 400 American passengers from a cruise ship that anchored at Yokohama Reuters Adam Reid we pressed Iran on the need for swift compensation to be provided to the families of the victims in a corner with international standards and diplomats from countries that lost citizens when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner pressured Iran's foreign minister for more cooperation from Tehran on that investigation the ministers met with Iranian foreign minister John and a reef on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference the Canadian foreign minister France Waffen leap champagne it's time for Europe to start exercising and to insist that there will be severe consequences if the proceeds in authorizing the split the $176.00 victims $57.00 were Canadian citizens along with the Ukrainian Swedes Afghans Britons and Iranians Canada and its allies are pushing Tehran to release the black boxes from the doomed $737.00 plane so the data can be analyzed and friends the incident took place January 8th it is the same day Tehran launched missile attacks against u.s. Barracks in Iraq in retaliation for the u.s. Killing of Iranian general consomme still a mani and several others with a drone attack in Baghdad. The Human Rights Watch organization on Saturday urged Europe's defense officials to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to put an end to the humanitarian crisis and serious ad libbed province and the speaking at the Munich Security Conference h w h r w director connect rock described Russia as the key to ending the crisis because of its ongoing support of the Assad regime hundreds of thousands have been scrambling to escape a widening multi front assault on rebel held areas of adlib my Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces who are supported by Moscow Roth criticized the shockingly little attention dedicated to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria at the conference more and v.o.a. News dot com I'm Tommy McNeil be away news. This is Encounter v.o.a. Here's Carol Castillo. Welcome to Encounter on The Voice of America on this edition of the program the state of play among Democrats running for their party's presidential nomination and the fallout from u.s. President Donald Trump's impeachment and subsequent acquittal by the Senate Hello again I'm Carol Castiel after the 1st 2 primary contests analysts say there is little clarity regarding a Democratic front runner other than the fact that Bernie Sanders narrowly won the New Hampshire primary Sanders a self described democratic socialist who is not even a registered Democrat was in a virtual tie with moderate Pete booted judge former mayor of South Bend Indiana after the 1st nominating contest in the midwestern state of Iowa the Iowa caucuses as they are known were marred by a technology breakdown that delayed results for days and threaten to undermine confidence in the primary process to judge a moderate also had a strong showing in New Hampshire coming in 2nd place Senator Amy Klobuchar Democrat from the Midwestern state of Minnesota finished in a surprise 3rd place in New Hampshire catapulting her campaign to the center of the Democratic race perhaps the most surprising in disappointing was the 5th place finish of former Vice President Joe Biden who also did not do well in Iowa coming in 4th he is hoping for a comeback in the upcoming contests in Nevada and South Carolina where African-Americans and Latinos make up a larger part of the demographic shortly after the New Hampshire results were announced 2 candidates dropped out of the race entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Senator Michael Bennet Democrat of Colorado former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is not competing in the 1st 4 contests but his shadow over the Democratic primary process looms large given his unlimited amount of spending on ads and his potential appeal to not only a wide swath of Democrats but also Independents and. Moderate Republicans should former Vice President Joe Biden not do well in South Carolina or Nevada some Democrats are looking to him to fill the gap meantime in the wake of his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial u.s. President Donald Trump is testing the rule of law and exacting revenge against those he feels betrayed him he was smirched and ousted Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vinland the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert and a decorated veteran for his testimony during the impeachment inquiry in addition for career federal prosecutors withdrew from a case against Roger Stone a personal friend of President Trump who was convicted for lying to Congress and witness tampering in connection with the Robert Mueller investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election President Trump tweeted that the recommended sentence of between 7 to 9 years behind bars was too harsh so the Justice Department proposed a more lenient sentence the president's interference in the Justice Department which is supposed to be independent of political pressure raised alarm bells among career Justice Department officials and some lawmakers Well joining us to discuss this and to read the tea leaves from the New Hampshire primary results are none other than our 2 veteran political analysts John 48 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy a 3rd way and both gentlemen join me here at the v.o.a. Broadcast Center in Washington welcome to the program thank you Carol great to be here so John Ford ish We were these microphones a few weeks ago Vice President Joe Biden was up there in the national polls but he didn't do very well so I'd like to get your sense of where things stand now after New Hampshire and Iowa what are the implications what have we learned about where the Democratic race for the president is going well there are a lot of shifting sands I do think Bernie Sanders has risen to be something of a front runner but a little bit of a mixed front runner. Did very well in Iowa won by a certain measure at least by the popular vote and won in New Hampshire Joe Biden did poorly in both states and really could be in danger of leaving the race if he does not come back especially in South Carolina with African-American voters and then you have some new candidates who risen up you point to Pete beauty just as you did very well won Iowa by the delegate count and came very close in New Hampshire and Amy clubber Shahr who did especially well in New Hampshire surprising and then finally Mike Bloomberg who is a candidate who is not competing at this moment but will be competing on Super Tuesday and he has brought all of his money to the race that is created enormous organization with ads across all of these states where others might have a hard time competing so you do have a Bernie Sanders doing well and leading by many measures but you have all these other candidates moving up and Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren to some extent moving down to you Jim Kessler how do you read the tea leaves so far with Sanders coming in relatively on top and then Biden taking quite a hit it's modeled right now traditionally Iowa New Hampshire has winnow down the field in past Democratic primaries usually to just 2 or 3 candidates it did not do it this time there are 6 candidates left to feel that they have some legitimate shot of winning the nomination number 6 is Mike Bloomberg who will be getting in the race in earnest in a couple of weeks not great for the front runners Obviously Joe Biden had a disappointing performance Bernie Sanders did well enough but you know he got 49 percent and I won in 2016 he got 26 percent in 2020 he got 60 percent in New Hampshire in 2016 which was the largest vote total have any Democrat since John f. Kennedy in $1060.00 in the New Hampshire primary more than half of his support disappeared he ended up at just about 25 percent So one of the things that you're seeing is Democratic voters are saying we're not ready yet to choose a nominee we want to hear more from these. Candidates So John 48 I assume they want to hear more from people like Amy Klobuchar are and maybe Pete booted judge newcomers in a sense to the national scene but they are known for not having great appeal within these very large voting blocs African-American voters who are part of the base of the Democratic Party and then Hispanics So how do you see them navigating going forward I went to Hampshire are 2 of the whitest states in America and in the Democratic Party especially there's a disconnect between the electorate there and the electorate that they'll face nationwide we start to remedy that with Nevada with the largest Spanish vote in South Carolina with a very large African-American vote Joe Biden had done very well and has done very well in the polls with especially African-Americans but also Hispanics his strength really came from moderate whites plus that coalition that made him the front runner in the polls there is doubt today whether he will retain that or not if he wants to stay in the race he's going to have to go to South Carolina especially do well there probably win or come in a close 2nd Otherwise I think that support will start to go other places it is true that many of the other candidates already Sanders privileges others have all had problems getting the black vote and it may be split among many many people but Joe Biden is the wildcard out there not having done well we'll have to see if he really can maintain that after this not very good showing in 2 states so back to you Jim Castro you certainly have your finger on the pulse of the Biden campaign he doesn't go into South Carolina with a lot of momentum even if he has a natural constituency there how do you think he's going to do and if he doesn't do well where is that support likely to go but South Carolina or bust for Joe Biden if he doesn't win South Carolina he probably has to immediately drop out of the race Super Tuesday where 1400 delegates are going to be selected it's 3 days later so he's got to win South Carolina but even before that. There's the Nevada caucuses and he needs to do well enough there so that the support that he is losing right now in South Carolina that it stops where does it go look I think South Carolina support just realize that Mike Bloomberg is not competing in South Carolina he's not on the ballot or else I think some of that black support would go to Mike where it goes now is really anybody's question because none of the candidates that are remaining other than Mike Bloomberg really has any history of winning minority voters with people to judge like he's really struggled there Amy Clovis are voters just don't know who she is so she is trying to build the plane and fly the plane at the same time and then you've got Bernie Sanders who just traditionally has not done well there in Elizabeth Warren who is scuffling along so it's very possible that South Carolina is another inconclusive primary him which for 5 candidates say well I did well enough to keep moving on but nobody really came out dominating winning a lot of delegates Well meantime John 48 all of this confusion and rather murky picture on the Democratic side in a sense helps President Trump and his reelection campaign how do you see his strategy going forward we know that Republicans would love to paint all Democrats as somehow socialist they've been using that term label which is of course a misnomer but they are trying to scare voters once again your sense of the Republican strategy Well I think generally the president's team feels pretty good about where he has been in the last few weeks he's in a better position than he has been now anything like Donald Trump their ups and downs even within a week so the state of the Union I think many people thought was a speech that highlighted some of the his strengths that he was going to run on a good economy that he had some things he worked with Democrats on and then he had some issues that were very divisive between the 2 parties but he came out of that strong his numbers in the polls are really at a high for him and I emphasize for him because they're not as. High as they should be they're not that high but he's move them up from where they are and I mean the economy is very very strong so I think the president has a lot going for him I think it's likely he's at least going to be competitive in this race and I do think the president Steve is hoping for a weaker Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders I think is going to be the hardest candidate for Democrats to rally behind it will be easy for the president to make that message stick about a candidate who has some history with socialism and it hasn't history outside of the Democratic Party but broadly speaking I think the president's in a pretty good position compared to where he has been but still not any way ahead of the game because of his numbers are lower than they should be Jim Kasler as far as the state of the Union many people say there were a lot of falsehoods he said the economy is strong certainly by the stock market indicator but not really in terms of middle and lower class pocketbooks there were lots of falsehoods even with respect to health care that he says I'm in favor of including people with preexisting conditions this is really the opposite of what he has been saying nonetheless how do you see President Trump and the Republicans and certainly their strategy is trying to paint all Democrats particularly if Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee as socialists this is seems to be what they want to do so I think Trump has to be seen as the favorite going into 2020 the economy is good it's not great but it's good it's probably good enough for you know the typical president to win a real action yes he'll call every democratic socialist but one Democrat is a socialist Bernie Sanders is a socialist and it is clear that that is the candidate that Donald Trump wants to run against and in some states anybody is allowed to vote in a primary not just Democrats South Carolina which is going to vote in a couple weeks anybody can vote there's already a concerted effort a well financed effort to get Republicans to go out and vote in the Democratic primary and to vote for Bernie Sanders so that he can get the momentum. Going into Super Tuesday and get the candidate that Donald Trump would really like and we know that Trump is not above meddling and elections I don't think you have to go as far as Russia to do it this time in just needs to go to South Carolina and it's perfectly legal if you can encourage Republicans to come out and vote if you look at the chair man and chair women of the various counties in South Carolina they are trying to get people to come out and vote in these Democratic primaries and they feel that they can make a difference will they who knows but this is a plan they have so the Democrats nominate the most on electable person against Donald Trump and that person is Bernie Sanders you're listening to Encounter on The Voice of America our guests are John $48.00 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler from whom you just heard senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way and we're discussing results of the early Democratic primary contests and the fallout from President Donald Trump's impeachment trial this is a reminder that our encounter podcast is available on our website at v.o.a. News dot com slash encounter You may also follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook at Carol Castiel v.o.a. Well here's a big shout out to our valued Facebook fan well Hamad from Sri Lanka if you want to hear your name and home country on the air please send us an e-mail to encounter at v.o.a. News dot com or like us and leave a comment on our Facebook page well that to you John 41 more question about Bernie Sanders supporters from your perspective I understand they're very much backing Bernie Sanders they don't like to even consider another candidate even though Bernie Sanders himself has said whoever wins the nomination we all must get behind that person to defeat Donald Trump but some people are concerned I mean but we're really do they go if they don't vote for the eventual nominee or could they sit on their hands and become a problem for the Democrats were guy thing. Most of the time the people come home to their party and most Democratic voters who cast a ballot for Bernie Sanders if he's not the nominee are going to go vote for a Democrat it could hurt or on the edges some enthusiasm I guess the real disaster scenario for Democrats would be somehow a convention or something that is very divided where Bernie Sanders feels as if he's had the nomination taken away from or perhaps that a 3rd party candidate gets in the race when he's running short of that I think ultimately most Bernie Sanders supporters will probably come back to the Democratic Party so Jim Kessler Bernie Sanders says out loud look we're going to get behind any nominee to defeat Donald Trump but you don't get that sense maybe from the supporters of those that I know who have spoken to some of his supporters they seem so set on him and not willing necessarily how do you see that in how dangerous it is that for Democrats most will come along but you know they're the Bernie Bros out there as they're called and the true believers are the true believers and no matter what happens in this primary they will believe that Sanders was robbed of the nomination they said he was robbed of the nomination last time Hillary Clinton beat him by 3800000 votes and by a margin of 57 to 43 percent and they said he was robbed so there is a certain conspiracy theory element within the Democratic Party that most of them have gravitated towards Bernie Sanders a few of them are with some of the candidates like Andrew Yang who also just dropped out of the race but that's part of the mix there I just want to have one other thing the mainstream wing of the Democratic Party does not have a numerator problem it has a denominator problem if you look at the New Hampshire results the 3 moderates leading moderates got 53 percent of the vote and the 2 leading candidates on the further left Sanders and Elizabeth Warren they got 39 percent of the vote with the other 8 percent kind of split all sorts of different ways but the moderates were split 3 ways and when Michael Bloomberg enters the race they could be. 4 ways and the progressive to socialist wing of the party right now is split 2 ways so if after Super Tuesday that mainstream wing does not coalesce behind a single candidate you could really see someone sneaking in you know Bernie sticking in from the far left and getting a plurality of delegates not a majority but a plurality and then you'd see havoc at the convention in Milwaukee in July so that's a little ominous Yeah I didn't want to leave you with just good news you know subject Ok but the moderates right now they have the numbers combined numbers they have the numbers in states frankly that are more progressive than other states because when you look at minority voters Latino voters and African-American voters they're overwhelmingly Democrat but they're also overwhelmingly moderate in mainstream so the moderates even did well in New Hampshire and in Iowa where the Democratic primary voters there are pretty far to the left but if you're splitting that vote for ways or 3 ways and the other side is really splitting it they're weighing 2 ways or just one way well you do the math All right well let's wake me up after Super Tuesday and when we'll have you both back at these microphones to discuss the state of play back to you John 48 let's look at the Senate acquittal of President Trump what we had one Republican senator Mitt Romney who voted to convict him this has incurred the wrath of course of President Trump against Mitt Romney against many others as I said in my introduction Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vin man who was unceremoniously walked out of the White House for merely responding to a subpoena and testifying at the impeachment inquiry and saying the truth about what he heard on that excellent telephone call from July 25th the president trying had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr as a landscape we're looking at what some people are calling a retribution to or you know President Trump is crowing that he was acquitted and everybody now that. Spoke against him or act against him he is lashing out what are the long term effects do you think of the Senate acquittal on the democratic system of governance the integrity of which relies on these checks and balances between the legislative and executive branch Well look I think will be followed in a lot of different directions I think the big picture will be as the president has wanted he got the headline that the president was acquitted and I also think it's a message that impeachment is a political process in part and really depends on having a broad consensus including some of the other party to remove the president that doesn't mean will never do it again were divided country but I do think that Republicans will make the case that this was something primarily supported by Democrats yes there was one Republican the Senate but it was a Democratic effort that didn't rise to the level of getting a supermajority of people saying let's take this person out of office and I think the argument was very effective for the president that there's an election coming up that ultimately let's not short circuit the election let the people decide that the people can remove Donald Trump they still can vote on this issue or on others in a few months and the president comes out of this I think broadly in a better place than he did before well the president might come out broadly in a better place but many are questioning Jim Kasler whether or not the Senate the Congress comes out in a better place many of the Republican lawmakers in particular didn't defend their branch of government that the behavior that they let's say condoned by President Trump they would never have done that if a Democratic president engaged in the same unlawful type of behavior what is your sense of you know where we go from here and what the impact will be the Senate lowering the bar for permissible conduct for future presidents Well of course they are the outcome of this is not a surprise I thought this was a very very disappointing moment for the u.s. Congress and the Senate in particular it's not just that the president wasn't removed I understand not removing the president that is a big. Big decision to make if I was a senator I would have voted to remove him but I wish that more Republican senators stood up and said what he did was awful and witnesses and documents which they rejected which is normally part of any normal trial right so what we saw here was instead of really trying to find out what happened and try to ascertain the truth the strategy was how do we survive and win this thing and even if in the end the vote would have been the same I would have loved to see the Senate the August body that it is taken seriously and at least say there were a lot of things you know that were disturbing you know it didn't rise to the level of removing the president but I want to send a warning to the president to others like this behavior cannot happen again but they didn't do that and I think they basically just gave him a pass to act however he wants to act over the next 10 months and possibly the next 4 years and 10 months well and speaking of which he is certainly engaging in this type of behavior it seems that way John 48 he's acting as if he can do whatever he wants he has now been alleged to have interfered in the Justice Department in the recent sentencing of Roger Stone who was convicted of lying to Congress of witness tampering but he was convicted and he is interfering in the Justice Department which is supposed to be independent and then you mentioned elections and certainly that makes sense well let's just all vote it's an upcoming election before removing him but as Jim said not even a word about the type of conduct that he that is the president engaged in strong arming a foreign ally to get dirt on his political opponent so going forward now people are concerned about interference in the election not just foreign interference which he feels he's able to without any kind of consequences to court internal political interference that is the Republican Party engaging in. Dissin from Asian campaigns on social media and so forth I see people's worries and people have concerns but I don't believe that our election is in any way going to be illegitimate in the fall we have issues to worry about we have protections we're trying to put in place but I think this election is going to be fundamentally about the American people and they're going to weigh in as to whether they like the president on a variety of things including this so the case was made publicly it's very hard to remove a president unless you persuade the other party were a divided country but the election is there for people to say do we want this person here another 4 years or not and they will speak in November well you get the last word Jim Kasler the election is certainly the way for people to express themselves but some Democrats and others who felt that the impeachment trial should have had a proper format with witnesses documents and so forth are concerned that now the president is in a sense unleashed and he is going beyond his normal norms of the presidency and lashing out and trying to interfere in a number of processes in which he should not and I would think that people are concerned because Mitch McConnell the Senate majority leader has not agreed to take up any election security bills almost one could say if one didn't know any better that maybe he doesn't want to do that because such security election bills would not favor the Republicans we are definitely going to have foreign interference in the election coming up we had foreign interference in the 2016 election the probably decided the outcome of the race I'm not saying that it was collusion between Trump and the Russians but when John Podesta is e-mails were released the day of the Access Hollywood tapes were you know released on Trump a trump scandal in the brewing that was foreign interference and I think we have unleashed the president even further and the latest where he's recommending a light sentence on Roger Stone I mean the recommendation was a sentence between 7 and 9 years that was too soft Roger Stone should. I would be in prison for 20 years so I do not think this is a great moment for lawfulness and our political system right now I'm afraid that's all the time we have on this edition of encounter I'd like to thank my guests John 48 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kasler senior vice president for policy a 3rd way thanks so much for coming in thank you thank you encounter it was produced in Washington our engineer was just in the way so and thanks to Kim Lewis for booking our cast I'm Carol Castiel join me again next week for another counter Hello welcome to blood then I'm glad of ancestor and recently world leaders gathered in Poland to mark a solemn anniversary it has been 75 years since the liberation of prisoners at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz it is estimated that more than 6000000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and out of that 6000000 more than 2000000 of the murdered were executed at Auschwitz reporter Henri Ridgwell traveled to Poland to speak with one man who survived that death came. Along with his photographs and letters extend his love Solecki keeps his memories locked away occasionally letting them out to share the horrors of the cost that the facility was $18.00 when he was arrested for painting Polish resistance symbols on wolves in Nazi occupied will so after a brutal interrogation he was imprisoned and spoke of you yeah about 37000 of these prisoners were killed and about 60000 were taken from probably Ockers and the concentration camps yet I was among these 16000 I was taken to Auschwitz Birkenau on October 6th 1943 the procedure was as follows registration and I. What's one camp which involves taking a personal information and taking off all our civilian clothes cutting off air shaving tattooing putting on prison stripes uniforms we got only a cop a shirt a jacket underwear pants and wooden clogs that have ski was tattooed with the number 156569 it's referred to prison as only by number that many new arrivals were taken directly to the gas chambers strong men and women we used as fools labor lot of people Key him p. 1000 if one of the prisoners did not look fit enough for further work the s.s. Pointed him out with a stick to the camp writer who would write down the prisoners number afterwards these prisoners were called out and taken on foot to the crematorium one day lorries arrived at the barracks and women were let out ordered to strip naked and they were loaded as though they were some commodity yet these trucks were followed by a soldier on a motorbike as they moved toward the crematorium I still remember today the screams of these women the transportation lasted several hours until they empty the barracks for their lives he was imprisoned for his political activities most prison is sent to Auschwitz to their deaths the Nazis said Gould final solution to wipe out the Jewish race so left ski recalls Jewish prisoners arriving on trains wearing bands bearing the Star of David fan knowing that sell it think the us had a good one s.s. Soldier all of them in one long line with him standing at the front of the line and leading them forward they followed this one soldier with those signs of worry or anxiety they were heading toward the crematorium but only we were aware of this not them and as Soviet soldiers began to approach from the east the Nazis transferred hundreds of thousands of prisoners to other camps 10. Of thousands died on the journey. Was taken to the Mount Hausen Couzin camp in Austria in May $945.00 room a spread of the Allied advance and German guards fled. Up with if I would divide. America on May 5th American military vehicles around I will 2 American soldiers going on one of them do some polish and shouted You are free it took me $78.00 days to get Zuckerberg to Warsaw if this fire arrived in Warsaw on July 20th 1045 wearing u.s. Army it's not just with celebs he is president of the Polish union of former political prisoners of Nazi prisons and concentration camps 75 years on he still struggles to reconcile what happened yes you know it might be a muddle it fair but that had nothing to propose. Us When I say the Lord's Prayer there was a phrase give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us I face a dilemma at this point can I forgive those whether an inscription that read God is with us on their belt buckles who kill people yet the whole matter of meditation. I put my memories of Auschwitz into a box tied it with a string and threw it into the water metaphorically speaking after that my work to go I started a family I have a son and grandchildren what when I visit the camp or when we are talking like we are today I pull out as a box of my present its contents to you and afterwards I throw it back into the water there are moments however when these memories break into my psyche causing reflections and questions with no answers the world has not learned the lesson of what had happened that the world has come full circle so to speak this sister this circularity is powered by people who do not respect the dignity of another human being I don't south I me picking. Zelinsky and $200.00 fellows survivors returned to the same cooled. For the 75th anniversary of the camps liberation last month still determined to teach the world the lessons of Auschwitz. Henry rejoice joins us from London Henry Ed thank you for joining us tell me what were your anti-Semitism in Europe so it was just remarkable to speak to a man who could describe his memories in such detail what you heard there in that report was a fraction of what he spoke of when I met him in Warsaw he spoke for 2 hours about survived the death camps Gretchen Skidmore is the director of civic and defense not only respond once there have been group targeted violence but also to get people to understand that we can look for these indicators and prevent some of these things that's the mission of the museum but it's interesting how in a way everyone said never again we've had Rwanda and now we have this mean there is sort of all of there's a little bit of a look at the other way but we can also recognize that there are structures that are possible to implement both in the United States government and Holocaust Museum here in Washington and has noted it's been 75 years since the gas chambers and the Holocaust and yet the neo nazi movement is alive one man once a member of a neo nazi punk rock band is trying to change that today Christian preacher Leni is the author of several books and the founder of the free radicals project which aims to free radicalized Hugh from the same racist views he once held against mill are saying I spoke with him on Skype. Christian be Giuliani is an expert on hate in 1987 I was recruited into America's 1st you know Nazi skinhead. Future Levy's testimony to Congress in 29 was just the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager from a loving and hard working immigrant family so I went searching for a sense of identity. Community in purpose sort of on the fringes having been bullied for most of those 14 years and on those friends as I found a narrative a man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old and I was smoking a joint and he pulled the joint from my mouth and he looked me in the eyes and he said that's what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile and I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person or even what the word meant but it was the 1st time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me that had included me he stayed with the movement for 8 years I started a record store in 1905 to sell racist music that I was importing and making as well but at the record store I was also selling different kinds of music things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and I started to meet people who were black and who were Jewish and who were gay for the 1st time really and having meaningful interaction with them so over you know the course of having their record store I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with Humanisation and it was those people that I'm so grateful for because they knew who I was and yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion and it was the compassion that I received from them at a time when I really I least deserve that was the most powerful transformative moment for me Michel Leni has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called free radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism what I'm seeing with white nationalism today is very similar to what I saw in the early days of let's say al-Qaeda or ISIS the propaganda tactics are the same recruitment is very similar the use of high quality you know marketing videos showing kind of this this hope of glory if you join the fight picture Alina he says he's trying to be the person he wishes would have approached him when he was just 14 years old so many years ago. You are Sega the only news Washington. Christian is one example of someone who turn isn't hate around but violence hate and xenophobia they're growing in some places in some countries deadly shooting spree is now Paso Texas and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania have prompted the f.b.i. To declare domestic attacks as dangerous to us national security as ISIS and Al Qaida. A majority of the. Domestic terrorism. Cases that we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence but it includes other things as well we're particularly focused on domestic terrorism especially racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists not only is the terror threat diverse it's unrelenting. Just as a number of hate crimes has risen in some parts of the world one thing remains a constant and that is the fight against it joining us from New York is Oren see all of the Anti-Defamation League nice to say Oh thanks for joining us. Mr Mr Sago who is vice president the a.t.o. Center an extreme as an extremism combat anti-Semitism any lead to training initiative for law enforcement public officials and companies in the private sector let's just say go 1st to follow what is the Anti-Defamation League. Or say shouldn't it shouldn't start up a bit from. Raul. Is focused on that he is the one he. Has had there been an uptick in attacks by you know for anti-semitic attacks and extremist action like that. Is that the Astana you know we have seen it at least gets that. It's. Followed 6 months the way it. Wants to work. With all the lights on. It and what is it going to how is social media been a contributing factor to the uptick. Study social media is the key. To It story about you know looking at our feeds whether it's. Like. It or even. On other. It's and on mine it's the gators. That's your. Little. Work. On our own it's. The f.b.i. Director Christopher Ray's talking about how you know how important is the hole in the whole growing issue of anti-Semitism is 2 and a terror attacks is to the f.b.i. But there's a big difference in my mind between responding to a shooting or an s. Situation and catching it before it happens do you find that the f.b.i. Has been effective in sort of helping to stop some and they and some of the violence that's going on some of the anti-Semitism violence. But I think when we look at sort of extremist violence more broadly certainly the Jewish community is the cross it was but it's not only the Jewish community you know look at all possible and the Hispanic community or other incidents that we see across the country and I think the f.b.i. Is doing a pretty good job in the sense that you know even the last couple weeks we have seen several white supremacists in particular get arrested for various plots in this country to do damage now you know that is something that occurs even though domestic extremists are not designated that way you know ISIS and all kind are so long for something government is different tools to deal with foreign terrorist organizations but I think there are steps that can be taken to improve how we understand the domestic terror threat but I don't think that law enforcement is ignoring it I just think it's a bigger challenge because so much of what motivates domestic extremists is freedom of speech so what are the steps that could be taken. As will be we've been advocating an a.t.l. For Terrorism Prevention Act which at its base for. We're quires government to at least collect data on extremist to Mystic terror incidents in this country you need to have that data before you can resource to the threat and that's why it a.t.l. We have a heat map where we provide information on terrorist plots and attacks white supremacist propaganda which is nearly doubled this past year 2001000 from the previous year it's also interesting but it can sit and sit out there are. Types of activity that is to understanding where we put our resources to combat the threat and beyond that p.s.m. Other suggestions I mean obviously that deal getting data is important but are there other suggestions that can be used to combat this. I think I think this requires a holistic approach right it's not just long for Smith It's not just government but as you mentioned earlier so much of what is motivating people to violence is the means and the narratives and tropes that are online that can spread pretty much anywhere at any time and so the tech industry in and of itself has a responsibility not just to inforce their terms of services but the absence of corporate responsibility it's not unreasonable for users of these bot forms to expect that they do more to protect their users and frankly all the communities how do you separate them then the 1st Amendment and speech from they hate speech extremism. Well you know hate speech it is very much protected in this country what we do is try to identify that it speech in order to find clues of where you know violence may be incubators and so you know it's a difficult line and we don't want government to you know be able to investigate anybody at any time because of the beliefs that they have but there are certain clues certain glorification of violence certain troops that really animate these extremist movements that long Foresman needs to make sure that they're on top of and this is where he'll thank you or and say you know from a.d.i. Center on extremism. That's all the time we have for today is stay plugged in by liking The town in the u.s. The secretary Marcus urged the world.

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This is the way News I'm Tom Vitale. China's National Health Commission says the death toll from the Corona virus outbreak has risen by at least 143 to more than 1500 Meanwhile the World Health Organization express concern about the increasing number of health workers getting infected with the deadly virus Lisa Schneider reports for v away from Geneva data released by China finds more than 1700 health workers have been infected with the disease and 6 have died w h o director general tenderness I don't know. Calls this a critical piece of information because. That's a whole. Outbreak response to get that but we need to know more about this including the time period. In which the workers became sick the w.h.o. Says a joint mission with China on covert 19 is moving forward it says 12 international w.h.o. Experts will arrive in China in the next few days he says shine for v.o.a. News Geneva federal prosecutors have declined to charge former f.b.i. Deputy director Andrew McCain closing an investigation into whether he lied to federal officials about his involvement in the news media disclosure McCabe's lawyers said in a statement that they were told in a phone call and letter that the case is closed and no charges will be brought against him based on the facts McCabe are frequent target of attacks from President Donald Trump for his role in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election has denied that he intentionally misled anyone the Justice Department's inspector general had accused McCabe of repeatedly lying about authorizing a subordinate to share information with a newspaper reporter for a 2016 article about an f.b.i. Investigation this is v.o.a. News. U.s. President Trump says that he has the legal right to intervene in criminal cases this is after his Attorney General William Barr criticized him for tweeting about Justice Department cases Mr Trump's Friday morning tweet came shortly after Barr said in an interview with a.b.c. News Thursday that Trump's tweets about the Justice Department its people and its cases make it impossible for me to do my job or also said Mr Trump has never asked me to do anything and a criminal case a senior administration official said on Friday the United States has reached an agreement with the Taliban on a weeklong reduction of violence that could lead to u.s. Troop withdrawals from Afghanistan Reuters Callet Luke the 7 day reduction of violence agreement would take effect very soon the official said and it would cover the entire country of Afghanistan including Afghan forces the u.s. Military would also monitor violence levels to verify whether or not the Taliban was honoring its commitments and if the weeklong truce is successful then talks would move into the next phase of negotiations involving all parties. The announcement comes after u.s. Secretary of state Mike Pompei o and defense secretary Marc Asper met with Afghan President Musharraf goddy during the Munich Security Forum in Germany on Friday. That is Reuters Collette Luke reporting. Turkey continued to send reinforcements to northwest Syria Friday as Ankara backed rebels shot down the government helicopter west of Aleppo and Syria's Northwestern adlib region the Syrian Observatory for war monitors says on Friday that Turkey had deployed about 6500 soldiers to reinforce existing units in northwest Syria as well as about 1500 military vehicles since early February Meanwhile Turkish forces and Syrian rebel groups clashed with Syrian government forces Friday a federal jury has convicted attorney Michael Evan Nonny who once represented adult star Stormy Daniels I'm not he glared at jurors as the verdict was announced and shook hands with his lawyers before being led back to his cell Prosecutors say the lawyer threatened to use his media access to hurt Nike's reputation and stock price unless the apparel company paid him up to $25000000.00 defense attorney Scott's redneck says an idea will appeal he's disappointed but he's a fighter even that he became famous representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Trump and it's a piece Jennifer King reporting on Tommy MacNeill feeling to. Us. This is Encounter v.o.a. Here's Carol Castillo. Welcome to Encounter on The Voice of America on this edition of the program the state of play among Democrats running for their party's presidential nomination and the fallout from u.s. President Donald Trump's impeachment and subsequent acquittal by the Senate Hello again I'm Carol Castiel after the 1st 2 primary contests analysts say there is little clarity regarding a Democratic front runner other than the fact that Bernie Sanders narrowly won the New Hampshire primary Sanders a self described democratic socialist who is not even a registered Democrat was in a virtual tie with moderate Pete booted judge former mayor of South Bend Indiana after the 1st nominating contest in the midwestern state of Iowa the Iowa caucuses as they are known were marred by a technology breakdown that delayed results for days and threaten to undermine confidence in the primary process to judge a moderate also had a strong showing in New Hampshire coming in 2nd place Senator Amy Klobuchar Democrat from the Midwestern state of Minnesota finished in a surprise 3rd place in New Hampshire catapulting her campaign to the center of the Democratic race perhaps the most surprising in disappointing was the 5th place finish of former Vice President Joe Biden who also did not do well in Iowa coming in 4th he is hoping for a comeback in the upcoming contests in Nevada and South Carolina where African-Americans and Latinos make up a larger part of the demographic shortly after the New Hampshire results were announced 2 candidates dropped out of the race entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Senator Michael Bennet Democrat of Colorado former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is not competing in the 1st 4 contests but his shadow over the Democratic primary process looms large given his unlimited amount of spending on ads and his potential appeal to not only a wide swath of Democrats but also Independents and. Moderate Republicans should former Vice President Joe Biden not do well in South Carolina or Nevada some Democrats are looking to him to fill the gap meantime in the wake of his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial u.s. President Donald Trump is testing the rule of law and exacting revenge against those he feels betrayed him he vis marched and ousted Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vinland the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert and a decorated veteran for his testimony join the impeachment inquiry in addition 4 career federal prosecutors withdrew from a case against Roger Stone a personal friend of President Trump who was convicted for lying to Congress and witness tampering in connection with the Robert Mueller investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election President Trump tweeted that the recommended sentence of between 7 to 9 years behind bars was too harsh so the Justice Department proposed a more lenient sentence the president's interference in the Justice Department which is supposed to be independent of political pressure raised alarm bells among career Justice Department officials and some lawmakers Well joining us to discuss this and to read the tea leaves from the New Hampshire primary results are none other than our 2 veteran political analysts John 48 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler senior vice president for policy a 3rd way and both gentlemen join me here at the v.o.a. Broadcast Center in Washington welcome to the program thank you Carol great to be here so John for d.h. We were these microphones a few weeks ago why is President Joe Biden was up there in the national polls but he didn't do very well so I'd like to get your sense of where things stand now after New Hampshire and Iowa what are the implications what have we learned about where the Democratic race for the president is going well there are a lot of shifting sands I do think Bernie Sanders has risen to be something of a front runner but a little bit of a mixed front runner. Did very well in Iowa won by a certain measure at least by the popular vote and won in New Hampshire Joe Biden did poorly in both states and really could be in danger of leaving the race if he does not come back especially in South Carolina with African-American voters and then you have some new candidates who risen up you point to Pete beauty judge who did very well one Iowa by the delegate count and came very close in New Hampshire and Amy clubber Shar who did it especially well in New Hampshire surprising and then finally Mike Bloomberg who is a candidate who is not competing at this moment but will be competing on Super Tuesday and he has brought all of his money to the race that is created an enormous organization with ads across all of these states where others might have a hard time competing so you do have a Bernie Sanders doing well and leading by many measures but you have all these other candidates moving up and Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren to some extent moving down to you Jim Kessler how do you read the tea leaves so far with Sanders coming in relatively on top and then Biden taking quite a hit it's modeled right now traditionally Iowa New Hampshire has winnow down the field in past Democratic primaries usually to just 2 or 3 candidates it did not do it this time there are 6 candidates left to feel that they have some legitimate shot of winning the nomination number 6 is Mike Bloomberg who will be getting in the race in earnest in a couple of weeks not great for the front runners Obviously Joe Biden had a disappointing performance Bernie Sanders did well enough but you know he got 49 percent and I won in 2016 he got 26 percent in 2020 he got 60 percent in New Hampshire in 2016 which was the largest vote total have any Democrat since John f. Kennedy in 1960 in the New Hampshire primary more than half of his support disappeared he ended up at just about 25 percent So one of the things that you're seeing is Democratic voters are saying we're not ready yet to choose a nominee we want to hear more from these. Hannity it's so John 48 I assume they want to hear more from people like Amy Klobuchar Shar and maybe Pete booted judge newcomers in a sense to the national scene but they are known for not having great appeal within these very large voting blocks African-American voters who are part of the base of the Democratic Party and then Hispanics So how do you see them navigating going forward I want to Hampshire are 2 of the whitest states in America and in the Democratic Party especially there's a disconnect between the electorate there and the electorate that they'll face nationwide we start to remedy that with Nevada with the largest Spanish vote in South Carolina with a very large African-American vote Joe Biden had done very well and has done very well in the polls with especially African-Americans but also Hispanics his strength literally came from moderate whites plus that coalition that made him the front runner in the polls there is doubt today whether he will retain that or not if he wants to stay in the race he's going to have to go to South Carolina especially do well there probably win or come in a close 2nd Otherwise I think that support will start to go other places it is true that many of the other candidates already Sanders privileges others have all had problems getting the black vote and it may be split among many many people but Joe Biden is the wildcard out there not having done well we'll have to see if he really can maintain that after this not very good showing in 2 states so back to you Jim Castro you certainly have your finger on the pulse of the Biden campaign he doesn't go into South Carolina with a lot of momentum even if he has a natural constituency there how do you think he's going to do and if he doesn't do well where is that support likely to go well at South Carolina or bust for Joe Biden if he doesn't win South Carolina he probably has to immediately drop out of the race Super Tuesday where $1400.00 delegates are going to be selected it's 3 days later so he's got to win South Carolina even before that. There's the Nevada caucuses and he needs to do well enough there are so that this support that he is losing right now in South Carolina that it stops where does it go look I think South Carolina support just realize that Mike Bloomberg is not competing in South Carolina he's not on the ballot or else I think some of that black support would go to Mike where it goes now is really anybody's question because none of the candidates that are remaining other than Mike Bloomberg really has any history of winning minority voters with people to judge it like he's really struggled there Amy Clovis are voters just don't know who she is so she is trying to build the plane and fly the plane at the same time and then you've got Bernie Sanders who just traditionally has not done well there and Elizabeth Warren who is scuffling along so it's very possible that South Carolina is another inconclusive primary him which for 5 candidates say well I did well enough to keep moving on but nobody really came out dominating winning a lot of delegates Well meantime John 48 all of this confusion and rather murky picture on the Democratic side in a sense helps President Trump and his reelection campaign how do you see his strategy going forward we know that the Republicans would love to paint all Democrats as somehow socialist they've been using that term label which is of course a misnomer but they are trying to scare voters once again your sense of the Republican strategy Well I think generally the president's team feels pretty good about where he has been in the last few weeks he's in a better position than he has been now anything like Donald Trump their ups and downs even within a week so the state of the Union I think many people thought was a speech that highlighted some of the his strengths that he was going to run on a good economy that he had some things he worked with Democrats on and then he had some issues that were very divisive between the 2 parties but he came out of that strong his numbers in the polls are really at a high for him and I emphasize for him because they're not as. High as they should be they're not that high but he's move them up from where they are and I mean because of me is very very strong so I think the president has a lot going for him I think it's likely he's at least going to be competitive in this race and I do think the president Steve is hoping for a weaker Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders I think is going to be the hardest candidate for Democrats to rally behind it'll be easy for the president to make that message stick about a candidate who has some history with socialism and it has a history outside the Democratic Party but broadly speaking I think the president's in a pretty good position compared to where he has been but still not any way ahead of the game because of his numbers are lower than they should be Jim Kasler as far as the state of the Union many people say there were a lot of false hoods he said the economy is strong certainly by the stock market indicator but not really in terms of middle and lower class pocketbooks there were lots of falsehoods even with respect to health care that he said in favor of including people with preexisting conditions this is really the opposite of what he has been saying nonetheless how do you see President Trump and the Republicans and certainly their strategy is trying to paint all Democrats particularly if Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee as socialists this is seems to be what they want to do so I think Trump has to be seen as the favorite going into 2020 the economy is good it's not great but it's good it's probably good enough for you know the typical president to win to relax and yes he'll call every democratic socialist but one Democrat is a socialist Bernie Sanders is a socialist and it is clear that that is the candidate that Donald Trump wants to run against and in some states anybody is allowed to vote in a primary not just Democrats South Carolina which is going to vote in a couple weeks anybody can vote there's already a concerted effort a well financed effort to get Republicans to go out and vote in the Democratic primary and to vote for Bernie Sanders so that he can get the momentum. Going into Super Tuesday and get the candidate that Donald Trump would really like and we know that Trump is not above meddling and elections I don't think you have to go as far as Russia to do it this time in just needs to go to South Carolina and it's perfectly legal if you can and carriage Republicans to come out and if you look at the chair men and chairwoman of the various counties in South Carolina they are trying to get people to come out and vote in these Democratic primaries and they feel that they can make a difference will they who knows but this is a plan they have so the Democrats nominate the most an electable person against Donald Trump and that person is Bernie Sanders you're listening to Encounter on The Voice of America our guests are John $48.00 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler from whom you just heard senior vice president for policy at 3rd Way and we're discussing results of the early Democratic primary contests and the fallout from President Donald Trump's impeachment trial this is a reminder that our encounter podcast is available on our website at v.o.a. News dot com slash encounter You may also follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook at Carol Castiel v.o.a. Well here's a big shout out to our valued Facebook fan Mohammed Ali from Sri Lanka if you want to hear your name and home country on the air please send us an e-mail to encounter at v.o.a. News dot com or like us and leave a comment on our Facebook page well that to you John 41 more question about Bernie Sanders supporters from your perspective I understand they're very much backing Bernie Sanders they don't like to even consider another candidate even though Bernie Sanders himself has said whoever wins the nomination we all must get behind that person to defeat Donald Trump but some people are concerned I mean but we're really do they go if they don't vote for the eventual nominee or could they sit on their hands and become a problem for the Democrats look I think. Most of the time the people come home to their party and most Democratic voters who cast a ballot for Bernie Sanders if he's not the nominee are going to go vote for a Democrat it could hurt or on the edges some enthusiasm I guess the real disaster scenario for Democrats would be somehow a convention or something that is very divided where Bernie Sanders feels as if he's had the nomination taken away from or perhaps that a 3rd party candidate gets in the race when he's running short of that I think ultimately most Bernie Sanders supporters will probably come back to the Democratic Party so Jim Kessler Bernie Sanders says out loud look we're going to get behind any nominee to defeat Donald Trump but you don't get that sense maybe from the supporters of those that I know who have spoken to some of his supporters they seem so set on him and not willing necessarily how do you see that in how dangerous it is that for Democrats most will come along but you know they're the Bernie Bros out there as they're called and the true believers are the true believers and no matter what happens in this primary they will believe that Sanders was robbed of the nomination they said he was robbed of the nomination last time Hillary Clinton beat him by 3800000 votes and by a margin of 57 to 43 percent and they said he was robbed so there is a certain conspiracy theory element within the Democratic Party that most of them have gravitated towards Bernie Sanders a few of them are with some of the candidates like Andrew Yang who also just dropped out of the race but that's part of the mix there I just want to have one other thing the mainstream wing of the Democratic Party does not have a numerator problem it has a denominator problem if you look at the New Hampshire results the 3 moderates leading moderates got 53 percent of the vote and the 2 leading candidates on the further left Sanders and Elizabeth Warren they got 39 percent of the vote with. Who voted to convict him this is incurred the wrath of course of President Trump against Mitt Romney against many others as I said in my introduction Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Van man who was unceremoniously walked out of the White House for merely responding to a subpoena and testifying at the impeachment inquiry and saying the truth about what he heard on that excellent telephone call from July 25th the President Trump had with Ukrainian President Volo demands a Lansky we're looking at what some people are calling a retribution to or you know President Trump is crowing that he was acquitted and everybody now that spoke against him or act against him he is lashing out what are the long term effects do you think of the Senate acquittal on the democratic system of governance the integrity of which relies on these checks and balances between the legislative and executive branch Well look I think will be followed in a lot of different directions I think the big picture will be as the president has wanted he got the headline that the president was acquitted and I also think it's a message that impeachment is a political process in part and really depends on having a broad consensus including some of the other party to remove the president that doesn't mean will never do it again we're a divided country but I do think that Republicans will make the case that this was something primarily supported by Democrats yes there was one Republican the Senate but it was a Democratic effort that didn't rise the level of getting a supermajority of people saying let's take this person out of office and I think the argument was very effective for the president that there's an election coming up that ultimately let's not short circuit the election let the people decide that the people can remove Donald Trump they still can vote on this issue or on others in a few months and the president comes out of this I think broadly in a better place than he did before well the president might come out broadly in a better place but many are questioning Jim Kasler whether or not the Senate the Congress comes out in a better place many of the Republican lawmakers in particular didn't defend their. Branch of government that the behavior that they let's say condoned by President Trump they would never have done that if a Democratic president engaged in the same unlawful type of behavior what is your sense of you know where we go from here and what the impact will be is the Senate lowering the bar for permissible conduct for future presidents Well of course they are the outcome of this is not a surprise I thought this was a very very disappointing moment for the u.s. Congress and the Senate in particular it's not just that the president wasn't removed I understand not removing the president that is a big big decision to make if I was a senator I would have voted to remove him but I wish that more Republican senators stood up and said what he did was awful and witnesses and documents which they rejected which is normally part of any normal trial right so what we saw here was instead of really trying to find out what happened and try to ascertain the truth the strategy was how do we survive and win this thing and even if in the end the vote would have been the same I would have loved to see the Senate the August body that it is taken seriously and at least say there were a lot of things you know that were disturbing you know it didn't rise to the level of removing the president but I want to send a warning to the president to others like this behavior cannot happen again but they didn't do that and I think they basically just gave him a pass to act however he wants to act over the next 10 months and possibly the next 4 years and 10 months well and speaking of which he is certainly engaging in this type of behavior it seems that way John 48 he's acting as if he can do whatever he wants he has now been alleged to have interfered in the Justice Department in the recent sentencing of Roger Stone who was convicted of lying to Congress of witness tampering but he was convicted and he is interfering in the. Justice Department which is supposed to be independent and then you mentioned elections and certainly that makes sense well let's just all vote it's an upcoming election before removing him but as Jim said not even a word about the type of conduct that he that is the president engaged in strong arming a foreign ally to get dirt on his political opponent so going forward now people are concerned about interference in the election not just foreign interference which he feels he's able to without any kind of consequences to court internal political interference that is the Republican Party engaging in dissing from Asian campaigns on social media and so forth I see people's worries and people have concerns but I don't believe that our election is in any way going to be illegitimate in the fall we have issues to worry about we have protections we're trying to put in place but I think this election is going to be fundamentally about the American people and they're going to weigh in as to whether they like the president on a variety of things including this so the case was made publicly it's very hard to remove a president unless you persuade the other party were a divided country but the election is there for people to say do we want this person here another 4 years or not and they will speak in November well you get the last word Jim Kasler the election is certainly the way for people to express themselves but some Democrats and others who felt that the impeachment trial should have had a proper format with witnesses documents and so forth are concerned that now the president is in a sense unleashed and he is going beyond his normal norms of the presidency and lashing out and trying to interfere in a number of processes in which he should not and I would think that people are concerned because Mitch McConnell the Senate majority leader has not agreed to take up any election security bills almost one could say if one didn't know any better that maybe he doesn't want to do that because such security ill. Action bills would not favor the Republicans we are definitely going to have foreign interference in the election coming up we had foreign interference in the 2016 election the probably decided the outcome of the race I'm not saying that it was collusion between Trump and the Russians but when John Podesta is emails were released the day of the Access Hollywood tapes were you know released on Trump a trump scandal in the brewing that was foreign interference and I think we have unleashed the president he even further and the latest where he's recommending a light sentence on Roger Stone I mean the recommendation was a sentence between 7 and 9 years that was too soft Roger Stone should probably be in prison for 20 years so I do not think this is a great moment for lawfulness and our political system right now I'm afraid that's all the time we have on this edition of encounter I'd like to thank my guests John 48 director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kasler senior vice president for policy a 3rd way thanks so much for coming in thank you thank you encounter it was produced in Washington our engineer was just in the way and thanks to Kim Lewis for Hello welcome to blood then I'm glad of ancestors recently world leaders gathered in Poland to mark a solemn anniversary it has been 75 years since the liberation of prisoners at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz it is estimated that more than 6000000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and out of that 6000000 more than 2000000 of the murdered were executed at Auschwitz reporter Henry Ritchie traveled to Poland to speak with one man who survived that death came. Along with his photographs and letters extend his love Solecki keeps his memories locked away occasionally letting them out to share the horrors of the past that the facility was 18 when he was arrested for painting Polish resistance symbols on Wheels in Nazi occupied will so after a brutal interrogation he was imprisoned and spoke of you yeah about 37000 of these prisoners were killed about 60000 were taken from probably Ockers and the concentration camps I was among the 60000 I was taken to Auschwitz Birkenau on October 6th 1943 the procedure was followed registration and. What's one camp which involves taking personal information taking off all our civilian clothes cutting off air shaving tattooing putting on prison stripes uniforms we got only a cop a shirt a jacket underwear pants and wooden clogs that have ski was tattooed with the number 156569 referred to prison is only by number that many new arrivals were taken directly to the gas chambers strong men and women we used as fools labor thought of people Key him p. Thousands of years if one of the prisoners did not look fit enough for further work the s.s. Pointed him out with a stick to the camp writer who would write down the prisoners number afterwards these prisoners were called out and taken on foot to the crematorium one day lorries arrived at the barracks and women were let out ordered to strip naked and they were loaded as though they were some commodity yet these trucks were followed by a soldier on a motorbike as they moved toward the crematorium I still remember today the screams of these women the transportation lasted several hours until they empty the barracks their lives he was imprisoned for his political activities most prison is sent to Auschwitz to their deaths the Nazis said Gould final solution to wipe out the Jewish race to live ski recalls Jewish prison is arriving on trains wearing bands bearing the Star of David a fan knowing that sell it think the us had a good one s.s. Soldier all of them in one long line with him standing at the front of the line and leading them forward they followed this one soldier with those signs of worry or anxiety they were heading toward the crematorium but only we were aware of this not them into as Soviet soldiers began to approach from the east the Nazis transferred hundreds of thousands of prisoners to other camps 10. Of thousands died on the journey. Was taken to the Mauthausen Couzin camp in Austria in many $945.00 room a spread of the Allied advance and German guards fled. Up with if I would. Marry on May 5th American military vehicles around i welcome to American soldiers going to one of them do some polish and shouted You are free it took me 78 days to get Zuckerberg to Warsaw fire robbed in Warsaw on July 22nd 1045 wearing u.s. Army it's not just for celebs he is president of the Polish union of political prisoners of Nazi prisons and concentration camps 75 years on he still struggles to reconcile what happened yes. But that and those that oppose. Us When I say the Lord's Prayer there is a phrase give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us as I face the dilemma at this point can I forgive those where an inscription that read God is with us on their belt buckles who kill people yet the whole matter of meditation. I put my memories of Auschwitz into a box tied it with a string and threw it into the water metaphorically speaking at my work to go I started a family I have a son and grandchildren what when I visit the camp or when we are talking like we are today I pull out as a box of my present its contents to you and afterwards I throw it back into the water there are moments however when these memories break into my psyche causing reflections and questions with no answers the world has not learned the lesson of what had happened that the world has come full circle so to speak this sister e. This circularity is powered by people who do not respect the dignity of another human being I don't south I mean I can feel their Zelinsky and 200 fellows survivors returned to the same cooled since for the 75th anniversary of the camps liberation last month still determined to teach the world the lessons of Auschwitz . Henry rejoice and joins us from London Henry Ed thank you for joining us tell me a fraction of what he spoke of when I met him in Warsaw he spoke for 2 hours about survived the death camps Gretchen Skidmore is the director of civic and defense initiatives at the Holocaust Museum here in Washington d.c. And she joins us here in the studio nice to see you nice to see you know it's just understand this history and history education the whole cause is always relevant but I think right now it is particularly relevant it's a study in human behavior and choices people make and how those choices matter today in their lives are I don't mean to minimize that anyway the Holocaust by asking this next question but are there any parallels to the anti-Semitism today. We see a rise in it you know even bigotry in other ways so the people have always there's been a long history of hatred not only respond once there have been group targeted violence but also to get people to understand that we can look for these indicators and prevent some of these things that's the mission of the museum but it's interesting how you know we everyone said never again we've had Rwanda and now we have this mean there is sort of a there's a little bit of a look in the other way but we can also recognize that there are structures that are possible to implement both in the United States government and chambers and the Holocaust and yet the neo nazi movement is alive one man once a member of a neo nazi punk rock band is trying to change that today Christian preacher Leni is the author of several books and the founder of the free radicals project which aims to free radicalized hued from the same racist views he once held mill are saying I spoke with him on Skype. Christian is an expert on hate. In 1907 I was recruited into America's 1st neo Nazi skinhead group actually needs testimony to Congress in 2019 was just the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager from a loving and hard working immigrant family and wrote so I went searching for a sense of identity community and purpose sort of on the fringes having been bullied for most of those 14 years and on those friends as I found a narrative a man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old and I was smoking a joint and he pulled a joint from my mouth and he looked me in the eyes and he said that's what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile and I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person or even what the word meant but it was the 1st time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me that had included me he stayed with the movement for 8 years I started a record store in 1905 to sell racist music that I was importing and making as well but at the record store I was also selling different kinds of music things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and and I started to meet people who were black and who were Jewish and who were gay for the 1st time really and having meaningful interaction with them so over you know the course of having their record store I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with Humanisation and it was those people that I'm so grateful for because they knew who I was and yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion and it was the compassionate I received from them at a time when I Really least deserve to that was the most powerful transformative moment for me Michel Leni has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called free radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism what I'm seeing with white nationalism today is very similar to what I saw in. The early days of let's say al-Qaeda or ISIS the propaganda tactics are the same recruitment is very similar the use of high quality marketing videos showing kind of this this of glory if you join the fight picture leader he says he's trying to be the person he wishes would have approached him when he was just 14 years old so many years ago Miller Sega v.o.a. News Washington. Question is one example of someone who turned his own hate around but violence hate xenophobia a growing in some places in some countries deadly shooting sprees now Paso Texas and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania have prompted the f.b.i. To declare domestic attacks as dangerous to u.s. National security as ISIS and Al Qaida. A majority of the. Domestic terrorism. Cases that we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence but it includes other things as well we're particularly focused on domestic terrorism especially racially or ethically motivated violent extremists not only is the terror threat diverse it's unrelenting. Just as a number of hate crimes has risen in some parts of the world one thing remains a constant and that is the fight against it joining us from New York is Oren Siegel of the Anti-Defamation League nice to say Oh thanks for joining us. Mr Mr Siegel who is vice president the a.d.l. Center an extreme as an extremism combat anti-Semitism and he lead to training initiative for law enforcement public officials and companies in the private sector let's just say go 1st to follow what is the Anti-Defamation League. 100 year old organization didn't start up a bit from. 6 brawl. Is focused on that is going to take over right. Have there been an uptick in attacks by you know for anti-semitic attacks and extremist action like that. Is that the stuff. We have seen it at least gets that. It's. Followed 6 months the way it. Wants to work. With all the lights on. It and what is it going to how is social media been a contributing factor to the uptick. Study social media is the key most of us story about you know looking at our feeds whether it's established forms like Facebook and Twitter or even. On other. Issues and I'm might. Spend their. I can just. Hear it. Oh yeah. We're. On our own it's. The f.b.i. Director Christopher Ray's talking about how you know how important is the hole in the whole growing issue of anti-Semitism is 2 and a terror attacks is to the f.b.i. But there's a big difference in my mind between responding to a shooting or an s. Situation and catching it before it happens do you find that the f.b.i. Has been effective in sort of helping to stop some of the the some of the violence that's going on some of the anti-Semitism violence. But I think when we look at sort of extremist violence going to probably certainly the Jewish community is the cross it was but it's not only the Jewish community you know look at all possible in the Hispanic community or other incidents that we see across the country and I think the f.b.i. Is doing a pretty good job in the sense that you know even the last couple weeks we have seen several white supremacists in particular get arrested for various plots in this country to do damage now you know that is something that occurs even though domestic extremists are not designated that way you know ISIS and all kind are so long for something government is different tools to deal with foreign terrorist organizations but I think there are steps that can be taken to improve how we understand the domestic terror threat but I don't think that law enforcement is ignoring it I just think it's a bigger challenge because so much of what motivates domestic extremists is freedom of speech so what are the steps that could be taken. As we're being we've been advocating an a.t.l. For Terrorism Prevention Act which at its base for we're choir's government to at least collect data on extremist to Mystic terror incidents in this country you need to. At that date before you get resorts to the threat and that's why it a.t.l. We have a heat map where we provide information on terrorist plots and attacks white supremacist propaganda which is nearly doubled this past year 2001000 from the previous year as well as Semitic incidence and other. Types of activity it is to understanding where we put our resources to combat the threat and beyond that d.s.m. Other suggestions I mean obviously that deal getting data is important but are there other suggestions that can be used to combat this. I think I think this requires a holistic approach right it's not just long for Smith It's not just government but as you mentioned earlier so much of what is motivating people to violence is the means and the narratives and tropes that are online that can spread pretty much anywhere at any time and so the tech industry in and of itself has a responsibility not just to inforce their terms of services but the absence of corporate responsibility it's not unreasonable for users of these platforms to expect that they do more to protect their users and frankly all the communities how do you separate them then the 1st Amendment and speech from they hate speech extremism. Well you know hate speech it is very much protected in this country what we do is try to identify that it speech in order to find clues of where you know violence may be incubators and so you know it's a difficult line and we don't want government to you know be able to escape anybody at any time because of the beliefs that they out but there are certain clues certain glorification of violence certain sure hopes that really animate these extremist movements that long for spin needs to make sure that they're on top of and this is where he'll thank you or and say you know from a.d.l. Center on extremism. That's all the time we have for today stay plugged in my

Radio-program , American-politicians , American-roman-catholics , Mass-media , Writers-from-new-york-city , States-of-the-confederate-america , American-anti-iraq-war-activists , Political-terminology , Politics-and-race , Political-science , Racism , American-socialites

VOA [Voice of America] Global English-20200214-130000

Boarded a piece Charles the last man has the story China's National Health Commission says just over 120 more people have died and there'd be nearly 5100 new confirmed cases the numbers have been rising mole quickly off of the hardest hit province changed on Thursday it's method of counting the province not includes cases based on the physician's diagnosis and before they have been confirmed by lab tests the commissioner said the change is aimed at identifying suspected cases in which the patient has pneumonia so they can be treated more quickly I would use the Lockley would of more serious illness or death I'm shells delivered as my Japan has reported its 1st corona virus fatality a woman in her eighty's authorities say it is not clear how she was infected noting she had not travel to China nor had contact with anyone from han the epicenter of the virus North Korea has apparently escaped the new virus so far but there are concerns if it comes Pyongyang could face severe containment issues Bill Gallo reports from v.o.a. From Seoul South Korea it isn't yet confirmed that the new coronavirus has reached North Korea but if it does experts warn the North could quickly face a humanitarian disaster not only does North Korea lack proper medical supplies and infrastructure to deal with an outbreak many parts of the country are poverty stricken and aid groups that want to help must 1st get permission from the United States and United Nations because of international sanctions on North Korea's nuclear weapons program but the u.s. State Department on Thursday signal it supports providing quick exemptions for those groups a spokesperson said the u.s. Is deeply concerned that North Koreans are vulnerable to the disease Bill Gallo the way News Seoul from Washington this is v.o.a. News u.s. Defense secretary Mark esper says he's decided to deploy a so-called security force assistance brigade to Africa he says the unit will be trained organized and equipped to aid allied African nations in the face of what he called Great Power calm. Petition on the continent at the same time esper said the United States will pull some combat forces out of Africa Pakistan has approved a new set of rules to regulate social media platforms and move critics denounced as an attack on freedom of the press and free speech in the country companies such as Facebook Twitter and Google will be required to remove content that Pakistani authorities deem unlawful but man is that the companies provide information about users accused of posting blasphemous material or content that could incite violence and endangered national security here in Washington u.s. Attorney General William Barr is complaining about things that he says make his job more difficult one of them president trumps tweeted messages of displeasure with the Justice Department a.p. Correspondent Tim acquire reports Attorney General William Barr tells A.B.C.'s Pierre Thomas I think it's time to stop the tweeting a bad Department of Justice criminal case bar says chumps tweets have done real damage people in the department are men and women hear about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases. Make it impossible for me to do my job the a.b.c. Interview comes after bar over ruled his own prosecutors who recommended Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison and then he took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount while not offering an amended number bar is scheduled to testify to Congress at the end of next month to McGuire Washington. The White House responds that President Trump is simply exercising his right of free speech saying nothing about whether he will end his tweets aimed at the Justice Department the United States confirms it's negotiated a 7 day reduction in violence agreement with the Taliban in a step toward a political end to the war in Afghanistan u.s. Defense secretary Mark Asper told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels that quote 7 days from now is sufficient to determine whether the insurgent group is serious about settling the conflict which is nearly 2 decades old Asper declined to discuss further details noting it was consulting with u.s. Allies he added that a lessening in violence could offer a basis for a peace accord they want Central Command says it seized a large cache of weapons ammunitions likely headed from Iran to hoody rebels in Yemen the hall was intercepted during an operation earlier this week in the Arabian Sea and involved a small fishing vessel More news at v.o.a. News dot com Gene Randall v.o.a. News. Better happy birthday to him he turned 20 this week. I have the weekend on the way for you. Here is Liam Payne and a bookie would. They hit. I don't want to. Be. Given the cliff. And. All the good. In. Such a. Good school. away when they hit. Welcome to learning English a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America Jonathan of it and I'm Ashley Thomson this program is aimed at English learners so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Today on the program you will hear from Pete Musto Brian Lamb and Alice Bryant later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation. But 1st here is a peep Musto. Statues of historical figures have been the subject of much debate in the United States in recent years the debate has centered mainly on statues of individuals linked with the Confederacy the losing side of America's civil war in the 18 sixty's among other things the Confederacy fought for the right to continue in slaving people with African origin. Now the state of Maryland has revealed statues of 2 famous anti slavery activists or abolitionists they are Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass lawmakers presented the statues to the public during a ceremony Monday night in the Maryland State House and the life sized statues were dedicated during a special joint session of the Maryland General Assembly in the Old House chamber that is the room where lawmakers agreed to end or abolish slavery in the state in 800 $64.00 House speaker Adrian Jones is the state's 1st black and 1st female House speaker in a prepared speech she spoke of the importance of Tubman and Douglas and their fight against oppression the statues are a reminder that our laws aren't always right or just but there's always room for improvement Jones said. The statues dedicated during Black History Month were made to show Tubman and Douglas as they would have appeared in age and dress in $864.00 both Tubman and Douglas were born on Maryland's Eastern Shore Tubman escaped from slavery to become a leading abolitionist she helped slaves as scape using an organized group of anti slavery activists called the Underground Railroad Douglas also escaped slavery he went on to become a writer speaker abolitionist and supporter of women's rights he wrote and published the story of his life in $845.00 it was a bestseller that helped fuel the abolitionist movement the statues are not the only recent example of the state taking steps to demonstrate its rich black history last month a portrait of a black female former lawmaker took the place of one of a white governor who had been on the wall for 115 years the painting of Virgil welcome who was elected to the state Senate in 1962 is the 1st portrait of a black person on the Maryland Senate walls Maryland also has removed painful reminders of its past in recent years in 2017 the state removed a statue of Roger b. Taney the u.s. Supreme Court justice and Maryland native. Taney wrote the $857.00 Dred Scott decision that permitted slavery to continue and denied citizenship to African Americans. Musto. Says. A robot has led human musicians during a live performance in the United Arab Emirates the robot called Alter 3 has a human like face and 2 long arms video from the recent performance in the Emirate of Sharjah showed the machine turning to face orchestra members and waving its arms altar 3 even sang at times the performance was an opera called scary beauty created by Japanese composer. He told Reuters News Agency that the robot acted as the conductor by setting the speed and sound level of the performance she said the involvement of robots in the everyday lives of humans is continually increasing. But he said he thinks people will need to decide in the future how artificial intelligence Ai can best improve the human experience she added that he believes humans and robots can learn to work together to create beautiful art this work is a metaphor of the relations between humans and technology he said she noted that sometimes the music leading robot can get crazy making it difficult for the musicians to keep up but other times the humans and machines cooperate very well she said the robots and Ai that exist today are far from complete he is interested in studying how such incomplete technology can be combined with art from those who witnessed it the performance drew mixed reactions I think this is a very exciting idea we came to see how it looks like and how much is possible said on a co-author of h another attendee who gave his name only as below him said after the show you know a human conductor is so much better. Although he said he is interested in ai and looks forward to big developments he noted of the project the human touch is lost. I'm Brian Lamb. Wow. Wow wow wow wow. Wow Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. On a recent every day grammar program we talked about the phrase be willing to for example you might say she was willing to travel during the rainy season the adjective willing belongs to a group of more than 30 adjectives that are followed by infinitive verbs you probably remember that the infinitive form of a verb is 2 plus its simplest form in the sentence about the woman the infinitive verb is to travel adjectives followed by infinitives are the subject of today's everyday grammar program. Generally the adjectives in this group describe a person or people not a thing many of them describe a person's attitude toward or feeling about something listen to 2 sentences and decide which sounds better I am happy to see. I am happy seeing you if the 1st sounds more natural it is probably because you have heard infinitive verbs after the adjective happy many times an English in the example the infinitive is to see if the 2nd sentence I am happy seeing you sound strange it is because we don't use Jaron after happy a Geron is a verb that and and i n g such as seeing the grammar of I am happy seeing you is incorrect but the listener might still understand your meaning happy follows the structure b. Plus adjective plus infinitive other adjectives in this group include easy hard careful prepared good relieved and difficult next I have Jill Robbins joining me to demonstrate the grammar with a short exercise Jill I'll ask you a question and you answer it using an adjective followed by an infinitive verb are you ready yes I'm ready here's the 1st one crossing busy streets in d.c. Can be dangerous what are you careful to do before you cross the street I am careful to put away my phone before I cross the street I am also careful to check whether the sign says walk or don't walk. Good job you use the adjective careful plus the infinitive verbs to put away and to check in your answer I noticed you use the adverb also in your 2nd sentence that's great adding an add verb is common in b. Plus adjective plus infinitive phrases since we often use them to express attitudes and feelings let's do another I noticed that you worked long hours yesterday when you got home last night what were you relieved to do I was relieved to take off my shelves I was also relieved to sit down for dinner later I was ready to sleep very good you used the adjective relieved followed by the infinitive to take off and to sit down and I used the adjective ready which also belongs to the group of adjectives we're discussing today I followed it with the infinitive to sleep yes and you use the past tense of be which is was let's do one more some things in life are easy to do and some are hard to do what is something that is hard to do it is really hard to change a habit you're right about that it is hard to change habits Jill used the adjective hard followed by the infinitive verb to change notice that she started this sentence with the pronoun it. When we use it in this way the pronoun is not the true subject of the sentence the true subject is the infinitive verb but we do not speak this way consider these 2 examples which sounds more natural it is hard to change a habit to change a habit is hard the sentence it is hard to change a habit sounds more natural even though the true subject is to change in English we rarely begin sentences with infinitive verbs except in some kinds of writing such as poetry and other forms of literature by the way if we wanted to write the sentence another way we could replace the infinitive subject to change with the Geron and changing then the sentence becomes changing a habit is hard and changing is the subject of the sentence but for today's lesson what's important is knowing you will see and hear sentences with b. Plus adjective plus infinitive everywhere and they sometimes begin with the pronoun it so what can you do to practice here's one idea try to become familiar with the 30 plus adjectives that are followed by infinitives without trying to memorize them I will provide the list on our website. Then the next time you hear those adjectives in real life in a song on television or in a movie listen for the structure we talked about today try to make note of the example in your phone or a notebook you can also practice writing your own sentences and using them when you speak English to friends or practice partners with time and practice you will be delighted to use the structure whenever you speak or write English I'm Alice Bryant. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in v.o.a. a Special English Doug Johnson and Shirley Griffiths discuss the presidential election of 1920 and the man who won Warren Harding. The presidential election of 1920 was a turning point in American politics it ended a period of social reforms at home and an active foreign policy it began a period of conservative thinking in both the political and social life of the Nation American reporter h.l. Mencken described the national feeling this way the majority of Americans are tired of idealism they want capitalism openly and without apology. President Woodrow Wilson had suffered a stroke during his 2nd term he was very sick no one expected him to be a candidate again yet he refused to announce that he would not run for a 3rd term Woodrow Wilson had done much during his administration he helped pass important laws dealing with trade banking and the rights of workers he led the nation through the bloody World War in Europe he tried but failed to have the United States join the new international organization the League of Nations the American people honored Wilson for his intelligence and ideas but they were tired of his policies of social change and they did not want to be involved in international problems anymore the leaders of President Wilson's Democratic Party understood the feelings of the people they knew they had little chance of winning the presidential election if they nominated a candidate of change delegates to the Democratic nominating convention voted 44 times before agreeing on a candidate they chose the governor of the state of Ohio James Cox the Republican Party also had a difficult time at its nominating convention 4 man wanted to be president the delegates voted 6 times. None of the men gained enough support so several party leaders met in private they agreed that only one man a compromise candidate could win the support of the convention he was a senator from the state of Ohio Warren Harding the delegates voted 10 more times before choosing Harding as their candidate for president for vice president they chose Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts. Warren Harding head oh and a newspaper in Ohio. People advised him to enter politics because he was such a good public speaker during the campaign he promised lower taxes less immigration and more aid to farmers he called for normalcy I new period of peace and quiet with few changes that is what the voters wanted to hear in 1920 Warren Harding won the election with 68 percent of the popular vote in his 1st act as president he invited people to visit the White House he permitted them to walk in the garden the act was a sign the government seemed to be returning to the people Warren Harding is remembered mostly for 2 events one was a successful international conference the other was a shameful national incident. After World War One Britain Japan and the United States expanded their navies they built bigger and better ships many members of the United States Congress worried about the cost they also worried about increased political tension in Asia they asked President Harding to organize a conference to discuss these issues the conference was held in Washington in November 1921 President Harding invited representatives from the major naval powers of the time Britain Japan France and Italy he also invited representatives from countries with interests in Asia China Portugal Belgium and the Netherlands he did not invite the new Soviet leaders in Russia Mr Harding secretary of state Charles Evans Hughes spoke he offered the conference a detailed plan to reduce the size of the world's major navies he proposed that the world's strongest nations should stop building war ships for 10 years he also proposed that Britain Japan and the United States should destroy some ships to make their navy smaller immediately delegates to the conference debated the plan for 3 months Japan demanded and won the right to have more ships. But the final agreement was very close to the one proposed by Secretary Hughes the conference was not a complete success for example it did not prevent countries from building some kinds of ships these ships would prove important in the 2nd World War Also it did not create ways to protect China and the islands in the South Pacific Ocean from Japanese expansion yet the Naval Treaty of 1921 was the 1st in which the world's strongest countries agreed to reduce the size of their armed forces most people thought it was a good treaty the 2nd thing which President Harding is remembered is the Teapot Dome scandal it involved the misuse of underground oil Oh and by the federal government Warren Harding was an honest man but he did not have a strong mind of his own he was easily influenced and he often accepted bad advice he explained the problem with these words I listen to one side and they seem right then I listen to the other side and they seem just as right I know that somewhere there is a man who knows the truth but I do not know where to find him President Harding appointed several man of great ability to his cabinet they included Secretary of State Charles Evans you treasury secretary Andrew Mellon and commerce secretary Herbert Hoover. However some of his appointments were dishonest man one was Interior Secretary Albert fall he was responsible for the Teapot Dome scandal secretary fall gave a private company the right to take oil from land Oh and by the federal government in return the company gave him money and cattle the oil was not supposed to be taken from the ground it was supposed to be saved for the United States Navy to use in an emergency private oil companies and many politicians oppose this policy they said saving the oil was unnecessary Albert fall oppose the policy when he was a member of the Senate when he became interior secretary his department took control of the lands containing the underground oil then he permitted private companies to use the land for a period of time during that time the companies could take out the oil some of the oil was in the western state of Wyoming the rock mass on the surface looked like a container for making tea so the area was called Teapot Dome when the Senate uncovered secretary falls wrongdoing the press quickly called the incident the Teapot Dome scandal the Senate investigation led to several court cases which lasted throughout the 1920 s. Secretary fall was found guilty of misusing his government position he was sentenced to prison for one year. President Harding did not live to see the end of the Teapot Dome incident. In the summer of 1923 he made a political trip to Alaska and Western states on the way home he became sick while in San Francisco he died of a heart attack Vice President Calvin Coolidge was in the northeastern state of Vermont when he heard that President Harding had died Coolidge's father was a local court official there he gave the oath of office to his son that is how Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States. And that's our program for today listen again tomorrow to learn English 3 stories from around the world I'm Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thompson. This is v.o.a. News on Jayaram in China soon a province 100 more people are drawn from a coronavirus covered 19 as they.

Radio-program , Harding-administration-cabinet-members , Divided-regions , Legal-professions , American-slaves , East-asian-countries , Member-states-of-the-united-nations , Republics , American-lawyers , African-american-history , Coolidge-administration-cabinet-members , New-york-republicans

BBC Radio 4 LW-20200212-050000

Democratic candidates are hot on his heels but it was another bad night for Joe Biden will be live in New Hampshire also on the newsroom for u.s. Prosecutors quit after President Trump criticizes a sentence given to a former ally but be able to do it if I wanted to have the absolute right to do it I stay out of things to a degree that people wouldn't believe but I didn't speak to him I thought the recommendation was ridiculous and later. Sound that won't be heard again now if the removal workers dropped a $200000.00 piano 1st to our top stories Hello I'm Tom what's with the b.b.c. News the veteran left wing Senator Bernie Sanders has won the New Hampshire primary the latest stage in the contest to choose a Democratic Party candidate for the White House he told his supporters his victory was the beginning of the end for Donald Trump and we're going to unite together and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. And the reason I believe we are going to win is that we have in unprecedented grass roots movement from coast to coast close behind Senator Sanders came the more centrist contenders the former mayor of peace buthe jag and Senator Amy Klobuchar shop Mr Botha judge said he was the candidates to unite the electorate my competitors and I share the same fundamental goals bringing balance to our economy guaranteeing health care to every a mere combat in a climate crisis and a rising tide of gun violence but we do differ in what we believe it will take to make that happen in this election season we have been told by some that you must either be for revolution or you are for the status quo but where does that leave the rest of us. Most Americans don't see where they fit in their polarized vision the technology entrepreneur Andrew Yang has dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination all for us Justice Department prosecutors working on the case of Roger Stone the convicted former advisor to President Trump have asked to be released from further involvement their decision comes immediately after the department indicated it would override their recommendation to sentence Mr Stone to a lengthy prison term James read reports Roger Stone was once one of Donald Trump's closest political advisors last year he was convicted on 7 charges including lying to Congress and witness tampering in a case that threatened the president on Monday prosecutors requested he be given between 7 and 9 years in prison Mr Trump criticized that recommendation as horrible and very unfair and within hours it had been withdrawn by the Justice Department Democrats have called for an investigation into whether the White House intervened saying that would be an abuse of power Mr Trump denies interfering but says he could if he wanted to and Japan says it has confirmed corona virus infections in another $39.00 passengers and crew on board a cruise ship being quarantined in the port of Yokohama along with a health worker who has also fallen ill This brings the total number of cases aboard the Diamond Princess to 1754 people are in a serious condition the ship now represents the biggest single outbreak of the virus outside mainland China Japan is refusing to allow the $3700.00 passengers and crew to leave this is the world news from the b.b.c. China's National Health Commission has reported another $97.00 deaths from the Corona virus bringing the total to more than $1100.00 almost all were in the central province of who Bay where the epidemic began. An unidentified attacker has shot dead a political worker for the victorious me Party in the Indian capital Delhi The attack came hours after the crushing defeat of India's governing b j p party whose leaders were accused of running a divisive and communal campaign for the regional election that you volunteer had just accompanied a winning candidate to offer prayers at a temple federal prosecutors in Brazil have asked the court to suspend the appointment by President Abbas an arrow of a former evangelical missionary as head of the department in charge of protecting Indigenous communities the prosecutors said there was a conflict of interest in the appointment because he's an evangelical pastor who previously worked as an American missionary Candace Pietro ports recount the Lopez Dia's worked for a decade up to 2007 for the controversial New Tribes Mission now known as ethanol 360 the group aims to convert isolated groups to Christianity by translating the Bible into their language as head of Brazil's indigenous agency Mr Diaz now has detailed information on over 100 isolated tribes in the Amazon including monitoring and location studies the prosecutor said the appointment raise the risk of genocide and ethnic side among the tribes Venezuela's opposition leader why doe has returned to the country after a 3 week foreign towards a rally support for his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro there were chaotic scenes at Caracas International Airport as scuffles broke out between his supporters and those of Mr Madeira open for he left in a car he had left Venezuela in defiance of a travel ban imposed by the government b.b.c. News. Thanks very much listening to the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service with all of a Conway 4 years ago Bernie Sanders easily beat Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary but she eventually went on to win the Democratic presidential nomination this time around the left wing senator who represents the neighboring state of Vermont came top in New Hampshire by a much narrower margin he got 26 percent of the vote just ahead of Pete Budaj edge with Senator Amy Klobuchar surging into 3rd place a few minutes ago by any sourness spoke to his supporters this victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump was I what I can tell you with absolute certainty and I know I speak for every one of the Democratic candidates is that no matter who wins and we certainly hope it's going to be us we're going to unite together was and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country was the people to judge the former mayor of South Bend Indiana belt on his strong performance in Iowa coming to within 2 percentage points of causing an upset in New Hampshire he finished 2nd and he argued he was the kind of centrist candidate who could beat Donald Trump in this election season we have been told by some the you must either be for revolution or you are for the status quo but where does that leave the rest of us. Most Americans don't see where they fit in their polarized vision and we can't defeat the most divisive president in modern American history by tearing down anybody who doesn't agree with us 100 percent of the time. The senator Amy Klobuchar who surprised many with a strong performance in the most recent t.v. Debate among the Democrats was the other big winner in the primary coming 1st with just under 20 percent I believe now that we cannot win big by trying to out divide the divider in chief we know that we win by bringing people with us in stead of shouting them out Donald Trump's worst nightmare is that the people in the middle the people who have had enough of the name calling and the mudslinging have someone to vote for in November. I mean 3 version of the 3rd all of the 3 big winners but former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren both performed badly each gaining less than 10 percent of the vote when our correspondent Chris Buckley spent the day and night in New Hampshire Chris what does this result mean for the Democratic nomination race. You can't help but divide the groups into winners and losers and there's no dog the Bernie Sanders people to judge an Amy close goodnights the real questions I suppose emerge for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden who have been beaten into 4th and 5th place in a quite substantial why if you take a look at Joe Biden for example the former u.s. Vice president he clearly has name recognition he clearly has political experience but he knew a bad result was coming here in New Hampshire and has already indeed left the state to go to South Carolina where a vote is going to take place in a couple of weeks time which will be the next of the series of votes to try to choose a count that as. You know I don't think we're any clear it's annoying as to who will challenge Donald Trump but I think it also shows that there. Is a deep divide in the Democratic Party between the liberal progressive candidates and those who are more moderate and that is going to be the question going forward just who can stand the campaign risk long enough and who will draw part fast so far the the 2 states which have chosen candidate so Iowa and now New Hampshire tend to be fairly white states next Nevada and South Carolina what should we look for in those contests. Yet very very different and actually Dot is what Joe Biden is hoping will make the big difference for him the former us vice president tends to poll a little bit better with a diverse field so basically there are more Latino and black voters and not could make a real difference to his vote go in for was and it could also mean difficulties for some of the other candidates who have done well up to this point and of course one of the arguments is going to be that the Democratic candidates has to reflect those who are going to vote for the party and you know black voters are incredibly important and it is also very important to have a woman on the ticket some would argue as well as at least in the vice president position if not in the president position and certainly if you listen to Liz about Warren tonight she was talking about the fact that. The done well and that you should not really bet against a woman it gives you this idea that there are groups that are going to be pushing for their candidates in this and it's going to remain a very very difficult fight but you know I have to say all of our at the stage we don't have somebody who is really really leading the field it was a 3 way fight in this particular primary and you do get the impression that there are still 5 people in the city and of course Michael Bloomberg waiting in the wings Chris Buckley in New Hampshire many thanks so all to play for among the Democrats but the Republican primary in New Hampshire was won by guess who Donald Trump with 86 percent of the vote which he said was the best ever for an incumbent president but even though he has no real opposition inside his. Own party he has managed to get himself in trouble with his tweeting after he criticized a possible prison term for one of his former allies prosecutors recommended that Roger Stone be jailed for 7 to 9 years but just hours after Donald Trump called this a miscarriage of justice the u.s. Justice Department suggested a shorter term prompting it critics of Mr Trump to say he was interfering in newsrooms Daniel man is following developments for us remind us who is Roger Stone why he's controversial Well by his own admission he's a dirty tricks and he goes way back to the days of Richard Nixon he's a huge Amar of the for Miss Us president who was forced from office even has a tattoo his face on his back he also worked on campaigns with President Reagan and he was political advisor to Donald Trump a decades eventually persuading him to run for office in 2016 now 3 years later he got caught up in Robert Miller's investigation into claims of Russian meddling and last November he was convicted of lying to Congress his House Intelligence Committee which is investigating those allegations he was also convicted of obstruction and witness tampering He's due to be sentenced next week and on Monday prosecutors at the Department of Justice recommended a prison sentence of between 7 and 9 years sparking a late night intervention in President Trump on Twitter who said this would be very unfair and a miscarriage of justice and after he said that what did the Department of Justice do when on Tuesday it overrode its own prosecutors new papers were filed in court which said the department would make a formal recommendation instead it suggested a more appropriate sentence of 3 to 4 years in line with obstruction cases the Department of Justice even said the original recommendation was excessive and unwarranted for prosecutors who convicted stone withdrew from the case and one of them when even as far as resigning as a federal prosecutor now critics of President Trump immediately cues him of interference but he denies asking the Justice Department to get stone sentence cut in half. I'd be able to do it if I wanted to have the absolute right to do it I stay out of things to a degree that people wouldn't believe but I didn't speak to him I thought the recommendation was ridiculous and shouldn't happen and we'll see what what goes on there but it was horrible aberration these are the ideas there were the same Muller people that put everybody through hell I think it's a disgrace so I didn't like the sentence but he didn't do anything to get it changed what's been the reaction from the Democrat where they've been very clear this for them is an abuse of power by the president if he intervened to reverse the original sentence and they've called for an investigation Adam Schiff was one of the 1st to give his opinion he chairs the House Intelligence Committee which stone lied to or Mr Schiff of course Nourse the impeachment inquiry which failed to get Mr Trump removed from office he also accused the Attorney General William Barr who's in charge of the Department of Justice of a ruling career prosecutors present terms urging now for the Justice Department a senior official there called the timing of the president's tweet an inconvenient coincidence and so the department had not been in touch with the White House about Roger Stone sentencing Daniel Mann thank you Japan says a further 39 passengers have tested positive for the corona virus on a cruise ship currently quarantined in the port of Yokohama Rupert Winfield Hays reports from Tokyo this is yet another big jump in the number of passengers on board the Diamond Princess who have fallen ill from the Corona virus the ship now represents the biggest single outbreak of the virus outside mainland China with $175.00 confirmed cases including one Japanese health worker who went on board to help out all of those confirmed to have the virus are being taken off the ship and treated in hospital 4 of those previously hospitalized are now reported to be in a serious condition Meanwhile on board the Diamond Princess around 2600 passengers and over 1000 crew. Crew remain in quarantine Japan is refusing to let them off or to carry out a mass screening the Japanese health ministry says it does not have the resources or testing kits to screen everyone they have now been a number of calls from public health officials around the world to move the passengers from the cramped quarters of the ship to a more appropriate quarantine location so far the Japanese government remains unmoved revote Wingfield hang in Syria forces loyal to Bashar Assad appear to be heading towards victory in their battle to retake the last province controlled by Turkish backed rebels you know hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the region fleeing for their lives this report from our Middle East correspondent Quentin some of. The rules of rebel held illiberal are jammed by an exodus. The greatest in 9 years of Syria's war almost 700000 people on the move fleeing the advance of Bashar al Assad's regime. In the village of jewels of the for trial we firmly is packing up. For trial we deserted from the Syrian army after the revolution began Now here's your choice but to head north and I'm in the Amman. Delegate with fleeing from a village towards the Turkish border because we fear for our women and children we are heading towards the unknown and we do not know what lies ahead in this 7 year old son who seen struggles with the family carpet. He doesn't want to leave the hole not moral. When leaving a house because of my army the army executes those who stay here nearby his 9 year old brother Mohammed is helping to load the truck he says he wants to become a fighter he calls the regime forces infidels and they are on the line. The soldiers of the army well small threads if they find. They will leave a monthly to any area. In the tone of. The hailed the warplanes coming but their homes of protection in the aftermath amid the ambulances in the debris lead lives the green blanket was able to. Incite a charge course there's little but I can't recognize it if it's my father or my brother I don't know the lift and carry this is our fate as the Syrian people. To the south Turkish backed rebels scored a small victory to hit a regime helicopter as it made its way back to base it burst into flames but still manages to fly then all control is lost and it crushes an olive grove where they cook them there at the site a man dressed in combat gear explains a Turkish the helicopter behind me belongs to the regime it was dropping barrel bombs on Muslims and isn't civilians women and children. But Turkish backed forces and the extremist groups. Are mostly losing these days the regime today achieved a law will hope for goal retaking the m 5 road a critical route between Damascus and Aleppo. As the regime advances they'll have no choice but to head north to the sprawling camps on the Turkish border corralled and forgotten joining close to a 1000000 people who dared to challenge Bashar al Assad a Middle East correspondent Quentin some veil on the battle for Italy province in Syria this is the news room from the b.b.c. World Service and that's where we leave the World Service and video a very warm welcome to b.b.c. Radio 4 Hello I'm stepsons It's coming up to 20 past 5 on Wednesday the 12th of February in a moment the shipping forecast and all have news briefing room at the papers at 530 . pm wraps it is she fingers around your heart. Tell me about dramas inspired by the works of Emile Zola you know in life slings one thing after that I guess been man made with an all star cast led by Glenda Jackson been never seen me cry before more to the point neither had I fault lines money sex and blood on b.b.c. Radio 4 she was worth 10 of you. Rather bad that I really am begins on Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock. This is b.b.c. Radio 4 low Here's Helen Willetts that thank you very much yes good morning it's time for the shipping forecast issued by the Met Office on behalf of the maritime and Co to coast guard agency at 0505 today Wednesday the 12th of separate 2020 there are warnings of gales in forty's Cromarty forth tiny dog or fish or German bite Humber Thames Dover white Portland Plymouth Biscay Fitzroy so Lundy fast Net Irish Sea Shannon Rockwall Mullen Hebrides Bailey and feral the general synopsis at midnight new lows expected Bailey 913 pharaohs 994 and rock all 981 by midnight tonight the area forecast for the next 24 hours and Viking North has 0 South a 0 Northwest leave 5 to 7 becoming variable for less showers good forties Cromarty 4th time in Dhaka west 6 to Gale 8 occasionally severe gale 9 accepting Cromartie backing Southwest 2 to 4 then southeast 4 to 6 in time in Dhaka schoolish hours good occasionally poor Fisher German byt West 7 to severe gale 9 backing Southwest 3 to 5 schools showers good occasionally poor Humber Thames West 7 to severe gale 9 backing south 4 to 6 increasing 7 Ok late in Thames rain later good occasionally poor later Dover white Portland Plymouth West 5 to 7 backing south 4 to 6 increasing 7 to survey Gale 9 showers good Northwest Biscay westerly 45 backing south westerly 6 to Gale 8 showers good. Southeast Biscay south a choice variable for less becoming southwesterly $4.00 to $6.00 showers good North Fitzroy So Southwest leaf or 5 increasing 7 to severe gale 9 occasionally storm 10 in so school the showers good occasionally poor Lundy Fastnet West 5 to 7 backing Southwest for all 5 increasing 7 to Sebago 9 re North schoolish hours good occasionally poor Irish Sea West becoming cyclonic 6 to Gale 8 rain all schools showers good occasionally poor Shannon Rockall West 5 to 7 occasionally Gale 8 in rec walk will becoming cyclonic 7 to severe gale 9 occasionally storm 10 in Shannon rain or school the shower as good occasionally poor Mallon Hebrides Bailey west 6 to Gale 8 occasionally severe gale mind except in Maryland becoming cyclonic 45 increasing 6 to Gale 8 later except in Hebrides wintry showers get occasionally pull fair out Pharaoh's southeast Iceland Northwest 4 to 6 becoming cyclonic 5 to 7 occasionally Gale 8 in Fair Isle winter showers good occasionally poor. And now the weather reports from coastal stations for over on today 12 of every Tyree automatic west northwest 7 recent rain 6 miles 999 rising storm way west by North 6 slight rain 2 miles 991 rising Loic Northwest 3 recent rain 22 miles 984 rising Lucas West by last 619 miles 994 rising Bridlington west by south 51002 rising slowly Sandusky like vessel automatic West 711 miles 1011 rising slowly Jesse west by south 56 miles 1018 Falling Slowly channel light vessel to Mattick west by south 711 miles 1018 Falling Slowly solution Mattick west northwest 5 recent rain 8 miles 1019 rising slowly but Anthea West by North by 12 miles 1015 Falling Slowly Runnels way west by south 716 miles 1006 writing most lonely and man in head west by north 78 miles 1003 now forming. And here is the weather forecast for the Ensure waters of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it's followed valid for the following 24 hours it was issued by the Met Office at 5 w. On today Wednesday the 12th of February general situation the cold unsettled westerly flow will ease will slowly ease into Wednesday before a low moves east across the United Kingdom bringing rain school showers and gales a ridge is expected later on Thursday with Settle conditions for a time before further rain and gales are expected on Friday so for Cape to wrap to head including opening westerly 5 to 7 occasionally Gale 8 at 1st becoming cyclonic for a time net Orkney backing Southwest 3 to 5 later schoolie wintry showers good occasionally poor wretch she had to bear upon Tweed Wesley 6 to Gail 8 backing southwesterly 3 of 4 then east Leo southeasterly 3 to 5 Winter showers becoming fair later good occasionally poor barrack punt tweet to Whitby Wesley 6 to Gale 8 backing southwest to the 3 or 4 then southeast 3506 later when she shouts at 1st rain later good occasionally poor will be to Gibraltar point west 6 or 7 backing self-will Southwest 4 or 5 and Southeast 5 to 7 later went to 1st rain later good occasionally pull to both points North Foreland westerly 6 to Gale 8 backing Southwest Lee for a 5 and southerly 5 to 7 rain or schoolish hours later good occasionally poor later no fallen to Selsey Bill Westley 5 to 7 backing Southwest the 45 and 76 to Gale 8 later schoolish hours rain for a time good occasionally poor so he built a line rageous West 5 to 7 backing southwest for a 5 increasing 6 to get a late occasionally severe gale 9 later schoolie showers rain for a time good occasionally poor. Lyme Regis to Land's End including the hours of silly Westley 5 or 6 backing Southwest 4 or 5 then increasing 7 to severe go 9 schoolish hours rain for a time good occasionally poor lands and 2 cent Devas had including the Bristol Channel West 5 to 7 backing Southwest 4 to 6 and increasing 7 to severe go 9 schoolie showers rain for time good occasionally poor St David's head to great on head including St George's Channel west 6 to Galle 8 backing south 3 to 5 then southeast 6 to Galle 8 varying Southwest 4 to 6 later schoolish hours rain for a time good occasionally poor Rachel had to manage got away west 6 to Gale 8 backing southwest through 4 then Southeast 5 to 7 later wintry showers rain later good occasionally poor. West 6 or 7 backing south for a 5 then southeast 6 to get a late later wintry showers rain later good occasionally poor the 4 to Carlingford lock west 6 or 7 backing southwest through 4 then southeast becoming cyclonic later 5 to 7 went to showers rain later good occasionally pull of Galloway to medical tiring clearing Firth of Clyde in North Channel westerly 6 or 7 backing south westerly 3 or 4 then easterly or northeasterly 5 to 7 later when she showers rain later good occasionally pull out of can type of number one point west 6 to Gail 8 fucking south west 2 to 4 the any storm north east 5 to 7 later showers when trip 1st model poor becoming good later. Point to Cape Raf Northwest 7 to survey again 9 backing west 3 to 5 very north and northwest later thunder wintry showers moderate or poor becoming mainly good later finally Shetland Isles Northwest 4 to 6 becoming variable through less the Northeast 4 or 5 later winter showers good occasionally poor 7. Things This is b.b.c. Radio 4 is coming out of us drive on Wednesday the 12th of February Good morning this is news briefing with. The u.s. Senator Bernie Sanders has won the latest stage in the contest to choose the Democratic Party candidate for November's presidential election another health worker has been confirmed as one of the u.k. Cases of the coronavirus in business a court will begin hearing an appeal by Google's parent company against a fine of more than 2000000000 euros And in sports lead to not going far as both slipped up in the Championship promotion race Bernie Saunders has won the Democratic Party primary in the state of New Hampshire the 2nd stage in the contest to determine who will challenge Donald Trump for the White House later this year the veteran left wing senator confirmed his front runner status by finishing ahead of Pete but in Jay and Senator Amy Klobuchar the former Vice President Joe Biden was 5th Mr Saunders told his supporters his radical agenda was gaining momentum our campaign is large just about beating trump it is about transforming this country. It is about having the courage to take on Wall Street Theater sure it's companies the drug companies the fossil fuel industry the military industrial complex. It's emerged there's another health care worker is among the 8 people have tested positive for the new corona virus in the u.k. The unnamed person is a member of staff who works at the accident and emergency department of where the hospital in West Sussex the Department of Health says all services at the hospital are operating normally a local doctor from Brighton is one of the other 7 confirmed u.k. Cases. The media regulator Ofcom is set to become Britain's 1st Internet watchdog with the power to punish tech companies which expose users to harmful or illegal material the move includes plans to impose a statutory duty of care on firms which publish user generated content such as Facebook and Youtube the culture secretary lady Morgan says she's confident that major international tech giants will agree to abide by British law there are many platforms I did he would not have wanted regulation I think that's changing I think they understand now that actually regulation is coming it's a complicated area that we want to get right and we are trying to change behaviors here but also making sure our most vulnerable people when they see hateful harmful content online they are protected the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned the government it could face legal action over its repeated failure to move thousands of people with learning disabilities and autism have to secure hospitals in England the commission says the Department of Health has breached human rights legislation by consistently missing targets to place vulnerable people in more appropriate homes in the community the development says it is determined to continue reducing the number of people in mental health hospitals. NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels today where they're expected to agree an expansion of its training mission in Iraq the move could see some international troops which from the u.s. Led coalition to a NATO badged mission following calls from President Trump for the Lions to do more in the Middle East. The U.K.'s National Statistics said that next year's census may be the last one to be carried out the cost of the compulsory survey which has taken place for almost 200 years has doubled since 2011 so in Diamond said he was hopeful that other sources could be used such as the Ordinance Survey council tax records and g.p. Lists to replicate the findings of the census in a less costly way. A painting by David Hockney is sold at auction for more than 23000000 pounds the splash was created by the British artist in 1966 as part of a series of 3 Melanie Gallus from the newspaper says the splash is very recognizable it's not quite the Mona Lisa or the I got some flowers whatever one says but you know it's David Hockney and he's a bit of a national treasure but it's also painted at a time of his life when you can see the exuberance in a young gay man who is left Bradford in London and seen that the color The liked the more liberal society of California the news this morning and with the weather again he's Helen said thank you we've had snow falling and drifting his feet gone through cheese dash into Wednesday and strong winds therefore we do have a real hazard of ice after about this morning even where we haven't had too many shells if the surface is a damp it could well be a tad slippery but we've got a slight change today bump of high pressure is moving in it'll be an aid to slightly easing this brisk wind we've had and bring fewer showers that is not a dry day settling for example across Wales and the whole of southern England will probably have a little bit more cloud feeding a few more she. Now is through on that westerly breeze today but this is a it isn't improving picture for most parts here we'll see some good spells sometimes especially through the morning after that chilly start. For the Midlands for eastern England and for the North East of England with the probably the best of the sunshine here in the fewest fewest of the showers but even so the still a breeze morning that could bring the odd wintry showers for a particular around the Manchester region coming down through the Cheshire gap and across the penance but yes hopefully easing as the afternoon ways aren't highs today probably about 7 more likely around 4 or 5 for most of us Northern Ireland Northwest ignorable can see the continuation of the snow showers over moderately high hills so only 150 meters which covers quite a few of the higher roads here but the recent sunshine of course between those showers and fewer of them than yesterday highs about 3 or 4 degrees Celsius and a very similar story actually for Scotland where we do have a real rush of showers particularly the north and they off relatively low level so just expect that to continue to pile up and blow around in the wind despite the winds easing it's going to take most of the day I think cross the North of Scotland at least a fairly effect So a chilly 2 degrees at best and certainly some ice to watch out for us to say this morning as an added hazard that snow to that thanks Helen take a look at the papers both here and abroad a number of American titles assess the decision by the u.s. Justice Department to override the recommendations of its own prosecutors by seeking a shorter prison sentence for the president President Trump's former advisor Roger Stone The Wall Street Journal says officials proposed a more lenient sentence to President Trump criticize the original request that stone spend more than 7 years behind bars USA Today says the backtracking was met with a swift backlash as for lawyers who prepared the sentencing recommendation abruptly quit the prosecution team according to The New York Times one prosecutor resigned all together the Washington Post says the developments are raise questions about politicization of the Justice Department with former officials characterizing the abrupt shift on the case as an egregious example of the president manipulating federal law enforcement to serve his political interests. Back home the Guardian says Boris Johnson has staked his political reputation on delivering in his words a new anatomy of British transport after deciding to give the go ahead to h.s. To and from his massive new spending on infrastructure the Express agrees suggesting the move is the prime minister's biggest gamble yet the Financial Times warns that a fresh approach to managing h s 2 is Agent Lee needed but argues the long term benefits of the project are worth the risk according to The Times Boris Johnson was furious last night after judges stopped 25 serious and dangerous offenders from being deported to Jamaica Downing Street is said to fear they could win bail and be back on the streets of Britain within 48 hours. A speech by the b.b.c. Chairman is previewed by the Daily Telegraph which says to David Clemente will warn that Britain will be weakened if the t.v. License fee is reformed the paper thinks the remarks are likely to antagonize the government as it considers plans to turn the broadcaster into a subscription service. And the mail highlights a warning by the new chief medical officer that the n.h.s. Risks being overwhelmed by a surge in the number of patients aged over 65 and with the headline don't turn me into a scapegoat the mirror says the British business been identified as a so-called super spreader of the new coronavirus face a backlash over his innocent role in the break. What a business that appealed by Google against a multi-billion European Union and the competitive fine gets underway today with the details is Andrew Wood thanks the European Commission said 2 years ago that Google unfairly favored its own services when people used the search engine to compare prices of items that it said broke rules to promote fair competition and to protect consumers so it fined Google the equivalent of 2000000000 pounds today's legal appeal against the penalty is that the general quarter of Luxembourg on the one side will be Google and a lot be in company and on the other will be the European Commission backed by Germany and 8 other members of the European Union Google has 2 more appeals against other European decisions accusing it of acting on competitively. From May the 1st energy customers will automatically receive 30 pounds if there are mistakes or delays when they switch gas or electricity suppliers the regulator off James says this will protect customers and give them more confidence to change suppliers markets now 1st currencies the pound buys $1.00 and $1.00 euro $18.08 that means one euro is worth $84.00 pence shares and on Wall Street last night the Dow Jones Industrial Average was just about unchanged at 29276 back home for 100 share index in London yesterday close to point 7 percent higher at 7479 shares in Asia generally higher Tom Stevenson at Fidelity world investment says investors are increasingly optimistic that China will announce policies to blunt the economic effects of the c.e.o. Of the coded 19 coronavirus outbreak we are definitely beginning to see an economic impact that's the interesting conundrum facing investors at the moment is the growing importance of China in the global economy if you go back to the SARS virus in 2003 there were something like 20000000 Chinese who traveled outside the country last year it was 130000000. And in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index is currently one percent higher at $27851.00. Things are true or not sporting with the latest on the race for promotion to the Premier League is Joe passons Leeds United strictly run as Championship promotion contenders continues after a one all draw with Brant for her 4th lead stay 2nd but Fullam could go above them if they win at Millwall deceiving Nottingham Forest Trail Brantford on goal difference after a one nil home defeat to Charlton West Bromwich Albion who are 3 points clear at the top player reading the c evening in the Scottish Premiership Aberdeen move up to 3rd of the $31.00 win at how will turn the world heavyweight boxing champion Deonte Wilder believes Tyson Fury is scared and will be having sleepless nights before their rematch for Wilder's w.b.c. Belt in Las Vegas later this month their bout in December 28th seen ended in a controversial draw and informant a one the Ferrari manager Metabo Not so says Sebastian Vettel remain the team's 1st choice for the future despite reports that the current world champion Lewis Hamilton could join the Italian stable next season. Well finally let's take a look at some of the stories that are making news on this date in the past in 1554 Lady Jane Grey was beheaded in the Tower of London after being convicted of high treason the teenager was proclaimed Queen of England after the death of her cousin Ed with the 6th but was deposed just 9 days later by supporters of Edward Sister Mary the 1st. In 1967 police raided the Sussex home of the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards looking for illegal drugs Richards in the band singer Mick Jagger were later jailed for drug offenses before their sentences were quashed on appeal. To 10 year old boys abducted and murdered a 2 year old toddler in Merseyside in 1903 James Bulger went missing during a shopping trip with his mother in Bootle his body was found 2 days later in 1904 fever broke into the National Gallery in Oslo and stole the scream the most famous painting by the Norwegian artist Edward monk the us President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial in 1999 he'd been accused of perjury and obstruction of justice and that runs of this morning's news briefing here on b.b.c. Radio 4 time now have a prayer for the day presented by the Reverend Cheryl Maybin good morning in the eighty's there were mugs and tourist kitsch printed with the words all the world's queer say the enemy and even these about queer. These things I pondered as a child what does it mean to judge others as odd Why is my normal the measure of their strangeness queerer only meant stranger on usual them at least it did my world yet it felt almost that even the other person in our club of they and me turned out to be different a bit strange. Before the war crimes trial of Eichman he was assessed as being more normal than the average person and yet this man had been capable of participating uncritically and wholeheartedly in organizing the deaths of thousands and thousands of Jews and other so-called undesirables as part of the Nazi final solution like man wanted to be a success to belong and these terms normality as clearly overrated if it doesn't give us the strength of character to subvert evil to treat an enemy with compassion and humanity then normality may become a self-righteous self justifying mask for great hatred if I do not want to be a bit queer I might like adults I can simply obey orders leave unjust laws unchallenged and condemn thousands to death or unnecessary suffering but in order to truly love our own people we must recognize how other people's welfare depends on our compassion integrity and courage God whose face is reflected in every human being make us eccentric and our commitment to love every person every nationality every idiosyncrasy make us as odd and as compassionate as Jesus Amen. That was perfectly day with the Reverend chair or maybe this is because ready for the farming today with Underhill Good morning wildlife groups pledge to continue their efforts to reduce the impact of the h.s. To on the environment despite it getting the go ahead we'll have more Latin little later 1st though all this week we're looking at how awful it is stored in preserved before it reaches the supermarket shelves a major commercial problem in the potato industry is post harvests prompting sprouting potatoes a frustrating for consumers but also costly for the industry the herbicide used by producers to suppress sprouting is called Pro from or c.i. P c which has been used since the one $960.00 s. But it's now being bound by the e.u. As of this year the European Commission is concerned it could be a risk to consumers at Cranfield University researchers are working on alternative ways to prolong potato dormancy Emily Hughes went to meet Dr Marie Carmen Alomar to find out about the work in progress. Here at crime good university research is analyzing thousands of potatoes each week they're looking at ways to increase their storage life and to prevent them from spouting. And now the world's smallest utilized this pressure person was a can come called c a p c It binds to not only potatoes but to everything so we buy into pellets walls of the storage room and that can cause cross contamination if you're use in the room to store the crops afterwards the problem now is that the ca p.c. Has been formally banned so they potatoes that are now being the straw are the last ones that have been c.r.t.c. Treated from the neck see so no more potatoes would be able to be treated with the accuracy when we consider diet 89 percent of u.k. Potatoes have been ca p.c. Treated that's a big problem big challenge that now the industry the potato industry needs to address. And from your research so far want to be the most viable alternatives so they are tentative like c o 2 essential oils at the end at the end is one of the research lines that we've been working on could we have a look at these books and explain to me exactly what's going on in the different books in stores so if I open this book for you so this is what a seal storage box in this case we have boxes with only air or boxes with a theological mentation and ethylene is one of the things you are trying as a replacement for the i.p.c.c. Secondly we do know about this protein our research now is trying to see and understand the mechanisms behind that effect on potato to so that we can optimize the technology for the benefit of potato industry. That report by Emily Hughes according to the thumb safety foundation 84 percent of farmers who are under the age of 40 believe mental health is the biggest hidden problem they face this week the foundation is running its annual mind your head campaign. Horning on the farming community to look after their mental health Charlotte Smith spoke to Dr Peter a can at the Oxford Farming Conference last month is the clinical lead for suicide prevention in n.h.s. England South-West working to help promote rural communities the main change in thinking when it comes to suicide prevention is that because it is a rare event and it's widely distributed across a large population of people the whole community really needs to understand how to identify a vulnerable person how to ask the right questions know how to make an intervention and bring that person to help so I'm interested to meet people across the sector who could perhaps identify leaders in the in the community who could take on this challenge and we've had some considerable success around the coast for example with life put personnel and fisherman working through those communities of interest to find the right leaders to identify people who are vulnerable and maybe train up some of those people who are routinely visiting farms who have a reason to be there yes and I'm learning that perhaps that's the tanker driver or the bank man or whoever it is that makes it makes a visit out to the farm to make sure that they're equipped with the skills to recognise vulnerability and know how to make an intervention that's quite a small thing isn't it from a non expert person is that enough while it's the most important part of the opportunity so what we've learned is that it doesn't take terribly much to turn 8 or 10 people back in the direction of safety often it can be as simple as a sign or a conversation something quite quite social and quite normal for people so really that's what we're attempting to do across the 1000000 people who live in Devon is find a way to make sure a bit like with cardiac arrest or stroke management people would know what to do if they met a vulnerable person how much is this about rural isolation. Well rely solution will be a contributing factor because isolation loneliness and hopelessness are 3 very important factors improvement to health and make people vulnerable so what we're interested in is to have a think about how bringing people with mental health problems out to farms using social prescription might also benefit the community on the farm partly because it'll increase the number of social relationships that they can have but I'm quite excited at the prospect that that will bring mental health expertise out with it from the towns and cities so this will be a 2 way thing because till now we've really seen that as a one way thing at farmers opening up their farm opening up areas of the countryside to people who need that mental space but actually you're saying it could be more important than that for the farmer Yes And the reason I say that is it's become quite apparent when working with other new communities of interest that the experience of caring and the experience of being involved can be very positive thing for people so our thesis is that if we can encourage farmers and farm workers to take an interest in people vulnerability coming out to make use of the green space that then turn will take some personal strength and gain from the interaction and I think that will be the beginning of something. Dr Peter it can talking to Charlotte Smith refugees a Saturday campaign in Jordan have joined up with a team of scientists from Sheffield to grow fresh food in old mattress foam the foam works as a substrate the food is grown using hydroponics this solves 2 problems at once recycling the old mattresses which are piling up in the camp and creating a way to grow fresh food where the soil is too poor for crops b.b.c. News science correspondent Victoria Gill has been to the camp to meet the refugees many of whom are former Syrian farmers and find out how the system is working. This is where else died the 1st time we care and it was all about how can we deal with all this stuff what can we turn it into. Professor Tony Ryan from the University of Sheffield is here in Saturday on a sustainability mission and the contents of one warehouse gave him an idea that sparked something of a green revolution in the camp a mountain of foam mattresses problems who attempt 1000 of them one of us there are while Ok and I had to clamber up to get one back on but I was so excited because I knew what we could do with them I just started a Ph d. Student working on how to grow things in earlier with and so I sent the most text message we're going to be able to grow stuff all over we'll be able to turn these beds into greeting beds and everyone can have their own dad. That's where he was supposed to be a temporary place a camp officially opened in 2012 the people fleeing Syria and the violence of civil war but it's evolved into a city of more than 80000 people and the un refugee agency now has to think about the longer term here giving people the chance to grow their own food is a key part of that most families have these small prefabricated houses and a very very limited space and a limited plot so the ability to cultivate any kind of land and have your own garden just seems impossible here. 80 per cent of the people here and I get that your background my own from the un refugee agency says that being able to grow food is helping people recapture a piece of their lost livelihood so that's why it is very salty no end up for. Those thousands of foam mattresses according to Tony with a solution chunks of foam could be used instead of soil and hydroponic gardens so you can use 20 percent of the water that you take to grow something in the ground because the water's. Not running away it's being kept where it is needed. This one of the systems that's on display essentially to show what can be done with these hydroponics but it's amazing because everything here is recycled so the whole water circulation system is made up of all drainpipe in every plant so this is just really looks green chili plants in every single plant is growing in an old coffee cup that's just got to have a Mattress Firm holding it in place and then the water and it also thank you so much thank you for inviting us into your home it's so green Muhammadiyah foos is just one of more than a 1000 people here who's now created his own hydroponic garden out of recycled plastic tubs and mattress from a garden where he now teaches his son and daughter how to grow vegetables. What's being done here in a desert camp with such a limited resources could have much wider implications for urban environments in the future we could all end up living like this you know as climate change plays out knows what's going to happen. For my other this is about the people who lost the only homes they knew and trying to build a future here in Saturday that report from Victoria Gill in Jordan h s 2 is going ahead of the announcements being welcomed by many businesses along the route but the Wildlife Trusts say the rail lines will destroy and divide huge swathes of irreplaceable natural habitats according to the organization 100 may woodlands or risk and 21 nature reserves could also be affected Nicky Williams The Wildlife Trusts director of campaigns and policy if they came to change their campaign now h s 2 has got the green light what we're looking for is for them to redesign their approach when it comes to wildlife and wild spaces considering how the engineering has to come up with some of the solutions more green bridges more connections and most importantly making some really serious changes to their design for example you . Shouldn't be putting temporary works into irreplaceable habitats like meadows or ancient woodland but we know that that's happening there are some big changes they need to make and the sad thing about their announcement there was not one acknowledgement from Boris Johnson about that devastating impact that the current will have people know that the climate crisis is linked with how we look after and take care of our wildest spaces and so it's really important that now high speed to limited its game and starts to genuinely look at how it's not going to be so destructive in its construction. But climate change also means we need to have greener transport options as well do you recognize that 100 percent we recognize that the Wildlife Trust have said from the very beginning we want to see high speed to as the exemplar green infrastructure solution and you do not achieve solving the climate crisis by creating an ecological crisis and that is what they will do it's unacceptable to create areas local areas of extinction which is what could happen if they carry on as they are destroying irreplaceable happy tat disconnecting spaces that wildlife moves around in you know this is where our fresh air comes from this is where some of our happiest and most important places are for people's health and wellbeing this isn't just about worrying about fluffy animals this is a whole connection that comes back to was as people within our own communities 66000 people signed your letter to the government what can individuals do now to prevent their local wildlife sites from being affected so we're saying to people that keep an eye out on what is happening because a lot of the works as they start to take place will be happening around spring time they're happening now we are having reports that there are trees coming down where there's nesting birds etc So you have a wildlife crime officer local to you we need to make sure that the right licenses are in place so if things are starting to happen during important nesting season it's such a for a wildlife then we need to get that report to treat people like Natural England as well. Williams there from the Wildlife Trust that's all from us this morning I'm on a hill the producer in Bristol is Chris Fenton got ready for treats of the day premiums and encounters them during duck. You don't normally expect to find a flamboyantly ornate duck with flashes of orange blue green and white peppers what lying around on your lawn now do you. For the last 15 years a pair of Mandarin ducks have visited my garden usually in April and May They feed under the table and roost on one of the palms one year they pretended to be an hour and nested in the Alps that was slung from a large Sycamore much to my surprise when I went to check the box out the female and a bevy of ducklings which bounced around the tree and bottled across the lawn with the pack looking for food. How I always think it odd to see a duck perched in a tree but it happens regularly at my garden. The ducks fly overhead at dusk and dawn often daily in spring they have a distinctive cold while flying so you always know where they are about. The males have the most magnificent plumage with long orange feathers on the side their face and orange sails on their back. Mandarin ducks hail originally from the Far East. A feral population established in the last century in Great Britain now number some 7000 individuals in winter peak district where I live is one of their strongholds in the region but I've also seen them on the river Wolf in the Yorkshire Dales. And tomorrow I will hear all about the common pigeon. Long Wave on digital radio and on b.b.c. Sons this is b.b.c. Radio 4. It's 6 o'clock on Wednesday the 12th of February Good morning this is today with Justin Webb and Martha Conny the headlines this morning the Public Health says one of the 8 people diagnosed with Corona virus in the u.k. Works at a hospital Accident and Emergency Department left wing Senator Bernie Sanders has won the latest Democratic Party primaries staking his claim to challenge Donald Trump for the White House also in today's program by the pope might be about to change the rules on celibacy in the priesthood and feeding the trolls David Baddiel on why he engages with online abuse b.b.c. News read this morning by stepson's a health care worker at a hospital in West Sussex is one of the 8 confirmed cases of Corona virus in the u.k. .

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All developments at the hospital where they are still open and operating normally as John McManus reports staff at Worthing Hospital have been told that one of their colleagues working in the accidents and emergency department has tested positive for the corona virus the health worker along with the 7 other people in the u.k. Who have so far been identified as having the virus is inquire in same the Department of Health says that all services at the hospital are operating normally but the news that's a 2nd health care worker has been infected has highlighted how vulnerable medical staff may be a local doctor working in nearby Bryson is one of the of the 7 cases patch of Nursing Home in the city which was visited by that g.p. Says that it is closed to visitors as a precaution though nobody there was unwell the veteran left wing Senator Bernie Sanders has narrowly won the New Hampshire primary putting him in pole position in the contest to choose a Democratic Party candidate for the White House close behind Senator Sanders came the more centrist contenders the film and there Pete Breaux to judge and Senator Amy Klobuchar shop the former Vice President Joe Biden a one time Democratic front runner finished a disappointing 5th Senator Sanders won New Hampshire more convincingly 4 years ago but that didn't stop in declaring it a great night this victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump. They are going to unite to go over and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country the government has suspended its funding of the body that runs the Commonwealth from London until it improves its financial procedures and ordered his report found that normal competitive tendering rules have been waived 50 times over 3 years by the Commonwealth Secretariat which is headed by Lady Scotland Britain is the biggest donor giving the organization 4 point $7000000.00 pounds each year a spokesman for the secretariat insisted it was implementing recommendations made by the orders. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is threatening the government with legal action over what it's described as a repeated failure to move people with learning disabilities and autism into appropriate homes ministers say they are determined to reduce the number of people living in secure hospitals but the commission has concerns about more than 2000 vulnerable people in England is our social affairs correspondent Allison Holt the commission has sent a legal letter to the Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock arguing that his department has breached human rights legislation because it's consistently missed targets to move people with learning disabilities and autism out of hospitals into more appropriate homes in the community the 1st target was set 8 years ago after the B.B.C.'s Panorama program exposed abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital last summer the program uncovered bullying and intimidation at another hospital Walton hole the commission has offered to suspend the legal process for 3 months if the health department produces a timetable planned for change the government has 14 days to respond the media regulator Ofcom is sent to become Britain's 1st Internet watchdog with the power to punish tech companies which expose unit uses to harmful or illegal material under the government's plans a statutory duty of care will be imposed on websites such as Facebook and You Tube terrorist material or child sex abuse would have to be removed quickly. Research by the b.b.c. Has found that universities across the u.k. Are using gagging clauses to silence student complaints about sexual assault bullying and poor teaching the next episode podcast has found that nearly a 3rd of institutions have used non-disclosure agreements to resolve student grievances in the past 4 years Rianna Crockford Reports Our research has found that since 216 around 300 students have signed an da's with more than 1300000 pounds being paid out one student told the podcast he was threatened with expulsion from a course if he broke the terms of her agreement University's u.k. The body that represents the institutions said n.d.s. Should not be used to stop students from speaking out if they have concerns the Department of Education echoed that saying it was unacceptable she uses Saavik remit this unit complaints I miss legislating to stop their misuse from May energy customers will be automatically compensated for delays or errors made when they switch supplier the regulator off chairman says companies will have to pay $30.00 pounds to customers if they are switched by mistake if the process takes longer than 15 days or if the final bill takes more than 6 weeks to arrive the U.K.'s National statistician in diamond said the next year's census may be the last one to be carried out the compulsory survey of households every decade is increasingly expensive and will cost more than $900000000.00 pounds in England Wales alone in who was appointed to his role last year said he was hopeful that better and cheaper alternatives could be found. It's 6 minutes past 6 and it's time for the weather let's hear from Helen Willetts at the b.b.c. Weather Center good morning Helen and Emma Good morning to you with another storm on the way for the weekend but we've got a lot of weather to get to all through between now and then and we're still in Gulf by polar air which means the snow has been causing problems through yesterday and overnight still falling and still drifting in our strong wind So ice is a big hazard this morning even in the south where we haven't the snow showers right now across southern England and Wales we've got ice to contend with on the cars the set up this morning and that could be that I see here as well where we have had some showers now will be a few showers coming through on the flow today but also a good deal of dry weather and hopefully slightly less windy because we got a bump of high pressure coming in and that will bring a slight easing in the wind and a slight easing in the showers through many parts I $69.00 in the south our high Middletons eastern England will also have a good deal of dry and sunny weather it's a cold and frosty start and fewer showers here than we've seen but they're still pestering I spose the north middle and same particular 7 our high Northern Ireland north of England will see plenty more showers particularly through this morning's rush hour they're blowing around in that strong and gusty wind clearly ice is going to be has that there will be some sunshine in between increasing amounts as we get into the afternoon as the showers start to ease but actually 3 to 4 degree Celsius civil East for Scott we got plenty of showers here merging into long spells of rain low levels snow on the low hills only $2.00 to $4.00 degrees here at easing in the wind an easing in the showers later but some more uncertain whether overnight I'll tell you about that later oh look for that thanks Helen 7 minutes past 6 is the time 1st look at the papers and the front page there Telegraph is interesting in as much as it leads with a story you might not have expected to lead with scrapping the license fee will weaken the nation is its lead b.b.c. Chairman warning that it's. Scription model could mean paying to watch royal weddings this is a speech which the Telegraph says is likely to antagonize the governments the government as it considers plans to turn the b.b.c. Into a subscription service but it's a speech none the less that said a bit Clemente the b.b.c. Chair is going to use he will say the b.b.c. Is one of the nation's greatest assets we need to remind ourselves what exactly is at stake if the license fee is scrapped. And the front page of The Times main story dangerous criminals out in days Number 10 fares and this is talking about judges blocking deportations it said that 1st Johnson was on the stand last night to be furious that violent offenders could be back on the streets written within 48 hours after judges stopped them from being deported to Jamaica this was a judicial review which halted the removal of $25.00 serious and dangerous offenders last minute after claims that they've been denied access to lawyers there are a lot of maps in the papers of high speed to some of us ludicrously complicated some not there I draw your attention the front page of the eye which has the best map Vala view are looking briefly to see where this train is going to go where perhaps it's not going to go as well and they go nice map with London used at the bottom and Manchester Leeds at the top crews mentioned East Midlands Bernie and cousin street as well but nowhere else but you sort of get the idea of what Boris Johnson is calling the spine and the eyes headline high speed north on the way as pm takes h. S. To gamble and a really pressing urgent problem in the Times which is about how to engage your guests that your next dinner party might want to bother with mood lighting or fancy wine simply invest in a tablecloth and your guests will find your food much tastier that's what into any start 9 minutes past 6 it's time the government has decided not to pay for the body which runs the Commonwealth until it gets its financial affairs in order we can talk now to James Landale our diplomatic correspondent he's been following this and this is this is about funding for the com Well Secretariat isn't it James. Yeah that's right Martha a couple weeks ago on this program we revealed that the auditor has been sent in over Christmas to look at the financial affairs of the secretary this is the sort of the body that administers the Commonwealth from London and they have produced a very critical report specifically finding that no. Competitive tendering rules when people in contract is 100 the rules have been waived 50 times over 3 years and lately Scotland the commerce secretary general was herself accused of circumventing the rules when she awarded a lucrative contract to a company that was run by a friend something her lawyers still insist was fully justified so there was a big meeting of all the high commissioners all of diplomats in London last week and I've now learned that the British government has decided to suspend its funding for the secretariat until it gets its financial house in order something that the Australian Government and the New Zealand Government have also decided to do and most of the commerce secretary said about this well Secretary at Cagny specs a statement last night simply saying that they're not going to comment on specific conversations between member states but they insist that they fully comply with the audit process and that implementing all the recommendations Accordingly the Foreign Office has said that look the reason it set these conditions is because it wants to ensure the secretary policy is in line with international best practice the problem is this is that if the Commonwealth Secretary does not get this money it will face a huge financial crisis funding streams will have to be closed off this will deplete upset and disappoint and worry Commonwealth member states and of course it will raise fresh questions about Lady Scotland's leadership her 4 year term of office comes up for renewal this year and we already know the come with heads of government have rejected a call by his supporters for her to get an automatic 2nd. So the question will be is this you know just another reason for some people to say look should there be a challenger to Lady Scott and leadership as the prime minister has self is or has already hinted might happen in a letter that he wrote to come with has a government just a few weeks ago James Landau many thanks. It is 12 minutes past 6 now we turn to the business you saw Whitely late slightly later the norm slightly earlier than normal but still we are excited to be able to do it and Dominic is morning I turn excited Have you ever had problems switching your energy supply well from now on you get 30 pounds automatically of switch goes wrong we're going to talk to the energy regulator after about this new plan shortly Also this morning the problems of the 4100 hospital company n m c health we're going to talk to Carson block He's the founder of the short seller Muddy Waters research which 1st suggested the company might have big problems it's question the start of the slide in him see and also how to turn stand the chief executive of Cardo in $59000000.00 pounds 1st year even though the company's losses got bigger 1st so that guaranteed compensation for energy switches that go wrong Mary Starks is the off Jim executive director for consumers and markets and she joins us in a good morning Mary just explain what's happening how would you get the money $30.00 pounds or under what circumstances do you qualify for a morning so you qualify for this compensation if anything goes wrong with your switch it's automatic you don't have to do anything the obligation is on the company to know that something's gone wrong to put it right and to give you compensation if you're trying to do the must be some criteria they can be just if you decide oh I think it's gone wrong you know if the company has to check whether they've met the standards as switching to this which has to be prompt has to complete within 15 days they have to issue a new bill on time and they have to be no mistakes in making the switch happen sometimes the problem can come with the old provider and there's been a lot of providers have gone out of business recently what happens if it's their systems that begin to problem but they have gone under who pays the 30 pounds for them so this these down as they're announcing today relate to as it were normal which is where is still going on when supply goes out of business we have a separate set of safety net arrangements to it and they've customers as I mean it's only both coming just to us all trading How prevalent is this problem. Many switches do you think don't meet the standards at the moment so we. Are an earlier trial of standards at this time last year so since May last year companies have paid out about $700000.00 pounds to customers in compensation but that's against $6400000.00 people who switched in 2019 it was a record year for switching so it's only a small minority of cases that go wrong for the most part people can switch with confidence why are you doing or are you doing it to incentivize people to switch more freely as it were to make them feel happier about this which you know we're doing it to give customers more confidence and more peace of mind that they can they can switch we there are still very good deals out there in the market if people shop around we want anyone who feels unhappy with the supplier that they're with or who wants to save money to feel absolutely confident they have got to get offended because it is truism of the despite often specific then in fact despite all the competition is out there which is a relatively new thing in the You Can the market people are extremely reluctant to switch Well I wouldn't say that $29000.00 was a record year somewhere between one of $4.00 and $1.00 in 5 of us switch last year so it's quite a lively market but we want people to feel even more confident about the market so there's a group of people who are extremely reluctant to switch one slice of the market just doesn't seem to switch at all older people people more vulnerable. Feel comfortable with energy supplier or feel unhappy about switching So I think their price caps that we implemented the beginning of last year protect people who don't switch so it guarantees that if you don't if you stay put you will get a fair price the the improvements to the switching process should give people confidence that they can go out and save even more money by shopping without going to those $2.00 policies mutually they contradict each other you have but you have these incentives for people to switch but then you introduce the price gap which let's not forget often don't particularly want to do. These are 2 policies working against each other no they're actually completely compatible so the price cap works for those. People who either can't switch or don't want to or don't feel comfortable doing it but it doesn't it's in far as I'm from switching observe I don't need to I'm going to. Since the price cap came in. The good deals have not disappeared from the market and as I say 21000 was an absolute record year for switching so didn't seem to be having that effect at all thank you very much Mary Starks from off Jim in mc health was something of a stock market darling it runs hospitals and clinics across the Middle East that flow to the chairs back in London back in 2012 and they absolutely took off from 210 p. All the way up to 40 pounds and in the process the company joined the 4100 so whether you know it or not that might well be in this company might well be in your pension fund another come crashing back down to just under 8 pounds it's because a well known short seller that's in the best of the bits a company shares will go down publish the research report suggesting the company's accounts were not were not accurate since in the company has put itself up for sale and earlier this week it admitted that it didn't know exactly how many shares its founder and chairman be actually own and when I've been talking to Carson Bloch He's the founder of Muddy Waters research and I asked for him asked him for his reaction to the latest emissions from him see. We said in our initial report that we did not know how deep the rot goes at an mc and that released coupled with some events from the past few weeks involving the same shareholders makes me think that the rot actually goes quite deep and mc one thing that I would point out there it's not just evident confusion about who owns what but it's pretty clear that these stakes have been pledged in replay it seems and that really brings up the question about how much debt is actually in this structure because we suspected as we wrote about our initial report that there's potentially much more debt here than is disclosed on the balance sheet and it's not a question of the company just having more borrowings than it might appear but also I think you're suggesting rather like happened with Enron all those is the companies using that date to somehow make it apparent profitability larger than it really is right I mean we talked in our report about how the margins too good to be true and one of the things that we believe that an mc has been doing is we believe that an m. C. Has been overbilling in understating its rejection rates I mean a it's entirely possible that the margin also benefited from the related parties taking on debt in order to finance transactions with an m c I don't know for a fact that that's the case in even if I knew that that were the case I wouldn't be able to tell you to what extent but with this company it was clear from day one that there are a lot of issues we've had a few high profile company scandals here in the u.k. Recently we've had Caribbean patisserie Valerie where the accounts really turned out to be fiction Alison is hearing about this and we thinking well can we really now trust the accounts of any public company do you think problems of this really are widespread or is it. Just a few here and there so see answer in my view is yes and no so what I mean by that is problems that meet the legal definition of fraud I don't think are that widespread but to me the more insidious problem is that there are ways for companies to significantly manipulate their financial statements that are legal if a company doesn't want to report I should say really management doesn't want to report numbers that aren't that flattering on the income statement then they can conceive along with bankers of transactions in ways to manipulate the accounts that you know are usually close to the line but they call in the lawyer the auditor will work with them will be very supportive of management's goals of insulating income legally but they have their lawyers there consulting to make sure everybody feels good about it and you can get away with this that was custom block the founder of Muddy Waters research we did ask in mc health for response to all Muddy Waters was saying and they haven't yet come back to us markets cases warning is Shanti Kalam in the basement director at Brown Shipley shan't be should this talk about how the economy is doing because we had a g.d.p. Number you say for the last quarter of last year said that the 4th quarter Russia and it showed no growth told a 0 figure for g.d.p. Growth what does that tell you about the sort of the current health of the u.k. Economy and what might happen this year I don't think that it's the worth paying that much attention to the 3rd quarter that was when you know we were thinking we might go off the cliff in terms of the e.u. Then we had an election called that was contested and so I think what we look more at we're looking more at is what's the data are saying next and some of that has been fairly positive we've had some better numbers related to business investment intentions and activity in the services sector so we'll have to see if some of you know the government's promises around spending and things like that get consumers and be. Misses too out there today investors spend money we still have a potential potential cliff edge at the end of year when the transition periods could be in that with 2020 being a bit of a replay 2019 starting Ok and then tailing off as people get a bit worried about the state of play with the it's entirely possible so I think they've said if we don't get to a meaningful place with the e.u. Sometime in the summer then we'll have to start thinking about you know do do we go back on that pledge that was made not to extend do we make provisions to move forward Anderson you know some sort of other trading conditions so that's entirely possible I think what is positive is the government is spending a bit more money and doing a bit of fiscal stimulus in the economy so it's a Smith will be about 4 percent more spending this year which should you know provide some support let's chat about a car because the thing that caught the headlines in the papers this morning was the term start of the chief executive of cargo got paid 15000000 pounds was here despite the losses of the company actually widening quite a lot because Explain how that happened how his pay worked and how it ended up producing this this big result for him Yeah well 1st I didn't write the contract so but so they know they had a deal that was based on the share price and it had also links to outperforming the other u.k. Stocks by a certain amount and the share price for a condo has gone up 4 or 5 times in the past 4 years they've there for 4 or 500 percent for a 5 fold yes or 5 fold and they've got a lot of contracts out to provide online grocery delivery services for one of the biggest grocers in the u.s. For a casino in France for one in Japan so that's fueled a lot of the share price growth and they hit triggers in those contracts that led to a large payout now Ocado you know still needs to deliver on those contracts so. It is not the end of the road for the company they want some outrage about the fact that it's a very big number but of course it's all down to. Shareholders one of the shareholders said yes you can have this if you beat these marks so isn't this kind of the justice has been served here and it's a contract so so you can complain about the contract that was written you know 4 or 5 years ago but it would be wrong to go back and break a contract that's been legally written. About another big company into which is one of the biggest owners of shopping centers it's had has suffered with the retail downturn and it was talking to a big Hong Kong investor about participating What about the Hong Kong company putting more money in the Hong Kong company is now withdrawn What do you think in 2 can do now I think into it will likely end up being owned by whoever owns the debt because at this point they've got you know 4000000000 are out of debt and market caps about 160000000 they started to hit covenants in a lot of their loan agreements and I think it's just you can see that these are the conditions where where if you look like you have a mortgage if you don't keep up exactly the same you might lose your house yeah or the value the property falls below a certain level related to the loan and it's symptomatic of the wider retail sector with the trend of people moving to online shopping is not over but that's still continuing and then plus you have the headwinds of you know things like business rates minimum wages going up that will probably impact some of the retailers as well so it's probably companies saying do we really want to put more good bet good money after bad essentially Thank you very much anti Kellerman from Brown Shipley and now 25 past 6 it's time for the sport Rob say good morning what a mouth is well a big football league program last night with Leeds United only managing a one will draw a breath for the championship result which leads them just a point ahead a 3rd place full on but 3 behind leaders West Bromwich Albion who play the seething brain for the point further back and forth a move about not in forest who lost one deal at home to Charlton in the Scottish Premiership Hamilton I could never call it just a point about Hearts at the bottom of the table after losing 31 at home to Aberdeen who are 3rd this morning what are your football details of. On the b.b.c. Sport website. Batsman Keating Jennings and we keep a batsman then folks back in the ng and signed for the 2 test or Sri Lanka which starts on the 19th of March the names excluded Jimmy Anderson and Allie and Johnny best for whom folks is the direct replacement but national selector Ed Smith says best o. Still has a test future with Johnny not being in the test 11 at the mo but there's also an awareness that Johnny has a multi forma cricket has built this huge number of England tours o.d.i. t 20 and tests in recent is and hasn't actually had a significant break Jonny kid you're very talented cricket across the board but for England you know that it is very best Test cricket for a while we believe a break from the environment can help you come back strong Britain's Col Edmund and Cameron Norris both through to the 2nd round of the New York Open tennis Edmond beat Japan's yes to talk of which he Yama while got past American qualifier both in straight sets at the Welsh Open snooker the defending champion the Robertson is through to the 2nd round offer 42 win over Jamie cloth also wins for current Wilson Barry Hawkins and Sean Murphy who next plays out the burden his Melfi and his competitive mindset you know oblation it's a win of any ever been interested in the win in that insight in the driving home I was a SAHM and I was I in this design now is a very 7 year old man. I'm only interested in winning it's not the taking it's not the you know applied well Lerna take another good performance of why I'm only interested in taking the driving home at the end of the way he can in my opinion everything else is vital and Israel Folau controversially taken on by Super League side Catalan Dragons despite his previous homophobic comments still remains uncertain about when he will 1st play for his new side the Dragons coach Steve McNamara says he only select follow when the Australian can demonstrate that he's ready to slot into the team adding that he'll look at how he performs in training this week before selecting his team for the weekend's match against councils that tips then so. 435 number one decision maker Kempton 7 o'clock number 2 Harbor breeze thanks very much all right now we are going to turn to other matters including I suppose what happens next on Radio 4 which is shortcuts returning. For the final if not monkey cage of this series we are finally going to deal with real science we're doing a u.f.o. Special. Brian Cox and Robin in this series will be filled with utter nonsense last week you think on some mechanics no sense whatsoever I know you try to be for that but this is actually we will be asking It's called the center of this is how we got real start to talk about how to my alien visitation. By science the u.f.o. Special of the Infinite Monkey Cage on b.b.c. Radio 4 next Monday afternoon at 430 and you can watch the u.f.o. Special on b.b.c. I Player now. I promise you shortcuts is returning to radio for that wasn't about it. Maybe they could do that as well heck it's now it said 28 minutes past 6 you're listening today on b.b.c. Radio 4 with Justin Webb and Matthew Carney is a summary of the news from. A health care worker from the accident and emergency department a working hospital in West Sussex is among 8 people who tested positive for the corona virus in the u.k. They're in quarantine and the Department of Health says the hospital is running as normal elsewhere the number of people infected with the virus on a cruise ship quarantined in Japan has risen to 174 making it the biggest outbreak outside China. The left wing Senator Bernie Sanders as one the us Democratic Party primary in the Senate of New Hampshire it's the 2nd stage in the contest to determine who will challenge Donald Trump for the White House in November election 2 more centrist contenders came close behind Mr Sanders the foreman there Peter and Senator any close. The government has suspended its funding of the body that runs the Commonwealth from London until it improves its controls on spending it follows a report which found that normal competitive tendering rules have been waived at the Commonwealth Secretariat 50 times over 3 years the agency insists it is bringing in recommendations made by external order to us a human rights body is threatening the government with legal action and what it says is the repeated failure to give people with learning difficulties and autism the appropriate accommodation the Equality and Human Rights Commission is concerned about more than 2000 vulnerable people who are living in secure hospitals in England Ministers insist they are determined to reduce the number living in such accommodation. The media regulator Ofcom is set to become Britain's 1st Internet watchdog with the power to punish tech companies which expose users to harmful or illegal material firms such as Facebook and You Tube will need to ensure that such content is removed quickly is not yet known what penalties off com will be able to impose on those who fail to comply. After almost 2 centuries next year's census could be the last one ever carried out the U.K.'s National statisticians Diamond who was appointed last year said that in the future there could be better and cheaper alternatives to the compulsory survey of each household in Britain which takes place every 10 years thank you hope our 6 is the time Bernie Sanders has won New Hampshire the 1st primary in the nation Chris bucklers on North America correspondent who is expected to win was Nick Ross. Yeah justin but it still been a pretty good night for Bernie Sanders who of course is as you mentioned there a liberal left wing senator on the political polar opposite to Donald Trump and it's also been a good night for people to judge who is the former mayor of South Bend Indiana a small city but together they have managed to cement their positions as the leading so-called progressive a moderate countenance respectively on the other person who has been a really good evening for is Amy clover char he was up until this weekend looking like she was really struggling the Minnesota Minnesota status senator was 5th in Iowa last week and then on Friday everything changed with this impressive performance in the debate stage where she really held her own and she's been rewarded with a 3rd place spot why is Joe Biden carrying on. Let's just be blunt to go straight here because there is a big drop to the struggling and that is definitely Joe Biden who's had a really really bad night the former u.s. Vice president has got name recognition he's got loads of political experience but he hasn't got a lot of votes in New Hampshire but his argument is is that he counted better elsewhere perhaps as a sign of just how badly he's done here is that he didn't hang about in the States even see the results he went to South Carolina where the next primaries going to take place but that is the argument that he wouldn't do particularly well here because he tends to fare better for example with black voters Iowa and New Hampshire they are predominantly white South Carolina he argues could be different but you have to say it's extraordinary disappointing for Joe Biden and another person who was in the New Hampshire Mike Bloomberg from New York who who hangs over this doesn't he bets literally and metaphorically he is then he's in the wings. Is the party wondering now or whether he is a rather more serious candidate than 1st they thought he was. Yeah well it is his numbers are rising in the national polls which is good of Portman else because it helps him get on the debate stage as. You say he's not here just and the truth is is you wouldn't know he's not here because every time you turn the television on he has got another play you can or a skit might block Bloomberg adverts he is throwing caution at this and of course it does set up the potential of a battle with the billionaires and somebody who is watching isn't a member of the Democratic Party and that is Donald Trump you know he's given him the nickname many Mike he's talking about him on Twitter it is clearly playing on Donald Trump's mind and it's playing on Donald Trump's mind perhaps that will be something that Democratic voters pay attention to but he doesn't join the race until Super Tuesday which is the 3rd of March we still have time for others to build up a bit of momentum not least because Nevada and South Carolina do have that very different population or Latino and black voters really kind of have a big say and there are some candidates a hope that will make a difference for them including of course Joe Biden more on this tend to a crisp for the time being thank you very much it's 26 minutes to 7 hour health care workers at wedding hospital is money 8 confirmed cases of Corona virus a new campaign to follow those cases further on the south coast including a locum g.p. In Brighton and the more is our reporter there and what can you tell us about this latest case and. Yes this emerged overnight a health care worker Worthing Hospital I'm outside the hospital at the moment it emerged overnight that a health care worker in the accident and emergency department was one of those in Brighton who had tested positive for the disease and this news emerged in a roundabout fashion in a memo sent yesterday to members of staff at the accident and emergency department telling them that one of their colleagues had been do. He knows we did see these and now we understand the hospital I mean size hospital is operating as normal. Ambulances I can see it coming and going the Accident and Emergency Department is is open as normal Beyond that I can't tell you very much more because we haven't had this information from official sources so I can't tell you the capacity in which that health care worker. Does work at the hospital though it was reported certainly earlier on that both of those health care workers in Brighton were doctors we just don't know that for sure so there's a certain amount of information emerging but the full picture is is still emerging as I said in a sort of a piecemeal fashion and e-mail in Worthing sanctuary all scientists from all over the world have been meeting in Geneva to work out how to tackle coronavirus and they've given a new name coded 19 image and fixes our reporter there and so imagine what exactly the scientists been discussing. Well they've been comparing notes if you like things they know about the virus things types of treatment that may prove successful some because there's no specific treatment yet for that as we call it now covert 19. And looking at the spread I think they're particularly interested in finding out more really close analysis of how this virus spreads because we do have these $42000.00 and more confirmed cases in China now still only 395 outside China and this is why the director general of the World Health Organization said about 6 times yesterday it is closing press conference window of opportunity said I know you may be tired of hearing me say we should grab this opportunity we still got a chance to contain it and how does he think that should be contained. Well 1st of all by learning more about the virus I mean he said very openly yesterday look at the end of today which is when this this meeting ends we're not going to have answers to all our questions but what we do want to have is a road map an agreed road map on the questions we absolutely need to ask and develop a coordinated response and highlight key things that seem to be working and make sure that every country on the planet is prepared I mean this is his key message countries with weaker health systems need support in diagnostics so that they know they've got a case and can isolate it the infrastructure to do the isolation and then support for whatever treatments are proved to be the most effective I mean we see in Britain. You know 8 cases that obviously the British system is working rather well this is the case tracing system and contact tracing system working that's what the w.h.o. Likes to see interesting really what the w.h.o. Doesn't like to see and I was quite surprised with this identification in the press of the individuals who have coronavirus I got the impression that they were quite angry about that possibly to do with the fact that w.h.o. Also works in other big outbreaks like Ebola or indeed HIV Aids where stigmatize ation is complete really very harmful for people and the press at the press conference yesterday were given quite a little lecture about well what is the need to name people image and fix in Geneva thank you the time is 22 minutes to 7. Universities are using gagging agreements to stop students from going public with complaints about sexual misconduct and poor teaching Rianna Crockford has been looking into this and what we found Rana and I know so I found since 2016 nearly a 3rd of universities in the u.k. Have used non-disclosure agreements and da says you didn't grievances I put in Freedom of Information requests and found $45.00 unis have had around $300.00 students sign n.d.s. Paying out about $1300000.00 pounds as part of those agreements individual payouts range from about $250.00 pounds 240000 pounds and then days coverage a range of things firm complaints about mis advertising of course content poor teaching but also complaints about how settlers so allegations were handled so why some students agreeing to these getting orders so the students I was making to say they felt believed into keeping quiet who were made to feel like they were to blame for their complaint especially to a Ph d. Student who was employed by the university to help out with student welfare alongside her degree and he says when she raised concerns about failures in support they were getting a university over her an n.d.a. Along with 5000 pounds as an incentive to move college. Students who complained of sexual assaults and if their cases have been dropped by the police because of lack of evidence the universities offer them and V.A.'s with conditions like being sued or expelled if the details became public and a few of them have described feeling really traumatized as a result one student Charlotte whose name we've changed said she was sexually assaulted by another student after a night out she reported to the police as well as a university but her case is dropped over lack of evidence to complain to her university for making her feel unsupported during this time for instance I didn't make adjustments for her. P.t.s.d. Diagnosis. And they also threatened to expel her as a result the university offered to pay her legal costs along with a 1000 pounds on the condition that he signed an n.d.a. That's what he told me and her words here are spoken by someone else it was written in the contract that I had to keep it confidential and couldn't disclose or communicate to a 3rd party without the brand permission if you need us required under law I've got a copy of your non-disclosure agreement here. What did you think when you read it. When I signed mess I was just glad 1st to be over I didn't think much of it however looking back essentially silences me I just think considering. Their charge to have pastoral care for young people it goes against what the value should be. Syrian or our universities allowed to use these nondisclosure agreements in some cases or the main university bodies have a similar stop so the student complaints regulator the office of the independent educator says these event da's is an appropriate advises against them if a student similarly said it would even intervene and investigate why universities are mishandling these procedures and the main diversity body universities universities u.k. Which represents most of these institutions also said and the a student visa silence student so it's quite clear as things stand there's nothing in law or regulation stopping n.d.a. Is from being used or the government is currently trying to tighten the rules on how they're used Rianna Crockford reporter for the next episode put cost thank you thank you 80 minutes to 7 of the times I was in the papers the news website in the lead in The Times is dangerous criminals aren't in days Number 10 fears it suggests that Johnson was furious when the Court of Appeal ruled that some foreign born criminals could not be deported from the you. Hey Jamaica yesterday the paper's opinion column points out that this is not the 1st government to express exasperate in it its inability to do something that seems both legitimate and popular but it goes on to warn against what it describes as a strike against the judiciary by ministers The Guardian has 1st hand reports from some of the offenders with him it was in contact in the hours leading up to the deportation flight one sent a text telling the paper that this waiting is worse than being on death row Another described his confusion when having thought that the Appeal Court ruling apply to him he was taken in handcuffs on a bus to the plane this morning the front page of The Daily Mail from England's new Chief Medical Officer Chris witty he believes drastic action is needed to ensure the n.h.s. Can cope with a surge in the number of patients age over 65 or so which he believes that the dangers particularly acute in areas with older populations such as rural districts coastal towns as well he's quoted as saying that the problem is predictable and solvable provided we take a long run it the may never Merican papers digest the results of the New Hampshire primary the Washington Post focuses on job Joe Biden who came last saying that after 2 dismal showings the former vice president is now looking towards the South Carolina primary at the end of the month to revive his fortunes the political website the Hill believes that a meteor butcher who came 3rd did much better than expected it quotes her telling supporters we've beaten the odds scrapping the license fee will weaken the nation is The Daily Telegraph's front page headline it says The argument is going to be made today in a speech by the b.b.c. Chairman so they were Clemente after suggestions that the government is going to consider alternative funding options for the broadcaster according to The Telegraph So David will say that no other national asset has the potential to serve Britain as powerful as the b.b.c. And finally the law is one of several papers to reveal that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust wants to extend the protective railings around the house where the playwright was born in staff to pollinate and this is because some to. Sure a survey of move parts of the buildings such as tiles from the front porches souvenirs the sun is unimpressed describing the route and its leader column as much ado about nothing the Times called Who's in the main headline this morning is the member of staff at Worthing Hospital is among the 8 confirmed cases of current virus in the u.k. Officials say old apartments there are continuing to run normally the announcement that the h.s. To railing will go ahead was hardly a surprise but when the prime minister got to his feet yesterday in Parliament he was typically lyrical about the benefits His our parliamentary correspondent Susan Hume politicians and Venter Tanner's know the importance of getting a tough crowd onto your side so 1st throw in a couple of little jokes not asking whether it's face to be or not to be that is not the question to speak then reel them in with the things they like Jewel carriageways roundabouts bypasses underpasses and those are just the roads in deep because there was also beautiful British book buses cleaner greener quieter safer more frequent and even a shout out for cyclists enjoying hundreds of miles of brand new separated lanes but where we're not expecting this to be an and i'm spent that the controversial high speed to rail project was going ahead hugely unpopular with a lot of the Prime Minister's own M.P.'s But Boris Johnson didn't even mention it until about halfway through his statement and even then he'd jellied his M.P.'s along gently explaining that it can't be all about popular local transport projects we will not fix the great muscular skeletal problem of u.k. Transport Yes we must fix the door to the Kneebone of the fiber to the shin bone and the I go back and yes he must fix the arthritis in the fingers in the tights but we also have to fix the spine Mr Speaker and our generation faces a his store. Choice so finally he said it today in the speaker the cabinet has given high speed rail the green signal. We are going to get this done now h.s. 2 was begun by the previous Labor government the party's former transport secretary Lord Adonis was watching from the gallery So Jeremy Corben didn't deny much the decision far from it once again we see the government taking ideas from the Labor Party. Adopting the language but for ling very long way short on the substance of it the prime minister though didn't deserve credit for the h.s. To go ahead The Labor leader said it was only the failure of successive conservative governments to manage the project that had put it in any doubt and he just wasn't convinced Boris Johnson would deliver either given some of his previous transport ideas the Prime Minister's clearly strong and over announcing big shiny projects like the scheme to build a bridge over the Irish sea. Why not go the whole hog and make it a garden bridge. Connecting to an airport in the sea a. Big Stearns's much chance of actually being built as any of those failed projects by the former mayor of London put forward criticism from the Conservative benches was quite muted though not silenced and while Caroline Lucas from the Green Party backs cleaner transport such as rail h.s. 2 is another matter entirely h s 2 is a direct election on this government's environmental credentials with the destruction of $100.00 ancient wood loans and a miserably small Moodle shift of just 5 percent of passengers who would otherwise fly or drive northern Arlen's a long way from. H.s. 2 bought the piece Sammy Wilson chipped in I welcome to use a prime minister own words his investment in the skeleton of the u.k. Economy the steep the thigh bone and the bone the ankle bone but he has forgotten about the Red Hand of Ulster which appears to be detached from his Palm because he hoped h.s. Too would bring manufacturing opportunities to Northern Ireland well you might say the prime minister has an inimitable style clearly that is quite literally true his statement was read out for the benefit of the House of Lords by the transport minister Lady Vere whose natural style is less swashbuckling it was a tricky read yes we must fix the joint between the Kneebone in the buyback and the . And the shinbone and the entrepreneur. And yes we must fix the arthritis in the fingers and that is who wrote this and new generation of cyclists pedal safe and happy to school and work in treatable sunlight on that was where she did make it to the end I commend this statement to the house there. Were. Some rare but hard earned applause at the end there. That was Susan human reporting on yesterday in part more from her on b.b.c. Radio 4 longwave at 830 the time now is 10 to 7 which means it's time for the puzzle for the day it's been set by Dr Nick us Georgia who's a senior mathematics lecture from the University of Sussex Here we go under Charlie and drew want to take Robin Jordan an alley out for Valentine's Day They're all single Andrea is shy and prefers the cinema alley and Robin like the cinema too Jordan loves the idea of a romantic restaurant and both Charlie and Drew would go to one if necessary Robin prefers cocktails Charlie doesn't mind cocktails how can they all be happy tells all round. It's 10 to 7 now the government plans to ban the placement of children in care in unregulated homes in England following 2 b.b.c. News investigations which covered cases of abuse and violence the education secretary Gale Gavin Williamson has said that the b.b.c. Has highlighted something that just needed to be changed our special correspondent Ed Thomas has been part of the team investigating this for 12 months so it just explained to us what you discover debate happening inside these homes which aren't regulated the resounds of children living in these unregulated homes or so-called supported accommodation in England alone there are 6000 young people in them they're not inspected by Ofsted in the months or provide support to not care for young people from around the age of 16 and that is despite the deep vulnerabilities of many of those who live in them and last year we spoke to many children young people who had the most horrific experiences one was exploited by county lines gang kidnapped stabbed he told as he was water boarded by a rival gang Another described their unregulated home as a drug house with constant drug deals every 20 minutes now the B.B.C.'s investigations across b.b.c. News and Newsnight revealed that children as young as 11 years old to be in place by councils in unregulated homes we also linked more than a dozen cases of organized abuse to the sector and as you been hearing the government's going to make it illegal for children the 16 to be put in places like this but they're proposing other things as well yeah they are and it's worth remembering that councils are under huge pressure the number of children in care has reached a 10 year high in England but despite this the education secretary says that councils will have their children's services departments taken over if they continue to place children under 16 in a regulated there are also plans to provide additional powers to offset the regulator of registered children's homes to intervene when they suspect. The setting is being used as an illegal a registered home the education secretary govern Williamson totals here and have to act after the B.B.C.'s reports there are children that are being placed in that type of care that isn't something that we're going to allow to continue to go forward so the local authority thinks that they can continue to place children in those types of environments quite simply they will be have their powers withdrawn in order to be able to continue to look after children services and what kind of reaction it has that been from Am people working in the castle if you just look at the broader picture taking only 100 of the 6000 residents in unregulated homes are under the age of $68.00 that means there are a fountains more 16 and 17 year olds placed in all regulated homes and we spoke to Ed Nixon from the independent Children's Homes Association he said this distinguishing between children under the age of 16 and those under 18 is entirely misguided he questioned why the government is prepared to treat 16 year old child care leavers as if they're ready to live independently with very limited support he said any care provider offering accommodation for adults and children must be regulated at home a special correspondent thank you 6 minutes to 7 is the time the European parliament is debating its view of what the trade deal should look like between the e.u. And the u.k. The German m.e.p. David McAllister is chair of the European Parliament's u.k. Coordination group that's the successor to the BRICs it steering committee and is on the line morning to you good morning Strasbourg France and there is one central trade off here isn't there really that that all of this hinges on and that is that if we want. Better access to the European single market then we have to have a closer regulatory relationship is that right. The parliament will adopt a resolution today under the. New night guess we will have a broad majority of any peace this Parliament resolution views our contains our views on the content of the architecture of a future you care relationship and we've highlighted a number of important principles for the negotiations among others about there has to be a right balance of rights and obligations and this will swing through to a level playing field and the level playing field meaning that Britain signs up at least to some extent to the. Affected by a fine put it on European rules and regulations into the long term siege. The level of quota and duty free access to the world's largest single market in the e.u. Single market still is willfully correspond to the extent of regulatory convergence and the commitment taking of a suspect to observing a level playing field the little playing field for us as a new piece is an absolute priority and precondition for any future agreement and this level playing field has to be guaranteed through robust commitments and forcible provisions on competition and state aid it's about relevant tax matters and it's about the full respect of the social labor standards we have in the European Union one thing is clear many colleagues pointed this out in the debate yesterday morning we will not enter a race to the bottom we are striving for a close economic partnership with the United Kingdom and we should now start these negotiations from a position of certainty goodwill shared interest and purpose we want to have a close as possible partnership with the u.k. Maybe a close relationship isn't possible maybe the u.k. Will wants to do the gin the way the government has hinted at least and is talking now about friction on the board as its center and maybe both sides just have to live with that. In the end this is educated decision we are ready to negotiate a new partnership with fear of terrorists with 0 quotas in 0 dumping our new relationship is not only about trade we want a partnership that goes well beyond trade a relationship which would be unprecedented in scope everything from climate action to data protection fisheries to energy transport to space financial services to security we want as close as possible partnership with the u.k. And now we should start negotiations because once again the clock is ticking David McAllister m.e.p. Chair of the u.k. Coordination group of the compartment thank you very much it's 3 minutes and 7 times you look at the weather and the minutes is here high far too much to tell you about of the coming few days with an inverse of the storm on the way for the weekend and some potentially disruptive snow tonight as well as been disruptive anyway hasn't it in the past 24 hours many finger new Wales with most of England Wales away from the north it will be a last a bright day with some sunshine initially but clouds will tend to spill in later in the day for you a shower as I think in the winds will tend to ease back under a little rich of high pressure but it's a cold start chance of a few icy patches and it's not going to be a woman day around 7 to 9 a high now for the North of England along with Northern Ireland and Scotland we're still in this post here as well and there are plenty of showers rushing in along the spells of rain at low level snow is relatively low levels as well have been causing some problems and Deron for example blowing around and all strong winds which will gradually ease through the day but I should imagine with all the risk of ice because temperatures are below freezing on the votes morning it's going to be quite treacherous and a high is even with a little sunshine today barely 45 degrees but as I mentioned change on the way will see a band of rain pushing north was but it will turn to snow for time in Northern Ireland but a slight cool some issues than all the. England parts of Scotland even the central belt tomorrow morning. Thank you next week short cuts returns to Radio 4. In a piece of a few paper I wrote down only needs I dreamed one day eating again. And adventures and. Putting about a mile into the race to grab my sweat shirt and started to grab the number on my back potato. Out of my race and give me those numbers so presented by me there is a woman who fell to her knees when I went by and she says Come on honey go for it do it for all of us starts next Tuesday afternoon at 3 on b.b.c. Radio 4. And coming up in the next hour in this program trapped on a cruise ship with a coronavirus now called Covert 19 we hear from one holiday makers of asking how cruise ship companies can deal with a crisis you're listening to today on b.b.c. Radio 4 with Matthew Carney and Justin Webb. It's 7 o'clock on Wednesday the 12th of November the headlines this morning health care workers in any department in West Sussex is one of the confirmed cases of coronavirus in the u.k. The veteran left wing Senator Bernie Sanders has won the latest round of the contest to become the Democratic Party candidate for the White House and next year's census of British households could be the last because of soaring costs the b.b.c. News.

Radio-program , Writers-from-new-york-city , Health , American-politicians , Social-security , Hospitals , Health-care , Nuts-1-statistical-regions-of-the-european-union , Members-of-the-united-kingdom-parliament-for-english-constituencies , Nuts-1-statistical-regions-of-the-united-kingdom , Economics-terminology , Chief-executive-officers

VOA [Voice of America] Global English-20200212-130000

This is v.o.a. News I'm Jim Byrd tell. We begin the race with the race for president Senator Bernie Sanders is the winner of the New Hampshire primary but it's a narrow victory over a relative newcomer Jackie Quinn reports were many Sanders a 78 year old self described democratic socialist edged past former South Bend Mayor people to judge and says he's running an inclusive campaign that attracts younger voters the agenda that speaks to the needs of working people throughout this country 40 years his junior who to judge comes in 2nd to win and to govern we need to bring new voices to work out Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar are also moderate comes in 3rd with disappointing results for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wasn't on the ballot in New Hampshire but President Trump says that's who he wants to face in November is a lightweight you know to find that out 2 candidates have dropped out and later this month it's on to the caucus in Nevada I Jackie Quinn Chinese health officials report the number of dead from the Corona virus outbreak has risen to more than 1100 a piece Charles Taylor there's more reports on the death toll is up the number of new cases has dropped China says his figures show just over 2000 new cases a 2nd day decline the total number of cases in mainland China now is just over 44000 although many experts believe a large number of others infected have gone on counted official say the figure of nearly 100 pushes the total dead past 1101 repercussion of the virus is that postal service is worldwide seeing delivery affected by the consolation of many flights to China with the u.s. Postal Service saying it's experiencing significant difficulties in getting mail to the China region I'm Charles Let us from Washington you're listening to v.o.a. News. U.s. President Donald Trump is praising u.s. Attorney General William Barr for taking charge of the case against longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone this a day after the prosecutors in the case resigned to McGuire as more Several of the prosecutors are convicted Roger Stone of lying to Congress obstruction of Congress and witness tampering have resigned from the team after the Department of Justice withdrew their sentence recommendation of 7 to 9 years in prison for president trying to close confidant the department insists it would do the recommendation to the judge shortly after it was offered Monday night president slammed the sentence in a tweet early Tuesday morning and later at the White House the recommendation was ridiculous I thought the prosecution was ridiculous also denied having anything to do with the Justice Department's action to McGuire Washington the Sudanese government has agreed to turn over former president Omar al Bashir and 3 others to the international criminal court for trial because she was wanted by the i.c.c. On charges of war crimes crimes against humanity and genocide for his involvement in the war in Darfur Afghan government sources say a u.s. Taliban peace deal could be signed this month if the Taliban significantly reduces violence that is a key step towards an eventual withdrawal of u.s. Troops from Afghanistan after Jesse small at faces 6 new charges in Chicago a piece Mike Ross again has more actor just a small lead is facing new charges of lying to Chicago police early last year a special prosecutor Dan Webb says a grand jury indicted small add on 6 counts of disorderly conduct that was charged with disorderly conduct last February the Cook County state's attorney Kim Fox dropped the charges the following month without explanation told police he was walking home on January 29th 2019 when he was approached by 2 masked men who made racist and homophobic remarks several weeks later authorities alleged small that had paid 2 black friends $3500.00. Dollars to help him stage the attack I Mike Rossi of the defense has rested in the Harvey Weinstein. Rape case if he's Oscar's Wales Gabriel reports Weinstein's decision not to testify leaves a prosecution a lot of prosecution evidence and challenge the defense case mainly relied on 3 witnesses who would cast doubt on accounts of the 2 accusers whose allegations led to the charges against Harvey Weinstein one witness was a former roommate of a woman who says Weinstein raped her she testified the woman gave no indication that she was victimized by Weinstein a friend of the same woman says she met with her soon after the alleged assault and she seemed like quote her every day sell a 3rd witness challenge the claim that she stood by while Weinstein assaulted a woman in a hotel bathroom a witness says she would not have closed the door on anyone Gabriel and from Washington I'm Jim Byrd tell v.o.a. News. The way one of the heads Harry Styles adore you and here is Justin Bieber with the yummy. Looks. It is the weekend in. Its. Ever some that just. Trying to get to. The only one at the it's 5 seconds of summer with the easier we heard ariana grande a no tears left to cry and d.j. Khali with me Ana and Bryson Taylor while my name is Nikki all the pop music v.o.a. Want their hits. Welcome to learning English a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America on Jonathan evidence and I'm Ashley Thompson this program is aimed at English learners so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Today on the program you will hear from Brian Le and Mario Ritter Jr and Joel Robins later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation but 1st here is Brian land. The Philippines has informed the United States that it is ending a security agreement that permits American forces to train in the country a spokesman for Philippine president Rod Rigo do terror said u.s. Officials were informed of the decision on Tuesday the ending of the agreement is set to become official in 180 days unless both sides agree to continue it the 1998 agreement sets rules for u.s. Military forces operating in the Philippines the 2 nations hold many joint military exercises and training activities throughout the year presidential spokesman Salvatore Penhallow told reporters the Philippines was withdrawing from the agreement to permit more independent relations with other countries. Philippine foreign secretary. Said on Twitter that president. Ordered the end of the agreement in a statement the Us embassy in Manila called the move a serious step with significant implications for the u.s. Philippines alliance it said u.s. Officials will carefully consider how best to move forward to advance our shared interests the embassy statement added our 2 countries enjoy a warm relationship deeply rooted in history we remain committed to the friendship between our 2 peoples. Has often criticized the u.s. Security policies while praising those of China and Russia even though the Philippine military enjoys close historic ties with American forces. First warned of ending the deal in 2016 after a u.s. Aid agency put a hold on money for anti-poverty projects in the Philippines he then repeated the threat in a speech last month the speech came after Ronald. The former national police chief who is now a senator said the u.s. Had cancelled his visa but did not tell him why Philippine officials view the cancellation as a punishment for leadership of an anti-drug campaign launched in 2016 the government campaign has killed thousands of mostly poor drug suspects. It has drawn criticism from the United States other Western nations and human rights groups do tear Tade decided to end the security agreement even after military generals and his defense and foreign ministers defended it during a Senate hearing last week during the hearing Luxon warned that cancelling the agreement would harm Philippine security and could increase aggression in the disputed South China Sea a u.s. Military presence in the waterway has been seen as an important balance to China which claims most of the South China Sea as its territory at the hearing Luxon said the agreement clearly provided security and economic benefits to both sides he proposed seeking changes to improve the agreement rather than ending it. Brian land. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marked 41 years since the Islamic Revolution in the country as tensions with the u.s. And the world remain high Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke in Terre Rons Square Tuesday to denounce the United States he also called on people to vote in upcoming elections. Last month Iran's Guardian Council barred thousands of candidates from running including about 90 current lawmakers Iran considers many people voting in elections a show of confidence in the country's cleric rulers Rouhani told a crowd we should not withdraw from the ballot boxes however a number of recent incidents have added to continued international pressure on the nation of more than 84000000 people Iran remains under international sanctions after the u.s. Withdrew in 2018 from an international agreement meant to limit Iran's nuclear weapons program the administration of u.s. President Donald Trump objected to the deal officials said it did little to prevent Iran from developing nuclear materials or missiles early this year the commander of the revolutionary guards force Qassam Soleimani was killed in a u.s. Strike in Baghdad large gatherings for his funeral however were marred by Iran's shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet 176 people were killed the Iranian government then refused for days to admit that it had shot down the plane with missiles. Iran and Ukraine continue to dispute the investigation of the downed airplane in November Iranians blocked to traffic in major cities to protest an increase of 50 percent in government setting gasoline prices the government reacted with a campaign against protesters the human rights group Amnesty International said that more than 300 people were killed in the rest of the government did not release the number of deaths but lawmakers said thousands of people were detained tensions increased again in January after the killing of Soleimani who had been linked to the use of roadside bombs used to attack American soldiers in Iraq the Quds Force that he led is also involved in Middle East conflicts in Syria Yemen and other places the Islamic Revolution in Iran began after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country in January 1979 Islamic cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini then returned from exile in Paris to become the country's leader. In November of that here Iranians angry that the Shah was receiving medical treatment in the us seized the Us embassy and took more than 50 hostages Iran held the hostages for more than one year before releasing them in early 1981 I'm Mario Ritter Jr. Some adults and teachers may think young people want to spend all of their time using social media but a recent survey shows that may not be true it found that students sometimes want to turn off their electronic devices to get away from the pressure to take part in social media or the study researchers led a series of discussions at classes in the United States they asked young people what they thought about social media the survey was a project of Common Sense Media a nonprofit group based in California and a learning games the platform called cahoot 8 out of 10 students said that some people think too much about their social media posts and are always trying to be perfect about a 3rd said it was acceptable to post a version of yourself on social media that's not 100 percent real. The students also talked about that issue of publishing unkind or hateful comments online more than half of those questioned said that social media are tearing us apart more than they are bringing people together with this in mind How can teachers help today we will look at how teachers can support good digital citizenship through safe kind and healthy use of social media Common Sense Media defines digital citizenship as thinking critically behaving safely and participating in responsibility in the digital world teachers can begin by talking with students about how they use social media how does it make them feel do they young people want to change anything about the way they interact with others online teachers should learn what computer application programs their students use most often teachers should then use this information to keep in contact with students and share homework assignments next define the words cyber bullying digital drama and hate speech young people need to recognize the differences among these issues and know how to deal with them Common Sense Media has a free lesson plans for all grade levels on digital citizenship they include videos and other images to explain the ideas at the students' level digital drama is the everyday arguments and small problems that come up between friends or with other people you know online or via text message. Hate Speech means expressing hatred of a particular group of people for younger students this is called being mean teachers should let students know that they are available to help when students face online problems experts say teachers should choose a social media their students often use limit posts or messages to once per class period or to what is necessary to provide information to students Bailey de Plata is an English teacher and lives in New Jersey she told National Public Radio that she did not want to use Facebook to communicate with students because it is too personal although her students have e-mail she found they do not often look at it people at all instead chose the social networking service Twitter to give out homework and reading materials she says Twitter lets her share information quickly and show how to use social media in a professional healthy way Another idea is to get students to ask questions on the shared app as one person's question is probably shared by others teachers have to make sure they do not help one individual without giving the same information to all students experts also say teachers need to set time limits for using social media with students teachers could say they will only answer questions until 9 at night on school nights for example they need to explain that adults too need to unplug sometimes and get away from their phones and computers part of digital citizenship is related to privacy. When sharing something done in class teachers must remember to post pictures of students' work but not of the students themselves this is done to protect the online privacy has students social media electronics and digital resources are an increasingly large part of students' lives experts say that with the guidance of teachers and other adults young people can learn to become good idjit all citizens I'm Jill Robbins. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in Vo way special English in the years after World War One new technologies changed America technology made it possible for millions of people to improve their lives it also brought great changes in American society Harry Monroe and Kay Galanti tell more about the technological and social changes that took place in the United States in the early 1920 s. . Some of the most important changes came as a result of the automobile and the radio automobiles began to be mass produced. They were low enough in cost so many Americans could buy them. Gasoline was low in cost too together these developments put America on the move as never before automobiles made it easy for Americans to travel trucks made it easy for goods to be transported many people and businesses moved out of crowded noisy cities they moved to open areas outside cities suburbs as automobiles helped Americans spread out the radio helped bring them closer together large networks could broadcast the same radio program to many stations at the same time soon Americans everywhere were listening to the same programs they laughed at the same jokes saying the same songs heard the same news another invention that produced big changes in American life was the motion picture. American Inventor Thomas Edison began making short motion pictures at the turn of the century in 1903 a movie called The Great Train Robbery was the 1st to tell a complete story. In 1950 in d.w. Griffith made a long serious movie called Birth of a nation by the early 1920 s. Many American towns had a movie theater most Americans went to see the movies at least once a week the movie industry became a big business people might not know all the names of government over issues but they knew the names of every leading actor and actress movies were fun they provided a change from the day to day troubles of life they also were an important social force young Americans tried to copy what they saw in the movies and they dreamed about faraway places and a different kind of life I young farm boy could imagine himself as romantic hero Douglas Fairbanks or comedian Charlie Chaplin I young city girl could imagine herself as the beautiful and brave Mary Pickford rich families and poor families saw the same movies their children shared the same wish to be like the movie stars in this way the son of a banker and the son of a factory worker had much in common the same was true for people from different parts of the country in the early 1920 s. Americans also began reading the same publications. The publishing industry used some of the same kinds of mass production methods as the automobile industry it began producing magazines in larger amounts it began selling the same magazines all over the country one of the most widely read magazines was the Saturday Evening Post here 19 old to it sold about 300000 copies each week 20 years later it sold more than 2000000 copies each week Americans everywhere shared the same information and advice in such nationwide magazines the information was not always correct the advice was not always good but the effect was similar to that caused by the automobile and radio parts of American society were becoming more alike they were trying to move toward the same kind of life economically and socially. Other industries use the techniques of assembly line production to make their goods to they discovered that producing large numbers of goods reduced the cost of each $11.00 company that expanded in this way was the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company it was called a and p. For short. The a.m.p. Was one of the 1st large American grocery stores to sell all kinds of food it sold milk meat bread canned fruits and vegetables all in the same store shopping at the a and p. Was much faster and easier than going to different stores to get different kinds of food in 1912 a and p. Had 400 stores in the United States about 10 years later it had more than 11000 stores it could buy huge amounts of goods and sell each at a very low price mass production also came to the clothing industry people began wearing clothes made in factories instead of by a family member or local tailor before long the same kinds of clothes could be found everywhere mass production removed some differences that had marked Americans in the past prices dropped so people with little money could still buy nice clothes it became more difficult to look at Americans and know by their clothes if they were rich or poor social changes also resulted from great progress in medical research doctors and scientists reported new developments in the fight against disease this progress gave most Americans a longer life. In 1900 for example the average person in the United States could expect to live 49 years by 1927 the average person could expect to live 59 years life expectancy rates climbed to because doctors and scientists developed effective ways to prevent or treat diseases such as tuberculosis typhoid diphtheria and influenza yellow fever and small pox were no longer a threat one new medicine was insulin it was used to treat diabetes man made version gave diabetics the insulin their bodies did not have it cut the death rate from the disease is from 70 percent to about one percent and doctors and scientists also learned the importance of vitamins to good health now they could cure several diseases caused by a lack of vitamins Americans in the 1920 s. Lived much better than their fathers and mothers a man received more pay than in the past even though he worked fewer hours each day he lived in a better house with new labor saving devices he had a car to drive to work and to take his family on holiday trips. He received a better education than his father he and his family wore better clothes they ate healthier foods the average American in the 1920 s. Had more time for sports and entertainment he enjoyed listening to the radio and watching movies he was more informed about national and world events Life was good for many Americans as World War one ended and the nation entered the 1920 is yet that life was far from perfect many Americans did not have the same chances to improve their lives black Americans continued to suffer from racism society continued to deny them their rights as citizens women did not have equal rights either for example they could not vote it was during this time that the United States as experienced one of its worst incidents of public hatred many people turned to strongly against labor unions and leftists they feared of threat to democracy the federal government took action against what it called political extremists many of the charges were unfair many innocent lives were harmed. And that's our program for today listen again tomorrow to learn English 3 stories from around the world I'm Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thompson.

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