♪ >> under fire over its handling of the coronavirus crisis, the u.k. government eases the lockdown in england with many people returning to work. this is the u.k. economy shrinks at its fastest pace since 2008. the eu commission has recommended extended traveling restrictions until june 15. but have asked member states to reopen their borders from that date on to allow people e to moe within the schengen area. u.s. secretary of state mike

pompeo is in israel for a visit to benjamin netanyahu. iran, thenda, coronavirus and israel's annexation of west bank territories. hello and thank you for joining us in the france 24 newsroom for this edition. we start in the united kingdom. the country has recorded over 38,000 coronavirus related deaths, makingng it the worst affected natation in europe by some margin. boris johnson's handling of the crisis has therefore been heheily criticicized, particulay what is seen as his delay to impose a nationwide lolockdown. despite this, the british government has decided to follow in the footsteps of most of europe and these lockdown restrictions, but only in england. scotland and wales have decided to maintain their respective lockdowns. england are still being urged to keep their distance.

from this wednesday, they will be awarded certain freedoms they haven't had since the 23rd of march. >> from this week, those who cannot work from home should now speak to their employer about going back to work. if you meet one person outside of your household, outside provided you stay two meters apart. >> the government is encouraging people who can work from home to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. essential workers who can't stay home should commute, but avoid taking public transport. employees will n need to meet certain hygiene requirements and ensure social distancing. there will be no limit to the amount of outdoor exercise, but a person can only practice sports like golf and tennis with one other person. playgrounds and outdoor gyms will remain shut. these are just some smaller parts of a broader plan to lift restrictions in england.

schools will gradually open from the first of june. one in six classes will r return first. the government hoping all primary school children will return before the summmmer. met,rtain requirements are non-essential retailers could open at the beginning of next month. hairdressers, pubs and restaurants will wait until at least july 4. despite the relaxing of restrictions, officials warn it's not the end just yet. >> the virus is ststill circulating. it is reducing the population. while it is within the community, clearly those at highest risk are still vulnerable. >> the easing of measures want to facact wales, scotland or northern ireland. herla sturgeon voiced frustration at the lack of clear messaging from the british government, adding that lifting lockdown to e early w would mean unnecessary deaths. the european commission has recommended extending --

traveling restrictions until june 15. after that date, they havee appealed to member states to reopenen their borders to schenn citizens. the announcement comes as many eu couountries are yet to decide on their own traveling policies. spain has ordered a two-week quarantine for all incoming travelers from friday, whehether they are european or not. for more on this topic, we are joined by the managing director of asia agency. thank you for joining us on the program. how do you see the tourism industry coping with thehe ramificationons it is seeing in the next couple of monthths to come? to bebe a difficultyy for r operators like us that may be looooking after clients traveling to a asia for the mons toto come. it's not going to be posossibleo we are preparing ourselves to

orornize, poststponing trips for next year and for autumn and winter. in the meantime obviously we are organizingng holidays for cliens and frieiends. obviously those e people have asked us to lolook at holidays r july and august. not being able to send them to lize or r australia or thailand and vietnam. we are thinkining about orgrgang the same kind of service for trips whether it is meeting with locals, meeting with specialized fashion guides. organizing some very specific visits and so on. we are really trying to find some alternatives to be able to cope and look after our clients with the same e quality of serve in the months to comome. research, haveet you found perhaps that people are unwilling to travel after this lockdown? are people scared of traveling or do you think the industry

will be able to resume as normal once the crisis blows over? has definitely changed people's perception about traveling. it's obvious that there willll e dramatic dimimension or expectctation about sananitary measasures. people are definitely much more looking after security, sananary condnditions in their travels to come. it's going to be our role, , our obligatition to be able to bring trust t back and make sure they are going to be feeling very comfortable traveling towards long-haul destinations such as asia with those specific measures in the planes, the restaurants. measures will have to be granted to our clients. it's going to be the core expectations from our clientele, that's for sure.

>> thank you very much for your analysis. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo is in on a visit ofof israel. he is having a six-hour meeting with benjamin netanyahu and his new partner benny gantz. they will discuss hot topics inincluding the coronavirus cris , the situation with iran, and israel's possible annexation of parts of the west bank. a trump administration has said they are in favor of these annexations, whereas the wider international community and the arab league have condemned those actions most strongly. mike pompeo reiterated the united statates's unwavering support to israel. >> some months on from the day you came to washington when president trump announced that vision for peace, there remains work yet to do. i want to express my condolences killed soldier that was

and reminds us all the importance of making sure people all across the world know that isisrael has the right to defend itself and america will consistently support you in that effort. >> afghanistan has seen a series of deadly strikes. on tuesday, a hospital in the capital of kabul was attacked, killing 16 people including two babies. the suicide bomber killed 26 others at a funeral. in the wake of those strikes, the president ordered operations against the taliban and other militant groups. the taliban have denied any responsibility in both cases. the islamic state group claimed the bombing. and mask wearing soldier rescuing a newborn baby. a scene emblematic of the current situation in afghanistan battling with both a pandemic and continued violence. tuesesday's attatack on a kabul

mateternity ward coupled w with another a fununeral. alththghhe taliban denenied involvlvement, president ashraf ghani denounced the group for incrcreasing attacks in recent weeks anand v vowed to move baco the war mode from the peace mode. [speaking foreign language] >> the latest killings threw cold water on a peace process. thousands of killings have been carried out since the taliban signed a deal with the united states back in february towards a full withdrawal of american troops. talked with the afghan government have been deadlocked over the contentious issue of prisoner swaps and further

slowed by a political crisis within t the government stemming from last year's presidential election. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo condemned the attacks and called on both the taliban and government to work together to bring the perpetrators to justice. afghanan 100 thousand civilians have died in the ongoing conflict in the last decacade alone. end of ourhe bubulletin. thanank you u very much fofor watctching. stay tuned to france 24. ♪ >> good afternoon and welcome to an exclusive interview with the president of the republic of madagascar. good afternoon, mr. president.

>> hello. be yourpleasure to guest, particularly in times of war against ththe coronavirus. >> we are going to talk about what you have called this war against covid-19 on top of lockdowns, face masks and distancing measures. madagascar has set itself apart by its use of covid organics, a remedy b based on a plant with proven therapeutic effects in the fight against america -- against malaria. do you have proof that this treatment has actually y cured peoplele sufferingng from covid? well, we have indeed introduced this remedydy. contains a medicinal plant. this is something that we are used to in madagascar. 30% of the population uses herbal remedies.

said, covid orgrganics is needless to say a preventive and cucurative remedy against covid-19. it isks really well and the result of research carried out by the institute of applied research, test the s status of a reregional research center as pt of the african union organization. that itlike to clarify is a medical, pharmaceutical and 1957ing center created in by a professor. an emeritus african scientist. you mentioned evidence. earlier, i said we are at war. well know, the global death toll from covid is nearly 300,000. can we really affororto disregegard a potential treatme?

particularly i in times of war? what evidence can we provide at this point? well, outpatients are healing. arere healing.ts out of 171 infections, as many as 105 h hatfield. -- have healed. that's a majority of covid-19 patients who have healed. you u mentioned evidence. that then tell you is patients that i've healed have taken no other product than covid organics. to summarize, we are seeing a clear improvement in the healalh of patients treated with this remedy.. after thenly 24 hours remedy was first administered.

patient's hill l seven to 10 days after the remedy. a natural, non-toxic, noninvasive remedy. >> nevertheless, mr. president, not everyone is convinced by the evidence that you are talking about. it's not just anyone who is skeptical. the african union and especially the who's africa office have in the past few days repeatedly warned against the illusion of a miracle cure. not only does the who have doubts as to the effectiveness of covid organics, but it is also worried about the possible side effects for those who take this tonic. well, you are referring to the warning against the use of covid organics.

i had a question for you. wasn't there another medication that received all of the necessary marketing authorizations? my question for you is, how many people did it kill? you are all familiar with the by the professors. these professors introduced to over 50 medications manufactured by prestigious laboratories. according to them, not only do these drugs have zero healing effefect, they arere also danges if not lethal. these drugs have been and are being marketed in africa and i have nevever heard who issue statements b banning the use of ththese drugs.

, we use a tonic. in other words, we grew medicinal herbs in boiling water in orderer to extract the active ingredient. that's our traditional medicici. it is famous and recognized because it works. there's a lot of talk about artemimisia. withth this remedy. you have put a question to me. i have a question for you. this remedy had been discovered by a european country instead of madagascar? would people doubt it so much? i don't think so. thosetell you that patients who have received the , whether you call it --

or covid organics, this is all the proof you need that it works. >> on this point, let's take france. the national drug safety agency published a warning against buying artemisia based products, stating that their therapeutic properties are false and dangerous. do you get the impression that these doubts or suspicions of quackery come from western countries or maybe western pharmaceutical lobbies? >> you may have heard or seen by the professor. after all, he was the recipient in sciencel prize medicine. according to him, artemisia is a way to curere the coronavirus.

so that's one thing. and d you may have also seen the by the professor in china. extracteen able to artetemisia. so i don't get it. why so many questions? why all this trouble? the problem m with covovid orgas is n not thehe formulation. we are not talking clinical studies that pretended not to know. people are badmouthing this product, yet all it does is save lives. it's a good thing. in this battle, they were trying to slow us down. they are trying to discourage us , stop us even from momoving forward.d. >> who arere you referringng to. president? >> no one will stop us from movingng forward. not a country, not an organization.

who am i referring to? well, you rereferred to a nunumr of organanizations including the world health organization. are half ourcar own tonic. we are a sovereign country. helelp our people not become victims of the pandemic. >> quite simply, when everyone is asking for is the clinical trials he cited. for the time being, this institute has only carried out clinical observations and not clinical trials. so w when will thehey be carriet and who will carry these trialss out? clinical trtrials and conical observations are two different things.

this status is that of an enhahanced tradititional rememey which warran v validationn s sym that i is d different than thata drug. we are not conducting clclinical triaials but rather clinical observation in line with guidelines from who. conducted these clinical observations. ththere is a study p protocol to obobserve the impact of the remy on the state of heaealth of covd patients. complieied with universally recognized standards of ethics. the clinical research and studies. >> last t thursday you announced clinical tests were going to be cacarried out. is this no longer the case? >> therere are two different aspects. let's not mistake one for thee other.

several protocols have been set up. firstly like every other countny in the world that is f fhting the pandemicc, we are under pressure to find a trereatment r outptpatients. when the prorofessor made an announcement saying hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin worked, we used the treaeatment he recommended and r that i wish to thank him. wiwithout the solution he proposed, we would not have been able to save the first victims of t the coronavavirus. ththis being saiai we all knknow that high h dose a administratif both drurugs p produces side efs and adverse efeffects. ththis treatment presented r ris of toxicity y which warrants greater clininical monitoring. regarding the second protocol thatat we adopted, that protocol was fofor the tonic that i referred to earlier.

we follolo the principles ofof clinical study and observation asasell as whoho guidelines. thee vast majority of patientsts who were treated with thisis remedy are all of the proof you need that it works. no one has died in madadascar. no one has died. all we have dodone is heal outpatients. earlrlier, he referred to clinil trials. neededless to say we have a thid protocol. i'm referring g to clinical tril on an injectable drug ththat is different than the remedy we are currently making availlele. this is part o of scientificic cocooperation n efforts at a regional level as well as with physicians and scienentists in e u.s. and needless to say in the indian ocean. the institute of applied research won't reveal the exact ingredients of covid organics

because one imagines the institute doesn't want to be overtaken by a competitor before it can secure a patent. but many from the country's interior don't have access. can you tell us other than artemisia what are the other plants that make up covid organics? >> needless to say, covid organics is mostly made up of medicinal plants. mostly artemisiaia. to the tune of 52%. the reremedy also contains other medicinal plants s which are endemic to madagascar. this information cannot be disclosed at this time. we are still awaiting results. and wewe will initiate clinical monitoring at a regional level. we have our own formulation. and as i said before, we are working together with the

institute of applied research. and there is a product i would like to show you. b byis currently manufacturured bayer. a laboratory that makes 100 or so different medications. but this product is the result of research. this medication was developed in 1961. i'm simply trying to tell you scientists shouould not be underestimated. here. questions abound, yes, but what is the problem with covid organics really? could it be that this product comes from africa? could it be that it's not ok for a country like madagascar, which is thehe 63rd poorest country in

the world, that it's not ok for such a poor country to have come up with something that can help save the world? remember we are at war. w war cannotar, , this be won by mililitary mightht or economic power. is god who gave us these medicinal plants to help our country and help the rest of the world against this disease. only have adent, we few seconds left but it's an important question. you demand that france hand back scscatterered islands off f thet of madagascar are. a mixed commission was set up a year ago. but in october, emmanuel macron visited one of these islands and said this is francnce. do you think that by june 26, a date that will mark the 6 60th

anniversarary since madagascar's independence, a solution can bee found beeeeen your countries? > that is indndeed what we ae hoping for.. we hope ththat a solution n cane found so thahat these islands cn be restitutitive to madadagasca. now the joint committee was supposed to hold a second meeting at the end of march. this was postponed because of the coronavirus. but i have faith. i have confidence in our ability to come up with a quick solution that will meet our request for restitution. or a you mean restitution comanagement agreement with france? in a few seconds quickly. >> we are claiming sovereignty ovover these islands. restitution is the order of the day. >> mr. president, thank you for giving us your time for this interview and thank you for

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claudette zepeda-wilkins: american is a relative term. what is american? personally i think the border is, you know, just a speed bump in between two countries. as a child, i think we took tj for granted not because it was a different country to me. to me, it was just like, "oh, it's just tj. it's where the other half of my family lives." and even if i i was in tj my entire lilife, being this far n north,u aare sort ofof removed f from te other parts of f mexico and the cultuture. youu're mexica b but you don'n't really know. my last restauranant was mexica,