you're watching the to the news live from berlin honoring lives lost to the pandemic germany is holding a memorial service today for the nearly 80000 people who died from covert 19 with the country firmly in the grip of a 3rd wave that toll is mounting every day. britain's prince philip is laid to rest close family and friends join queen elizabeth and windsor castle near london it is socially distance funeral service. and in the

bundesliga byron munich brush aside bird but coach can see flick drops a bombshell announcing he wants to leave the club. next by sir welcome to the program. germany is honoring those lost of the coronavirus today top officials including chancellor i'm going to medical and president frank walter steinmeier have gathered in berlin for the ceremony tens of thousands of people have had to say a premature goodbye to their loved ones those who died often did so alone with relatives kept away by coronavirus restrictions old age homes were especially hard hit by the pandemic a senior citizens and caregivers were unable to protect themselves even as vaccinations increase in germany today's events are meant to provide

a moment to reflect on the 79914 people who have died since the pandemic hit the country. that is taking place at kaiser's kaiser wilhelm memorial church in berlin it's an ecumenical service with a limited guest list because of pandemic restrictions as was pointed out during the service such restrictions have meant that relatives of the sick are often unable to even hold their family members hands as they lay dying the service also pay tribute to doctors nurses and other health care staff for their efforts. and our political correspondent has brandt is in berlin city center outside of the kaiser wilhelm morial church can you tell us a little bit more about how the service unfolded. yes it was as you said

an ecumenical christian service mostly with the catholic protestant and also talks priest conducting the service but there was also some participation by religious leaders from the muslim and from the jewish community it was a service conducted by the religious leaders attended by the political leaders but it was not the central political morial act that will take place in a couple of hours time at another location here in the center of them and as you said it was a very limited number of people who were allowed to attend that will be the case later as well the service is about to end and the dignitaries will then move to the other location where the official state act will take place you know no this is about mourning of course and sharing in people's grief but i think it's fair to ask how did we get here how did so many people die in germany.

well one has to say that in comparison to many other countries even here in europe the death toll in germany is still fairly limited but of course 80000 deaths is a very very serious number and something that does hit germany quite substantially of course there are people who say that the number of days could still have been reduced further if the measures that had been taken to control the pandemic had been more rigorous and that i think is one of the on says to your question there has been a lot of dispute a lot of backward and forwarding a lot of bickering about what needs to be done to control the pen demick especially bickering between the central government of angular markel and the leaders of germany 16 federal states of germany's regions and that bickering in fact continues at the moment there is still no total agreement on how to do there's another explanation for the number of deaths obviously is the spread of the mutant virus of

the variants of the virus that are more infectious and cause a more serious illness and affect especially younger people as well and this so-called british virus has been prevalent in germany for some weeks now and has contributed to increasing the number of infections and the number of deaths. ok that was a deed abuse political correspondent brant reporting from outside the kaiser vilhelm the morial church in berlin where a service for code 1000 victims is currently wrapping up and later today will be bringing you live coverage of the official service to commemorate germany's covered $1000.00 victims here on. and now to some of the other developments in the pandemic india recorded more than 230000 new cases on saturday that's more than 3 times the daily case number in the united states the world's worst hit nation the us itself with a strong vaccination rollout in place has still seen an 8 percent caseload rise as

more states eased restrictions zimbabwe has released more than $300.00 prisoners from its jails to ease congestion in the country's notoriously overcrowded prisons amid a 2nd wave of infections. the czech republic has expelled 18 russian diplomats who it says are military spies the russian embassy staffers are being kicked out after a check official said they found clear evidence that moscow operatives were involved in deadly explosions at an ammunition depot in 2014. the blast that claimed 2 lives a military ammunitions warehouse in the east of the czech republic explodes in october 24th team causing widespread damage. 2 months later another similar explosion. 7 years on the czech government says it found a link between the explosions and russian secret services.

based on clear evidence of pain during the investigation conducted by our security services i can say there is well grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the russian intelligence service g r u. the people who want to see. such. and these are the key suspects believed to have been in the country at the time of the blast both men are also wanted in the u.k. in connection with the 2018 poisoning of sergei scruple a former russian spy and 18 russian embassy staffers accused of being military spies now have 48 hours to leave the country moscow has denied involvement and says there will be diplomatic consequences. i'm very sorry that the czech russian relationship will suffer like this however as the prime minister has said the czech republic needs to react wolfie. check officials are now

considering excluding russian corporations from a not coming bid to build new reactors at the ducal vanny nuclear power plant choosing a contractor for the build has become a symbol of geo political allegiance for the czech republic. prague will lay out its grievances at a meeting of e.u. foreign ministers on monday another sign of growing international anger at russia's actions abroad. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world. scientists say one of the world's largest icebergs has melted away so-called a 68 iceberg had a surface area of nearly 6000 square kilometers and weighed approximately 1000000000 tons after it broke away from and article in 2017 but satellites show the formation is virtually gone now broken into countless small fragments.

china in the united states have issued a joint statement pledging cooperation to tackle climate change it follows a visit to shanghai by u.s. climate envoy john kerry is the 1st official from the biden administration to visit china. israeli forces have clashed with muslim worshippers angered by coronavirus restrictions as they observe ramadan in jerusalem's old city israeli police fired stun grenades and deployed water cannons to disperse crowds on a popular public plaza. prince philip queen elizabeth's husband for more than 7 decades has been laid to rest he died last week at the age of 99 the ceremony took place under strict social distancing rules that went to windsor castle near london the prince himself helped plan the funeral and it reflected his lifelong ties with the armed forces. a funeral for a man who gave almost

a century of service to his country and his soul for him. to lapse coffin was carried to st george's chapel in windsor castle draped by his personal standard and adorned with his naval cap and sword. only 30 close friends and family members could attend to 2 coronavirus restrictions . it was philip's devotion to service the provider to theme to the funeral ceremony . we have been inspired by his on wavering loyalty to our queen. by his service to the nation and the commonwealth. by his courage fortitude and face. listening to the service with their head bowed the widowed british monarch queen elizabeth the 2nd the ceremony was steeped in military tradition in line with prince philip's personal instructions and included

a rendition of the last post sounded by buglers from the royal marines and humanise he. was. members of the public had been asked not to gather outside windsor castle but many felt the need to be there and pay their respects. i think everyone's feeling of it so much advice but yeah i think you should be sadly missed you know since he's died we've only survived come to terms with what i am mazing person he really was because we're hearing all these stories about the things that he did in the people that he and feelings i've been absolutely amazed with the extraordinary number of things that he was involved in. it really the amount of work that he put in but he always had that little bit of a sparkle didn't he. inside the chapel the queen looked on as philip's coffin was

lowered into the crypt these. in the heavens. and then a royal funeral like no other drew to a close reduced in scale due to the coronavirus what an exceptional tribute to a long life of military and public service. very special farewell in so many ways we turn to sports now and some big news from the bundesliga get where byron munich beat vosburgh but the champions coach hansie flick shocked fans after the match by saying he wants to leave at the end of the season flick has enjoyed a successful 18 months at the club winning 6 trophies including last summer's champions league but reports of

a rift between flick and byron sporting director have persisted now flick has confirmed that he wants to be released from his contract which could set him up to take the role of german national coach. said he had told his players before the match that he wanted to go but that didn't seem to affect their form as they disposed of a stubborn side. off the light cigs goalless draw on friday by employers knew a win involved would significantly boost their title chances and they already knew of coach on the flicks designed to leave the club. on the quarter hour mark 18 year old jamal opened the scoring for the visitors. keeper cohen castillo's not covering himself in glory as the youngsters if it slipped by him and eventually crossed the goal line. cast dale's then again made things easier than they should be palming the bulls straight into the path of striker eric maxime to

promoting as brian where once more for the time and space while attacking down them left flank. hit back through leading scorer very cost who was set up by the ever lively for his 19th of the season but just 2 minutes later jamal musi alla sealed his brace to put by in 31 the head. thomas miller it was a 17th assist of the season but it was not a routine victory in the 2nd half by and took their foot off the gas and the hosts revved up shortening the lead through maximillian philip far too easily for manuel neuer his liking. the wolves had the better chances but couldn't make up for vera keepers 1st off mistakes by an hour now 7 points clear at the top of the table as hans a flake kicks off what looks like his farewell tour by ending full sporks unbeaten

home record. and you're watching t w news up next our magazine shift meets digital nomads traveling the world don't forget you can always get the latest news on our website dot com the next vice or thanks for watching. more than a 1000 years ago europe witnesses a huge construction boom. christianity for the established itself. both religious and secular leaders more eager to display their power.