this is the news live from berlin economic growth in europe's biggest economy plunges by more than 10 percent germany seeing the worst economic contraction in the country's modern history wiping out 10 years' worth of growth. and washington slashes u.s. military presence in germany the decision to chop its troops in the country by a 3rd comes after president trump with peter he said well it was delinquent on its defense spending. related. and we have

blast nasa launches its newest rover perseverance into space for 6 months journey destination mach its mission to look for signs of life and already we're going to look into. his welcome to the program germany is officially in a deep recession with the economy contracted by a whopping 10 point one percent in the 2nd quarter it is a sharpest fall in the country's modern history the figures cover the period during which the country was in its most restrictive lockdown phase closed borders shut down shops and production holes of the thousands of companies dealt a severe blow to small businesses and many export dependent industries in europe's largest. let's go straight to our financial correspondent charles

a delay in the in frankfurt for more details of what if in the reactions on the market chelsea. also shock i mean this is a historic decline for the german economy it's the biggest drop quarterly drop since they began collecting this data in the 1970 s. and it's also about twice as big as any contraction we've seen on a quarterly basis so it really is it's pretty mind blowing to see decline of this magnitude of course people were braced for a really steep contraction in this quarter because obviously the economy was basically ground to a halt in these 3 months but it's still pretty shocking to see and it also wipes away about 10 years of economic growth for germany in this one quarter basically the entire post financial crisis recovery has been a race and that's a pretty steep hole for germany to climb out of so these 10 percent drop refers to the 2nd quarter which is now behind us look downs have been eased what's the

picture right now well the german economy is recovering so we likely won't see a decline like this anytime again soon and the in the current quarter the 3rd quarter the 4th quarter we likely will see. the economy return to growth. this is really being reflected in data already as well we're seeing auto makers for example report sales are picking up again we're seeing service sector activity rising again so there are signs that a recovery is underway but there still are a lot of risks including the potential for a 2nd wave of infections and even even if that doesn't happen it will take years for germany to recover from an economic blow like this compared to other industrialized countries you compared to other current countries in europe germany whether this economic storm so. germany is doing much better than

the 7th year out so today we saw reports from belgium their economy contract at 12 percent tomorrow are expected to see france and italy report 15 percent decline so germany was very aggressive and very fast and passing stimulus measures and that did cushion some of the blow from the crowd a virus that's a lenny in frankfurt thank you notes of some of the other stories making news around the world chinese telecoms giant huawei has become the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones called into the market research company canalis while they overtook its main rival some sown in the 2nd quarter of this year i'm going to say china's early recovery from the coronavirus and make reinvigorate has always domestic market sells more than 70 percent of its voters. tens of thousands of people have again taken to the streets in cities across bog area protesters

demanding the resignation of the government and chief prosecutor using them of suppressing free speech intending ties with the mafia and refusing to fight corruption area's largest anti-government protests in 7 years. the us administration has agreed to gradually withdraw federal police from the city of portland oregon after weeks of clashes with protesters local authorities have criticised the agency's presence saying it made matters worse washington said the officers were needed to protect federal court building. police in hong kong have arrested 4 students for alleged offenses under the territories national security lol lol makes advocating for independence a punishable crime groups are accused of quote organizing and inciting secession beijing also announced it has found a dozen pro-democracy activists from running in september's elections says prominent activist just warm who's among those bob told it the biggest of

a crackdown on them movement. let's bring in our correspondent civi kong phoebe what more can you tell us about that ban on pro-democracy khan gets. the mass this qualification comes after the unprecedented arrests on activists know the new national security law so the 12th this qualified candidate they represent a wife that's from off the opposition and so not only the leading but after events and sort of progressive activists like just go along with the fans but also those who read it to be like moderates and democrats like including several incumbents of lawmakers of fans from running for reelection this is this is the person home post history so no incumbent the lawmakers have been banned from running for office again before so this is particularly sensitive fall like the have already been

rumors and we are protesting that the government may announce to postpone the left of station fire at least a year or so take a run out virus recently but now the government like it's not like this qualifying that's also some kind of a a more unexpected to come in the coming few days you will have the reactions been to the band of these pro-democracy candidates. what the reasoning off the this call the think a show is like highly controversial in the past. only of those independent supporters were fans for your reaction but now facing appears to change is threshold like like like many are seeing this qualified candidates were accused of play out posing the new national security law even though some of them simply disagree with the way our is and that's men but also play some of the so-called improper behavior to the intention to be talked out of and proposals in harlem and

in order to achieve their political demands and also lobbying overseas to lie so-called so this is a foreign interference so all of that all of these behaviors are defined by the authorities just like not generally at tripoli up the whole of the cities month i mean the constitution so the opposition can think this is like a clamp down on the state histories brace speech and the electoral rights and political rights of ordinary citizens but on the other hand the government has to unite such as such accusations saying that there's no political censorship. up respondents were boarding from hong kong thank you very much. the united states has unveiled plans to withdraw nearly 12000 troops from germany a 3rd of its military footprint in the country defense officials say the count is in line with addressing use threats from china and russia president's trumpets tie

through adoption to germany's reluctance to spend more on his military. the historic reduction in the number of american troops stationed in germany even more will be leaving than expected. the u.s. secretary of defense mark asper announced the withdrawal downplaying its significance it is important to note that in nato is 71 year history the size composition and disposition of u.s. forces in europe has changed many times but u.s. president donald trump said the move is meant to send a message to germany where the force. will. this thing trump often points out that germany does not meet a nato guideline that all members should spend 2 percent of their economic output on defense germany only spends 1.4 percent but that guideline refers to spending on each country's own military not directly to nato. members are now seeking answers

as to how the new u.s. plan will be carried out and what it will mean for the future of european security there has been pushback from the u.s. congress and analysts say even the pentagon was reluctant to carry out trumps demand for troop withdrawal you can imagine the arguments and the discussions and disagreements that would have been going on back in washington inside the pentagon and with the white house but at the end of the day the president says we're going to do this and so the department of justice ok well here's here's how we're going to do it there are about $24000.00 u.s. troops will remain in germany but some observers worry trumps costly message to its nato allies could weaken the whole alliance. and i was something truly out of this world not just launched a new mission to moscow to search for signs of life and that plus 5 rockets blasted from cape canaveral florida just moments ago on board a spouse of variance new rover that will take rock samples and help scientists

study the surface like never before it's equipped with the most. baltic system. has a difficulty that. excitement is growing mission control let's bring in mitchell say he is a program scientists with the mosque 2020 exploration program at nasa headquarters in washington and joins us now from them which there have been rovers on mars before what is the big difference of. the very big difference is that we've finally designed instruments to really look in detail at the rock record to see on the level of microorganisms which is what we think life might the kind of life that might have existed on mars so we'll be finally be able to see things in the detail that we need really to tease apart whether this landing site in these rocks where he was habitable and whether it left behind evidence that life might have been

there. if you indeed find microbial life on mas what kind of impact will that happen why should i care. well so we really don't understand how life started on earth and so just finding another example of life somewhere beyond earth will be a really big deal because it will tell us that there's something fundamental about life that it sort of wants to start to be clear we're looking for evidence in the ancient rock record on mars that life might have left behind that posits we're not looking for current life on mars but we do see that mars and earth are similar geologically and so this would mean if we find evidence for life on mars this would mean that there are a set of conditions that could be sort of universal that allow life and in fact sort of make life form but if we're looking into the future this seems to be a race to masa why now why is it so important for us to learn something about

a planet that when i would have so much trouble to live on. well so one of the things that makes it hard to live on is that has a very thin atmosphere so it's not able to trap heat from the sun to keep it warm one of the things that we know about life on earth is that wherever there is liquid water within certain limits of temperature for example we find things alive in that water here on earth and so we can take lessons from studying mars that help us understand what conditions are necessary for life and what can happen to a planet when conditions and environmental factors change. so one of the questions that is on everybody's mind of course all the time when do you think that the 1st human mission to moscow will be on its way. we're working on sending people back to the moon 1st sort of as a base for getting to mars eventually and we're planning to do that by the middle of the coming decade and so after that we'll probably you know it'll take

a little while for us to to scale things up to being able to get out to mars so it'll probably be a few a couple decades further down the road. and so it's about one thank you very much mitch shultz if you program scientists at nasa thank you. if you're watching the news here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you right now the german economy has contracted by a wreck holds 10 point one percent in the 2nd quarter the number is higher than expected to shop this for the country's modern history the session has been linked to knock down measures from the pandemic. and the u.s. is slashing its military in germany by nearly 12000 troops that will be redeployed in america and elsewhere in europe the trump administration says the move ends to counter new threats from russia and china. and that's it for me of the news team for now i'll have an update at the top yalit meantime don't

forget you can keep up with the news on the website. and to follow us on twitter and instagram asti w this is news from berlin i'm god office and sorts in stay tuned for one of the johns up she has coronavirus special. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. hour carona update. 19 special next on d w. global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation.

how do we make signals greener how can we protect habitats we can make a difference global ideas fundamental series of global $3000.00 on t.w. and on mine. some 660000 people have died so far from covert 19 according to official statistics poor rich young old famous the virus doesn't discriminate. even care as doctors and nurses who were there to help succumb to the illness. france and spain are among the few countries that held public memorials to honor the dead and whose departure has been especially difficult for loved ones many have not had an opportunity to say goodbye and thousands have been buried in mass graves covered 19 was unexpected

and fast changing our lives and the world. how do you agree when bedside visits and funerals a band. welcome to your not in special here and you knew someone who could giants in berlin good to have you with us all normally where here to talk about the latest vaccine studies or various other approaches to treat with 19 but we shouldn't forget the coronavirus also kills and so today we want to talk about deaths in times of a pandemic 1st a report from the u.s. . for amanda and gina their grandfather who see it was like a father to them he taught them everything heard them become who they are and dido the coronavirus one of the many in arizona it was horrible to leave him alone and him knowing we had to leave him alone like what was he going through

a bad time one day he couldn't have his loved ones there to support him he's basing everything pretty much alone and there's nothing we could do about it. i don't know it's a. very heartbreaking. situation l. ast has become all too familiar with even after 38 years in the funeral business the coronado pandemic nothing is as it used to be. with these families so many of them haven't been able to be with their loved one at the time of death put into a hospital where they can't visit or into a nursing home where they can no longer seem so many people are dying alone and that emotionally is challenging for families just to know that they can't be there and they can't you know be supportive and so are our challenge our job is to help them kind of deal with that and start to help them to heal and grieve and that's that's what we do. more than 2500 people have already died in arizona

leaving many hospitals overwhelmed with the sick and the dead. when we get a death call the hospital will say can you come quickly because our compact we're at capacity we don't have anywhere to put these people they're trying not to get to these mobile units but they actually are so when we go now to a hospital transfer or someone in our care they have to actually have to look and see where the body is is it in the hospital facility or is it out in the mobile facility. it's been a little over a week since they've buried their grandfather amanda and gina still need time to come to terms with their loss but they already have strong feelings about who is to blame they could have handled a lot better i feel they knew about this and they did nothing i understand price so the world wouldn't go in panic mode but at the same time look what's going on like what occurred due to them knowing and not doing anything about it and i really do think they could have did a lot more to help a lot of people and people are still getting sick people are still going to the

hospital people are still dying and i don't understand why. i just don't and i don't think it's fair to any of us. their feelings are shared by many mourners in america but the lack of leadership from the white house is just as dangerous as the virus itself. so let's talk a bit more about today's lydia humaneness your associate professor of the department of psychiatry and forensic medicine at the autonomous university of barcelona and she's also been part of a research team looking into the deaths and mourning process in the times of the corona virus pandemic could you have you with us let me start with with an assumption western society tends to ignore the fact that we're mortal has the condemning change that yes. yes definitely this is the whole of that on some means that we are responding to

and you know that until it arrives but these scripts are asked to make things are there life easier now and then he's forcing sourcing and changing our consciousness or are right you know say your minds are martyrs. and those that have been closer to someone affected by it already have meetings change and those that are you are those home to persist in this move heartily we have a new challenge is to gather and there are some exactly and of course i mean those who've experienced it and we've just seen that also in the reports many couldn't say goodbye to the dying relatives they couldn't even give them a proper burial how big a trauma is that and how do you recover from that. well she is her 1st we should say that. lady carson an accident nor do we expect that it really will be

will die and see maybe 2 or one of the sas that that was you didn't just say oh i ought to do it retool this route start learning process and intensify or awareness that. nest and mace reinforce. you cory the best of many shot to us and those who have floaters and also shows who are only will need professional help. searching meaning in life and. make a difference in the situations in date and especially as this pandemic isn't over yet and it has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives professor please stick around because we would just like to take a look at some numbers here this curve that we see now shows just how many lives were lost within a relatively short period of time it started slowly but then by mid february it became clear that we do have a problem and by april we counted tens of thousands who died of covert 19 some 6

months into the pandemic some 660000 people lost their lives the highest death toll in the united states followed by brazil britain mexico and italy and as i mentioned and as we all know the pandemic is still on going back to professor hume in this yard in barcelona please tell me we're talking about statistics here but these are people these were lives lost why don't we see more public ceremony mornings the death. well how only because this store showed expressions of sympathy and relief as a collective august come at the end of the tragedy the tragedy of the all there is fear we are conscious that we are all one world together in them you know of these biotope still in the battle is not yet omar and also because. they are other

countries that this theory in a more severe have of confrontation with the biter so i think that this country our one of the points that refrains is situations are who are immense in a state you have got that because we have and the waves but really all the countries we wait in a certain way that this is the art or distress wave is over and to descend the respect of the. right professor york from the autonomous university of barcelona thank you so much time and thank you for sharing your seat research on deaths and mourning in times of a pandemic with us and you know. well now time for more of your questions over to our science correspondent eric williams. what's happening with the present flu season. this is

a really interesting question that made some headlines after a big wall street journal article on the topic last week don't forget that when it's summer time here in the northern hemisphere it's winter in the southern hemisphere so for the last 5 months there should have been a spike and in the number of cases of influenza as as flu season ramped up into full swing there but according to the w.h.o. global flu levels have remained astonishingly low for this time of year in many countries south of the equator in some places they drop by by 90 percent compared to average years and actually when you think about it and it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise of a loan with with heavily restricted travel all of the social distancing measures people have been observing to stop the spread of covert 19 are ones that would also

be effective at curbing the spread of flu we've just never used them against the flu before on this kind of a scale. could sauce cove to combine with influenza viruses to create a new strain. usually viruses evolve through a gradual process tauld and to generate drift which sees them slowly mutate as changes occur and their genetic material over time and many replications them what you're talking about is a phenomenon known as antigenic shift which describes abrupt major changes that can occur for example and in some flu viruses when when 2 different strains recombine inside the host to produce a much more deadly pathogen appear. lee out of the blue that's what we think for example occurred with the h one n one flu virus that caused

a pandemic back in 2009 unfortunately antigenic shift that leads to highly infectious new pathogens seems to occur rarely and we're pretty sure it only happens between very closely related pathogens so so some flu viruses recombine amongst themselves in this way and there's some evidence that that some coronaviruses might do it too but but the 2 different species recombined with each other to create some kind of superbug. before we start worrying about to the next threats let's deal with the one at hand for people in hong kong this means no more dining in restaurants after a new upsurge in case numbers restaurants have been ordered to hold to dine in service and offer takeaway meals instead and while the threat is real with the use of such says of hong kong harbor well using outdoors may not be the worst way to

spend your lunch break as you see here so many times of a pandemic. that's your special for today or for me on the team as always thanks for watching distaste. going through the conflict zone in these extraordinary times we decided to take the opportunity to focus on the impact that the coronavirus pandemic is having on human rights around the world there are reports of invasive surveillance of authoritarian power grabs my guest is the head of human rights watch kenneth roth how many limitations are people willing to accept in order to fight a threat play. coronavirus conflict. is. next on do you believe.

or. we know that this is very time for the coronavirus is changing the world changing our lives so please take care of yourself keep your distance wash your hands if you can stay at how we are doing what you mean for here for you we are working hard we're sitting here with form going over platforms we're all in this together and together we're making sure to. stay safe everybody stays a steady steady stay safe please stay safe. in the. climate change. minister so.

much i'm still. going to be yours today the future of. g.w. dot com africa megacities filmmaking to give peace a clue can't enter. censorship kills it literally is an afterthought of all the public health you have called coronavirus the new terrorism nobody wants to see a dictatorship go it's over over their head. conflict zone is on summer break and we'll look back at this season's most controversial interviews in april we decided to take the opportunity to focus on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is having on human rights.