profiting from the pandemic 2 senior german politicians are quitting in a major scandal for allegedly earning hundreds of thousands of euros after brokering deals at 4 facemasks. meanwhile the u.k. government faces claims of financial mismanagement during the pandemic after offering frontline health workers a pay raise of just one percent while it spends millions on a new media briefing room we gauge reaction in london. to bush's interest so is the sort of stories about these i mean trick people favor the drive for the public good and i'm going into a hospital table i think they know this is a necessity for me then. and president biden's long awaited covert relief bill finally passes through the u.s. senate but people face it getting less money than they did under donald trump.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our t.v. international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us right now german m.p.'s are standing it down over claims that they made hundreds of thousands of euros from brokering deals for face masks with more on the scandal here is our europe correspondent. make no bones about it this is a big scandal here in germany pandemic profiteering isn't a look any party wants to be tarnished with and this is part of the ruling coalition here including angela merkel's christian democratic union party the representative of the party nicolas lobel has said he's going to step down at the next election this is after his company allegedly made around a quarter of

a 1000000 euro from being the middleman in deals when it came to pee pee and masks during this pandemic may not be good enough for some sort of said he needs to go right now and not wait until the election in the autumn however he said he is sorry for what he's done so far but he isn't the only one that's been involved in this scandal we've also heard. from the very insistent party the c s u is facing a corruption probe after he's understood to have taken away a 6 figure sum for being the middle man again in deals involving masks he's already said he's not going to run in september he has stood down from his position as the deputy leader of the union parliamentary group but he's denied any wrongdoing what this is prompted is well senior figures including members of angela merkel's cabinet coming out and saying there's no way this can be tolerated in condemning

those 2 politicians to collect a commission that it's again earn money through mediation in emergency situations is not possible that destroys trust in our democracy those who fill their own pockets with essential goods such as masks do not represent the people but the lowest interests it's understandable why the center right block is circling the wagons there's obviously a bundestag election coming up in september but before that just next sunday there's 2. important regional elections as well and they want the candidates involved not to be as distant from this particular scandal as possible there's also a want to know more fuel to a fire of frustration to seeing people demonstrate against the way the government has handled the pandemic here in germany and it's not just a german issue we've also seen those protests taking place across europe.

to. a level of hope said it will surely only be added to when it starts coming out that m.p.'s that politicians were enriching themselves personally during this pandemic. german journalist thomas fassbender says public anger over the issue will damage the ruling party. i think that definitely the christian democrats as a party at the forthcoming forthcoming elections will take a hit there's no question there is anger about this the interesting thing here is that mr little bit just last year was the subject of a completely unrelated correctional misbehavior 'd commotion misbehave

a case within his own party the man has been known for a sort of potentially shady behavior as there where allegations and nevertheless the party sort of shut their eyes and that is of course the dangerous thing it's not just a matter of them lol such of the letter of the law but also. 'd about the way it is light. downing street is being criticised for spending millions of pounds on refurbishment to hold white house style media briefings and in another echo from across the pond british prime minister boris johnson is setting up a charity so donors can fund renovations of the premier's official residence but for many in the u.k. the money would be better spent on health care for staff working on the covert front line. should garcia's interest so is the sort of series about these i mean dress could be a pole for us will still be a pole look you know after all susan says and everybody that works you know. people

save it. for the public did. you answer peter spoke about not a problem people. but it benefits health workers the resistance group and all the different terrible terrible i'm not sure we do to be free with $2600000.00 to do a lot of other things so i could be more bold you know collation so making sure the whole population is properly a couple but what can you do if they say this is going to have of course but you know when you when when when i'm going to hospital table i think the nurses and they say for me then you know that's what would be necessary for me to make sure you can have you know pay and then go enough motivation to work on lies are important decoration. the u.k. government insists difficult economic circumstances meaning that it can only afford a one percent pay hike for a national health service staff but with inflation predicted to reach $1.00 and

a half percent this year that would likely mean a pay cut in real terms and nurses union says they deserve more is preparing for strikes political commentator anthony weber says the governments have priorities are completely wrong. but the media companies and she need these. facilities one of those issue which is. a fine or. witnesses shortage of finance money should go in a suit. you know. such schools are options logical direct she was like. giving an atheist start but it doesn't go out. rather a pool message that the government's prepared to spend money on promoting its own interests but not prepared to spend money on people who have been looking after people who. paid into hospital in unsuitable people who like the n.h.s.

stop and respect the nurses and so on. that said the government has extended its furlough scheme until september which pays 80 percent of people's wages for hours they cannot work during the pandemic with leaders predicting the cash will get the economy back on track but talking to our teams going underground british economic historian robert skidelsky questions the numbers. they think there's a lot of pent up demand that there are a lot of savings that people haven't been able to spend and that as the shops and entertainment places reopened people will flock to these places with their extra spending power and that'll make the whole thing revived but if you look at it realistically i'm very skeptical about this because national income has fall it's fallen by 10 percent cent in 2020 that means savings of all there as you know some people will have extra savings but what about all those whose incomes have fall

they're not going to have extra spending power we're talking about people who are being made on employed because small businesses are closing going bankrupt and or cutting down on their stuff and rather than keeping that population on 1st. i would try and provide work for them and especially young people. italy is a region which includes the capital rum is calling on the government to start producing the russian sputnik v. covered vaccine that is as the country's health minister says he is in favor of the russian chap in my opinion if the vaccine works in the safe i do not recant about the nationality of the scientists who developed it therefore i am open to sputnik v. as well as to other vaccines should the european medicines agency in the italian medicines

agency give their approval we are ready to cooperate with russia even very soon. sputnik really has already been approved in 2 e.u. countries hungary and slovakia this comes as the block is criticized for the slow pace of credit virus in occupation and member states the larger regions of health chief told us about the approval process for support agree. it's necessary to produce vaccines in house in order to be self-reliant and avoid the problems we've recently faced including the difficulties with job supplies and on time deliveries autonomy will benefit everyone in this case we've always treated the sputnik vaccine with great respect paying particular attention to the scientific evidence behind it therefore we had no reservations about it off we saw the in the explanations of its validity in the medical journal the lancet and by the laws there are a national institute for infectious diseases in row we've always said that the

efficacy and safety of vaccines are the main thing whereas the origin doesn't matter to us. unfortunately we can't say decisions absolutely independently and always have to wait for the approval by regulators will so hope for a fast track process so that it doesn't get bogged down in excessive red tape because we're in emergency and in great need of doses in italy we don't expect to see any disputes around the sputnik vaccine because we believe it will contribute to the common good and protect the health of our citizens. joe biden's covered relief bill has finally passed through the u.s. senate after last minute negotiations but while $1.00 trillion dollars sounds like a lot of money people may actually get less than they did under donald trump we delved into why it may be just a drop in the ocean for the american taxpayers. ungar in america especially for children has soared to historic levels unexpected medical bills have created

a serve just families desperate for in america the richest country in all the world we have incredible hunger what how is this possible as the u.s. continues its brutal battle with one invisible enemy an old one has of ram just poverty but for those one in 10 americans who lost that job and same never recovered all those 3 in 10 low income families who worry while the next meal is coming from good news joe biden promised you a helping hand no one should work 40 hours a week to live in poverty and it wasn't just higher wages no biden was also going to rip open the government's what it and hand out those support checks the american rescue plan is going to keep the commitment of $2000.60 is already gone out for 200 dollars checks to people who need it. this is money directly in people's

pockets and with control of the house of representatives the senate and the white house the only trinity nothing could stop the democrats puffing that kind of bill no out of touch little greedy republicans not even trump no it was a done deal right we obviously are now alternately sending. money to less people in the administration this is not the promise that we need. conservative democrats have fossil divides in the admin sends fewer and less generous relief checks than the transfer of men did so not a done deal biden promised one thing with his $1.00 trillion dollars aid package the house then took a stab at it and the senate's now taken a not the stab at it in its wounded form almost $12000000.00 fewer adults will get the relief biden pledged unemployment benefits are finishing

a month earlier than planned and as for raising minimum wage to $15.00 well courtesy of some democrat senators who vetoed it that won't be happening and if you're wondering what an elected official offering in the face of the people they saw it looks like well hey you go. to cinema cinema. no i'm sure go it's a big thumbs up from have for $174000.00 annual salary but if you thought biden himself brainchild this bill was as devastated by this well think again he is comfortable with where the negotiations stand he is controversial and knows there will be tweaks at the margin so if these tweaks mean that american struggling to stay afloat amid the biggest recession in the u.s. in decades on getting the money who is what national democrats particularly nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have chosen to do is crimes through

a 1.9 trillion package that includes things like funding on the national endowment for the arts and national endowment of humanities and the subway in silicon valley to help nancy pelosi constituents and while the washington elite did eventually realize that splashing $100000000.00 on a subway in the richest town in america wouldn't sit well with those people standing in line to food banks when will it realize that it works for we the people and not me myself and i. much of the mainstream media were delighted by the bill with of the washington post initially branding it a defining move by biden that saw the paper come in for quite a bit of mockery online it has since changed the headline showers money on americans could washington post exaggerate by density of months in the market desk way probably not shameful. lou make it rain with

a check that still doesn't cover a whole month's rent soak up all of the money shallots my fellow pulls the amounts are being paid are just a drop in the end of the bucket the payments are proof that their faith and they buy to mysteries was well founded and the reality is of course that much more of the covert relief bill is going to other causes no other interest groups in the us you know we have a constitution and the government has grown by leaps and bounds beyond what the original intentions were at this point the number of the duties of the american federal government have. the number of tourists arguments over laughable you know the last coded stimulus package had billions and billions being sent to foreign countries this one has everything from money for amtrak which is a perennial loser of public money. 3000000000 in aid to aircraft manufacturers almost 300000000 for the national government for the arts and all while people are suffering and i would add that while there are clear signs that the global appetite for u.s. treasury switches u.s.

debt seems to be waning this is a heck of a time to be incurring a lot more debt. well as brazil reports a disturbing new code figures president bush n.r.o. tells the country to stop whining about the disease that is just one of our stories still ahead after this short break stay with us. the finding ministration is still young but its foreign policy particularly in the middle east is an echo of past failures this industry should simply just not have a learning curve also does washington really support democracy in the world ukraine's crackdown on independent media to give us thomas. is you'll be dia a reflection of reality. in

a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation whole community. are you good in the right way or are you being so. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a mate in the shallows. or a welcome back this is our team international now face coverings in public are bound to be banned in switzerland a referendum at the weekend promoted by the right wing swiss peoples party solve

voters narrowly support than issue of that will include the burka or niqab worn by muslim women there are several exemptions it to the new role it allows face covering for security climate and health reasons and the proposal for the ban did not mention islam directly officially saying it was aimed at stopping violent street protestors from wearing masks but the leading swiss islamic group has already called the vote a dark day for muslims. this is my my my. so i wouldn't like to someone to force me to. take it. this way that hard because i. know we have religious freedom we have freedom of expression you can say we have freedom and then not give it but it's being free he's been able to show our face respect and women's dignity have in our own identity and therefore i do not understand the discourse of people who want to imprison women behind this

veil give it the north i said no to this initiative because feminist ideas are being used for something which on the contrary obstructs liberty of choice this is also borderline center for big so this goes against my avail yourself of those i think of switzerland some other european countries have all full or part partial bans already are veils in public places including belgium and austria the 1st to introduce the move 10 years ago was france which has since repeatedly fallen under a wave of criticism for violating personal liberties earlier on r t we discussed the potential impact for. i think that the majority of the of the swiss people who have voted for the ban of face coverings has decided so not specially trying to hurt muslim people living in their country but rather thinking of their own cultural identity and preserving it in the long

run it is always the same it's always the strategy of this extremist party you lost muslims and islam behind you know several laws that when we're not at that it's very very bad for us why they are continuing to use this strategy to put us out of the society and to divide the citizens between those who believe want to believe if we imagine that we had a similar referendum in and i slam a country like in pakistan or like in saudi arabia the question would be would you allow would you like to allow people or women wearing a bikini in public beaches for example i'm pretty sure that 95 percent or even 1009 percent of the people would vote against it we know what is democracy and we're not using emotional rhetoric i don't know. a lot of people's

vote against but it's there is a lot of it it shifts where people have never seen a woman listening. not. to exist. dave called for. people also in the villages of switzerland they are at u.k. did they read the news and they know what is going on in other parts of the world and so they have just decided to set those limits to the cultural development off immigrants from muslim background and this is not hostile and also i think you should even consider it something which sets a useful limits to radical islamists and there are some who force their women behind veils we are always tearing this. very very close to rescue them and.

it's not a low fuel used to get people to you lose their. freedom . is the country all of the and deal that you have 3 and. this country but i don't like to be. a stage of the people who are extrem what if the radical left from provision already get it from. where you can live your religion freely and the question also is why have you chosen to come to switzerland knowing very well that it's a christian country which even wears the cross in this flag in its national flag so i think you were quite clear about that 3 when you came to switzerland. but i want switzerland more and more and more. it's good for diversity is

a richness you are making narrow the mind at the moment but that is the of the people. the brazilian president has called on people to quote stop whining about the country's covert catastrophe that is despite brazil registering its highest daily covert death rate last week it has the 2nd highest number of deaths in the world with more than 260000 victims should i do for this quarter do you mean enough with the pretentiousness enough with the whining how long are people going to carry on crying for you we have to confront the problems obviously we need to respect the elderly those with conditions but where is brazil heading to if we live in fear. meanwhile health authorities say just over 7000000 have so far received at least one vaccine dose but brazilian hospitals are struggling to find room for the sick and the health system is overloaded to highlight the point this is a container that has been placed outside a clinic in the north of the country to store victims of bodies here's what nearby

residents think of the move. but i think people are panicking and this container shouldn't be out in the open this doesn't help. that it has a huge impact i think it makes you more careful and more inclined to protect yourself it's only when you actually see it that it has any impact when you realize that people in their lost loved ones where all to blame the people but also the government because they should set the example the editor of a brazilian news site told us the president must take the blame for the worsening situation. i think it's. a strategy. all the tide trying to prove to the brazilian book relation that he has this situation in the control over food the situation he's completely out of control i don't see the brazil he's going to have back the situation before may or june because we have

a very. delay is in the open if the nation we don't have any more. to protect people and to unload them to stay at home 'd i think the next 30. days i going to be even worse than the situation we have a levy through at this moment. all right that's a for me this hour i'll be back with more news and let's say 33 and a half minutes is arch international stay with us. when else truths seem wrong. but all wrong just don't call. me you will

get to see palace just they become educated and endangered because the trail. went something find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground. this is crude oil. so they need to actually physically hold it out of the ground he would have well well well well well well well well well well. there's a lot of money with the oil and with that comes. a lot of a lot of people from all over the country. if you don't make a $100000.00 a year. as. the issue. here in the police

they were told 16 hours a day hard work well work is not easy. and so they want to relieve their stress of how do they relieve their stress these men ruled that out like these men believe that comfort these many. people have been murdered up here people can raise their massive drug issues up here you have a boom you have everything else that comes along with money. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things were considered on peter lavelle

the binding ministration is still young but its foreign policy particularly in the middle east is an echo of past failures this administration simply does not have a learning curve also does washington really support democracy in the world ukraine's crackdown on independent media should give us all. to discuss these issues and more i am joined by my guess that attends and implement he is the editor and founder of 21st century wire and here in moscow we're joined by dmitri bobbie she's a political analyst and editor at interest me internet media project gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate now is going to play into it patrick let's take a look at biden's foreign policy for all of the noise about how to deplore a bold terms foreign policy was and there were some of the floor boiled and so you

and i would agree we've talked about it during the entire time of the administration but it seems like biden is repeating some of the same mistakes like the legally bombing syria and of course getting applauded for him because he suddenly became president listening to become presidential the in your 1st few weeks you bomb someone against international law and so many other elements in this bungling towards iran it's very incoherent and then all while we're being told there's a pivot to asia this is ministration is just ok go ahead. there are all over the place are always. religiously all over the place so that you've got the situation in iraq you've got the situation in syria you've got the situation in yemen and really it's eerie aerated completely beyond the pale situation with alliston in that peace process which the democrats or believe that they're the story all guardians of that process generally so that how many plates going to spend and i

think the trump of ministration for all its faults realize that you can only spend so many vote.