this is date over the news line from birth in north korean leader kim jong un re-emerges following uncertainty over his health state media broadcasts video of him at a factory opening his 1st public appearance in 3 weeks i had been remiss he was seriously ill or even dead also coming up. in the u.s. small states began easing coronavirus lockdown rules and reopening opinion is divided across the country with many americans warning it's too soon to return to business as usual. and all strip allows all shops to reopen people can also now

meet with normal family members as that country lives coronavirus lock down restrictions in a step towards a new normal. i'm rebecca ritter's it's good to have you with us north korean leader kim jong un has appeared in public for the 1st time in 3 weeks state media broadcast video of came at a dedication ceremony adding that he was greeted with thunderous applause from the crowd came as re-emergence puts an end to speculation that the north korean leader was seriously ill or even dead. the video images from north korean state television appear to show kim jong un at the opening of a fertilizer plant he is surrounded by functionaries and appears to be healthy. most

of the attendees are wearing face masks the 1st each which is not independently verified is said to be from friday kim was absent from the public eye for almost 3 weeks his last public appearance was on the 11th of april at a communist party event in the capital pyongyang. there was no sign of kim a few days later on april 15th one of north korea's most important dates he was absent from ceremonies marking the birth of his grandfather north korea's founder kim hughes soon rumors began to circulate with some u.s. and south korean media citing reports kim was seriously ill following a heart operation these satellite images sparked further speculation the north korea monitoring group of 38 north says the show kim's personal train parked near the eastern coast the resort of one sonne where kim has a villa. north korean state media never commented on kim's long absence but

these latest images are likely to quell the intense speculation about his health well correspondent frank smith joins me now from cell we've just saying that new video from the state news agency appearing to show came alive and well does it in fact settle the speculation over the latest health. well i think it may in fact settle that that concern about kim jong un's health 'd those images are from korea central news agency north korea's state media in the background you see kim jong. junk that's kim jong un's sister she's the vice director of the propaganda and agitation department in north korea and i would just be kind of too far fetched to consider that they were trying to lie to the north korean people about the state of 'd the leader's health and this really is remarkable because here in south korea

just yesterday you had a south korean lawmaker a north korean defector that's a south korean lawmaker say that he was 99 percent sure that kim jong il was dead so this really goes to show you the opaque nature of media coming out of north korea and definitely why i was there all the speculation i have a his health and even death for the past week aside. well i think when you look at north korea need to look at a few things 1st off as i mentioned the view into north korea really is blurred if not completely opaque when kim jong il died that's kim jong un's father back in 2011 the international community the world didn't find out for 2 whole days and only when the korea central news agency announced it we also have to remember north korea has a nuclear weapons program it's under sanctions from the united nations security

council and that is a tremendous concern for the international community what happens to those when there is some change in leadership in north korea and that's where all 'd the speculation has been over the past week who is going to be the next leader and most of that speculation focused on kim jong un's younger sister kim your jiang that we saw in the background that we've seen assisting kim jong un with his various duties including the recent summits that he had with south korean president mungy and u.s. president donald trump. a fact that in self thanks very much for the update. well now let's take a look at the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic the total number of coronavirus infections in europe now tops $1500000.00 cases according to a new tally russia and pakistan in both reporting their biggest one day jump in new infections france is extending its health a merchant say for 2 more months until the 24th of july the country's health

minister said lifting the emergency this month would be too soon and saxony on house is set to become the 1st chairman state to ease restrictions contact restrictions starting monday people can get together in groups of up to 5. in the u.s. more states are reopening for business and made a fierce nationwide debate over how soon coronavirus lockdown restrictions should be lifted many public health officials have warned it's too soon for a return to normal even as protest is in some states the pressure on local late is to re-open as little consensus with different states assuming different policies finally a day at the beach the sand and gulf waters of galveston have reopened to the public texas has become the biggest u.s. state so far to begin reopening just after recording its highest single day death

toll from the coronavirus one florida man dressed as the grim reaper acted as a reminder that beach goers were risking their health. we are dealing with a deadly virus i love our beaches i've been fighting for beaches for years but i think it's too soon to draw thousands and millions of people to our beaches after a period in which 90 percent of americans were told to stay home lock down orders have now expired in several states barber shops in alabama open their doors to customers overdue for a trim shops movie theaters and restaurants are back in business in various areas though with precautions to enable social distancing. with a 350 person occupancy in a point 4 percent of that is about 87 people but we're going to kind of slow down the operations a little bit or work with about 60 people diners who showed up celebrated the ok jd

we were thinking which is the 1st restaurant we're going to go to after we are able to come out and this is the way that we ended up back so we're really happy here is . that you know this is great. where people are on edge and states including california were tough restrictions remain in force police in los angeles had to keep demonstrators for and against reopening from coming to blows. and a man in texas is facing assault charges after pushing a park ranger into the water for asking people to observe social distancing rules 2 . and now for a brief look at some other stories making headlines around the world the white house has blocked top health official anthony found he from trant from testifying before congress members are investigating the trumpet ministrations handling of the virus outbreak has often contradicted trump the administration calls it

counterproductive for a member of the covert response team to testify and one is that. shares in the electric car make a tesla tumbled by more than 10 percent after a series of bizarre tweets by its chief executive a long musk posted that the stock price was too high and said he would sell off most of his possessions i austria has become one of the 1st countries in europe to lift many of its lockdown restrictions in place since mid march after 7 weeks where social contact was strictly regulated the country is relaxing its measures and trying to slowly return to a new normal austrians and now allowed to meet people from the outside their own household but still i don't want me to distance. we're joined now by correspondent carrie skiving in the austrian capital vienna carrie as of today all shops are allowed to open have lots of people been heading out on the streets yes they

certainly have in fact i decided to join them at the q one of my local supermarkets it was rather long but yes this is the 1st day after 6 weeks and which austrians can go to the hairdresser they can go through any store the big shopping centers the big department stores and they can also go to church tomorrow if they wish but they will have to keep their distance keep that one meter distance and wear a mask when the inside any of those buildings so it is significant thinking of restrictions here but it comes with certain restrictions such as the compulsory mosque and often blocks as well at various facilities isn't it doesn't say how much police but run it so exactly how australia has dealt with the coronavirus so far. after it had a bit of a bad early start you might remember the outbreaks in the ski resorts in for

a while back and to rope in fiction started this thread rapidly and people lived those results and went home and spread the virus even further in many countries of europe and the local authorities in those areas were slow to react however when austria did react it was quite tough to lock down that came in the middle of march post big restrictions on movement and some areas were totally quarantined so they got it under control i think you could say that now with as few as 428 people in hospitals now and the daily infection rate is quite low something like 70 people new infections per day he said lots of people are out and about today you know they do austrians generally support the lock down easing or their skip people still afraid of a 2nd wave of infections. i think there's broad consensus for what the government is doing but there are people particularly the vulnerable i've spoken to many older

people people with health conditions and they want the isolation to end in fact they say they will continue to so far so many. more times. the threat is worse than it is now going to debates about opening up a school to go in and out based opening of school starts next week teachers are concerned that they can't meet the government's social distancing requirements in the schools so there is some concern in certain areas kerry stiring reporting for us from vienna thanks very much. german chancellor angela merkel says germany is prepared to make a significant financial control contribution to the development of a coronavirus vaccine on monday the e.u. will host a donors conference for governments and organizations to pledge money machall called for global cooperation in her weekly video address i meant. an interview it was a kind of body can get sick with this virus and so it's on time to work together across

the globe this is not only an opportunity to working together rather i would say it's a necessity germany's taking on this responsibility and will make sure that once a vaccine is developed that it benefits all people the good. here in germany the may day holiday passed off quieter than usual this year official trade union events to mark international labor day was streamed online but in some german cities there was still some of the traditional street protests by left leaning demonstrators. the scuffles broke out before nightfall rocks and bottles were thrown and fireworks set off in berlin scrotes bear district social distancing and infection prevention all forgotten and similar scenes in how birds were several 100 people had gathered for protests police had their hands full breaking up the unauthorized gatherings. in

berlin large groups of curious onlookers added to the danger several 1000 people at close quarters hardly any wearing masks. not convince some unwise people to respect social distancing rules. people are of course free to walk the streets but we could not always prevent some passers by from clogging the streets and turning into groups of rubber neckers into being. but most of them made a holiday passed peacefully restrictions on public assembly inspired some creative protests like here in berlin but a german camera team was attacked 5 people were injured some seriously 6 others were arrested some 5000 police were deployed in berlin. you're watching day to the news and we're back with more news headlines at the top of the hour in the meantime check out our website d.w.

dot com and don't forget to follow us on twitter and instagram a date of the news i'm rebecca reagents in bell and thanks very much for joining us . this state of emergency is the. people around. dark documenting these dramatic times. they're keeping a corona diary and welcoming us into their lives they let us get as up close and personal as the pandemic will allow. the diary starts meetings on t w.