>> welcome to life in paris. these are the headlines. france slaps new quarantine regulations on visitors from britain. a steep increase in cases of indian variant of covid-19 especially in northern england. the belarus president says he acted within the law when he diverted a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist. the eu is calling for the release. france leads the condemnation of

a lack of freedom and fairness in the election in syria. bashar al-assad is set for a fourth term. this is life in paris. thank you very much for being with us. france is imposing a quarantine on travelers arriving from the u.k.. the reaction to the rise in cases of covid-19. it is overseen as a blow to the tourism sector especially in normandy. >> life in england has nearly returned to normal as the bars, restaurants, museums, and cinemas have gradually reopened. british travelers could soon see

their hopes of a european summer holiday dashed. france has become the latest european country to introduce restrictions on travelers from the u.k.. >> there is a new situation with the development of the indian variant. france is going to take similar measures and put in place compulsory isolation for people coming from the u.k.. >> last week, germany banned tourists. austria announced a ban on tourist visits from england. at issue is the variant first identified in india. cases are rapidly increasing in the u.k. with new cases up 160% over the past week. quickly across the country.ng it has now been identified in at

least 86 places. the next stage of reopening according to the government's roadmap is june 21. in the meantime, the u.k. is continuing to carry out vaccinations. so far, nearly 60% of the population has already received one dose. the highest level in europe. >> for a wider analysis of the situation, we spoke with a microbiologist. >> if countries are not able to put up a wall of vaccines, this is the only option they have to stop the virus coming and spreading in their own country. i suspect the situation will be worse if we didn't have the vaccinations that we managed to achieve. it is not ideal, but it is spreading as it is.

we have to hope that our vaccinations stop the spread and do prevent people from being hospitalized and dying from this. the pfizer vaccine is very successful. astrazeneca vaccine works but not as well. there is a small reduction i efficacy against the indian variant. it is only small and i don't think after two doses, it really makes a lot of difference. the vaccines appear after two doses to be effective as -- against the india variant as they were against the kent variant. >> we are watching for new developments there. travel restrictions because of the growth of the indian variant in the u.k.. in our next study, dominic cummings says boris johnson is unfit for the job as the

coronavirus swept the u.k., cummings was the chief advisor architect of brexit.and he's been facing the questions of a parliamentary committee in response to covid-19. he described boris johnson as an out-of-control shopping trolley and says downing street became surreal. cummings laid into the health minister saying he lied to the cabinet should have been fired for 15 or 20 things. he told the committee tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die. over 127 thousand people have died of covid-19 in the u.k. since the start of the pandemic. boris johnson has refused to deny that he originally dismissed covid-19 as a scare story. these are claims made by cummings.

>> six months after he was forced out of downing street, dominic cummings is looking to settle the score with boris johnson. >> when the public needs us most, the government failed. >> as they look to see what method -- lessons can be drawn, the prime minister's former chief advisor accused the cabinet of falling short of standards expected by the british public. and of clinging on to a doomed herd immunity policy. >> the government itself was not operating on all footing in any way shape or form. >> over the past days, cummings has bum bested boris johnson's handling of the virus. he has shown this photograph

showing upland the outline desk -- a plan b outline. >> to go into a lockdown is a traumatic thing for a country to deal with. a pandemic on this scale has been difficult. at every stage, we have tried to minimize loss-of-life to save lives and we have followed the best scientific advice that we can. >> dominic cummings left number 10 after disputes and previously came under fire for driving across the country after contracting covid-19 while the country was under lockdown. although the u.k. has carried out a massive vaccination campaign, it is also recorded the highest number of fatalities in europe. almost 120,000 people have died from covid-19 as the virus pushed the national health service down its limits. >> that is a fascinating report. alexander lukashenko has spoken

out to defend his actions and the arrest of additional -- dissident journalist on board an airplane. he says he acted within international law. this is been dismissed by the eu, brussels is slapping more sanctions on belarus and is calling for the release of the journalist. >> a defiant look shank out defended his actions and lashed out against his critics. the authoritarian president of belarus said he acted within international law when he gave the order for passenger jet to land in minsk. >> whether it was hamas or not, it doesn't matter today. the crew had time to take decisions. we had 123 passengers from various countries in danger and six crewmembers. i was acting in accordance with

the law defending my people. i will always do so. >> look shank is order to force the air jet to land because there was a bomb on board has been widely denounced as a ploy to detain the 26-year-old journalist and harsh critic of the current regime who was traveling on the flight. lukashenko doubled down on the idea that there was a grave security risk. he has accused journalist of being in cahoots with spy agencies to organize a bloody rebellion in belarus. the journalist and his girlfriend are currently in state custody. meanwhile, the companies -- countries opposition leader are pressing the eu for swift action. >> i call on the european parliament to make sure that the reaction of the international community is not limited to the ryanair flight incident. they must address the situation

in belarus in its entirety or we will all face situations in the future as lukashenko is turning the country into the north korea of europe. nontransparent, unpredictable, and dangerous. >> the eu has already imposed new sanctions and moved to ban flights over the belarus airspace. >> just to follow-up on the back of the story, air france says it was forced to cancel the paris moscow flight this week after they failed to provide a root bypassing belarus. this included the rest of the belarus dissident journalist on board. it says it plans to run the

canceled flight 24 hours later but it is still awaiting russian approval of the flight plan that would allow it to avoid flying over oliver's. we will keep you updated on the story. next, syria is voting for a new president whose name is perhaps already known. three countries are leading the condemnation of the election saying it is not fair. bashar al-assad is aiming for a fourth term. >> casting their votes in a former rebel stronghold, bashar al-assad and his wife traveled for the election. they rejected criticism who described the event as a sham. >> what we have seen in the recent weeks was a response to critics and it says to them your

opinions have zero value and your worth 10 times le. >> the incumbent leader is running against two virtually unknown government approved candidates. opposition figures index out were banned from running and the losses candidates must have lived in the country for the last 10 years. in 2011, protest against the authoritarian rule morphed into a civil war. he has now managed to ph back rebels and jihadist groups to take back control of large parts of the country shown here in blue. in the northwestern city of it live, protesters took to the streets to show their opposition to the regime selection. >> we denounced the sham presidential elections taking place.

>> i opened facebook -- what a farce it is to think we are stupid. >> the decade-long conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, pushed half of the population from their homes and the economy in tatters. inflation has ballooned, unemployment is high and more than 80% of the population lives in poverty. >> the election underway. let'get some wider analysis. bashar al-assad's supporters are looking at the election saying it's fair and defending that saying he's a legitimate president. can you spell out for them and others why this is not the case and why france, the u.s., and the u.k. say this election is neither free nor fair. >> is obviously neither free nor fair.

to the extent that the regime is not even waiting for the results to be published to organize a renewal to assad. they have been organizing for instance and mosques. religious leaders were pledging allegiance to assad for a new term. even before the election was held. even from the regimes viewpoint, the results are irrelevant everyone knows what the result will be. the two rivals of assad are entirely unknown figures. it seems that their campaign, there is some evidence that their campaign has been run by

the same organization than the one that was running assad's campaign so it's staged. that's not really important. what really matters for the region it's not the result of the election, it's the campaign itself which is an occasion to display assad's power, the restoration of his power over syria and to display the loyalty and submission of syrians to his rule. >> that's why he and his wife went to the previous rebel stronghold to cite this is my turf again on the president homage charge. clearly, it is some kind of a show to convince and reinforce the views of his supporters and maybe try to change the opinions of certain people internationally. i am thinking about the people who want to flee syria, those

who live in the refugee camp and jordan. i went there once and visited that place and spoke to people who said they would like to go home if they possibly could, but they could never see how they could because their lives would be at risk. for them, the situation is not going to change is it? >> of course not. this election is not to launch a reform process. on the contrary, the whole point is to reassert the power of the regime as it is. it is assigned the regime does not what to change anything. it won't accept anything but complete submission. as you mentioned, and he went to

a different region to cast his vote. there are reports that in o assad neighborhoods there were less celebrations organized to display peoples loyalty to assad because it is taken for granted. it's about enforcing displays of loyalty on former opponents of the region. >> it all feels very staged, doesn't it? thank you for your inside knowledge on the situation. time for business. the lines between hollywood and silicon valley are becoming increasingly blurred with a big media merger being confirmed

today. >> amazon has confirmed it is going to be buying mgm studios for $8.5 billion. it is the latest block esther deal to transform the entertainment industry. the video streaming market is worth $50 billion and it is growing. >> many of mgm's films need no introduction. the studio has been turning out hits since the 1920's. now an assigned of the changes taking place in the entertainment industry, this piece of hollywood history has been bought by a streaming and tech giants. amazon is obtaining mgm for over $8 billion. >> they are now producing at a level that is competitive with netflix or even others like hbo

or showtime. >> mgm has a catalog of 4000 films and 17,000 tv shows, which will boost amazon prime, the company's film and tv platform helping it compete with rivals like netflix and disney. services which offer a lot of original content. amazon says it also plans to draw on mgm's library to create new material. >> the financial value is the treasure trove of intellectual property and the deep catalog that we intend to reimagine together with mgm's talented team. >> deal comes on the heels of the merger of warner media and discovery. others have also emerged in recent years like disney with 20th century fox. many companies are looking to join forces in order to capture the lucrative streaming market. >> the eu could try to claim

billions of euros in damages from astrazeneca if it doesn't increase deliveries of the covid-19 vaccines. that is the threat from lawyers as they appear in russell's for an emergency hearing on wednesday. the vaccine rollout was slower than expected because the anglo swedish drugmaker failed to deliver the doses on the expected timetable. the eu has accused astrazeneca of prioritizing shipments to the u.k.. astrazeneca says it has tried it's best to meet its commitments. the legal case will formally open in september. it is expected to center on the august contract. the eu only received 30 of the 120 million doses it had expected in the first three months of the year. let's check in on the day's trading.

a light session on both sides of the atlantic. the dow jones marked 125 years in existence with a flat close. ford jumped over 8% as it announced a major investment in electric vehicle technology. earlier, it was a muted close for european indices. a french energy giant has suspended cash payments to a joint venture that it shares with myanmar's army. it is come under pressure after the coup and violence. the company and chevron each hold under one third stake in the project which runs a pipeline. e miliry controlledyanmar oil and gas enterprise owns about 15% of that company. the firm generates one billion euros each year from natural gas sales. the involvement was unveiled

earlier this month by french newspaper. another french energy giant is among the businesses to suspend activities in myanmar. finally, regulators in the u.k. have banned a publicity campaign promoting bitcoin. the ads have been happening across plot -- transportation platforms this year. the advertising standards authority says the slogan is irresponsible and misleading and cannot appear in its current form without reflecting the risk of investing in cryptocurrencies like going. the value of bitcoin plunged 30% in a single day recently. highlighting growing warnings that cryptocurrencies owners should be prepared to lose all their money. >> it shouldn't be put on a bus unless you can use it to pay to

ride on the bus. >> i think london is a bit behind on that. >> there is small print at the bottom saying you might lose all your money. >> there isn't and that's the problem. >> great to see think you very much. it is time for focus as a dry season ends there is a shortage of water, however there is -- there is no shortage of water but there is a shortage of what you can drink. our correspondent sent us this from the central african republic. >> in this part of the central african capital, taps have been dry for over five years. this is a student, and a family she is the one responsible for fetching water. >> this is my house, i live with my parents. >> after a glass, she gs home and has to fill up.

>> water is life. have to go get it. i wash the plates, i wash the clothes. >> her grandmother had to wait until authorities to dig holes nearby. >> did you have water before when you were young? >> they would go into the bush to fetch water from the river. >> this afternoon, she has neither the strength nor the money to go and fill the cans so she takes one with her. just enough for the rest of the day. she crosses her entire neighborhood. she is in a hurry. she has to get back home to take care of her grandmother. >> can you feel my cancer -- can you fill my canister right away?

i am in a hurry so i am paying the premium. >> thousands of residents have to go out and wait in line to fill up their water cans. in the central african republic's capital city, if you want water, you have to go get yourself. [indiscernible] he sells the can for a few francs. he can earn up to seven euros per day. >> people living here have to go down and even lower to get water. this hole allows people to shorten their journey and have water on time. >> he uses his money mainly to pay for his studies and to cover maintenance expenses. hundreds of cans are filled here every day and sometimes, there isn't enough for everyone.

>> this is the only source of water. it isn't enough for everybody. there's only a 500 liter reserve. >> if the people have to go to the holes, it's because the water pump from the river no longer covers the city's expanding needs. the technical director watches over the water company's facilities. for him, the dry season is always a challenge. >> at one point, we were close to sucking up sand. >> a few kilometers further, he goes to the processing station built in the 70's. the company can only distribute water in less than half of the capital. it's equipment is too old and not suitable for a large city. >> in 1975, the city was not

that big. today, the population has exploded. we are around 1.5 million inhabitants. it's not enough to give water to everyone at all times. >> and sufficient reserves, lack of electricity, the last blackout lasted 10 days. >> we have problems with air generators. with the slightest problem, there is a lot of water. >> banks are financing new equipment. while awaiting for the installation, the peoe have t fend for themselves. a few kilometers on at the foot of the hills, a new but welcome sight. although 4000 people live here as part of the city never had a borehole. they are carrying out this project for the city. >> i have been here since 1980.

it was not easy and i had to go far to get water. >> here begins a large project of 50 or holes across the city. in a month, around 20 holes will have been built. >> there is quite a good flow. it is flowing like a river. the groundwater is not that far down. it is full of water here, you just have to drill down to reach it. >> an unprecedented project which should provide more than 10,000 people with access to drinking water by the end of the year. >> that's it for this section of life in paris. stay with us, there is more to come.

05/26/21 05/26/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> george floyd should not just go down in history as a martyr. @@he should go down in history s the turning point of how we deal with policing in the united states. amy: protests and vigils were held across the united states and the world tuesday to mark one year since the police murder of george floyd in minneapolis.