your interest really. starts with. w. . last. this is g.w. news a live from berlin russia commemorates the soviet victory over nazi germany in world war 2 but this year's victory day celebrations in moscow were scaled down to a bare minimum due to the cope with 19 pandemic the air force had to fly overs but the main military parade in red square has been postponed. larger than expected

demonstrations in several german cities as some people start to push back against coronavirus restrictions our political reporter tells us what's behind the protests . and the las vegas mourns one of its great bright horn of the magician duo 6 friedan roy has died fellows at age 75 by covert 19. i'm claire richardson welcome to the show russia has been celebrating victory day marking 75 years this is the defeat of nazi germany in world war 2 but this year's commemorations have been scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic with the red square military parade and a large scale procession both postponed. russia's courageous military. he

might took to the sky today far above moscow where coronavirus precautions kept the streets nearly empty this victory day. it had been planned to be an especially large celebration this year as russia marked 75 years since defeating nazi germany in world war 2. but the mass perceptions were off postponed by the pandemic president vladimir putin did lead to scale down ceremony at the eternal flame war memorial. but not a word about the virus instead his speech was a rallying cry to the nation. this is your view we know and firmly believe when we did we are invincible when we stand together for sports because congratulation you're on victoria day what.

a day of pride in russia's past. but people here have plenty to grumble about corona virus infections are on the rise and the economy is shrinking. presiding over a time of national crisis putin faces plenty of challenges ahead. i'm joined now by gustav grass or senior policy fellow at the european council on foreign relations because afaik so much for joining us how important are these victory day celebrations for the national psyche and russia's collective memory. well actually you should not underestimate them they moved sort of at the center stage of the denationalize frei national identity thing the big 3 in the 2nd world war after many projects a cold war to be the sort of theme russianness should be about the russian exceptionalism should be about came out basically on tops or after orthodox

conservative isn't or water experiments basically the victory in world war 2 is the most undisputed topic and was made the center stage scene of patriotism and reeducation in a patriotic sense russia. says he says just a major show of patriotism these anniversary celebrations that were meant to also be a show of power for president vladimir putin when he surely could have used as the country's had hired by the crown a virus how can we expect these scaled back commemorations to affect his standing. oh well on the coronavirus he tried to sort of get the response ability to the local governments quite early on in a crisis which is if something superior in russia happens a severe domestic crisis he tries to delegate this to other people and especially to many other peoples whom he can try out and then basically the fire the incompetent all them promote the more competent members of need over to integrate

some government coronavirus is no exception we also have to see that in russia they are quite at the beginning of the curve or rather in the middle of the rising curve there are roughly one and a half months behind europe in the craw worse and now it's about to get really nasty. infections are spread on the countryside and in moscow you already have quite a high rate of death is so pulling off a parade could have poisoned basically the parade if you will to pull it off in the falls. in this situation so that's why you basically have to reach and russia is in the midst of a lockdown right now but in neighboring belarus for seeing quite a different picture there are major military parade took place in the capital now let's take a look at how that went. physical distancing not in minsk. thousands of people packed together to watch the annual victory day military parade. few

people wore masks becoming infected doesn't appear to be a major concern. so in 199945 things are much worse thousands millions of people died and no one was afraid of anything coronavirus will never defeat veterans and even less so in this long suffering country. at the moment there are maybe fewer people this year some hope for these people have listened some are more afraid some less afraid anyway what can we do. valerie says vastly different approach to the coronavirus pandemic has caused concern and led to a strained relationship with close neighbors russia. moscow has publicly worried about the lax attitude taken by president alexander lukashenko. he has consistently dismissed the gravity of the pandemic. with them. in this mad disoriented world there are people

who denounce us for the time and place of the sacred events. i'd like to tell them humanely. don't rush to conclusions and to condemn. the descendants of the victory of belorussian and. also. for now the approach by appears to be unwavering despite sharply rising infection rates in batteries and warnings from the world health organization. so as we have seen bellary is taking a very different approach there gustava does this have the potential to drive a wedge between russia and its neighbor. i would rather say it has the potential to really destabilize bellerose because as a said before there in the beginning of the spread of the pandemic there are an

hour for months behind europe so now we have this sharp increase in the infection and if you don't go into lockdown now in platen the curve you will basically explode your your overwhelm your healthcare system and that is what is actually about to happen in belarus and the increases in infections and to spread the amount of infected people per 100000 inhabitants is the highest in the whole post so it world you have the highest growth rates of newly infected people so. in in some time from now he will probably have to reverse course but i did huge domestic toll and costs and he was a fairly popular will to cross until now he had economic growth he provided for some some sort of social benefits and this might well year old all these benefits he had with the same population and i guess there will be a difficult time thereafter and thank you so much for that and i think.

let's turn our attention now to the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic the number of confirmed covert 1000 cases has passed and look for a 1000000 mark that's according to the tally being kept by johns hopkins university in the u.s. more than 277000 people have died of the disease egypt's president of c.c. has approved amendments to his country's state of emergency they granted him and security agencies additional powers he says they are needed to combat cove at 19 meanwhile spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has said there will be a period of national mourning for the victims of the virus after restrictions are lifted across the country spain has one of the highest death tolls in europe and south korea's capital seoul has closed hundreds of bars and nightclubs after a nuke over 1000 cluster was linked to the city's nightlife scene thousands of

people have protested against coronavirus restrictions in several german cities the biggest turnout was in stuttgart with $5000.00 participants according to organizers the demonstration was allowed to take place after germany's constitutional court overturned an earlier ban there were also protests in munich frankfurt and berlin where police made several arrests. for more on that story let's talk to do to abuse it kate brady kate thanks for joining us kate is there a growing movement that we're seeing taking place here. well certainly since just a few weeks ago we've seen these number of people attending these demonstrations which are often dumped as high g. demonstrations growing from just a few dozen people in the german capital to the thousands that we've seen in several german cities today but it is worth noting of course that is people still are a minority and at several local establishment several local businesses close to where these demonstrations have been taking place there will also be holding

a sense of of counterparts as a kind of counter protest against these demonstrations but in placards and posters in the window saying we're not going to stage we're not your background your backdrop sorry and one thing that we could be seeing here by these protesters is something that one of the leading for all ages here in germany christian to us that he's been helping deal with the pandemic here in germany he were very few weeks ago to a prevention paradox in which people start to look around themselves and see only the situation in which they find themselves which of course here in germany relatively speaking is quite positive as far as the condemn it goes the german government has managed to get a relatively good grip on the pandemic and the number of cases and deaths compared to other countries like the u.s. and to slee has been quite low so it could well be the case that some of these people in this there and what restrictions do people seem to object to the most.

well it seems to be that people are protesting at these demonstrations against what they describe as an infringement on that right because people have been limited to the amounts of people that they could beat me say and also the economics to shut down a good many businesses have been closed temporarily if not for the long term recently but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what unites these groups of these protesters also being known holocaust in my eyes and conspiracy theories as well and anti-vaccination groups who have been driven recently as well by these conspiracy theories particularly those surrounding the microsoft founder bill gates and the conspiracy theory that he is developing some kind of digital so typical could be implanted in the human body so there's all sorts of different groups of people here for right across the political spectrum so it is difficult still to pinpoint exactly what unites these groups apart from

a general mistrust of politicians and also of the mainstream politics and mainstream media. brady thank you very much. now for a brief look at some other stories making headlines around the world at least 6 people including 2 police officers have been killed in a shoot out during a protest in western afghanistan demonstrators were demanding economic assistance in the city of fear osco after weeks of restrictions aimed at containing. officials say some people opened fire at police igniting a gun battle. tesla c.e.o. elon musk has threatened to move his company's u.s. operations from california to texas or nevada frona virus restrictions have kept the carmaker's plant in fremont closed since late march musk has called the measures fascist and urged governments to stop taking people's freedom. sad

news from las vegas now where cove in 1000 has claimed the life of one of its best known showman roy horn of the magician duo siegfried and roy has died he was 75 years olds let's take a look back on his colorful life. last vegas mourns an icon more horn dominated show business here for decades always alongside his partner secret fischbacher performing as the magician duo see creed and roy originally from germany the 2 entertainers 1st met on a cruise ship they quickly became partners both on stage and in life and how they think and i think when i spoke with siegfried i had a cheetah so i asked him if we could incorporate them into the show and siegfried sent everything is possible in a much your show. the wildcat act was born and it quickly became the hallmark of secret and roy in their villa and that's vegas the parkers raised white tigers threatened with extinction and lions then they signed a record setting contract for

a lifetime of performances there consistently sold out show was seen by millions of people then in 2003 there propped and who was seriously injured by one of his tigers during an act like this one would believe that the tiger was just trying to save him after he had suffered a stroke he battled to recover learning to talk and walk despite being paralyzed on one side. you're watching t w news at thanks so much for joining us. we know that this is very time for us the coronavirus is changing the world changing our lives so please take care of yourself good distance and wash your hands if you can stay at how we do w. here for you.