♪ brent: this is dw news, live from berlin. appealing from help from europe and germany. the opposition leader calls for support in belarus. we will learn what came out of her mailing today with german chancellor, angela merkel. also on the program -- the opposition lames claims of power and sunday's election results, and storms of the

parliament. we will see how one of india's poorest -- forest districts cope with months of lockdown. dw speaks with a german astrophysicist. ♪ phil: i'm phil gayle. welcome to the program. we begin in berlin, where belarus' opposition leader has been in talks with german political leaders, including the chancellor, angela merkel. she wants elections following the forced poll.

she wants germany to play a leading role in ending the unrest. reporter: this meeting at the german chancellory in berlin is crucial. the opposition leader has high hopes, as she said ahead of the talks. >> germany is one of the most powerful countries in the world. now, we need help and mediation of our negotiations with authorities. think that germany can be extremely helpful in this situation. reporter: merkel has deep sympathy for the belarus and protest movement. as a former citizen of east or minute, she has lived through a peaceful revolution, which gives her a special understanding of belarus. >> when i see the courage of these women who take to the streets to call for freedom and

and corruption, i can only say i am amazed. i find it truly impressive. [applause] reporter: women have persisted, turning out despite the ongoing violence of the regime. the opposition leader is continuing her own fight from exile. her comrade was put in prison for her own convictions. the protesters want alexander lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, to step down. they claim the recent elections that saw him beat the opposition leader were rigged. germany and the eu agree, they have imposed sanctions on alexander lukashenko's inner circle, but not the dictator himself. the opposition leader has called for the sanctions to be extended to the bishop of and others. many others -- to alexander lukashenko and many others.

manythers agree, including the green party. >> we must offer humanitarian aid to people under threat and to those who seek help from us because they are tortured or beaten i the regime -- by the regime. reporter: on monday, the opposition leader thanked the belarusian community in berlin. she likens the country to east germany in 1989, saying hers is a nation that wants to teardown its walls. people want to make their own decisions about their lives. phil: let's get the latest from simon young. welcome. what have we learned about today's meeting? >> this was a 45-minute meeting between the opposition leader and angela merkel. the opposition leader, according to her spokeswoman this evening, made clear that the opposition has one goal in particular, that new elections must be held in belarus, free and transparent

elections for the presidency. she also told the chancellor that she wanted to make a point that the opposition protests are not directed against europe or russia, they are the result of internal political crisis in russia. i think she also repeated that point that the european sanctions against elegant of the cushion go's -- against alexander lukashenko's circle do not go far enough. she wants the list of people affected by sanctions extended. phil: that is what she wants. what sort of answer is she going to get from germany? what sort of support will they give? >> that remains to be seen. i think that the opposition are asking, as well, for practical support. support for civil society,

organizations, for independent media groups, which have been suffering and finding it difficult to operate during this crisis. that is one thing. more widely, of course, there is that call for europe and other friendly nations to become involved, supporting dialogue between the lukashenko regime and the opposition. phil: as angela merkel and the opposition leader were meeting, germany's ambassador to belarus is on her way back -- his way back to germany. what does this tell us? >> officially, what we hear is he has traveled back to berlin for talks. that might not be unusual, ambassadors traveled back to their capitals other time. -- all the time. this is seen as a move like poland, and lithuania, who have recalled some of their diplomats

to their capitals after the regime in minsk demanded they reduce their diplomatic presence there, two countries that have backed the opposition in belarus very heavily. germany's move perhaps is in step with those fellow eu member states and in support of the belarus opposition. phil: simon young, thank you. now to a crisis in and other former soviet republic. the prime minister of pakistan has resigned following -- of turkestan has resigned. he was forced to flee as angry protesters stormed the hotel were he was being held. this comes amid increasing chaos and unrest following sunday's parliamentary elections. here you can see protesters forcing their way into government buildings and

destroying images of the president. official results from the votes had been against the president in two establishment parties. those results have since been an old -- annulled. let's bring in an expert with columbia university. what sparked this lates protes >> the revolutions in 2005, 2010. this time around, the six parties competing in parliamentary elections come only four of them made up as the threshold the government has for party sexually gain seats in parliament. we had only 64% of all votes with the four parties. those that did make it past the threshold are pro-government parties. people were gathered in the capital of kyrgyzstan

to express their frustration. there was industrial scale of vote buying and registration, voter registration fraud that people were upset with. phil: so the president ss he's got everything under control with the opposition claiming they have seized power. where does the truth lie, do you think? >> the less we have heard publicly was early in the morning -- lest we have heard publicly was early -- was early on monday in kyrgyzstan. the quarter knitting counsel claims they are in control. i think ultimately, the power does lie with parliament. it is the sixth parliament that was in power, the last parliament and power that elected a new speaker, new prime minister, this is going to be the government to make the call and holding new elections and ultimately the decision on whether to impeach the president. it is carefully set up.

the executive branch has balance between the executive and parliament, but the parliament has more control than the parliament. in the coming hours, i think parliament is going to wield the power over the president. phil: moscow is a supporter of the president. moscow has called for what they said was a legal resolution. what role is the kremlin playing in this? >> kgyzstan is an ally of russia. i do know that russia really h a huge vested interest in the domestic polits other than stabity. even claiming that really likes the president and he completely messed up the president's name. i think to him, from the kremlin's perspective, stability is all that matters, getting

this back on track to the constitutional order, what is in the retrothe actual interplay as much of a concern, by russia's angle. phil: we have unrest in belarus and kyrgyzstan. two former soviet states. is that just coincidence, or is something going on that we should be paying more attention to? >> yes, georgia also has parliamentary elections in leer october. -- later october. aldo b is going to the polls in november. -- moldova is going to the polls in november. the is something specific about the frustration and the boiling up of this energy in both belarus and kyrgyzstan. these are places where unrest had been blding fo a long time. frustration with the formal channels was there and was not

able to be pushed through these legal electoralhannels. i think that is why we are seeing the sun rest. phil: that's very clear. thank you so much for joining us, collingwood from columbia university -- colleen wood from columbia university. other news around the world -- the opcw has confirmed the presence of a novichok agent in samples taken from alexei navalny. he has given his first video interview since his poisoning. he believes russian authorities view him as a threat ahead of elections. at least 14 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in an explosion in the town in northwestern syria, where a large truck bomb went off in a crowded area near a bus station. the blast damaged several buildings. germany's foreign minister has

visited berlin's holocaust memorial with his counterparts from israel and the united arab emirates. this is part of what is being called a historic meeting between the uae and israeli foreign ministers, as the countries continue to normalize their relations. the european court of justice has struck down changes to higher education laws. the court called the rules and compatible with eu law. critics say they are targeted. budapest university, fund by george soros, they say. not to the united states, where donald trump's personal physician says the president is doing extremely well and reporting no symptoms of covid-19. the latest health update comes a day after the president's return to the white house following treatment at a military hospital. mr. trump continues to downplay the seriousness of the infection -- of his infection and the threat of the virus itself.

today, he repeated his comparison of covid to the seasonal flu and said he would get back on the campaign trail and is looking forward to the next televised debate with his democratic rival, joe biden. let's bring in dr. patel, a primary care physician and fellow at the brookings institution. she also served in the obama administration is a director of policy. welcome to dw. the president's dr. says mr. trump is showing no symptoms and is doing extremely well. what do you make of that, given that we have not heard about his covid tests yet? >> yes, it is quite puzzling. the president, as we know, has received at least three treatments that are generally reserved for patients who are moderately or severely ill. it paints a bit of a different picture. those three treatments, and

antibiotic cocktail -- an antibiotic cocktail, a steroid in high doses, and remdesivir, and antiviral drug. these are potent drugs with serious potential side effects. especially the steroid. it just does not seem to be consistent with the more rosy picture that you just mentioned, from both the president's personal position and the president -- personal physician and the president himself. phil: the president has tweeted he is looking forward to his second debate with his democratic challenger, joe biden, the 15th of october. is that advisable? >> it is not advisable, if in fa the president is only two weeks out from his infection. i think that is a critical reason we would like to understand, the country, the world really wants to understand what the president's values are, not because we want to violate

his privacy, but it is a matter of national security when he mighte potentially exposing others to the virus. for example, at a debate with another presidential candidate. on average, covid-19 patients are able to resume more normal activity and are considered less infectious 10 to 14 days after being diagnosed. that debe next week wod put him squarely at 14 days. that is an average, not all patients follow that rule. we do know the president is getting frequent blood draws. that data could be helpful in answering the very question you asked. phil: we have a president, though, you have a president, successfully overcome covid-19, and has struck a defiant tone in the white house. you see that as good for national morale -- do you see

that is good for national morale? >> i don't. what is good for national morale is knowing the president is recovering. when the world heard about his diagnosis, in fact, i was personally stunned. it is good for morale he is recovering. what is not gd f moralis to set an example that could make people believe that five days after diagnosis, you can just bounce back. we do know from a worldwide of perience, patients in germany and all around the world, that you can see patients feeling as good as the president does, then around a seven today 10, which is lerally this week, you can see a steep decline. one of the president's close friends, herman cain, was sitive for the virus, felt very good, then actually died about 24 days later. the president is 74 years old, male, has chronic conditions. he is still in an important window where he is seriously at

risk. phil: good talking to you. thank you. the film's "slum dog millionaire" made it world-famous. india's largest slum, located in the heart of mumbai. at the start of the pandemic, authorities fear the coronavirus -- feared the coronavirus would run rampant in one of the most densely populated districts in the world. instead, they managed to flatten the curve with an intense public health campaign. but containing covid came at a price. reporter: about a million people live in this slum, known for its multicultural and entrepreneurial spirit. with its large migrants working-class population, they were expected to experience an massive outbreak earlier this year. instead, the effectively contained the spread othe

virus, drying global attention -- of drawing -- drawing global attention. defining containment zones, and harsh lockdowns. the shutdown of all work back in march due to the nationwide lockdown hit hard. the thousands of small businesses and workshops that had been thriving there came to a standstill. mohammed has lived here for 30 years, working as an artist doing thread work on fabrics. after months of sitting idle, he has just resumed work in his workshop. >> earlier, i used to get orders from clients. but now, i have to go out and look for them. and i still don't get much work. there has been a lot of loss. i have to pay the room rent and

the electricity bill. reporter: he says he has never seen a slowdown like this. six months on, with economic activity growing, most people like arthur are still struggling to earn a living. >> all work has been severely affected. the economy was already in bed shape. now because of coronavirus, people have lost whatever savings they had. reporter: authorities in mumbai, meanwhile, are bracing themselves, as they have begun to see infections rising again, as migrant workers return. >> we have to change our strategy. we cannot ask people to stay at home no. what we have to do is protect them, in case of emergencies. reporter: the regular hostel is returning to the streets, so the changing -- hustle is returning

to the streets, so the changing of movement will require changing strategies. he is still expecting it to be hard to make a good living for quite some time for come -- sometime to come. phil: today's announcement of the noble was was for the physics of work, being shared by three people who carried out pioneering research into black holes. half of the $1.1 million prize will go to dr. penrose, who proved black holes exist in the 60's. the other half is being shared by the two other winners, andrea gets, and a german astrophysicists. -- german astrophysicist. they discovered the milky way.

reporter: what is a blackhole? black holes are among the weirdest objects in the universe. they are traps in space-time, where jim and take -- where giganticmounts omatter are compressed, so massive, that it curves space almost infinitely and brings time to a standstill. the border of this bizarre world is known as the event horizon. the german astronomer did seminal cap relations of the defining parameter describing the event horizon. black holes are formed when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle, or when the compact remains in dense stars emerge. that is how the lightweights in these gravitational traps are born. they are called stellar black holes.

medium massive black holes can have up to 100,000 times the solar mass of our sun. the giant supermassive ones look at the center of many galaxies, millions, even billions of times as massive as the sun. black holes grow by sucking up everything in their vicinity. even light cannot escape the gravitational traps. and they merge with one another to grow. albert einstein predicted them in his general theory of relativity. but they were first detected around 90 years later, in the center of our galaxy, the milky way, is one such invisible mass that accelerates nearby stars to incredible speeds. telescopes around the world were synchronized to capture the first-ever image of a blackhole. the relatively unspectacular looking picture shows the place

where time comes to a standstill. the dark event horizon, rrounded by a ring of light fromhe hot matter that orbits the black hole. it was a milestone in astronomy. phil: wow. the double eagle has been speaking with one of the three winners, the german astrophysicist. how did he and his team go about proving the existence of this blackhole at the center of the milky way? >> so what we have done in the galactic center is by using the gravitational pull by the central object, which we assumed might be a blackhole, onto the gas and the stars surrounding come-surrounding-, with good show, number one, that -- surrounding, we could show, number one, that newton's theory was not accurate and einstein's

was, the only solution was a massive black hole. phil: sports have taken a step toward gender equality in iran, with a female power lifting team taking part of international competition. the women already competing in the storm say it is an overdue -- in the sport say it is an overdue initiative. reporter: she prepares meals for her family, and she is also preparing to officially compare as a power lifter for iran for the first time. the 29-year-old has been active in the sport for several years and saw some success, but the competitions were not recognized. now they will be. her work is paying off. >> in my opinion, this is the best news i have received since i have been active in powerlifting. i'm sure the support of the federation will inspire a lot of unknown talents around the country to blossom and step

forward. they have been hesitant to do so. but, it will be a lot better for powerlifting women to have the support of the federation. reporter: some iranians have a negative view of women in powerlifting, but she believes that could change if she succeeds in international competition. the idea of female powerlifting has already generated some enthusiasm. time will tell if iran has the potential to become world champions one-day. phil: the diamond i am about to show you may not look in the market, but it's just been sold at a bargain price. here it is, an extremely rare and flawless white diamond that has just been sold in hong kong for just under $16 million. the 102 carat stone made history as the first quality to be sold without a minimum bidding price,

part of a larger stone in canada that was snapped up by an unnamed telephone bidder. our top story at the summer, the belarus opposition leader has called for german support enforcing the elections in her country. she made the appeal during talks in berlin with chancellor, angela merkel, and other political leaders. we will have more world news at the top of the hour. stay with us. i am back in just a moment to take you through "the day." have a good one. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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>> welcome to live from paris. world news and analysis from "france 24." i'm mark owen, these are the headlines. with more and more americans turning to food banks to feed themselves, u.s. president trump has called a halt to all covid-19 relief until after the november 3 presidential election. his open covid treatment continues inside the white house. more with our correspondent in washington who i standing b for us. the french aid worker is

reportedly on the