as italy sees nearly 800 deaths to the coronavirus in the past 24 hours alone russia offers to lend a helping hand to the nation a worse hit by the crisis. in neighboring france police officers threaten to wage unless they're provided with better equipment to protect themselves against the virus. also this hour volkswagen becomes the latest car giant to hold production amid the covert 1000 outbreak as a health crisis with ever more jobs at risk. and a number of u.s. senators are accused of insider trading after they sold off their stocks just before the recent market crash.

you're watching r t international bring you your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program and we start with the latest on the corona virus which has now claimed more than 12000 lives worldwide and the number of confirmed cases is edging towards $300000.00. italy which this week became the country hit hardest by the corona virus with a death toll surpassing even china a senior only 800 fatalities in the past 24 hours alone and all the pandemic has now killed more than 4800 italians and amid the grim statistics russia has offered to send aid to the country after all the details on that we're joined in the studio by artist don of tell us a little bit about what russia is hoping to send well you are absolutely right

there is no other place in the world where it is as bad as it is in italy right now so amid this crisis russia is indeed going to help out so what is it doing firstly moscow will be sending personal protection to italians such things as mosques for example also russia is promising to ship mobile disinfection units truck based essentially so that italians can aerosol the streets with this infection spray also russia will be sending some medical equipment to help diagnose and treat more italians all of that will be sure it will be shipped through the russian defense ministry in this small school is joining beijing. china has already promised to to help out a tally and they will be sending medical experts there china being the 1st country origin country of the covert 19 so obviously they have right now they have way more experience with dealing and containing this disease than any other country in the

world and the situation in italy is indeed for instance some italians have been massively outraged when it was revealed that the country allowed the united states to ship out of italy and into tennessee. almost half a 1000000 of covert 1000 testing kids italians saying that how can this be going on when they have dying by the hundreds in italy and there's not enough means to help the italians and their government is giving it just giving it away. we've been seeing some really staggering numbers from the past few days coming out of italy just how bad is the situation at present well just to give you an idea in the past 24 hours alone almost 800 italians have died let the let the figures sink in for a moment in just the past 24 hours now this number is particularly large because italy is stressing that they are counting not just those who were killed by covert 1000

itself but also they're counting those who died of preexisting conditions that worse because of covert 1000 so this figure 800 almost 800. is these 2 groups of people combined so this whole thing has put a massive strain on funeral homes and s.l.e. and in fact crematoria are saying that they might stop accepting new bodies because they're overwhelmed of a listen. and obviously this situation creates an abnormal amount bringing us to an emergency phase making us very likely to hold for a few days in order to be able to recover some space. also forced to use our premises dedicated for the final farewell as you can see this farewell room has become a provisional space. so just to give you another example in the town of bergamo in italy some some bodies are literally out there in the

streets waiting to be waiting to be burnt in the criminal area because they simply cannot it's a small town and it has been hit particularly hard. even even by italy's standards and so a lot of people are dying by their bodies cannot be all processed by the existing means but the existing means also for instance in palermo in sicily soldiers patrolling the streets to ensure that people will indeed that they will indeed stay home and not expose themselves and to the dangers so it is really bad and it seems that russia's help will be more than welcome at this time of crisis r t is it goes on and thank you for joining us in the studio with that report. now russia may have heeded a call made earlier by an italian lawyers association addressed to president putin which lamented what was described as the european union's failure to support italy during the crisis let's now bring in alexandra maria's really the president of

italy's criminal chambers of european and international law that group that penned a letter to the russian leadership we just mentioned there that italy is a long standing member of the european union and yet you say the block has essentially let your country down why. yes but the point as you know a budget problem i think it goes you must understand that governments well you are a hoot on plate just only $25000000000.00 and germany is you is in more or less 8 grants does a comparison so you can understand very well the reason why italians pay taxes on not very very happy because each as you know has no are aware to pay your time required taxes to this to you know to the central euro and we are completely aware that in case of need we don't. receive almost anything

so we are in a very very big problem. i think that we are facing of. a very to a constitutional crisis this is a court that. may be interracial war is a very well understand day but the constitution big televen constitution material gives a division the assets itself governor crisis it's a very sad moment i think the most at a good moment that is so who gets to reach a general and surely to the 2nd world war so this is a discussion as our correspondent was just telling china has sent its medical experts to evilly and now russia is offering to lend to have a helping hand as well how come is that their cities far away countries having to come to italy's aid and not its close allies. mada point is that i tended to true

well china up hot we can say a little responsibility and felt his responsibility so send 1000000 mosque and keep them so in a certain science sounds shina hot this we can say billet we can define it. i must be expressed my thankfulness up to defend the russian federation because in the we directed to the russian federation because 'd we understood that you wrote was not you know a very trustful bond there this is this is the reality and i have a very clear provision that. it could be to 2nd kountry after u.k. to mumbai from up from the european union i just want to tell you one thing if you

give mediocre to unity because i want to send a message to president putin and this i would like to point out his attention to help more south for more than meets only because it's very hard to tell it but i can say that the hell that you mention of mo can we tell he is special he is lost for lack of l o s t i think there is no way out in lumber yet we're running out we are maybe and i say every great maybe the possibility to say. that the bots didn't preachin is so spread away and more of an elite i think very. very we have no way to. turn around the situation. alexander maria to l.a. the president of italy as criminal chambers of european and international law thank

you for your time and your comments thank you. now as dramatic as the situation and italy make her it may be there still room for some positive stories one doctor from the city of baghdad who like thousands of his colleagues across the country is battling the disease recently became a father for the 3rd time. i was on duty in the covered 19 ward when my wife who herself had previously tested positive for the corona virus went into labor but i still tried to stay in touch with her as much so i could and i heard from her until the moment she was taken for a c section my friends and colleagues from the hospital she was asked let me know as soon as my daughter and it was born they told me both she and my wife were right my biggest fear at the time was that my wife would have the respect to treat crisis during the delivery and would end up in intensive care fortunately that didn't happen we were very lucky i mean my little girl was tested for kovi do indeed and the result was negative we will tell our daughter the she was born in

a very difficult time for europe but that she was holding out like a real warrior and we will tell her how much we love. infectious disease specialists are about to cow to believe the lockdown and italy needs to continue to prevent an even worse catastrophe. the epidemic is a dramatic and we are facing a very big epidemic we should keep a very strict measures. down in order to reduce the risk of spreading the virus at the same extent that in the center of things in this on the part that of italy so you have to remember especially in the north the reason a shortage of. such as a physician nurses able to face of these appeared demick very few infectious disease expert are of a level now with the and that is a whole sort of the fact that

a considerable number of health care worker has been contaminated in the not working optimistic view is a defective vet the day by day that the constant percentage of increase of the new cases in respect of the total number to target our goal is to reach as soon as possible the new level 'd of below 10 which means about the transmission as the a celebrated that and we can look at the diffusion with a little more hope. for reasons have paid tribute to the doctors and nurses on the frontline of the battle against the deadly virus applause was heard from balconies across the capital on friday night. thank you. more than $12000.00 cases have been confirmed in france with

$450.00 dead all regions are now affected despite a nationwide lockdown the french health system is under strain and a french union shared it with r t france is statement from one medic who volunteered to work with current virus infected patients. my 1st day in intensive care for coronavirus patients. on tired 12 hours in closed premises i want to share my feelings today i've seen terrible things and i've never in my life seen such images . i've seen people in critical condition i call. because of everything that could take care of yourself take care of your family friends until everyone to stay i mean meanwhile police and forcing the lock down and friends are threatening to strike claiming they don't have the basic equipment needed to protect themselves from the biased trial of difference he reports. as millions of people in from own saw in confinement there is

a cool group of workers who are continuing the daily grind including police offices . yet many continue to flout these regulations despite hefty fines and the risk of being locked up in jail. why are. you going to. the authorities are tearing their hair out over france's citizens' noncompliance with the confinement restrictions. there are people who think they're modern day

heroes by breaking the rules while they are in fact. when i see people still going to the park to get together or heading to the beach or to open markets they seem not to understand the message from the authorities a lot of our fellow citizens are still taking this too likely but as they blame people for not abiding by the rules the authorities themselves are being accused of not taking proper care of those they placed on the front line unions are furious that the ministry of interior hasn't provided offices with basic equipment such as face mosques so much so the biggest police union has warned its members will walk out unless such things are made available there is no reason why we should be victims of a government failure to plan we want to carry out our duties to their fullest but need to be able to guarantee. our own safety if the police themselves become contaminated or strike who will monitor the streets so. security

offices police and other people who are polled law and order in the country need to be protected this farce does not distinguish between police medics and of the citizens we're not even sure that we police officers not potentially infecting people when we do our checks so we need mosques and other pretext for equipment to keep us safe and others if the police get infected who will be able to keep the peace to morrow as ford says quarantine drags along each day the list of what citizens can do is being tightened the police are a core part of keeping order here if they walk out or if an infection takes hold within the ranks so this could face an uphill battle to carry out its plans in the war on code 19 so much even ski ati towers. economic ramifications are starting to hit major companies the world's biggest

carmaker volkswagen is suspending production worldwide the company which owns brands like skoda audi and porsche built more than $10000000.00 vehicles last year given the present significant deterioration in the sale situation and the heightened uncertainty regarding parts applies to our plans production is to be suspended in the near future at factories operated by a group bronze that follows similar moves by other auto manufacturers toyota b.m.w. or not and fia are among those who have shut their plants during the crisis in the e.u. alone the sector is responsible for around $14000000.00 jobs in the latest episode of artes boom bust automated expert the car coach lauren fix told of the auto industry it will take a long time to recover from the difficulties caused by the crisis. for the auto industry on global basis we're looking at a huge impact with every single manufacturer pretty much shutting down production we're not just talking about high end cars but everyday cars we've already seen

a huge negative downturn when it comes to china they're off by about 80 percent so far for the 1st quarter but that may change they're starting to get back on line but here in the u.s. we're looking at last year's sales 17100000 cars. is recommending and they're stating they're somewhere around $14900000.00 we have not seen a downturn like this since 2008 this is going to impact a lot of us because if you look at the dow jones half of it is impacted by the auto industry either by a supplier or something that supports the auto industry so this is going to be a huge impact and it's going to go a long time for us to recover. i don't to be to doom and gloom here but we have had gas after gas telling us we are already facing a recession maybe even a depression is coming will all of these auto manufacturers the giants will they make it out of this crisis or we could see consolidation what is going to happen moving forward. i think you're going to see some consolidation it makes sense that companies partner to share technology to share platforms to share drive trains

everybody makes it to a leader turbo engine if more people start sharing that technology what that's going to do is allow them to make it personalized when it comes to the vehicle the features themselves so i think you're going to see a lot of consolidation i don't think we're going to see them going out of business but the impact to the stocks is going to be a long time to turn around there's also some talk about the auto industry wanting to delay the implementation of the u.s. embassy a trade deal known as the new nafta do you know what's going on there. yeah the us n.c.a.a. is supposed to start on june 1st but everyone's now off no one's working and so this is a problem so they can't get the regulations in place so they're asking to push it back to delay because that's going to make 75 percent of cars being built here for north america using north american components which is good for restarting the industry but we don't have the regulations in place so they're asking to push it back just a little bit it's supposed to go in place june 1st and that all depends on this pandemic and how long it takes for us to start we're covering. the pandemic is

starting to hit the u.s. job market as well but the country's unemployment rate seeing one of the largest spikes on record the u.s. labor department has reported several $100000.00 claims being filed recently we spoke with jeffrey tucker editorial director at the american institute for economic research and he warns that the global economy is under severe strain. because there were i don't even think economists have agreed that it's not recession it's not it's it's it's imaginable levels of of shock and the data are going to. give you a clear prediction what the unemployment numbers are going to look like that we're going to be seeing soon but i almost certain that millions have already lost their jobs and this just cannot go on much longer without dismantling everything we call civilized life just just cannot go so the pressure is growing by the day by the

hour by the minute tour for the politicians to line up their decisions public policy decisions with actual documented health risks which are becoming ever clearer as testing has is going on. a number of u.s. senators have been accused of exploiting the privileged access to information about the pandemic to make a quick buck that after they sold off a large number of shares right before the markets plunged among them is richard burr he's the head of the intelligence committee and sold stocks worth around $1700000.00 but he denies the accusations of foul play and it calls for him to resign kill martin has the story. richard burr u.s. senator and head of the senate intelligence committee reassured everyone that the u.s. government had the coronavirus situation completely under control here is what he said back in march luckily we have a framework in place that says put is in a better position than any other country to respond to

a public health threats like the coronavirus his words sounded quite calming especially from someone who receives daily briefings about the spread of the coronavirus although a few days earlier he was telling a group of wealthy donors and constituents of a very different story here's a secret recording of richard burr speaking at the capitol hill club and we wanted to. do. she is. probably. even offered some advice to his wealthy friends every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to travel you might have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they're making to europe is essential or whether it can be done on a video conference why risk it's needless to say accusations are now flying that richard burr used his capitol hill inside info to help out his pals financially you remember when the stock market tanked right and tonight stock market futures are

pointing to a higher open after the biggest point drop in history the dow losing more than 2000 points today and lot of investors repriced that a little shy of the crash we stored in markets in the 2000 point swing on the dow fears over the coronavirus leading to the biggest point drop in history today well richard burr was pretty well unaffected because the gun loaded up to 1700000 dollars of u.s. stocks just a week before the plunge now he says this is not because of any insider information he had overnight solely on public news reports to guide my decision regarding the sale of stocks on february 13th but richard burr is not the only capitol hill do well or to make some slick stop. market moves at just the right time.

as into tam and sent to bergen private briefings coronavirus weeks and then you know how bad it would be to tell the truth to him spouse adonis showing the public thanks we will find that she sold off 1006 may then talk before the phone he needs to resign senates a but should resign and prepared to spend some quality time with a federal grand jury that maybe there's an honest explanation for what he did if there is he should share it with the rest of us immediately otherwise he must resign from the senate and face prosecution for insider trading now all of them are saying they had no control over these investment decisions they're also emphasizing that this was just good luck they had no insider knowledge well looks pretty bad especially for senators burr and laughlin who are pretty well connected of course

senator byrd the chairman of the senate intelligence committee he was privy to you know secret briefings on the coronavirus and what the response to the coronavirus was going to be and how bad it might be all of that would be a big problem for him as for the senator from georgia she has a no other problem and that her husband is the chairman of the new york stock exchange presumably pretty well connected and she's on a committee that oversees the health industry the bigger picture here is that we have public servants we have members of congress who are using their power and position not only in stock trades the problem is that the u.s. government has to my. goodies to give out so it's impossible for these for some of these people to resist a minute ashville crisis americans want their political leaders to be solving problems managing the issues and getting things done it seems like they're certainly doing that but on a more personal level caleb mopp and r.t. new york meanwhile the u.s.

secretary of state has accused several countries including russia of spreading false information about the pandemic. issue with this information is there any particular locus for this decision missionaries are. pretty diffused unfortunately but we've certainly seen it come from places like china and russia and iran but there are coordinated efforts to disparage what america is doing in an activity to to do all the things that present trying to set in motion here because there's well accusations against russia disinformation and thanks about the coronavirus present in europe and the whole world are a big disinformation and fake themselves let's take a look at the presumption of innocence is there rocky's ations you need avon's with no evidence there can be any claims moreover it can be used as a part of such an aggressive informational competing earlier donald trump place the blame for the spread of the coronavirus at china's door alleging that the situation would now be better if he'd known about the virus earlier the president added that

the world was paying a very big price for beijing's suppose it in action join in the blame game accusing china of putting lives at risk a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson took to twitter to lash out at the accusations demanding that pompei oh stop lying she noted that china's efforts have actually stabilize citing the world health organization anti-war activist ken stone things washington's accusations fall a long running pattern of blaming others. while the whole world's been looking out with our admiration at the way the socialist countries such as china and cuba have handled this pandemic. the us administration has been exposed completely as an apt in dealing with the corona virus trampas discovered that the easiest most least controversial way to deal with a problem in the us is simply to blame it on russia or china. many people facing

quarantine at home will probably turn to video streaming services to help pass the time but can they cope with a spike in the man and will be left disappointed by the has been finding out for you. self isolation where being on ist is as much about spending time with netflix as it is about saving your ground law from coronavirus. catching up on your favorite shows that aren't getting certain quality content guilt free. in the highest definition but as we're all settling in to this florentine stream of thought fran though which are our animal videos. it's metrics and you tube have let us all down this certain concern that the volume of netflix and chilling which is about to take place will break the internet very juicy less streaming quality by 25 percent just when we needed to the

most guys pornhub is offering its premium content for free now that its customers. that's a news break out down for now but i'll be back at the top of the hour. don optionor types who were going underground 17 years the day the world woke up to the aftermath of the initial bombing the head of an illegal u.s. u.k. invasion of iraq which would lead to tens of millions across the middle east killed

maimed or displaced coming up in the show as coronavirus displaces all of the news we ask legendary activist and inspiration for the rolling stone street fighting man tariq ali if anything is changed since he took part in the biggest global peace protest of the 21st century against the unchecked imperialism the destroyed iraq and destabilize the world plus as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage europe what does it mean for capitalism kashmir and the future of the world's most famous publisher julian assange. also more coming up in today's going on the ground but let's go straight to one of the greatest living political activists and writers who has inspired antiwar figures from malcolm x. to john lennon tariq ali joins us from his north london home via skype chart thanks so much for coming on the program i have to declare an interest because you brought me to channel 4 in the 1980 s. and you were my boss but what would you say now to the millions who have been inspired by your work the fight for freedom and justice that you want to take in in your life who.