we're turning to lebanon now which is declared a coronavirus state of emergency this is in a country that's already 5 months into a series of anti-government demonstrations the biggest since lebanon won its independence back in 1903 the protest movement bridges classes and sects citizens are revolting against a political system that is defined by sectarian identity and has failed to provide them with the economic basics it's an ongoing story that has also revealed much about the failure of lebanon's media outlets too many of which are skewing the very coverage since they are split along the same lines the politicians are were looking at one news site that said to change the media mix and mess with mainstream news narratives megaphone is an online platform that produces punchy social videos and boundary pushing opinion pieces critical takes on the news and the way it's been covered the listening posts terek nothing now from beirut on a news outlet that's tapping into voices left out by the mainstream. bring down somebody to which for the past 5 months has been the everything all the u

unwilling to the church on lebanon's elite. lebanon's media like its politics broken a reckoning with richard that if i could with it is very difficult for one to think about political change without a fundamental change to people source of information when journalism confront some challenges the fairest official narratives put forward by the sects all the parties all the factions then we can actually change the rules of. again in this country so it is not a detail the media is a fundamental pillar in this process whose role is to deconstruct a regime that has lost too long and cost the country too much or too big challenge going forward is that because we called lost faith in traditional media is how for us journalists are trying to create alternatives that are based on accurate reporting investigative work inclusive narratives is how without trust back because now what we're seeing that people are relying on means things shared on lots. and lots of rumors they don't want to look at me traditional media anymore as long as the

moderates and that's hard and some would say going back to doing what media in lebanon do best. platform for politicians all these outlets are run by businessman or politicians or people with political ambitions of sorts so there is a certain threshold that they have in order to maintain their legitimacy of the surely lebanon among the elite however the way that they have given the space for a major politician and bankers and so on is beyond the right of reply at the beginning of the year of the revolution or the uprising the the majority of the t.v. stations in lebanon they were one sided they were only covering the point of view of the people who are well that evolution and who are saying let's say all the political spectrum in lebannon media has to reflect the change not make the change the media has to cover the change. it does not have to make a change or it will become politically motivated media. which is far from being fair and from being professional. might be more convincing if lebanese media weren't so resistant to change so utterly compromised unable to touch themsel

and the lebanese lived a dream that was a delusion while lebanon was drowning in debt words of the prime minister of his country defaulted on its debt for the very 1st time. well at a time when the world is dealing with the fast spreading coronavirus that has decimated supply chains induce panic buying and grounded flights the last thing it needed was 2 nations declaring economic war well saudi arabia and russia have been working together to prop up oil prices for the last 3 years but fell out of a riyadh's insistence that they agreed to cut oil supplies by 1500000 barrels a day the reason was simple china the biggest importer of oil was turning back tankers as the coronavirus forced the economy to a standstill. well oil prices have had their biggest one day crash in the $991.00 gulf war and there's more pain to come as saudi arabia and russia flood the market with more oil goldman sachs predicted oil prices could hit $20.00 a barrel both nations should be able to stomach a protracted economic war saudi arabia has foreign exchange reserves of $490000000000.00 and russia has reserves of $

in lebanon of course it has been a war torn country today how much how high is the risk in lebanon with the state of the health infrastructure in the hospitals affected by years of war. i mean they are with 2 different things that save the children who are con 11 and we will see with the syrian refugees you know that it's the country it was the highest. number in the wood so syrian refugees who live with the poor communities in lebanon because this is where they can afford to pay again to enclose contact with that have a nice population so far we have not i just say that any case of a few g. that has that's the positive focal and out and then you have the camps for example in the bekaa valley which. isolated by nature you know they have a bunch of land and where they have huge is often don't need to mix with the population at all it's because of sometimes issues and they get is it in c. so. you know. at the national agency if it hasn't been 11 on we keeping an eye on any outbreak among the refugee population as for the society because there is then 7 cases of to. register then 11 on the

are going to say why should they lend to lebanon if lebanon doesn't pay plus if you do or lend it i will lend it at their much higher interest rate which you may well make they're even much costlier to us. you know that's what from the beginning i found this speech empty of solutions full of description which would be great for somebody who doesn't know 11 and i thought he would probably learn about us but. i would have expected much more solution and what is that is really missing is the current government how hard it's going to work now is the current government has been and for 2 months of course but hasn't started working on their main files and i think it's time to go deep into work and give us what you option and work on solution and that has not started yet. you know the international community is not going to wait for us until a wake up i think i probably could say this current speech is a wake up call but i don't see saw fired as the government has awaken up yet but we will see what does happen in the coming months for the moment to louis a baker thanks for joining us from

report you know of open court adoptions driven by banks failing and countries failing and now in lebanon they've got a huge crisis and of course big clients come to the rescue stacey max we're going to get into lebanon but 1st i want to have some show notes here we are still in los angeles it is the busy suburbs where they did film brady bunch so you have a lot of leaf blowers you do have garbage man you have all sorts of stuff and we have flights going overhead as people are trying to flee the coronavirus apocalypse we're also going to try to flee the coronavirus apocalypse and so you may see us recording soon from home because if we can't get out if everybody is quarantined it could be a situation where we're just like live streaming on periscope for the show for the future cool here's an headline from lebanon that happened in the past week and a half while the markets were tumbling while everything was going chaotic and that is distrust in lebanese banks spurs big coin boom more lebanese are embracing them don't tory asli volatile cryptocurrency as the country's economy founders so th

war torn syria an estimated $1500000.00 syrian refugees have come to lebanon it's a heavy burden. iran exerts extensive political influence on the country's militant islamist organization hezbollah lebanon's many religious groups make politics and governance a delicate balancing act the country is economically on its knees for months there have been widespread protests in which women are playing a key role. revolution they chant wooden spoons and ponce hammer home their message lebanon has been rocked by protests since last october amid an economic crisis and frustration with the country's political elite women like laurie high tyin are at the forefront of the protests. to hear women are playing in a very important role they are being everywhere wherever you see them they are being that in needing the demonstration and chanting and being like the barrier between the police the police and the the most traitors for peacekeepers she's not interested in just being confrontational more high time and seeks to unite the crowds in beirut she hopes the protests will strengthen civil societ

it's really shows you that lebanon and lebanon has lost its place in international financial markets officials ministers they're talking about weeks before they can come up. with a government rescue plan a plan that will reduce spending and raise revenues because this country spends more than it earns and the depth really has been a burden servicing the debt just paying for the interest of the debt has been very very difficult so it just shows you how bad the economy is and say no it does beg the question though is the i.m.f. the only institution that can help it i mean there's no chance of the middle eastern countries could step up and assist well like we mentioned earlier this is a government that doesn't have many friends and it's not just that those in power are people who are not trusted by the international community international donors have repeatedly said time and time again we're not bailing you out this time we want you to implement reforms what the structural economic reforms mean it means that these politicians will will no longer have access to state resources they're g

and for the people of lebanon. well the government needs billions of dollars international investors donors they are not going to bail 11 on out this time around they made it very very clear they want the government to be committed to carrying out structural and economic reforms reforms like for example turning the public sector as you can see there are protests now in the streets they are having to the banks people really are blaming the. fiscal policies of levon on spying for a for the crisis so international investors are telling the lebanese government you don't carry out reforms you're not getting any money politicians are reluctant to carry out reforms because it means that they will lose power they will lose control over the state's resources which they really have been using to as far as a form of patronage to keep their supporters but at the end of the day the only solution they have is the i.m.f. but the has been the lead government is refusing to go to the i.m.f. to manage the crisis. and then we can hea

says that lebanon's currency reserves a dangerously low and people's basic needs must be prioritized so in a holder has more from beirut. businesses are closing unemployment is rising inflation is soaring and the local currency depreciated by at least 50 percent and now for the 1st time in its history lebanon is defaulting on paying its debt 1200000000 dollars is due on monday the country is facing its worst economic crisis in decades prime minister has sandia who took office in january after massive protests toppled the previous government told the nation his administration will work on restructuring the debt which has become too much for the country to bear. going on without the sour hard currency reserves are at a critical record low as a result the republic of lebanon is forced to default the coming march 9th obligation on the euro bond these funds must be channeled towards securing the basic necessities for the lebanese people 2 people have been on the streets for months demanding a new leadership they have little faith in a government appointed by the old political class they a

the default would be would make it very difficult for lebanon to open letters of credit with. in order to put. the people are. many lebanese are angry that ordinary citizens will now face the consequences of what they believe is mismanagement by a corrupt political elite. to the bundesliga now waylaid is by munich 4 points clear at the top. of the that there were mixed feelings before kick off as birthday celebrations were contrasted with the very real threat posed to the sport by coronavirus. yes he was x. a school board when he made his 1st bundesliga start against hoffenheim last weekend and the 18 year old dutchman once again took the place of the injured robert leavened up front. ahead of kickoff the german health minister recommended that large public events be cancelled to help control the spread of the coronavirus but it was too late for this sellout crowd of 75000 who put on a big choreographic display in celebration of the club's 120th anniversary. fire and also wore a special edition kits for the occasion. but it was outscored who had the 1st shot on goal in the mat

to lebanon now where the economy is in freefall a number of banks are on the verge of going bust and the government has just announced it doesn't have the funds to pay upcoming bond dates and for many ordinary ordinary lebanese rather the financial crisis is threatening their livelihood. murray sharp jar used to sell 400 sandwiches a day to day he only sold for the 65 year old is now forced to live off a savings he says he'll probably have to give up his cafe soon but many others in beirut. we've been here in this industrial quarter for 40 years since 1979 even during the civil war the situation wasn't as bad as now. lebanon's economy is in freefall around one in 10 businesses has been forced to close including hundreds of cafes and restaurants since november some 220000 people have lost their jobs others have seen their wages cut in half many people can no longer afford to pay their rent and the number of homeless is on the rise excessive government debt has contributed to the country's worst economic crisis ever a number of banks are facing collapse currency reserves are running ou

we're just like live streaming on periscope for the show for the future cool here's an headline from lebanon that happened in the past week and a half while the markets were tumbling while everything was going chaotic and that is distrust in lebanese banks spurs big coin boom more lebanese are embracing the don't tory asli volatile cryptocurrency as the country's economy founders so this was an al-jazeera english and they looked at after years of being knowing about bitcoin it was only when their country banks started to fall apart when their credit default swaps suggested there's a 99.5 percent chance of them bank going bankrupt and banks introduced the same thing that we saw back in 2011 with cyprus and they had the balan's 1st. the limit on the amount of money that you could withdraw so in lebanon we saw something like $4050.00 a day that they're allowed to take out and they focus on a guy name are who asked for a surname to be withheld. he says he's not standing around helplessly he is trying to move what is left of his savings out of lebanon via a financial instrument meant many in the

point adoption is driven by banks failing and countries failing and now in lebanon they've got a huge crisis and of course big points come to the rescue. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maybe in the shallows. u.k. army veterans from the commonwealth an international association of states forming part of the british empire have criticised what they call the grave injustice that they could be deported and pays from the ruling conservative party and calling on the government to help former service members with the complex and costly procedures to stay in the country. it's hard to imagine people more entitle to live in our islands than those who are forced to defend them we need to look hard at these cases and ensure we support those who should have been able to stay all alone this does seem wrong i hope the home office will rectify this quickly and save these former br

lebanon's prime minister the president's the government won't be paying forward. debt with over a $1000000000.00 in a televised speech which is still ongoing now the house and then also promised to work on a plan to protect people's deposits the default comes just a small part of the 90 will $1000000000.00 that are used to forward creditors lebanon's debt is more than a 170 percent of its economic output one of the heaviest days in the world from all this let's cross over to our correspondents in aqaba who's in beirut to be following the prime minister's speech he has been talking more than likely focusing very much of the banking sector. well yes the prime minister making it clear that this was not an easy decision but the decision had to be taken in the interests of the country and the people. addressing the nation telling the lebanese people that the country the state doesn't have the money to pay back its debt the 1st time in love and on history it is defaulting on its debt he mentions the foreign reserves saying that the foreign reserves of foreign currency i

she was born and raised in lebanon but now lives to beirut and washington dc. if you have questions, please write on the cards, the bush school ambassadors who have the blue blazers on. have with them, they will have walked up and down file it will continue to do that and then once you write the questions, pass them to the isle. they will pick them up you give them to me and i will then go through them. after this dentist seeks, two of us will sit up here and i will ask her some questions and then take your questions from the car. you join me in welcoming kim ghattas to the stage. >> good evening everybody. it's really a delight to be here this evening. thank you for the very generous introduction. thank you for hosting me here at the annenberg conference center and thank you to the scowcroft institute for hosting me and i see in the front row my good friend, tamari, thank you for helping to make this happen and i'm delighted to be back in texas. i havebeen here in a very long time. i must complain about the weather . this is going to give me a good excuse to r

i grew up in the civil war in lebanon and they were never really used. it wasn't that kind of conflict but it is accepted in our collective memory that we forget what it was like before. and that rivalry evolved and mutated over time with consequences that no one could have foreseen in 1979. now there has been a lot written i know that, but i am trying to present a different approach you will find a love of poetry and literature and cultural references because it's important to remember and humanize the region that has been devoid of context in the headlines so thi this isn't a bk about terrorism, it isn't a book about al qaeda or isis. it is and even about the dangers that the fundamentalists pose for the west. it's about everything that you have already read and seen on television. with all due respect to my colleagues even i sometimes because that is just the nature of our business and why i wanted to take a step back and write this book. this is the story of the people and they are very many whose basis hasn't necessarily been heard, who have been si

come at worse tius couldn't have lebanon. the country is already in a deeo rece and for many businesses like this, this will be the final straw. >> woodruff: all that and mo's on tonightbs newour. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: >> before we talk about stur innts-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in htans. >> all rlet's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you inting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. og >> this m was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. pd by contributions to yo station from viewers like you. thank you.

i grew up in the civil war in lebanon and it was never really used. it wasn't that kind of conflict. but today it is so accepted in our collective memory that we forget what it was like before. that rivalry evolved and mutated over time with consequences that really no one could have foreseen in 1979. now, there has been a lot written about the middle east, i know that. i am trying to present a different approach. you'll find a lot of poetry and literature, lyrics and music and cultural references in this book. because i think it is important also, to remember the richness of this region and to humanize this region that has been so devoid of context and the headline so it isn't a book about terrorism is not a book about al qaeda it's not a book about isis nor is it a book about the dangers that violence of fundamentalist vote for the west. this has been everything you've already read everything you've already seen on television and the headlines. with all duegu respect my colleagues, even i sometimes, because that's just the nature of our o business a

and to the international community and to the united states lebanon's financial crisis has entered a new stage and there doesn't seem to be any rescue plan and as conditions worsen for the people many are warning of further unrest senator else's leader they will. present donald trump has praised the united states as relationship with brazil but refused to guarantee that he'll hold off from hitting brazilian steel and alum india with new tariffs. we have a very very few years to carry. brazil and we want to always. trump told a private dinner for the brazilian president sonorities florida resort on saturday the other 2 leaders were also expected to discuss potential trade opportunities is on a 3 day trip to the united states. at least 45 people remain missing in southeastern brazil days after heavy rainfall calls floods and landslides 35 people are known to have died when communities were engulfed in 3 cities on the coast of south paolo state firefighters and volunteers are continuing their search for the missing earlier this week the region had a month's rainfall in a single day. mil

the coronavirus could not come at a worse time for lebanon. the country is already in a deep recession. for many businesses like this, this will be the final straw. judy: all of that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs wshour haseen provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what is new? >> aubrey is expecting. >> we want to put money aside for them. >> let's see what we can just. >> changing plans. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> american cruise lines. consumer cellular. hewleiam and flora foundation. advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewl and with the ongoing these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by bucontons to your pbs thank you.rs like you. judy: stark headlines tell our top story tonight. the pandemic dominating the united states and the world. u.s. coronavirus cases have reached 4300. 78 deaths. gatherings of more than 10

i grew up iniv a civil war in lebanon and those wars were never really used. it wasn't that kind of conflict, but today it is so accepted in our collective memory that we forget what it was like before. and that saudi iranian rivalry evolved and mutated over time with consequences that really no one could have foreseen in 1979. now, there has been a lot written about the middle east, i know that, but i'm trying to present a different approach. you will find a lot of poetry and literature and lyrics and music and cultural references in this book because i think it is important also to remember the richness of this region and to humanize this region which is been so devoid of context and headlights. this is not a book about terrorism. a it is not a book about al-qaeda. it is not a book about isis nor is it a book about sunni shias. it is not even about the dangers that violent fundamentalists pose for the west. this has been everything that you've already read, everything you've already seen on television and in headlights. with all due respect to my called ask,

she was raised in lebanon but now lives between beirut and washington dc. if you have questions, please write them on the cards, bush school ambassadors with the blue blazers on, they walked all up and down the aisle, they will continue to do that and once you write questions, pass them to the aisle, pick them up, given to me and i will go through them after wuhan speaks and i will ask her some questions. please join me in welcoming kim ghattas to the stage. [applause] >> good evening, everybody. it is a delight to be here this evening. thank you for the generous introduction. thank you for hosting me here at the scowcroft institute. i see in the front row my good friend, i am delighted to be back in texas. i haven't been here in a long time. i must complain about the weather. this will give me a good excuse to return. i'm here to speak about my recent book just out two weeks ago, "black wave". in any book it is the result of the journey. every writing endeavor is a journey, many of you have written books. you know it can be an aggravating experience, very

if it defaults now what does that do to anyone who might want to loan to lebanon. i mean this would be detrimental for the bond prices and for that have been. especially if decision is an ounce with any commitment for reforms without any decision to go to that. because it's expected that about on has nor has any has not anymore that equated he required to pay for for the bomb squad bomb. this is this is no secret however what is expected from the government is to announce his willingness to go to the i.m.f. because this may ease the bond holders because they will see that the government is serious about that he form and the value of the bond. will be contained because in absence of a decision of that sort in the absence of the government announcing that he's he's going to i have if he didn't do it this would be death 3 months for the one crisis and can see quickly for that event easily it out we will witness a shot of the body ation because it was sold out of this government has no intention to go for the deform and to fix. finance other i was going to ask you what

facing a rock as it confronts this pandemic from fashion designer to mask maker a businessman in lebanon answers the call to help this country with much needed medical supplies. the weather. for the philippines at the moment but some places of cloud and right some showers there into the fosse outthought to try to across in the china lost the sunny that sunshine stretching down across thailand bangkok 36 degrees celsius but the showers will continue across a good part of borneo malaysia still seeing some very lively downpours as shasta makes all the way across into popular new guinea so big and heavy showers coming through here still a child trouble system just developing around the cape york peninsula say the fall north of australia could see some wet weather well some wetter weather also making its way towards the southeast at the moment it will turn on the cool side a little wintry by the end of this week ahead of flats what temperatures in melbourne at 22 celsius to fall for that for sydney wetter weather just coming out of. pushing into south australia for perth looking at temperatur