this is g.w. doos live from berlin tonight searching for solidarity in europe and germany faces pressure to help the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis italy and spain want germany to help in sharing the costs of recovery but berlin considers a so-called koroma bonds to be taboo in european solidarity survive coded 19 also coming out the various latest victim of the virus germany cancels its world famous october fest beer festival the various state leaders say it is just too

risky to hold the event this year and press freedom at risk a new report warns that governments are using the pandemic to crack down on media across the globe. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us we'll germany use its full financial muscle to help the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic as the crisis devastates economies across the continent italy's prime minister conte says that the full firepower of the european union is needed to overcome the shock to the system he wants germany and other wealthy northern european nations to issue shared debt in order to help countries such as italy and spain but that idea it is highly divisive. hospitals in italy have faced

a massive challenge to treat all their patients critically ill with cove in 1000 disease spain's prime minister has called the pandemic europe's biggest crisis since the 2nd world war with. but help has come for some in the form of the german air force specially equipped planes have flown covert patients from italy and france to hospitals in germany in all more than 200 sick people have been transferred from european countries even in the time of corona germany sees itself as a good european. wants to and he will show solidarity we've proved that in the past but this is a crisis that affects us all in terms of health and economically and financially that's why we must take care in these times that the e.u. stays together. but when it comes to financial help germany is less ready to offer everything that is asked for the e.u.

has agreed big support package it's worth more than 3 trillion euros to counter the economic effects of the crisis such as the huge hit to european tourism but italy france and spain would like brussels to go further and issue corona bonds a new form of shared debt many german politicians worry that would put new burdens on the german taxpayer is the key the. crises is no reason to bring in through the back door financial instruments that involve public debt which were wrong in the past and will be wrong in the future corona bonds would lead to more debt and also mean that all of europe ultimately lose it. but others say if european unity means anything it should be about flexing germany's economic muscles during this crisis. temple.

we need temporary carona bonds to help the worst affected countries we need them for selfish reasons to the german car industry is reliant on production happening in northern italy so it's not just about solidarity it's in our own interest to do this month thing. and. the pandemic has brought neighbors together but it's also put strains on relationships where individuals and nations and now while europe works out how to organize a for the long term direct help for the sink will continue. and the sick need a lot of money at the moment to talk about this i'm joined now by my colleague business anchor stephen beardsley stephen talk to me a little bit about why this debt question is so urgent for the european union what's its urgent right now for the eurozone those $1000.00 asians that share the euro currency and every nation right now is taking on debt brand as we know but

it's a special problem for some countries italy is the one that sticks out right now it has a debt to g.d.p. ratio of 130 percent more than 130 percent actually it's pretty considerable its economy has been stagnant so there are no signs that it's capable of paying down its debt anytime soon and borrowing costs are rising it's going to take on a considerable amount of deficit spending and it's not budget potentially as much as 10 percent which is outrageous it's crazy look at the past. that scares investors and it leads to the possibility that a credit ratings agency could come in later and downgrade that debt basically say this debt isn't as secure as it was before that would scare off investors 1st of all but it could also lead to debt owners banks we're talking about they would have to set aside more capital to prevent in the case of a default now it turns out that since the recession italian banks have spent a lot of money on italian debt so that then puts into question what would have. and of them and they said they had to put more money aside because of

a downgrade and that throws them into question and that puts the whole system and the question. like italy and spain asking countries such as the netherlands germany that have good credit ratings to mutual i used to share the corona bonds is what they're called why is that i mean it's a taboo here in berlin isn't it you know it's been a taboo for decades this was known as euro bonds before we've talked about this before let's 1st talk about the current borrowing options that's the european stability mechanism the eurozone bailout fund what that means is that the e.u. will borrow money for these countries that need it those countries will individually take on the debt meaning that italy would still pile on more debts and then it would have to meet a certain series of conditions would have to maybe make reforms that could include painful welfare subsidy cuts or tax increases that would be politically unpopular and that's why countries like italy don't like that option they believe in mutual eyes that sort of like your parents cosigning on a car loan for a teenager who doesn't have the credit yet alternately it false them to pay it opponents say that's not fair they're taxpayer supporters say this is an issue of

solidarity solidarity but it doesn't change the fact that we've got a shared monetary policy in the eurozone but we don't have shared fiscal policy exactly and it's a big problem that's been the issue for years this is something that tried to reform years ago as late as i believe last year all of these options sort of fell through this is really what makes this debate so important is the question of how close does this does the euro bloc is the euro zone want to be that they want to be a confederation of separate economies that they want to be a closer tightly knit coordinated fiscally coordinated group and that's really what's at the heart of this debate what should we expect this thursday when the european union leaders get together we're already seeing signs of a compromise we're seeing these proposals coming from spain and france saying that perhaps we'll do something a bit different there's something called a perpetual bond ryssdal but tricky but basically it means that the principle would never have to be repaid from the bonds it would be sort of like but the interest would go to the holder. that would be sort of like dividends from stock so it's

almost like an equity but what that means is that the payments would go to those nations most affected and the e.u. would only have to pay interest which would amount to that much but would still represent some kind of mutualization of an obligation and it would still represent a step closer a step further than the e.u. has taken to this point and the notion of would still have to get through the constitutional court here in germany for example so big hurdles there stephen beard's as always thank you and you know october fest this year the southern german state of bavaria today canceled its world famous beer festival over the coronavirus unix october fest attracts more than $6000000.00 visitors every year watts of people sitting dancing drinking celebrating no social distancing large events are currently banned in germany until the end of august october this was due to start on september 19th but authorities fear allowing it to go ahead would lead to a spike in new infections. w.'s bustin hard to he's been following the story for

us in munich and i asked him why this is such a difficult moment for. well absolutely it is because you have to understand that for the city of munich and for the people who live here you know if this is much more than just another huge party it's got a really long tradition it's been around for more than 200 years and it's something that's deeply ingrained into the d.n.a. of this city and on top of that it's also safe the image of not only munich and the very a but also to a certain degree all of germany really all around the world if you ask anyone anywhere what they associate with germany one of the 1st answers that you always get is going to be the a total says so it's usually popular around the world in the city and to the people here in the city of munich they're proud of that they're proud of the fact that their city is home to such a famous and popular festival and course now they're sad that this year all those visitors from around the world can't can't come here can't take it and can take

part in a cover fest and that this huge festival is not going to be happening. boston hard to be reporting from munich now here's a look at other stories that are making headlines around the world u.s. president says that he will temporarily suspend all immigration by signing an executive order he says the action is in response to the coronavirus break in is designed to protect jobs more than $22000000.00 americans have applied for unemployment benefits in the past month because of the pandemic lockdowns canada's prime minister justin trudeau is valid to ban the sale of military style assault weapons as the death toll from a shooting spree in nova scotia rises from 18 to at least 22 canadian police say they have recovered remains from some of the homes destroyed in the weekend's 12 attack. now to the virus and the journalists the media watchdog reporters without borders is warning that the coronavirus pandemic could threaten press freedom

around the globe it comes as the group publishes its annual press freedom index a list of countries ranked according to how freely their media are allowed to operate and throughout the day we've been speaking to journalists from around the world to find out about the situation in their countries here's a look at that ranking and how countries are fairy. at the bottom of the table la eritrea tech menace down in north korea reporters without borders classified the lack of press freedom in those countries as very serious sit down is also in that category but last year's mass protests that led to the ousting of president omar al bashir have resulted in stronger democratic structures and reduced restrictions for journalists as a result the country ranks 16 points higher on the index than last year in countries that night similar improvements include malaysia any theo pia. while poor

ratings and given to the west african states if they need. 17 places and haiti down 21. the caribbean nation is struggling with an ongoing political crisis and violent protests in the past year journalists today were repeatedly attacked one was killed. the united states ranks at 45th place this year after 2 years of decline the situation has slightly improved over the last year but reporters without borders cite the u.s. as a warrior example of hatred incited against journalists by elected politicians with verbal and physical attacks against reporters alarmingly frequent terms of actually germany ranks 11th place also up 2 places from last year the main reason for this is a decline in the numbers of attacks against journalists but reporters without borders say this still concerned for the protection of journalistic sources. the country's

ranking highest for press freedom remain in scandinavia denmark finland and norway . are some sports news now we're going to go to italy one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic for the story of 2 young tennis players they were challenged by their coach to find a way to stay in shape during the lockdown or they hit the roof tops i mean they really hit the roof tops their efforts have now gone viral take a look. on one side of the street 11 year old kerala is itching to go. on the other side 13 year old victoria is getting there working her way to the rooftop of her apartment building. once there a pause it's raining. carroll has been hitting the ball on her indoor court she is ready. and now so is victoria serious social distancing but stay clear of

the camera guy for another day and walk down another rooftop to rooftop practice to get my thoughts since then it's playing tennis so much carolyn my neighbor my close friend and my classmate we decided to try to play from one building to another i think i. was. i never thought we'd manage to play it but it is so much fun. to keep it moving and unseen ballboy the tories dad sends misfits back up to the roof. these 2 drew a following when a video posted by their coach was picked up by the association of tennis professionals the a.t.p. former number one tracy austin tweeted her admiration of carroll and vittorio indeed in these times it may take younger minds to help us determine what is possible and what is not. wrong. and that is the spirit that

a virus can not stop this is the w. news in berlin a quick reminder you can get news and features around the clock on our website at the w. dot com my colleague stephen there's a he's up next with g.w. business stick around he will be right back. it is for me. it's for. beethoven it's for ham. and beethoven is for. beethoven is for every.