Gravitas LIVE | Are Chinese vaccines failing already? | Palki Sharma Upadhyay | WION News

[Music] [Applause] [Music] thank [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening and welcome to gravitas and palki sharma path let's get started [Music] [Music] tonight we'll take you to cornwall a town in england's southwestern tip right now the hub of global politics u.s president joe biden and british prime minister boris johnson met just a short while back the leaders from the world's richest and most powerful countries are meeting here for the g7 summit ordinarily this would be a bureaucratic affair with lots of photo ops not this time we are in a post-pandemic world where new waves of the virus from china are still claiming thousands of lives the world over world leaders are holding the first of its kind in-person meeting in many months the agenda is very clear it is written in black and white in a draft that has been leaked to the press a second investigation into the origins of the virus china is clearly on the minds of these leaders and if they make a concerted effort they can put enough pressure on china to relent it won't be easy there will be costs involved for all sides what remains to be seen in the next three days is whether they have the political will to bear these costs to make china pay on gravitas tonight we'll discuss also on the show are chinese vaccines failing already from mongolia to bahrain countries that relied on chinese shots are seeing a surge in infections the mexicans came from the indians the brazilians came from the jungle and the argentines came from the ships from europe this presidential statement has triggered a political war in latin america after having dubbed twitter the government of nigeria joins the indian social media platform coup we'll tell you what's cooking there and is britain cancelling the queen now oxford university students have removed her portrait because she's a symbol of their colonial past we begin as always with gravitas global headlines a study of 63 patients by the all india institute of medical sciences find the delta variant of covid19 to be predominant among the samples despite a partial or full vaccination the study reiterates that no deaths were observed in the group supporting the premise that vaccines reduce severe symptoms and death due to the infection [Music] the biden administration aims to donate some 500 million doses of pfizer's covet vaccines to around 92 lower income countries and the african union across the next two years these donations will be made through the who's kovacs initiative officials say a chinese national was intercepted by india's border security force in the malda district along the india-bangladesh international border in west bengal the apprehended man is being questioned by intelligence agencies his laptop and chinese passport have been recovered by authorities [Music] indian external affairs minister estia shankar is in kuwait to boost bilateral ties with the oil rich gulf nation jaishankar is carrying prime minister modi's personal letter for the kuwaiti emir sheikh nawaz al-ahmad al-sabah focus of talks will be on sectors like energy trade investment manpower and more [Music] amid calls from india for his extradition fugitive diamond merchant mihul chukshi declared as a prohibited immigrant by the dominican republic chooksy is wanted in india for a nearly two billion dollar money laundering and fraud case that rocked the indian banking sector [Music] a pipeline that was set to carry oil 1200 miles from the canadian province of alberta down to nebraska halts all construction on the project the keystone xl pipeline's developer permit was revoked a few months back by the biden administration over climate concerns climate activists had protested against this project for more than a decade [Music] coup hit myanmar's deposed leader aung sang-soo-chi faces fresh corruption charges related to the misuse of land for a charitable foundation that she chaired there are also allegations that su chi accepted 600 thousand dollars in cash and 11 kilograms of gold from a former chief of the yangon region mexican drug kingpin el chapo guzman's wife is likely to plead guilty to federal criminal charges emma coronel aispuro has been charged in the united states with helping her husband flee his multi-billion dollar criminal empire she previously pleaded not guilty on a charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs in the united states [Music] joe salisbury and desiree crotchik have been crowned mixed doubles champions at the french open for the very first time the british american team came from a set down to beat the old russian pairing of aslan and elena wesnina in a match tiebreaker 2-6-6-4-10-5 this is salisbury's second grand slam title but he has become the first british champion at roland garris in 39 years [Music] utah jazz center rudy goldberg has become just the fourth player in nba history to win the defensive player of the year award three times golbert received 84 of 100 first placed vote to comfortably pit philadelphia all-star ben simmons and golden state forward draymond green to the prize the 28 year old had a league leading 720 defensive rebounds and 190 blocked shots over the 72 game regular season which helped jazz finish with the best record in the league [Music] 18 months after the pandemic began and six months after a compromised investigation into its origins world leaders are finally waking up to how china may be getting away with all of this canada france germany italy japan the united kingdom and the united states together they're known as the g7 the group of seven an alliance of democracies and the world's most financially powerful nations together the g7 represents 58 percent of the global net wealth that's around 317 trillion dollars so when the g7 talks the world listens and this week the g7 is talking it is their 47th summit and they will speak in a single voice together these countries will demand a new investigation into the origins of the virus ahead of the formal deliberations a draft statement has been leaked to the press and in no uncertain terms this statement calls for a new and transparent investigation what will this probe look like how will it be different from the last one what will the who do the world health organization will china allow access to investigators this time and what is india's stand on the question of origins in our cover story tonight we'll find the answers to all these questions let's start with what the g7 plans to do why are they demanding a new investigation the reasons are pretty clear they're unhappy with the first report by the world health organization reports say they will call for a new investigation one that is transparent evidence-based expert-led and free from interference the united states is said to have put this proposal forward and european leaders have welcomed it but will this investigation be any different from the last one we have our doubts going by the statement that has been leaked to the press the g7 wants to keep the world health organization in charge it will put its weight behind what is being called the phase two of this investigation so a lot depends on how much pressure the g7 countries can bring to bear on china the biden administration has already declared its intent it has vowed to hold china to account and demand more transparency from beijing before biden's arrival in europe the european union too asked china to give full access to investigators investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic and depending of that we have to draw conclusions and there's a wide scope of different options that are being investigated right now therefore it shows it's important that we pin down to the one the one picture that is there for uh the start of the pandemic representatives from the european union are attending this g7 summit and they're also expected to corner beijing on the persecution of uighur muslims in xinjiang of course beijing is not going to welcome any of this it has been pushing back on the demand for a fresh probe on chinese soil now chinese state media have begun to drive a drive rather to discredit reports on the lab leak theory a few days back we told you about an american assessment from may 2020 it had come from a national laboratory in california experts there had found the possibility of a lab leak plausible now soon after that report the global times published this one it quotes an unnamed source and it says the american assessment is quote unquote just a pathetic story to push political agenda shinua 2 has published a report this one names the reporter behind the story on the lab and accuses him of false reportage what's happening is this there is real momentum behind the lab leak theory and china is worried about it remember even after the who investigators labeled it the least likely possibility dr ted ross refused to dismiss the possibility of a lab leak so for china this is not going as they planned it what about the world health organization how is it placed to conduct a second pro is it in a position to demand answers from beijing the short answer is no and it has come from a senior official at the who he said that they meaning the who cannot force china to give more information so ultimately it all comes down to the member states to build pressure on china it is for world leaders to set the terms for the next round of investigation and this is where india comes in india has supported a follow-up of the first report india has called for further studies but this is not enough india needs to take a more active a more vocal role in holding china to account india is participating and as an observer at the g7 summit with world leaders now discussing the terms for a new investigation india should not hesitate to join this conversation let's talk about u.s president joe biden and his moment in the sun his first foreign trip as president biden has waited nearly 50 years for this and the moment has finally arrived he's now in europe carrying the stars and stripes here is what his itinerary looks like eight days three countries and numerous engagements there's a lot in store and an underlying sense of urgency joe biden must repair america's ties with nato reach out to its european allies find common ground with russia and also revisit some old treaties biden must convince his allies that number one america is a trusted partner its ultra nationalism is a thing of the past two america first is no longer his country's mantra three america's democracy is stable and not at stake and four america no longer threatens its allies publicly or refuses to join to sign joint communiques accompanying joe biden is first lady dr jill biden it's been a day since the duo landed in the uk biden began his trip by meeting u.s air force personnel stationed in mildenol and setting the tone for the coming days we're in a different place than we were 10 years ago better position but a different place we have to build the shared future we seek future nations are free from coercion or dominance by more powerful states where the global commons the seas the air the space and space remain open and accessible for the benefit of all to tackle this century's most pressing challenges we have to do it together dominance by more powerful states open and accessible sea is this a reference to the south china sea well here's what experts say a lot of biden's trip will be focused on countering china we will keep coming back to this mildenhall speech but for now let's turn to the latest biden has already started checking off his long list of engagements the president held a bilateral with british prime minister boris johnson earlier this evening wow it's a great great pleasure mr president to welcome you to call it's a great pleasure to be here fantastic to see you you know what i think what's next on biden's itinerary starting friday that is the 11th of june joe biden will attend the g7 summit it will go on for three days there will be bilaterals on the sidelines what's on the agenda climate change china trade the pandemic and the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan let me show you who else is attending the g7 summit this year there are the g7 countries of course canada france germany italy japan the uk and the us the european union will be participating in all discussions as guests also joining the summit will be leaders from australia india south africa and south korea so will biden hold bilaterals with all of them the answer is no some leaders for example india's prime minister narendra modi will be joining the summit virtually now there's one bilateral that we will be looking forward to and that is biden's meeting with german chancellor angela merkel they're likely to discuss the nord stream 2 it's a russian pipeline project and we've been reporting on this america like you know opposes it but germany wants it finished as soon as possible this is an 11 billion dollar project a natural gas pipeline project and it is marred with sanctions the g7 and the bilaterals will be held in cornwall and waiting to greet the leaders here is mount recycle more take a look at this [Music] [Music] it's 53 million tons of of e-waste that's created every year of which the g7 contributes about 40 of that [Music] currently 40 percent of total e-waste is a huge figure climate change as i mentioned will be on joe biden's agenda following the summit on the 13th of june he will head to the windsor castle outside london to meet britain's queen elizabeth biden last met the queen in 1982 and back then he was a senator from delaware a little trivia here queen elizabeth has met every u.s president since dwight eisenhower except for lyndon johnson so joe biden will be the 11th president to meet the queen post the meeting he will head to brussels where on the 14th of june he will meet nato leaders this is where the president will have some serious damage control to do his predecessor donald trump had threatened to leave the nato after demanding that the alliance partners pay more so biden will have to showcase america's commitment to this alliance and he's already on it in brussels i'll make it clear to the united states commitment to our nato alliance and article 5 is rock solid it's a sacred obligation we have under article 5. on the 14th of june biden will also have a private meeting with turkey's president recep tayyip erdogan and then he will meet russian president vladimir putin a man he has called a killer a man his administration blames for the cyber attacks on the u.s biden's meeting with putin will be at an 18th century castle in geneva as you can see preparations are already underway and expectations are limited we're not seeking conflict with russia we're on a stable particular predictable relationship our two nations share incredible responsibilities and among them ensuring strategic stability and upholding arms control agreements i take that responsibility seriously but i've been clear the united states will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the russian government engages in harmful activities so this is what joe biden's first foreign trip comes down to messaging what the world will be looking out for is how biden's messaging is different from trump's we'll keep you posted for the moment we'll dwell on biden's other challenge getting china to reveal what happened in wuhan the united states is conducting its own investigation because the first round of investigations were far from comprehensive they yielded basically no answers the who investigators hardly studied the possibility of a lad lab leak and they failed to produce any new evidence that establishes a clear link between the virus and a natural host in short we don't know where the virus came from in fact those on the outside are now contributing more to the debate new research has found that more than 47 000 wild animals wild animals were being sold in wuhan in the run-up to the pandemic does this confirm the theory that the virus naturally jumped from animals to humans here's an assessment as the pandemic spread from china to the rest of the world the huanan seafood market in wuhan became the center of global scrutiny china promptly shut it down and borrowed access to the market experts said this was fertile ground for the wuhan virus to jump into humans there is no conclusive proof that this is where the pandemic began but there's new research to show that wuhan had many such probable hot spots trade in wild animals was rampant in this city two researchers gathered data on 17 shops in wuhan what they found is staggering more than 47 000 wild animals were sold in wuhan in the run-up to the pandemic what kind of wild animals researchers believe at least 38 species were on sale these included civet cats mink raccoon dogs mammals that are susceptible to coronaviruses squirrels badgers foxes hedgehogs even birds and reptiles surprisingly these researchers say they did not find any evidence that bats or pangolins had been on sale in these markets the animals sold here were often butchered on site they were stored in unhygienic areas it's a setting that is ideal for viruses to jump to humans the researchers uncovered photographs that show what the huanan market was like before it was closed snakes rats raccoon dogs and other animals were kept alive inside cages these pictures indicate that much of the live animal trade happened illegally in wuhan the reports say that there was no enforcement of mandatory checks on the health of the animals the lapses were there for everyone to see the researchers looked at the animals on sale more closely they found that around 30 percent of them from six species had suffered wounds from gunshots or traps this included badgers and raccoon dogs both of these species can carry the wuhan virus these findings are significant they show why china is called the disease incubator of the world but they fail to answer the most pressing questions on the origins of the virus bureau report we own world is one made in china accept it or not but for many of us this label has become synonymous with low cost and low quality how true is the stereotype and what has china done to deserve such a bad reputation a lot the list is long the latest item on it is this china has sold vaccines to the world vaccines which may not be working let's show you china's vaccine map it is currently exporting vaccines to 43 countries a total of 742 million doses have been sold 22 million doses have been donated 262 million doses have been delivered china is exporting three major vaccines synovac can sign or bio and sign of farm so far so good now the million dollar question do these vaccines even work well you can start by asking mongolia more than half of their population has been fully vaccinated but daily infections have risen by more than 70 percent in the last two weeks which vaccine is mongolia using china's sign of farm forget herd immunity they're dealing with surging cases no wonder mongolians are questioning the effectiveness of chinese shots and they're not the only ones bahrain too is witnessing a surge there's a sharp rise in the number of infections and this is despite high levels of inoculation how do you explain this china's cyano farm accounts for 60 percent of the inoculations inoculation six zero sixty percent do you know what bahrain is doing now administering a pfizer booster shot this is for those who have received two doses of the chinese vaccine it's an embarrassing state of affairs for china and it keeps getting worse in the seychelles 61 of the people have been fully vaccinated and they have a population of just about 100 000 people this island nation had the highest vaccination cover globally last month it was ruptured daily average cases rose to 400 with 37 percent of the fresh infections reported in fully vaccinated people which vaccine had been given to these people china's sign of farm and then we come to the uae the united arab emirates it has vaccinated more than 38 of the population with more than 51 percent having got the first dose and yet daily new cases exceeded 1700 a few weeks back and here too sign of farm was the main vaccine being administered now the emirates is questioning the efficacy of the chinese vaccine and giving a fisa booster shot to sign of farm recipients and we're not done yet in the month of may the president of the philippines apologized for taking a sign of farm shot that's not all he sent the doses back to china why did he do this because filipinos do not want sign of farm they say the chinese cure is unproven next on this list is saudi arabia it has refused to recognize vaccination certificates of synovac and cyano farm it is recommending pfizer and astrazeneca instead well what do they say about such things once this chance twice is coincidence third time is a pattern and here we have more than three instances so questions are bound to arise why are so many countries wary of the chinese shot why are cases surging despite full vaccination are chinese vaccines really substandard do they work in china at least not very well it seems there's a fresh outbreak new infections are being reported in the guangdong province with its capital guangzhou accounting for 90 of the confirmed cases health authorities there blame the delta variant the one that was first identified in india and this could be true but then again it could also be false given china's track record of blaming every internal crisis on external factors so vaccine ovarian we don't know what is to blame but here's what we can confirm a strict lockdown has been imposed here overseas arrivals have been are being quarantined millions have once again been forced indoors and we thought that china had conquered the pandemic and thrown a party to celebrate its victory [Music] [Music] here's the thing the wuhan virus is unpredictable it keeps mutating it keeps spreading vaccines are not foolproof in preventing infection but if one vaccine has repeatedly proven to be ineffective if it repeatedly faces scrutiny then it may be time for some reflection and here's another question that needs to be asked why are we being bribed to get waxed from free guns and beers to scholarships and movie tickets to roll joints would you believe it and tesla cars governments and employees around the world are offering goodies and prizes to end vaccine hesitancy but are these incentives working and more importantly are these steps being taken to keep people safe or to keep the businesses going here's a report older you can receive a fifty dollar the winner will receive a full four year scholarship to any one of our state universities that's right get a shot and have a beer free beer for everyone 21 years or over to celebrate the independence from the virus as the demand for vaccines declines a new trend is picking pace to get people jabbed governments and employers around the world are trying to sweeten the deal with incentives prices and freebies the value of the loot depends on where you are in china which claims to be vaccinating 20 million people a day household groceries are proving to be quite the catalysts in some parts of china cinovak jabs are being offered along with two cartons of eggs in some others chicken wings flour and free parking tickets are up for grabs in return for cinna farm shots not too far from the mainland in hong kong getting vaccinated could win you a tesla even a pile of gold all thanks to the city's tycoons who are incentivizing the shots to boost a sluggish inoculation rate in serbia where there's a surplus of vaccines a cash for jabs scheme has been introduced the government is paying 25 euros to everybody who gets jabbed that's around 5 of an average serbian's monthly salary in india where many feel that they're immune to the virus the government is offering cash prices to those who submit photos of themselves getting vaccinated along with a catchy tagline the 10 best entries are being awarded 5 000 rupees at the end of each month in the state of gujarat a goldsmith community based in rajkot is offering women gold nose pins in return for vaccines but nothing beats the kind of schemes that are being offered in the united states america has a surplus of vaccines but a lot of people are still hesitant to get jabbed so american states are tailoring their incentives based on people's choices if you're in the state of washington you get joints for jabs pre-rolled dubies at a designated cannabis dispensary if you're in virginia you get guns for getting vaccinated customized firearms including shotguns and hunting rifles if you're in california you get to take part in cash prize lotteries 30 winners will be awarded 50 000 each and if you're in ohio and below 17 years of age you get a chance to win a four year college scholarship in a university of your choice your tuitions hostel and books will all be paid for but down under in australia doctors have been prohibited from offering any incentives because the government feels this will lead to drug companies making exaggerated claims about medicines that they could begin advertising their prescription drugs directly to consumers there seems to be merit in these arguments because the money being spent on getting people to take the shot could yield similar results if it's spent on better ways of delivering it to people who need it the most and are ready to take it viewer report we on world is one the question of origin is a tough one not just in the context of the wuhan virus but generally origin is tricky terrain for example where did human beings come from it may sound like a simple question a question for scientists but trust me it is a political minefield politicians can turn the most basic scientific facts into an ideological battle i can give you examples climate change is one of them vaccines the shape of the earth but tonight we'll talk about human evolution so what's the political spin on that argentina's president seems to have given this some thought although in hindsight maybe he shouldn't have before we reveal the president's outrageous theory let me give you some background the spanish prime minister is on a trip to argentina he met with president alberto fernandez on wednesday they talked about vaccines they inspected a guard of honor before sitting down for this press conference fernandez was keen to impress his guests so he flaunted argentina's european roots and he declared brazilians as people from the jungle listen to this we believe in latin america and in our continent and in the unity of our continent but particularly i'm also pro-european i'm someone who believes in europe because from europe octavio paz once wrote that the mexicans came from the indians the brazilians came from the jungle but the argentines came from the ships and there were ships that came from europe now that statement is all sorts of problematic for starters what ships is he talking about europeans did not migrate to argentina they colonized the country so the native argentinians are indigenous groups and tribes not european descendants far more problematic is the president's description of his neighbors mexico is apparently a country of native indians and brazilians come from jungles this is an open embrace of racism playing up european heritage as something superior the era of gushing over europe is over but argentina's president apparently did not get the memo so brazilians decided to remind him this is what president jaith bolsonaro brazil posted on social media a picture of himself in native headgear the caption says selva which means jungle the backlash did the trick argentina's president has apologized he says he did not want to offend anyone but the comments reveal a larger issue we cannot agree on something as simple as our origin like i said at the beginning this is a question for science so what do scientists say we often hear that humans came from apes but that's an oversimplification humans did not descend from apes scientists say that we share common ancestors with them by all accounts humans first emerged in africa this is around 2 million years ago they weren't high functioning beings they did not look anything like us but we share a handful of similarities like making tools and standing upright these first humans gradually traveled around the world so all this talk about a pure european is nonsense the first europeans in fact migrated from africa but you'd be surprised at how many people disagree with these theories we saw it in nazi germany today we see in europe's anti-immigration rhetoric you see origins are not always about science culture even mythology are battling for relevance here both are staples of the political class so they twist the narrative to suit their interests and once you deviate from the theory of common origin it's a dangerous spiral out of control fertile ground for ideas like race supremacy you can see shades of that in what the argentine president said people from the jungle he said when in fact jungles were the first home of humans but we are a species that prides itself on being precise now africa is a large place so the next question was where in africa did we come from that set of another race the earliest fossil of our genus was found in eastern africa it was around 2.8 million years old but the modern homo sapiens did not emerge until 260 thousand years later their fossils have been found all over africa in ethiopia in morocco in south africa and in botswana three years back a fossil was also discovered from israel every research team thinks they have struck gold that their fossil is the oldest and countries are more than happy to indulge after all humanity's first home is a great tagline for tourism so coming back to our original question where did humans come from the answer has not changed in the last 100 years until there is further evidence africa is our first home last week twitter's struggles with governments around the world got worse twitter deleted a post by nigerian president muhammadu buhari he threatened to punish regional secessionists for attacks on government buildings so twitter deleted that post nigeria responded by banning twitter in the country now the nigerian government has found a new home for its posts it has moved to ku the made in india social media platform but what about the people of nigeria are they two joining cool here's a report i can't tweet is this how a government in nigeria tweeting is now a crime after the controversial ban kicked in the nigerian government has threatened to arrest anyone who is found using the app the indefinite ban on twitter in nigeria has enabled the entry of coup the made in india alternative to twitter the nigerian government has given kuwait's formal endorsement by opening up its own account on the platform more nigerian users could sign up for coup in the coming days the company is already planning on expanding its regional presence its ceo has hinted at enabling local languages of nigeria a significant turn of events it started with twitter blocking a tweet of the nigerian president his government announced a ban of the platform nigerian telecom firms blocked access to twitter and now reports say that local television and radio stations have been asked to suspend their use of twitter is the government prepared to go the whole hog how serious is nigeria about this twitter ban on wednesday nigeria's minister of information made an offer to the company it wants twitter to register itself in nigeria and block users affiliated to regional secessionist groups i think first and foremost like i said twitter must register as a company in nigeria it will be licensed by the broadcasting commission which is regulatory agency and must agree not allow its platform to be used by those who are promoting activities that are mimicker to the corporate existence of nigeria nigeria softening its stand perhaps because its people are defying orders logging onto virtual private networks or vpns to get on the site reports say that after the ban on twitter was announced on the 4th of june the demand for vpns in nigeria shot up by more than fourteen hundred percent the government may have shifted to coup but guess where they got their welcome message on twitter the ceo of ku posted a welcome message for the nigerian government on twitter the ban is a tough message to the social media giant now it's a waiting game we'll see who blinks first bureau report be on world is one allow me to rewind the last one here for you in june 2020 the statue of a slave trader edward colston was torn down in bristol why because he was a racist and people decided to cancel him in the days that followed winston churchill 2 was cancelled as were many confederates in america also in june 2020 harry potter author jk rowling faced backlash online why because of this transphobic tweet later in 2020 tv star ellen degeneres was cancelled because of a toxic workplace culture then came the god of cancels former u.s president donald trump he was cancelled from social media platforms muted him when he was still in the white house why because he was seen as a threat to democracy hence cancelled five days ago model chrissy tygan was cancelled from a netflix production why because she had harassed a model some 10 days ago i'm listing these out for you with the hope that i can help you understand what the canceled culture is or what's called cancelling or culturally blocking someone boycotting their work if they're dead trying to end their careers if they happen to be alive this is the canceled culture no one knows when it began no one knows exactly when it began but over the years it has spread from corporates to celebrities you can be cancelled if your opinions do not resonate it does not matter if you are american legislator liz cheney or late american author dr soyuz can we cancel people like we cancel plans and tv shows with bad ratings is it that simple or is it a last resort is cancelling a tool for social justice is it the only way to hold powerful people accountable is it the only way to speak truth to power in a society plagued by power imbalance and injustice or is it plain and simple intimidation well this is something i want you to decide while i introduce you to the latest person who has been cancelled britain's queen elizabeth her portrait was taken down from a common room of an oxford university college the queen's portrait was seen as a symbol of britain's colonial history so students from the magdalen college passed a motion it highlighted how for some students depictions of the monarch and the british monarchy represent recent colonial history of the 17-member students committee 10 voted in favor of removing the portrait two voted against it and five did not vote was this a sign of the queen being cancelled one committee member said effectively cancelling the queen sent out a dire message that is sure to enrage another student reportedly said we are not capable of cancelling the queen the student committee has now decided to replace the queen's portrait by art by or off other influential and inspirational people is this the ghost of the colonial past catching up with the british royal family there are two sides to this canceled debate in the case of the queen the debate circles around monarchy an institution whose relevance is under question around the same time the canceled culture took over the internet the british royal family became the talk of the online town first prince andrew the duke the duke of york found himself entangled in the jeffrey epstein scandal and then came his disastrous interview which forced the duke to step down from his public duties then prince harry and meghan markle stepped back from their royal duties one year later they washed dirty linen in an interview with opera accused the royal family of racism and paid paying no heed to mental health recent events have been a public relations disaster for the british royal family it is not helping their cause that more and more people are now opening up to the idea of discussing the uncomfortable and dark chapters of history be the slave trade racism the colonial mindset or the royal silence on all of these a recent yougov poll suggested that youngsters in britain want to cancel the monarchy and opt for a public republic instead come to think of it it is hardly a surprise that students are now cancelling the british queen what is the most visible symbol of the united states of america everyone has their own picks the white house hollywood disneyland these are all classic american icons but one item figures in almost every list and that is the statue of liberty and soon there may be two of them in the u.s france is planning to gift a mini replica of lady liberty to the u.s such bilateral bilateral gifts are tried and tested as a tactic in diplomacy some of them have defined relations for decades others have ended in embarrassment and failure our next report tells you more for more than a century the statue of liberty has towered over new york a solitary figure clad in roman robes her hand clutching the torch of enlightenment but lady liberty could soon have company thousands of miles away in france her younger sister is ready to cross the atlantic for most of the world the statue is an american flagship an ideal vessel for american values and society but lady liberty herself is not american she was a gift from france in 1885 she arrived in new york disassembled into 350 odd pieces since then she has stood guard over the new york harbor 135 years later this mini replica will retrace that journey it will spend the next decade in america as a show of solidarity between france and the us this is a really important ceremony to remind us of the strong links with france and the french the critical french role in this gift from the people of france and a reminder of the liberty that we share and the importance that it's each generation that maintains that liberty the replica is a shadow of the real deal it rises to nine feet against the originals 151 feet but the details are pretty much spot on not surprised both were designed by the same sculptor augusta bartholdi if the voyage goes to plan many liberty will reach america on the 4th of july 9 days of prep work and then the big unveil on the 14th of july the french national day countries sending each other gifts is not unheard of in 1945 the dutch royal family sent a hundred thousand tulip bulbs to ottowa queen during world war ii this was their way of saying thank you the tradition continues even today though the tulip count has come down to twenty thousand here's another world war era gift the christmas tree at london's trafalgar square it's the object of much fanfare but do you know where it comes from norway they gift a tree every christmas for britain's support during the war but the most famous bilateral gift has to be the resolute desk the same desk that every american president uses it was a gift from queen victoria to president hayes in 1880 while most gifts deep in relations some are meant as a reset this was the idea behind america's gift to russia in 2009 a symbolic reset button unfortunately the gift was lost in translation the wrong russian word was printed on the button instead of reset it read overcharged animals are also common bilateral gifts china offered two giant pandas as a gift to america in 1972. mali gifted france a camel for liberating the country though rumor has it it was promptly killed and eaten in a stew nonetheless animal gifts work unless it's a giant wooden horse outside your gates in that case learn from the trojans burn it bureau report we are world is one that is a wrap you're leaving as always with gravitas images thanks for watching [Music] you

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Id: 8KPRzT7fUAw

Length: 52min 54sec (3174 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 10 2021