in the world here in europe we're seeing the 1st attempts at a return to normality germany says it will begin reopening its economy next week but in the united states the death toll from the virus hit a record high yesterday a country in a crisis that doctors and scientists say could have been avoided tonight the u.s. president pointing the finger pointing it away from himself i bring golf in berlin this is the day. today i'm obstructed by it and it's rationed to halt. the funding of the world health organization severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the corrupt . american taxpayers provide between $400500000000000.00 a year john it contributes roughly $40000000000.00 in there and even less this is

not a logical step for the president it's an act of so to protect ourselves look really in germany or in america. when we'll be going to the pioneers exploits the cracks between not. also coming up one year ago the dictator in sudan was talk to an end to the rule of omar al bashir has anything else changed so dense economy is still dire and attempts to improve things are 100 by the country's continued presence on the u.s.a.'s list of state sponsors of terrorism. many young people who protested and celebrated a year ago have moved abroad in search of a job or not arise about it but i wanted to stay in my country my family by the day with very little opportunity. this is a time when sudan especially needs us. to

to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a scapegoat and the power of the purse u.s. president donald trump has accused the world health organization of doing too little too late to prepare countries for the coronavirus pandemic yesterday at the white house trump told reporters so much death has been caused by the w.h.o. his mistakes he. he announced a freeze on funding for the un agency and he accused of pushing and showing these misinformation about the virus now it is important to note it was the us president not the w.h.o. who praised china's handling of the outbreak at the same time trump downplayed the severity of the virus wasting precious time to prepare the u.s. for the pandemic trumps attempt to shift the blame comes as polls show public opinion tipping more americans now disapprove of the president's handling of the

virus. the w.h.o. field and its basic juicy to save lives those were the words of president trump's united's to freeze on funding for the un agency today i'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the world health organization while a review is conducted as the organization's leading sponsor the united states has a duty to insist on full accountability trump has repeatedly criticized the w.h.o. throughout the pandemic this time claiming it's biased towards china is responsible for the viruses rapid spread to other parts of the world. had the w.h.o. done its job to get medical experts into china to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out china's lack of transparency the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death trump says the roughly through

$100000000.00 in annual donations will now be paused and decision drew a sharp rebuke from the german foreign minister. heikal ma said in a tweet blaming does not help the virus knows no borders we should work together closely against kuwait 191 of the best investment is to strengthen the un especially the underfunded w.h.o. for example in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines bill gates to call the move dangerous the us is the washed affected country in the world with more recorded cases and deaths than anywhere else trumps handling of the pandemic has also been widely criticized and his opponents say this latest once meant amounts to nothing more than a deflection tactic where there has been an official response from the world health organization here is the director general of the united states of america

has been a long standing and generous friend. and we hope it will continue to be so. we regret the decision of the president of the united states to order to hold in funding to the world health organization when we divided the virus exploits the cracks between us we are committed to serving the world his people and to accountability for the resources with which we're interested. well for an insider's take on this i'm joined tonight by dr jonathan de quick he's a former director at the world health organization and he's the author of the book the end of epidemics the looming threat to humanity and help to stop it he's also affiliated with the rockefeller foundation and with duke university dr quick joins me tonight from durham north carolina dr greg it's good to have you on the day let

me just get your opinion here 1st do you believe the president will withhold funding indefinitely or do you think he's just bluffing. well i mean i think what's happened is like decimating the fire command center for a major city a blaze it's going on all over the city at the height of it i mean i think it's extremely unwise and untimely i will would presume to to take to guess what what the what's behind that but i think that yeah there is the w.h.o. response probably not been flawless and but this is not the time to debate that because they they really have led in this fight but what will you know as someone who has worked with the w.h.o. do you do you see this as an attempt by the president to scapegoat the w.h.o.

. well yeah i mean it it's hard to see it. it's hard to see any logic of it because you know the world health organization has done a superb job of informing a tracking advising of mobilizing and so i just don't i just don't see the logic you know i think i'd agree with those who said it's dangerous as this you know doctor quick what kind of budget the w.h.o. works with what does it mean for the w.h.o. if u.s. funding disappears. well typically and i think the numbers we heard format next about 20 percent of the budget in an organization that is committed to so many different things around the world i mean it is it is i think it's both a. it's

a material cut at the ability to organization to keep responding to this global crisis i say and and also at a time when we need public confidence will confidence you fight a pandemic with a whole of society whole of globe recent states of america blood's and china and things that hold a global community apart are unhelpful and will only prolong the challenge what about these criticisms are too quick that we have heard we've heard criticism that the w.h.o. was slow to declare the the l. brake a pandemic or that the w.h.o. has been to china centric in its work what do you say to those criticisms. well i mean it's a classic and we describe it in the book the end of epidemics damned if you do damned if you don't need it's quite predicting the weather you can get the science but there's a point at which he has to make a judgement and so we've seen this we've seen this before in in in the sars

outbreak which was the 1st time that the coronavirus aker on a virus went global was in 2003 the director general then called a once they saw the evidence they called a global emergency and that that virus was put back in the box in 6 months but in 2009 when we had the h one n one. is perceived to have pulled the alarm to suit and and then was was really slower with the ball and so the challenge is when you're fighting a virus for which there's no. though vaccine and omega sit your most important tool is publicly operation so if you pull the alarm too early too often they don't trust you they say it's another to make if you tell it too late your trouble my observation is that the way w.h.o.

made the decisions was just right you had a scientific body that looked at the evidence at one point and said we don't see enough scientific evidence yet to say that this is a will a public health emergency. a week later we got word of friends and remember this is a virus that we've only known for 3 months so but a week later when the evidence was there they called the emergency and again i'm very thoughtful about when to declare it a pandemic darn quick in your book the end of so there was there was you know let me just ask you you write in your book that there will always be new outbreaks but it is within the power of modern public health leaders to keep such outbreaks from exploding into catastrophic epidemics that kill thousands or millions when you say modern public health leaders are you referring to the w.h.o. and the u.s. president. yes all leaders and i think we now

have a a global scorecard for that ranks $195.00 countries on their preparedness only one out of 5 is prepared and even those that are that are most prepared we've seen in this outbreak actually hadn't didn't have the the leadership and the funding in order to respond quickly and tight let me just say part of that leadership is funding the public health budget so as an example and when it's this it's this cycle of panic and neglect so in the u.s. what happened was after $911.00 there was panic about health threats a huge fund was set up for public health emergencies over the next few years that went down then there was bird flu in the mid 2000 so it went up then there was a financial crash it went down and over a 6 year period we lost $45000.00 public

risk because we were underfunding the budget that was needed for public health and this isn't just the u.s. this is this is every country and let me say that after the financial crisis. the the numbers of the world health organization we need to remember the world health organization is 192. it's their organization it is only as effective as those members will let it be and it was the members who passed the budgets the defunded some of those public health capacity going into a bola so the doctors and its leadership at all levels there who are unfortunately we're out of time but we certainly appreciate your time tonight and your valuable insights an insider's look at what is going on with the w.h.o. at the moment dr jonathan quick joining us tonight from durham north carolina dr thank you thank you greg.

well the united states is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month as public health officials began analyzing the numbers they discovered a disturbing trend african-americans are being disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus in some states and cities where they are a minority black americans make up the majority of deaths from the virus. correspondent stephanie moans reports on how a pandemic is revealing the inequalities of a society. this is. to follow doctors and nurses to one of 2 intensive care units at howard university hospital. this medical center in washington d.c. has been serving the african-american community in the city 450 years.

on the. other. here in washington and elsewhere across the country high quality primary and preemptive care can often be absent an affordable in poor neighborhoods and communities the lack of access to healthy food sources is another factor that accounts for the stark difference in numbers of covert 19 related deaths in predominantly african-american and white communities this is the when the us she spent years researching the root causes and impact of what she says are systemic inequities on predominantly african-american and minority. she's not surprised that black americans are impacted by covert 19 and a disproportionately high rate. 3. you had a higher dose higher proportion of individuals with hypertension diabetes with

obesity these things that are the leading causes of death in the country and the chronic disease the leading chronic diseases in this country it's not surprising that individuals that are already have that higher proportion of those immunocompromised diseases would then be at the higher. one of the most economically and socially deprived areas of the district of columbia table a nonprofit organization that serves underprivileged communities is based here fighting healthy food and offers education healthy food choices among other things . for many residents of course the heat disparately hard by the coronavirus the work carried out day game day hour by volunteers is critical this is if there's only 2 grocery stores in this neighborhood and there's a lot of people that don't have resources to either get there or shop there so we came here because we knew that this is where the resources were needed as well as

the education giving families healthy food choices they normally can't afford is perhaps just a band-aid right now but many hope that america's coronavirus crisis could finally trigger real policy change that aims at making underprivileged communities healthier more affluent and with that more resilient to a public health crisis in the future. germany is about to take the 1st step to opening its khana be beginning next monday stores and shops will be back in business schools will be back in session on the 4th of may the decision was reached today during consultations between german chancellor angela merkel and leaders of germany's 16 states merkel described the country's success against the pandemic as being very fragile with little room for maneuver or mistake. it's been 3 weeks since chancellor angela merkel

announced the initial restrictions on contact now that being largely extended social distancing rules will remain in place until may 3rd groups will remain limited to 2 people and at least 1.5 metres must be kept from of us. from may 4th schools will gradually re-open 1st for school leavers in primary and secondary education daycare will remain shut religious gatherings will also remain banned while major events including germany's beloved football will be called off until august 31st meanwhile restaurants cafes this is cinemas and music venues will keep the shutters down only shops up to $800.00 metres square can reopen from monday facemasks are also being recommended in shops and on transport. announced in the amended restrictions chancellor angela merkel warned against complacency but the. what we've achieved is an interim success no more no less and i emphasise it is

a fragile interim success this is now determined our deliberations should be no rushing forward even if it's with the best intentions we have to understand that as long as there's no vaccine we have to live with the virus. that's kind of to become in the. still 50 controls along germany's land borders with its neighbors in the schengen free travel zone will also remain in place for another 20 days. from now germany will continue keeping its distance the curb may be flattening but the government it seems is taking things slow. political correspondent so i mean younger he's on the story for us tonight here in berlin good evening to you saw him and we reported in the last week the pressure has been melting on the german government to ease restrictions today's announcement was no surprise was the answer

to that pressure. well indeed i think the government felt that they had to do something people are desperate off the weeks in lockdown to see some easing of these restrictions where possible and as the chancellor said today you know the numbers have begun to look good the trend of in new infections is down and that means that there is a little bit of room to maneuver as it were although the chancellor wanted to sound that note of caution but the government has said well you know now we've got an opportunity we can start to open some shops and businesses next week and some some schools can begin to reopen in may so you know the 1st green shoots of the road back to some kind of normality i think a lot of people wanted that the government wants to send that message that the measures that have that have been carried out so far have worked you know you have

some we heard a lot about that about germany's success in fighting the virus how is that going to achieve what has worked so well. yeah there are lots of different answers to this if you ask the experts but one thing has been pointed out the average age of those infected in jamey does seem to be quite a bit lower at least in the 1st wave that was the case that the medical authorities were 1st confronted with lots of young healthy people as it were then coming down with this disease that helped them to get a grip on it i also think there's been a huge amount of testing has any comparison with some other countries there's also plenty of intensive care bed space available in gemini's hospital system which is pretty well funded you've also got a population that's willing to follow those government guidelines and the requests from the government so it's a mixture of factors some people have also suggested that germany counts the date from coded 19 in the slightly different way from some other countries if it had the

standard counting procedure maybe those statistics would look a little bit different gemini's death toll might be a little bit higher but i still think they've done well compared with some of the european countries countries across europe so i mean they're deciding their next moves based on how the virus has impacted them but is there any coordination among them at all i mean are they talking to each other is there an e.u. strategy here. well certainly there is there's a lot of talking to each other and of course the european councils have been going on by by video conference even jaring this time of lockdown the european commission has been asking the countries to kind of coordinate somehow but of course national measures have been taken we've seen more than half i think the e.u. member states now announced some form of easing of restrictions so this is part of

a trend across europe and 8 countries doing it a slightly different pace of course the situation in italy spain and also france is much more serious that in these in germany at the moment our political correspondent i mean young of the story for us tonight here in berlin so i mean thank you. the people of sudan in northeastern africa are marking the one year anniversary of the overthrow a dictator omar al bashir hopes were high that the nation would be able to overcome 30 years of corruption and economic decline but those hopes remain just that as well as economic stagnation sudan is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and swarms of locusts eating the crops. covered those historic moments for us tonight she catches up with a friend she made there during those heady days one year ago.

it was a moment of relief and euphoria. 1121000. protesters in sudan's capital celebrate the removal of dictator i'm going to share. the months they dress their lives on the streets had not been in vain it was there and then that i met mohammad who made a photographer in the middle of the revolution. my pictures of for the coming generations the experience of the people in my photos should not be forgotten that it. was a time of violence authorities often attacked the protesters you know the government has to bring justice to the people that we are alive because of them everything that has happened is because they sacrificed their lives and those now considered murders by many are not forgotten but their families have not yet seen prosecutions. i asked prime minister hun duc

about this issue back in february. the constitutional committee which is guiding these times and. it's a very clear. on the taking this was to have this new. to get in committee so let us not jump to conclusions and come talk heads a new government that was sworn in in august. after a transitional deal was struck between civilians and the military. here is in prison for corruption while his former ruling party has been dissolved. sudanese officials have suggested they might even turn him over to the international criminal court for trial over alleged war crimes committed in darfur yet sudan's economy is still dire and attempts to improve things are hindered by the country's continued presence on the usas list of state sponsors of terrorism.

many young people who protested and celebrated a year ago have moved abroad in search of a job mohammad now lives and works in the united arab emirates. and the rise of art but i wanted to stay in my country with my family that there were very little opportunity as this is a time when sudan especially in needs us. she might not be able to be at home to mark the anniversary but like millions of sudanese the heady days of hope in april 21000 will be etched in their memory for a lifetime. is almost on the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter you can follow me at brit gov t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and tomorrow is another day we'll see you then everybody.

when others give up. natalia keeps on fighting. many russian mothers are in similar situations. their sons have run afoul of the country's arbitrary justice our only hope is contest. and she's not a law. abiding citizen of the hour. next on g.w. . the country's advanced distances. the

views from the windows him to plan. and what to the passengers expect when they disembark. driving the rails across mongolia an extraordinary experience. or. they were abducted by the nazis untaken to germany to be raised as citizens of the county. during world war 2 thousands of polish children suffer.

even today many of them don't know their real parents well. they've lived with this trauma for decades. children the kidnapping campaign of nazi germany starts april 28th monday dully. can you do me. a low and a very warm welcome indeed to focus on europe with me peter craven and we begin in vladimir putin's russia a russia that tolerates little in the way of protest.