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Speaker 1: Let us go to Italy and Joe McKenna, very good

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Speaker 1: morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Mike. You might hear behind me some noise

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Speaker 2: because I'm in the Vatican press room at the moment

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Speaker 2: for the latest update.

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Speaker 1: Fantastic weal. The updated I'm reading in front of me

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Speaker 1: at the moment looks positive, doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: It looks very positive. There's a slight improvement in the

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Speaker 2: Pope's condition. According to the Vatican, the latest CT scan,

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Speaker 2: his third of his lungs since being admitted to hospital

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Speaker 2: on February fourteen, shows what they call a normal evolution,

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Speaker 2: which sounds like some improvement there of his pulmonary condition,

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Speaker 2: the renal insufficiency, the problem he had with his kidneys

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Speaker 2: seems to have receded, and he's had no respiratory crisis

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Speaker 2: in the last forty eight hours.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, if you go back a couple of days to

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Speaker 1: where he was and where he is now, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think there's reason for real hope, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there certainly is. However, I did speak to a

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Speaker 2: geriatrician at another Italian hospital today, not where the Pope

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Speaker 2: is currently being treated, and he said he could be

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Speaker 2: there for another week to ten days, pneumonia is much

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Speaker 2: more complicated in the elderly. Absolute rest is essential, and

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Speaker 2: because this is a man that loves human contact and

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Speaker 2: loves to be active, this could be a real problem

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Speaker 2: for him coming out of that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we wish and well obviously, and we'll stay

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Speaker 1: in touch with the story. As far as the Zelitski's

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Speaker 1: on his way to Washington Saturday our time, we've got

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Speaker 1: some sort of minerals deal. Apparently the some debate star

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Speaker 1: is on his way to Washington. They're talking about boots

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Speaker 1: on the ground and peacekeepers and all that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 1: So as far as this is concerned Ukraine, where is

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Speaker 1: Italy at.

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Speaker 2: Well? Prime Minister Georgia Maloney has been a little bit nuanced,

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Speaker 2: i think in her response, but we did see a

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Speaker 2: strong response today saying it's not possible to have lasting

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Speaker 2: peace in Ukraine unless Kiev gets the guarantees that it

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Speaker 2: won't be invaded by Russia. Again, she was meeting with

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Speaker 2: the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christensen in Rome. I think

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Speaker 2: she's been reluctant to commit Italian troops and it seems

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Speaker 2: like she's trying to be friends, as we've said before,

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Speaker 2: with both the EU and President Trump at this point, Okay.

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Speaker 1: And then you she is busy at the moment because

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Speaker 1: the head of the UAE is there, and this looks

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Speaker 1: to be very good business.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Prime Minister Maloney has had a strategy to pursue

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Speaker 2: stronger ties with golf countries, and it looks like she's

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Speaker 2: signing a deal with the United Arab Emirates. They're talking

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Speaker 2: about that country investing forty billion US dollars in Italy

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Speaker 2: after this bilateral summit that we had in Rome on Monday.

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Speaker 2: Under her watch, Italy has lifted the arm sales embargoes

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Speaker 2: for the UAE imposed by previous governments due to the

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Speaker 2: war in Yemen, and so it looks like she wants

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Speaker 2: to go full steam ahead, and this would involve deals

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Speaker 2: related to energy and talitations. I think for the most part.

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Speaker 1: Okay, are you still waiting for the Vatican update or

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Speaker 1: it's just been given.

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Speaker 2: We've had a written update, and the head of the

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Speaker 2: Press office, Mattia Bruni, is just giving a more detailed

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Speaker 2: update right now. But essentially we know that he's made

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Speaker 2: a slight improvement.

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Speaker 1: Good, good, good good. All right, I'll let you get

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Speaker 1: back to the appreciated very much Joe McKenna, who is at

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Speaker 1: the Vetican this morning. By the way, just back to

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Speaker 1: Trump very briefly. Fox, as in the television network. They

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Speaker 1: put out their ratings this morning, and any Trump administration

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Speaker 1: is always good for Fox. In general. They're number one

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Speaker 1: overall and have been for a number of years now,

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Speaker 1: but this month has been their biggest audience in the

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Speaker 1: history of Fox. Up fifty percent on last year. They

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Speaker 1: got sixty eight percent of the twenty five to fifty

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Speaker 1: four year olds, which is a monumental number. They've averaged

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Speaker 1: a little bit over three million viewers in primetime each night. MSNBC,

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Speaker 1: who were hemorrhaging at the moment, they were in a

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Speaker 1: weird place. They're laying some people off at the moment

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Speaker 1: at MSNBC, and what's the name Rachel Meadow. She packs it.

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Speaker 1: She goes on a show, packs a mass of sad

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Speaker 1: about her own company, laying everybody off, and starts whining

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Speaker 1: and bitching about it, and so there in meltdown. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: they've got a million viewers versus Foxes three, which is

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Speaker 1: down sixteen percent. CNN, who are also hemorrhaging staff at

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Speaker 1: the moment, they are down three percent they've got an

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Speaker 1: average of five hundred and fifty. That's about what we have.

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Speaker 1: And just think, just think about it. CNN is global,

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Speaker 1: they got an average of about five hundred. We get

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Speaker 1: a little less than five hundred thousand. But but you know,

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Speaker 1: we're in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: Such a good point.

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Speaker 1: They're terrible. We should be doing better. Yeah we should. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: what's the matter with us? We need to doze ourselves. Anyways,

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Speaker 1: The Fox Fox are enjoying the Trump administration.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.