you're watching deja vue news live from berlin honoring a life of public service. britain prepares for the funeral of prince philip the late husband of queen elizabeth will be laid to rest this afternoon in a small private ceremony at windsor castle also coming up. a cry for help from germany's intensive care workers rising coronavirus cases are pushing the country's health system to the brink all visit a hospital on the front lines of a pandemic. and roll castro's steps down as head of cuba's communist party

the nation enters a new era without a castro in command for the 1st time since 1959. i'm nick spicer welcome to the program final preparations are being made for the funeral of prince philip the husband of britain's queen elizabeth which takes place later today their son philip prince edward and his wife sophie viewed flowers left by members of the public outside st george's chapel in windsor where the funeral will take place only 30 close relatives will attend juta coronas fire assistant since the ceremony will reflect prince philip's close ties with the military. and charlotte's house until joins me now from london charlotte can you tell us more about what's planned for today. hello there yes we're hearing that

so this funeral service will have prince philip's fingerprints all over it he specially the question to them is not the usual pomp and circumstance associated with work you know that it would be instead no nonsense now for that reason it will be a ceremonial royal ceremony rather than a state funeral it will be very scaled back and we're told that it will pay tribute not only to his years of military service but his service as britain's longest serving consuls as well it will honor his his humor and his humanity we're also told now one moment i think that a lot of people will be looking out for as part of the service will be the hearse that his coffin will be taking to the chapel and it's a specially designed by prince philip was himself over a period of years it would be

a landrover defender which will carry the coffin in the back and i'm sure many smiles that will come from living rooms across the country when they see that moments of a real reflection of the man that prince philip wants. and as you're saying a not a lot of pomp which was pomp which was prince philip's wish and i guess they're coronavirus for shiksas as well which limit the size of the funeral any other factors at play here. right well the coronavirus restrictions do play a big ringback role in the organizing of this ceremony had to be aided long been planned and then had to be very hastily oh we thought townsend would be in line with restrictions here in the u.k. up to 30 people are allowed at a funeral that means it will just be very close family who will be attending well a lot of. during the service the world family will have to wear face masks keep

socially distance they won't be taking part in the the singing of him either all in line with those restrictions so in in many ways this will be a royal funeral like no other. and aren't these difficult times for the royal family given you know how the some of some of the members have been portrayed in the press recently to be on public display at this at this time. well all eyes i think are going to be on prince harry and prince william grandsons of prince philip that's after the explosive interview that prince harry gave to oprah winfrey after stepping back from world cuties and moving to the united states this funeral service will be the 1st time that the 2 brothers and the whole family's been reunited since that explosive interview and some very troubling claims were made by prince harry and his wife meggan a lot of people will be looking at the body language there between the brothers

particularly given that we've heard that they won't be standing side by side as they follow the coffin into the chapel a lot of people ringback saying that you're not going to shouldn't expect any kind of insight into the brother's relationship that this will instead just be a moment to mark the passing the life of their grandfather but indeed it has been a turbulent time for the world's family and one where the prince philip has previously been by the queen's side and throughout serbian times over the past decades now though going forward the queen will be managing periods like this very sadly alone ok charlotte so a family story and a very public story that we'll be following for you of all day on top of my life thanks so much. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. u.s. president joe biden has called for congress to pass

a gun restrictions after another mass shooting he ordered flags to be lowered at the white house and other government buildings in on are of the 8 people who were killed at a fed ex warehouse in indianapolis on thursday he described the u.s. gun deaths as a pandemic. hundreds of people took to the streets in chicago after city police released body cam footage of an officer shooting dead 13 year old adam toledo protesters held a vigil in solidarity with the boy's family the shooting is being investigated by the civilian office of police accountability. nasa has awarded a $2900000000.00 contract to elon musk's company space x. to supply the spacecraft that will run its 1st manned mission to the moon since 1972 must be 2 other competitors including amazon founder jeff bezos to secure the contract. the leaders of germany france and ukraine have called on russia to pull

its troops back from the ukrainian border ukraine's president followed a near selenski proposed a summit that would also include moscow which fears is preparing an invasion. the conflict dates back to 2014 when ukraine's pro russian president was ousted in a popular uprising moscow backed separatists have occupied the eastern region ever since russia says its recent military buildup is a response to nato threats and ukrainian provocations. ukraine is gearing itself up for a battle the country's military is in better shape than it was july war in 2014 but its firepower is no match for russia's military might. we are preparing we have a saying if you want peace always be prepared for war we are ready to meet an

enemy on an island. the current buildup of troops along the ukrainian russian border has been described by the u.s. and nato as the largest there since 2014 a cause of great concern for the ukrainians. is there is no split between danger or intimidation of war and danger or physical will usually russians come by and those sorts and now we'll see because attention is the reason. why it's hard to voice or kremlin is also became more dangerous we've grown answer a direct threats president zelinsky has appealed to european leaders to call on russia to pull its troops back from the ukrainian border it's not only our problem that safety or view or if it went all the euro will understand that it's all yours and what will we all move together were equally zelinsky met emmanuelle mccrone in

paris and angle america joined by video link selenski proposed a summit that also included moscow but so far russia has refused calls to pull back leaving ukraine fearful of an open invasion. interned in germany where the country is seeing its biggest spike in coronavirus cases since january 1 of the main reasons is the slow pace of vaccinations for fewer than one in 5 germans has received a 1st dose the rise in cases has prompted a warning from medical workers that intensive care units are being pushed to the brink did he report a test of alter visited a berlin hospital that is close to capacity. we're at the intensive care unit in the hospital half of the patients here suffer from cope at 19 dr thomas kuhn and this team have their hands full and the beds are filling up.

on the. streets slowly you can see that there is an increase at the moment we're not yet in a situation that brings us to the edge of what we can do. but we know that if the numbers continue to rise because certainly have problems go through is a hellish. comb in recent weeks the number of covered patients in germany's icy use has been rising sharply again by now at the peak of the 2nd wave of the pandemic has almost been reached intensive care beds are becoming scarse and the workload of stuff continues to grow. intensive care nurse tim could has also noticed that. among men of now in this 3rd wave it is particularly noticeable that the patients are getting more seriously ill and ill

for longer also they need a lot of care that means the situation is very challenging and very stressful for us you really need time to relax when you're off work. but it is not just the sheer increase uncovered patients that worries the teeth that patients health is deteriorating fast and this 3rd wave of the pandemic they are also an effort to get them before probably also because most people over 80 years old have already been vaccinated. the average age is now much younger compared to the 1st or 2nd waves and we see that very clearly we don't really have any patients who are over 80 years old anymore they're almost non-existent who would you know to what extent german hospital could pass. average varies greatly from region to region some are already completely full others are still coping one thing would help more vaccinations one of them for good things we won't get out of this without back

scenes they are very important but it is also important to stick to hygiene measures to keep that distance and observe current coverage for strips of each and everyone must take this been demick seriously and can do their part to make get out of this is quickly as possible the truth. if the number of patients continues to rise other important treatments would have to be postponed in some areas and many that is already the case the situation many doctors agree is serious. return now to some of the other developments in the pandemic around the world the death toll from code 19 is expected to reach 3000000 on saturday the virus is still surging in india which reported another record daily rise in cases the capital delhi is on a weekend lockdown italy will wrist ease restrictions in many regions from april 26th but the government warned caution was needed to avoid a resurgence in the virus. rolle castro has announced his resignation as head of

cuba's ruling communist party putting an end to 6 decades of rule in the country by members of the castro family role who took over as president from his brother fidel in 2008 has said he is passing leadership on to a new generation and. as for me my task as 1st secretary of the central committee of the communist party of cuba and with the satisfaction of having fulfilled my duty and my confidence in the future of the country. with those words to the communist party congress raul castro announced his retirement from the front line of cuban politics. the news drew a mixed reaction on cuba streets. i am sad it makes me happy to know he is going to rest but i am sad because we work for him at the helm of the country. the

continuity of the revolution is guaranteed there is youth there to keep going after all the work they have done. they should have already taken a step towards a new mentality a new future. i think that given the situation they have failed a lot and i think that for artists and from the human side of things there should be more freedom so this change is better and perhaps there will be more freedoms coming. here. this could be the man to bring that change make l.d.s. canelo took over the cuban presidency from castro in 2018. but even though he's stepping down as party leader castro said he wasn't going anywhere. it now. and no one should doubt it while i live i will be ready with my foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland the revolution and socialism with more force than ever words let's shout no you live free.

and you are of course watching d.w. news up next our documentary on the way scientists are trying to combat the effects of climate change it was just more news in a website. on exposure thanks for watching. their story their very own personal drama. the people who survived the catastrophe . and they share private footage that has never been seen before. back to stuart's people 20 years.