[000:00:00;00] ah, it's not often these days that you're a welcomed decisions coming out of moscow. but as russia resumed pumping gas through the north stream, one pipeline the relief and to some extent, surprise was palpable. only a day before flooding more potent had threatened to reduced or cut off the flow entirely, sparking panic among those heavily reliant on russian gus like germany, at the worst case scenario, avert it for now. but uncertainty remains with putin's hand on the top and not enough gas flowing anyway to ward off a looming energy crisis. i'm nicole girlish in berlin and this is the day.

ah good, it's worth it so glad that guess it's flying again, but i don't think jeremy should let it so be blackmailed by russia the slow months . it's on a political level. it's maybe not good news. as old organs. good pretended reason of technical problems actually has a political background integral. we have to secure energy, we need it from somewhere for sent of rushes increasingly and uncertainty factor in the energy system. he's been gone. i'm totally relax around the gas. i've been hating with wood, which i gather from a forest, so i couldn't get lost my. ah, also coming up a band, customers vent their anger in china being frozen out of their accounts. what does this say about the state of china's economy? and the ideal of common prosperity it's not clear just how

much money the victims have lost in this scandal, but some reports of suggested it could be in the 10s of billions of you on to our viewers around the world. good to have you with us. europe is breathing a sigh, a relief after russian gas started flowing once again through the north stream one pipeline. it had been down for maintenance work for 10 days, but fears were the kremlin would use the scheduled disruption to cut off deliveries entirely. well, for now, the pipes are filling all the way below capacity. and that's now cause for celebration in germany. a country heavily reliant on an unpredictable flooding re put in germany, remains at the mercy of russia, and is now scrambling to diversify into energy sources. the flow of gas has restarted through the biggest pipeline carrying russian gas to germany. north stream one had been out of action for routine maintenance. many in berlin were

concerned, russia wouldn't turn it back on. germany relies on russia for around a 3rd or it's gas imports. for now, the nightmare scenario as it was described seems to have been avoided, but concerns remain. experts say germany should be doing more to reduce its dependence. the laguna said the situation is urgent to ha, who should have been making savings from day one on february, we lost valuable months. it's important to re adjust this now for citizens are being urged to save energy. experts also say germany should look for alternative sources. phillips storage facilities and expand renewables. berlin has been scrambling to set some of these measures in motion. it has reduced its dependence on russian gas. the government has also given the go ahead for ellen g terminals to be built. and by mid july, germany had raised its gas storage levels to 65 percent. bo, however, needs to be saved. and they have also been setbacks,

especially for germany's climate goals. the government has decided to leave. it's called plants running longer than planned. nuclear power might also be back on the table and more coordination efforts, especially among you partners could be needed this. so for instance, me that you know, there is a clear decision taking that okay, we're going to prioritize, you know, supply o a gas or heating houses in slovakia. well, that means we need to turn down or ration the supply or say that is that's the kind of thing that can only be coordinated for the you. solidarity agreements would avoid lengthy negotiations in cases of emergency sticking together will be important in europe in order to stay warm in the winter. rushes war on ukraine has force germany to look for alternative gas suppliers. when to day it was all eyes on the town of lou mean,

where the north stream one pipeline arrives in germany. italy is benjamin over a scrubber. was there, there is a need relief, but every one knows that this is not a long term solution. that russia might even reduce the amount of gas that it's now sending. we have the estimates that we, it will be around 3040 percent. so quite similar to the figure that we have before this manual and maintenance that happens every year. so germany of the german government is quite confident, even though this is good news. now they have to find alternative partnerships for energy to leave and russian gas and russian oil in the near future. that's what they're planning lots to talk about or for that i can now welcome earning buckman. he's a professor of economics at the university of notre dame and the u. s. mr. rockman flow is restored, but the ball is still very much importance. court, isn't it? how would you rate europe's energy security at this point? bell? i think it is edit the sweet spot right now. he had,

he not continued to deliver gaz. then at least europe would have had some clarity. and, you know, europe would have just have to adapt and cope with it. and, you know, probably with good political leadership the population would have adjusted over time, but now he has this constant, a threat to go lower. and that's one thing. so it's good for him to keep threatening. and what does he get from this? well, he probably, i would surmise he'd probably bice continued german reconsider and so reluctant to go all and weapons delivery though, that's number one for potent and of course number 2, the fewer god delivers, the higher the gas price is and he makes much more money. that's the, you know, the economics of monopoly, or quade monopoly pricing. now being at the mercy of some very undesirable position

to be and is there any way at this point to reverse this dynamic or, you know, at least create a level playing field? well, the german government or the european governments have done already quite a lot. so it's also name a few positives here. i mean, while gast dependents was, well it, well about 40 percent on when we started over this war started, it's now roughly 30 percent. and some of a few low hanging fruit 70 would be used yet, for example, to stop off using gas to produce electricity, which is something that absolutely should have done long time ago. and the absolute need to be doing yesterday. so that's a relatively low hanging fruit, and the good news is in that 30 percent or could be precise 29 percent, a gas a gap for at least a germany. what hasn't been calculated affected in is the coming on line or the likely coming on line of floating energy terminals,

probably by the end of the year certainly is sometime in the mid of the winter. so, you know, there's a, so there's another 10 percent lying basically on the street here. and the rest has to be, you know, has to be done through the month. we have to have a massive demand reduction. but 20 percent government sell about there because, you know, gas, especially in germany is used so widely, especially in people's homes by the industry. how can we reduce demand in the measure that is needed right now? all hands on deck. i mean, you have to start with letting the market prices work, the gas prices, the consumers and industry need to feel the gas prices. the market mechanism has the beauty that, you know, only the most valuable of undertakings are going to continue. for example, should you know, a gas product, glass production facility be in jeopardy then, you know, people will be willing and able to pay

a high price for that gas. and if things are not so no action to important and maybe things you can buy also in the world market like fertilizer, then that is the gas that will be saved 1st. and then the same time a you absolutely must do is subsidize energy use. that's what we stole partly doing, rather than subsidizing energy use us. that's it. this is a subtle difference. but economically it makes all the difference. you want to help people to be able to afford this higher got or higher gas builds. but at the same time, when they have to pay at the margin, a high price, there's always an incentive to keep saving. just briefly, i want to ask you about this because i know that you at your university have looked into it. russia were to suspend deliveries as to who has threatened, what would be the economic consequences for a country, so dependent on gas coming out of russia like germany. so we have studied this, frankly, only i saw you march. so what if there was a, a cold turkey embargo march? our numbers were 3 percent of the studies were

a little higher for 5 percent in germany. i, frankly, i'm more at that late level 4 to 5 percent in march. what, what has happened now is at 2 opposing forces, and so i just happened repeat the study. so i can't give you a precise number or a number that, that, that i'm willing to back up scientifically. so for one thing on the, on the one and we have, we have, as i said, reduced the gas dependency quite a lot. so should put, didn't cut the gas. now the initial shock would be much smaller than it would have been in march or april. but on the other hand, we also wasted a lot of time adjusting on the demand side and adjustment takes time and that whatever, just what we have to do now will be more costly than have had it been started in it much. all right, really about one of the university of notre dame. thank you so much for all those insights. thanks for having me. ah.

confidence in the civility of chinese banks has been badly shaken after 4 war lenders and china's northern none province froze hundreds of thousands of depositors out of their own accounts. but the treatment of some of the victims of the fall out has shocked people following the developments. and as patrick fox reports from beijing isn't the only bank related crisis causing social aneice? ah, the weeks they'd been pockets of demonstrations then one sunday earlier this month, hundreds gathered in june, jo, the capital of hun and province demanding compensation for months. they've been frozen at their bank accounts with 4 royal lenders. before long, thousands of security personnel appeared to suppress the protested panels. ugly rush over by the hundreds. grab somebody and beat them and kick them regardless of whether it was men, women, me, elderly, or children. even people with disabilities,

claiming was one of the depositors there that day. that's not his real name, but lehman wants to keep his identity concealed, fearing possible. retribution. a former taxi driver, he told us he deposited $1000001.00 or around 850000 us dollars into one of the banks that had blocked their customers accounts. they were his families, a savings, and they had entrusted him to invest the money to pay on it. allen, to paint it is brought to us, may be life long and could even affect our child's future. the hun and bank scandal drew widespread attention even before the crackdown on protested last month. many people and john were outraged after a thought his turn some the deposit cove at 19 health could read that stopped them from travelling to demonstrate. it's not clear just how much money the victims have lost in this scandal, but some reports of suggested it could be in the 10s of billions of you on local police have blended on

a criminal gang saying it's took over these banks and made illegal transfers through fake loans, officials now say they'll start repaying some victims, but only those with up to 50001 and savings. lee and many others fear they'll never get the full amount back. when you're 100 more so i think they're trying to recover the stolen funds. if they could recover what's been stolen, we wouldn't have had this kind of situation in to day. so i'm not optimistic. this isn't the only crisis engulfing chinese banks right now. tens of thousands of home buyers across the country have been withholding mortgage payments on stalled construction projects. many of them ran out of funds that are struggling to complete. her man is again at the center, the capital jung. joe is where most mortgage boycotts have been recorded. amber, se both cases point to week government oversight and the local authorities. and in

the case of the mortgage crisis, it's to local housing departments, local housing, administration to partners. they are responsible for checking the accounts and making sure that developers use this money in, in appropriate way. this has not happened. many developers have faced the cash crunch since beijing began raining in easy credit to tame its debt pile. so far, bank said they can manage the risks from the mortgage crisis, but if it gets worse, it could threaten their credit profiles and power more pressure on china's already strained financial system. o resident, gigi, ping. the timing could not be worse. it comes just months ahead of the once every 5 years, communist party congress there, he'll likely town to success and maintaining stability as a reason to break presidents and stand for a 3rd. so here are every garden chang is an american columnist historian and lawyer has 2001 book they're coming,

collapse of china predicted the demise of the chinese economy under communist rule . his leaders is the great us china tech war and looks at the battle for global tech leadership and the 21st century. and i am pleased to welcome him now. mr. chang, welcome to the day. what is your read on what's been happening in china? these past weeks what we have seen recently is the combination of years of may actually even decades of bad policies. the beijing has really tried to pump the economy with unsustainable amounts of debt, especially after the 2008 global downturn. and now across the country, there's just too much, too much in the way of debt, maybe 350 percent of gross domestic product. maybe even more. and so there were always going to be problems that would manifest themselves somewhere. and now we're seeing them across the board in the chinese economy. and is this debt bon, that you write about? is that in the only underlying factor here,

you are recently wrote in an opinion please at china is approaching death spiral and a point of no return. why is that? is that only the debt? there's a number of factors at the same time. first of all, segan paying believes in the state dominated economy. he's turned his back on the liberalization that resulted in the great gross in china. and he wants something that more approaches the 1950s. and certainly that's not good for the economy, but you do have the dead crisis. you've got coven 19 locked downs. you have a lot of just discomfort and unease and chinese society. so you put that all together at the same time. it, it means that the merry go round is the deed stopped. if fail, connie takes and major head. what will be the implications for the world? i don't think would be too bad for the world. you know,

people say that china is an engine of global growth. well, it really isn't. because to be an engine, a global growth, you've got to buy the goods and services of other countries to create growth. and china, through predatory and criminal practices, is taking growth from other countries. so if the chinese economy were to disappear over night, i think that actually after the initial shock there probably would be better growth elsewhere at how it went. and bigger economic crisis impacts easing pain leadership style well, as you, as your piece pointed out, he wants a precedent breaking. 3rd term is general secretary of the 20th national congress of the communist party. if tradition halls will be held in october or november. this is not coming at a very good time for c. i'm so while he may get his 3rd term is most analysts think

people are now talking about limits on his leadership. and that could very well create all sorts of tension going forward because see, jumping would try to purge those people who have been opposed to him, but who are in positions of power. and because his legitimate thing was always tie into his promise of common prosperity, you're right, will we see him flex his muscles elsewhere to show strength and this one and clean to legitimacy for his 3rd term and doesn't hold anymore? yeah, i think that he has all the reasons in the world do you know, invade a neighbor or to create some sort of controversy that diverts the chinese people from their problems at home to a foreign enemy. so india, japan, the philippines, taiwanda, united states, we are all, i think it much greater risk these days out. what can you do to turn things around economically because he does need a when yeah,

i don't think that he really is. his ideology would not permit him to do those things, which are necessary. and china has to come to a reckoning because there's just too much debt in the system. also, there are too many unsustainable investments in loans. and you know, when in a free market economy in 2008 around the world in my country, other countries took the big kits. i don't think that the communist party is willing to do that. so within the constraints of communist party ideology, the answer to your question is nothing. there's nothing they can do. oh, there does seem to be a reckoning of sorts among among the citizens, right. the so some people we've been seen in protests and banks mortgage blankets and will any of it make a difference? i think it eventually will make a difference. the mortgage boycotts are now in 86 cities,

not just the central part of china. we're now starting to see suppliers to the big property. companies also refused to pay their loans to banks and banks across the country have had problems and even banks in shanghai, for instance, we're limiting withdraws during the coven lock downs. so i think this is systemic. you know, china blames or criminal gang the for the problems at those for credit associations . but it's really a much bigger problem and it's a problem that is a nation wide and systemic gourne chang. great talking to you and thank you so much for your time. thank you. ah, the man italians, one's nick named silver mario has given up after the collapse of his national unity government, prime minister mario drago is resigning. he'll stay on as a caretaker until snap elections at the end of september. hopes were the widely respect

a technocrat could bring some stability to italy's tumultuous political arena. now, 17 months after he took the job, analysts say his departure could not have come at a worse time for italy and for europe. drawing his trip to the presidential palace to submit his 2nd resignation within a week, has launched yet another phase of turmoil in italian politics. he was originally appointed to the rule of prime minister to hope is to lee recover from the impact of covert get a grip on a faltering economy and implement economic reforms. those issues have not gone away and if anything have become more pressing, his resignation has left many italians worried about the future. i should delicate moment that i think it was a reckless move, not to bear in mind everything that is happening globally with the war. and the

ongoing pandemic already thought by the moment was they let you really use of the right norman, for a government crisis up, but on this should have been the moment to get back on our feet. so they could not the moment to stop, never been cited. let's hope everything goes well, but we'll august and the problem will be solved on the like where i wanna, unquote echo either get to, you know, when the political crisis began a week ago when one of the parties and drug is coalition, government refused to back an economic package that prompted him to tender his resignation. for the 1st time. it is president asked him to stay on and to try and form a stable government draggy 2nd resignation. after 2 more coalition parties broke ranks brings the curtain down on bad effort. on thursday evening italy's president sergal montera tele deserve parliament clearing the way for new elections to be

held on september 25th. the mand up super mario has been asked to remain an office in the caretaker role until a new prime minister is chosen. and what they all got. a warrior is a research associate and politics and international relations. at oxford university . i asked them what we can expect from dragging between now and the september election. he will try to lock in the reform. it started over last year and a half a leave do to receive or something regional 250000000000 euros from european union recovery package. madison has been working on that and he will try to lock him. he is reformed so that he will stay there will not be dismantled by make school that he will not be able to pass the budget more. that will be class indeed for, for next year, but in parliament probably between november and so i, italy has never faced an election campaign in the summer. and that is for a reason like many southern european nations like basically comes to

a standstill in the hot or months the cities empty out and people flew to the beach or so what does that campaign going to look like? yeah, it is going to be peculiar, but i don't think only because of the summer time, and there is extremely time for political parties to submit their documentation that is necessary for a running election. so times are tied from an administrative point of view. also, they'll be a reduction in the number of seats available in apartment. so you could expect in fighting with the parties to be on the ticket to be made kelly than the election. and you could expect more split. we already tuned. within the pipe movement, there's been a split and you could expect more people leaving their parties trying to find somewhere somewhere else where they can fit the u. s. president joe biden has tested positive for covert 19. according to the white

house, he's experiencing very mild symptoms which include fatigue and a cough. the u. s. president reportedly last tested negative on tuesday. the 79 year old is fully vaccinated and boosted twice. he's being treated with packs lavette and anti virus drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease. i'm plans to isolate at the white house, but continue to carry out his presidential duties as part of a white house press conference earlier tonight. because the president is fully vaccinated, double boosted his risk of serious illness, is dramatically lower. he's also getting treated with a very powerful anti viral. and that further reduces his risk of serious films. and it's a reminder of the reason that we all work so hard to make sure that every american has the same level of protection that the president hass today is almost done. but

the conversation continues online. you will find us on twitter either at data we can use or you can follow me at nicole underscore front or me and the entire team at the day. thank you so much for spending parts of your day. with her locust on the loose again in sardinia. a huge swarm has overrun until nella paused,

fall in month of hard work destroyed and we just a few hours. the farmer is desperately looking for ways to deal with the locus play one, unfurl focus on europe. next, on d, w. o is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like will return to normal. and we visit those who are finding it difficult. exceeds his successes in a weekly coven, 19 special. in 60 minutes on d, w. o. oh.

india, a lend of contrasts. of ambitions of inequality. 75 years ago, mahatma gandhi peacefully led the country to independence. what has remained of his vision? where does the world so called the largest democracy stand and where is india headed in? this is the moment to unleash on violet bars. gandhi's legacy start august 6th on b, w ah, hello and welcome to focus on europe. thank you for joining us for this week's