and slovenia has become the 1st european union member state to declare its coronavirus epidemic over the prime minister and stop the spread of the virus is now under control with only a few new confirmed infections every day sylvania borders italy hungary croatia and austria there's now reopening its borders to e.u. citizens. light at the end of the tunnel for slovenia's government at least the number of new corona virus infections only 35 over the last 2 weeks has reassured authorities and led them to take an unprecedented step announcing that its corona virus epidemic is officially over. to the today's slovenia has the best epidemic logical picture in europe which means we can declare an end to the general epidemic this will probably coincide with the end of the 1st 2 empty corona packages that keep packages that include financial aid to citizens and companies hit by the coronavirus crisis some think this could have been a strong motivator for the government to say the outbreak in the country was over authorities are gradually loosening restrictions which were introduced 2 months a

but 1st the european union is also dealing with the coronavirus later today commission president was about fondling will present a master plan worth hundreds of billions our viewer owes for the e.u. to bounce back from the recession triggered by the virus that includes a 500000000000 euro fund proposed by germany and france based on common debt at the same time from the line we'll introduce a proposal for the blocks 7 year budget plan and let's bring in our correspondent in brussels bob levey zillah standing by for us hi barbara good to see you so this is a giant revival deal that was enough on the line it's going to be presenting what more details do we have on this plan. what she fought once for corona recovery is the sum of $750000000000.00 euros that's even a bit less than was expected and that is to come in 2 parts the $500000000000.00 you mentioned they are supposed to be given away as grants to the most affected countries and then there's going to be in another segment of $250000000000.00 which is supposed to be given as loans money that has to be paid back bought the interest

they could head to slovenia lakes mountains out to the coastline and it's just become the 1st of the european union to declare itself off the pandemic. but spare a thought for the people in the chinese city of on who thought very had been the virus and they're now being tested. after a cluster of new cases was discovered. by the program well germans love their holidays in the sun and with the government starting to lift pandemic border controls the only things are getting in the way of those summit trains or other country's borders so getting them to defect controlled is now a matter of the highest level of politics and diplomacy germany's foreign minister is due to discuss exactly that with his european counterparts next week. the endless beaches of france and the majestic mountains of austria in any normal summer german tourists love to head for these and many other european beauty spots but because of the corona virus the route to germany is neighbors has been blocked at the borders for many the pandemic has given travel a new importance through just gets a lot of course it's about our health al

away near latvia and estonia have opened their borders to each other creating the 1st travel bubble within the european union since the corona virus outbreak citizens and residents of the baltic nations will be free to travel within the region they've seen few new infections recently with just a total of 7 reported on wednesday. south africa has banned the sale of a product that some consider essential alcohol the ban is part of some of the toughest anti pandemic restrictions anywhere in the world demand is still high however and police have reported robberies of shuttered liquor stores but an increasing number of south africans are trying to get around the restrictions legally. in the township of lying in cape town business for richard b. kenya has been brisk despite the coronavirus pandemic that is produced and one item in particular is selling very well pineapples he sells 20 cases every 3 days even though the price has doubled since public wish to actions began. to miss out of the hotel you know this this is the 1st sitting it would appear in the moment now but why is that it was because the people did p

lithuania latvia and estonia have opened their borders to each other creating the 1st travel bubble within the european union since the corona virus outbreak citizens and residents of the baltic nations will be free to travel within the region they've seen few new infections recently with just a total of 7 reported on wednesday. countries around the world are entering a new phase of responses to the pandemic loosening lock downs and reopening their economies but achieving the balance between returning to normality and containing the virus could prove difficult authorities in lebanon have reimposed a lockdown after a spike in infections so is this the new reality facing all of us. after weeks of closures people in lebanon had finally begun to savor a gradual return to normal restaurants and cafes has started operating at reduced capacity shops and hairdressers had reopened their doors to customers but a jump in new cases $100.00 over 4 days brought the reopening to a sudden halt. the government announced a 4 day long total lockdown exempt only 2 essential sectors like health and agriculture once again people

head to slovenia it's got makes mountains on the coastline and it's just become the 1st member of the european union to declare itself free off the pandemic. spare a thought for people in the chinese city of hama who sold.

european countries pushing to reopen borders that's something that you support but is that not putting profits before public safety. public safety is always 1st so that is of main message still in the european union but we see in the last weeks already the national level the numbers are going down thanks to the positive behavior and development on national level having this in mind if we lock down keep . making the things more liberal on national level then we also have to have to give back the right of freedom of movement to the citizens of europe that's why those things are interlinked if you are liberalizing on national level you have to open borders about. ok talking about you know that the public opinion polls show that many people in europe remain skeptical about opening borders how can you reassure people. well it's about come and standards and european union it makes no difference and the question of the fight against kovi to the fight against corona whether you're in a hotel in as a german citizens or whether you go with a german citizens to have it there is no no no difference so what we need is now european wide common standards a kind of a certificated where people can immediately ide

head to slovenia it's got makes mountains out the coastline and it's just become the 1st member of the european union to declare itself free of the pandemic. but spare a thought for people in the chinese city of rouhani who thought they'd beaten the virus now. being tested after the discovery of a new cluster of cases. i think quality and reactions of hong kong police during the last 2 years pro-democracy protests clears them of using unnecessary violence saying officers were responding to threats. to the program well germans love their holidays in the sun with the government starting to lift pandemic border controls the only things getting in the way of those summit dreams of other countries borders so getting them to lift their controls is now a match for the highest level of politics and diplomacy germany's foreign minister is due to discuss exactly that with his european counterparts next week. the endless beaches of france and the majestic mountains of austria in any normal summer german tourists love to head for these and many other european beauty spots but because of the corona virus the rout

what viktor orban the prime minister of hungary is done is used as coronavirus to create the european union's 1st dictatorship i'm he is the power now to rule by decree to sideline parliament and there is no need for another election ever until parliament approves that and his party controls parliament this is a dictatorship pure and simple and so you know let's look how that dictatorship is doing i'm a human rights watch has been in the process of studying how gary in hospitals and what we found is that while orbán takes a very generous stabilisation funds provided by the european union and uses them to build football stadiums to pay off his cronies i mean quite literally. the hospitals are disaster people need to bring their own toilet paper people are being it was thrown out in the street because they're not currently the coronavirus patient they are you know this illustrates what happens when you have an unaccountable government and that's what that door about is so if you're ok and. if you're right can where is the domestic outcry because the public overwhelmingly supports these emergency me

or european union she 1st will fund alliances that the world is you know going to be against the corona virus china united states however pledged nothing today earlier i asked you to use chief international editor richard walker in brussels how you knowing it or we really are. yeah good question i mean of course china was at least involved in this video conference but at a very low level and pledged no additional funding the united states though wasn't even taking part and it is really particularly striking in the case of the u.s. and if you think back to almost any moment in recent decades the united states would have been the natural leader of this effort it has the political might it has the economic might it has the scientific might to take on that global leadership and yet it's not in the room it's at war with in a war of words with china about who's responsible for the for the beginning of the outbreak it's pulled funding from the world health organization so from the point of view of the european union which is determined to be the sort of last remaining believer in multilaterali

course step for france and germany and this is all short historical step for the whole european union because this is the 1st time when france and germany stands together to have a phone ding through dept of munich vestment for the e.u. countries despite the break with previous strict financial caution the plan has the backing of key players in miracles party giving all credit to their countries what rejected would call them. china i don't so that's all one argument why it's better not money directly to the project in the cancer then only loans and it is necessary that we stand together. opposition politicians also talk of european solidarity but they worry about the new readiness to spend not lend. i'm sure we have 2 to act but i'm not sure we have to act on the basis of rounds. there are other instruments. who. was dangerous to help these countries to overcome the consequences of the coronal rises and that's not a question of only rounds or credits if the medical macro own plan is to achieve its aim it will have to be passed by the bundestag and the european commission so far it's no more than a statement

it is so special because for the 1st time in history in the history of the european union the european commission is allowed or it hopes that it will be allowed to take up a debt they want to go to the capital markets and say we need 750000000000 please here and we will give this to the member states to sort of weather the consequences of the crisis and to sort of reform industries to sort of set their country up for the future so that is really new that has never happened before at the same time the european commission also wants its own money they won't be able to be able to take in money from from the. trading the emissions trading system so in sorenson's for they would raise a corporate a certain a small segment of the corporate tax a plastic tax so they want to take some money in not to be so totally dependent on the contribution of the member states although that is also new so this whole thing and then 500000000000 out of this are supposed to be given grants that has never have been before either that such a huge sum would be disbursed to the member states so all this whole pack

have to slovenia it's got lakes mountains up to the coastline and it's just become 1st a member of the european union to declare itself free off the pandemic. but spare us the most of them.

country after another closed its borders and shut down its economy there was no joint european union plan in those 1st weeks you may remember the criticism as northern italy appeared alone even abandoned as the death toll there skyrocketed well you won't find many loud voices calling for another go it alone approach as june and the summer holiday season approach europe's tourism industry is 110th of the e.u. used total g.d.p. to survive european tourism needs european tourists thanks to the pandemic that has never been as true as it is now no european country provides as many tourists and as much tourism revenue to the continent than germany that explains why the entire in you especially greece italy and spain are watching closely the decisions taken here in berlin the german government is expected to lift its travel restrictions on $31.00 european countries effective june 15th now the timing here is crucial towards hotspots around europe and the world are slowly story from there and dimmock slumbers those lines are preparing to welcome back beachgoers barcelona's famous speeches opened on monday as p

1st. thing. you're going to enter the european union and indeed that's what the turkish government told refugees before the coronavirus come to. the us in the family from afghanistan and many others took it out it's was. the start of a painful journey that is still not over. this on your. next d.w. . nor did and what do they dream of at night getting. as cleaners they see the face of horror. their job censoring for the social media industry. in manila there are thousands of so-called content monitors day for day they scream terrifying images from online class. warms. up 220000 times a day. a risky job for starvation wage. the strain is enormous. the cleaners or sworn to secrecy they are not allowed to talk about their work. and no one asks help me or to bring. a group. i need to stop or something won't. do social networks have any social responsibility at all. the cleaners social media shadow industry starts to names on t.w. . hello and welcome to focus on europe we're living in a time when staying at home is the new normal but we want to start today's show by looking at those who don't have a p

deal and citizenship rights remain to be made the united kingdom formally left the european union on the pfaff the 1st of january this year but nothing really changed because a transitional agreement take 10 to by the time required to hobble out a long tail agreement that the government the u.k. government is adamant will be no extension of that sensational period however and 7 senses political reality is bailing him penge on the government's position last week for example they bowed to pressure from new labor leader sucky a stammer about charges for foreign nationals and the national health service mr speaker every thursday we got an carers many of them are risking their lives to the sakes of all of us just a promise to think that it's right that care workers coming from abroad are working on our front line should have to pay a surcharge of hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds to use the n.h.s. themselves. prime minister oh this is because food a great deal about this and i do accept i do understand the difficulties faced by our amazing n.h.s. staff and like in my view the personal beneficiary of p

well 1st of all for the acute crisis we put forward the european union and the member states a sum of 3.4 trillion which is for example the flexibility of state a flexible ization of all the european funds but also a program to keep people the employees in their companies being paid for short time work so that the healthy companies can restart immediately the economy picks up again this has been put out at the 1st answer for the corona crisis but you're right we need a big creek cover instrument and for that we proposed that we work on the 7 year budget of the european union topped by a recovery instrument that is marshall plan like which we can then channel through the budget and give it to the member states because the budget is per se an instrument for investment for solidarity it's back but all $27.00 member states but also for cohesion and conversion and therefore it is so important to have this instrument in place we're going on it right now we've got a strong backing by the european council that was necessary and good and it's a big endeavor but i'm positive that we're going to

deal and citizenship rights remain to be made the united kingdom formally left the european union on the theft the 1st of january this year but nothing really changed because a transitional agreement tend to by the time require to hobble along agreement by the government the u.k. government is adamant it will be no extension of that sensational period however and 7 census political reality is bailing on the government's position last week for example they bowed to pressure from new labor leader sulky of stomach charges for foreign nationals and the national health service mr speaker every thursday we go out and caught up terrors many of them are risking their lives to the sakes of all of us. just a promise to think that it's right that is coming from a paroled of working on our front line should have to pay.

rescue fund to boost hard hit sectors of the economy and in the 1st chancellor merkel ended her longstanding resistance to the european union raising joint debt to fund relief efforts. it's wishful thinking to hope europe's economies could bounce back as easily as these provisions after months under lockdown even before the e.u. commission presents its aid package by lynn in paris a rushing through a joint initiative for economic recovery in a bid to put this crippling face behind them. in a joint news conference with the french president chancellor angela merkel stressed the coronavirus pandemic is in danger and european unity. will decide most that is why the fund has to help ensure that all countries in the euro can react appropriately but. this requires an extraordinary one off effort which france and germany are ready to undertake but i think that it if this is the result of bilateral work in cooperation with our partners i'm convinced that this plan provides the groundwork to revive our lives our economies and our societies so. to offset the drastic decline in production transport and tourism across europe this develo

that was also something that was clear for example when european union finance ministers met for a very long time to try and come off with the 1st aid package that was agreed on and that was something that revealed once again the fractures within the european union when it comes to a very big crisis that they have to tackle it's revealed what analysts describe as another north south divide between countries that were favoring one position like france or italy or spain that again that idea of the corona vaughn's and other countries like germany or the netherlands are also who were more skeptical about it and we're not going to call points to exactly that what you're saying is that idea that europe has to act together that not one country will be able to solve this crisis by those countries in europe that will also be affected by it all will have to come to solutions and agree months at a european union level and that's why germany and france based on their own bilateral agreements that they're going to work more and more closely at the european union level have presented this proposal will that will obviously have to be discussed

strain over this beijing to get personally ministry you 1st proposed a similar investigation into the origins it's been put forward by the european union now china says that they also want to comprehensive investigation but led by the world health organization but after the pandemic has been brought under control and that could take years thank you for that said big there across developments at the world health assembly live from london. now we go to mike hanna who is live for us at the white house in washington d.c. mike the escalating spat between the u.s. and china had really threatened to overshadow this world health assembly i believe the u.s. representative has spoken want to they have to say. yes indeed relations between the u.s. china and with the w.h.o. in the middle continuing to deteriorate president trump has frozen funds to the w.h.o. he says that he is reviewing this at present and the possibility is that all funding will be struck off but the health secretary alex azhar has entered the fray with a sharpie critical speech to the world health association the world health organization in which he accused the w.h.o. of faili

warlord leave the hospital the european union's facing the worst recession in its history and will not fully recover by the end of the year that's the assessment of the 1st e.u. forecast for the post lock down economy it's as a 3rd of the blocks economic activity has stopped and this only lasting scars on output and the labor market all you member states are forecast to enjoy a severe recession this year economic activity. in greece italy spain croatia and to a lesser extent france are forecast to contract the most italy was struck 1st and most forcefully the economy is expected to contract by about 9.5 percent with containment measures now starting to be removed gradually the economy is projected to start recovering from the 2nd half of 2020 nevertheless italy's recovery is forecast to take longer than in other member states spain's parliament has extended its state of emergency for a 4th time the prime minister whether sanchez has asked for another 2 weeks allows the government to control people's movement as it gradually eases the lockdown spain is one of the worst hit countries and more than 25000 people have died from coronavirus. and europe's bigge

now with the summer fast approaching the european union starting to emerge from the spring nightmare of coronavirus with countries taking their 1st steps toward some kind of normality server including germany have already begun the process of reopening borders with direct neighbors but this might all prove too little for the vital tourism sector which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic that is peter oliver explains. even in the midst of the corona pandemic many europeans are thinking about summer holidays but the word from brussels is that those wanting a getaway may well get their wish we are helping europe interest get back on track of all staying healthy and safe we propose a common european approach to manage for them remain a difficult 2020 summer season while preparing for a more sustainable and digital tourism eco system in the future the plan is fairly straightforward member states will open up their borders gradually eventually allowing people to go on their holidays germany will lift border controls with looks in denmark in the coming weeks with the plan to do the same with france austria and switzerland next

playing and support stuff germany has been is legal be the 1st european league to restart a week on saturday but the head of wells players' union 5th has warned that returning to action is a risk they are the 1st ones of course you have many questions in your head and i think we also have to be honest that the success or failure of this protocol has a certain degree of. of bad or good luck attached to it maybe nobody gets infected and that would be considered a success but that may have to do with nobody gauging with somebody in broader society who is carrying the virus and therefore not carry it into the team environment. tottenham strike us on him man has completed his 3 week basic military training in south korea some finished in the top 5 of his class perhaps not surprisingly he had a perfect record in shooting he did 3 weeks instead of 21 months because he helped south korea win a gold medal at the asian games. some lucky fans have been allowed back into stadiums in taiwan to watch baseball a 1000 people were permitted to enter the stadium for 2 chinese professional league games it's a month since games restarted in the te

each other in what's being described as that you use 1st travel bubble a number of european countries have started relaxing their rules the european union had earlier recommended members closed borders completely until may the fifteen's the economy in china is showing signs of gradual improvement after its long their industrial output is up by 3.9 percent in april compared to this time last year but unemployment is higher and retail sales for fall and further than was generally expected. the remainder man has become the 1st person to test positive for couvade 19 inside a refugee camp in bangladesh is free of the virus could race through the settlements in cox's bazar with nearly a 1000000 people living there social distancing is difficult about access to running water is limited many refugees fled a military offensive in myanmar more than 2 years ago. a powerful storm in the eastern philippines has forced tens of thousands of people into emergency shelters many fia typhoon evolving form could cause catastrophic landslides it's not being done graded to a tropical storm rescue efforts are being complicated by restrictions aimed at prevent

in today's headlines from odyssey international the european union says it's heading for the. in the hot. dog. a month before the 1st official cases. i learned i had only 10 days after i left the hospital the doctor called me and said mr amar you were lucky that's true because today this virus has spread everywhere. on the way here in moscow with. play.

1st manned takeoff from u.s. soil since the space shuttle western call almost a decade ago. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us tonight the european union is planning a route back to normality after the coronavirus pandemic european commission president or so fun to lie in today unveiled a 750000000000 euro plan to help members of the european union balance back much of it will be funded by common e.u. debt a new approach proposed by germany and france and a lie in describing the fund as an ambitious answer to the challenge and she said that the european union faces the choice of member states going it alone or responding together. the european union's massive recovery funding plan is aimed at helping member states hardest hit by the pandemic italy and spain will get the lion's share the commission president and brussels keen to play out europe's united approach the aim must be to invest together in our common good we will be bold by raising unprecedented amounts of funding at european level we will be focused by channeling the funding to the new priorities that will shape the future. in practice it's germany and france which are drivin

european union and the e.u. report published friday says there remains a long way to go to a quality we'll hear from researcher on that report in a moment but 1st here's a look at the situation in an e.u. country where activists say the government is part of the problem. this is the town of storm in northern poland one of those that has declared itself an l g b t free zone since february gays lesbians bisexuals and trans people have been finding life even more threatening than usual yes sure nick has spent years fighting for the rights. the climate has changed things have gotten worse we're going it affects people's attitude towards people. but what's worse is the constant accusations against us allegations that we have bad intentions and we are out to deliberately destroyed families and sexualize children and that's where the view from the authorities of the church and the government make all these claims day in day out it has an effect. poland is struggling to accommodate its own l g b t people here in stone they've passed a resolution in favor of the traditional family and implicitly against gays and lesbians speaking have punch of the conse

1st u.s. administration of called for nato to look at his fallen models now and to look and act on that european union to look at what i will close to me in a way this is not a process that started with a us administration and this is not a decision about any talk because of us that was racial as far as i can see. you know up until recently or very recently the german government refused to ban has been because of the group's presence in lebanon and in the lebanese parliament will germany's decision to hurt hezbollah's credibility among the lebanese people what do you think. let me put it this way germany. is a neutral and trusty partner so should. the us to kate's. talk at all between hezbollah and israel. the prisoners are sure according to this at least succeeded at least 2 times to sign the law is that the pows the accord as well as well. it's just as i said and you talk to the world in july 2006 germany i don't under 50 it's soldiers in south lebanon among that the you ask if he was known as unison according to the script he considers a 17 a long and to make that mistake made shock some are becaus