 Welcome back to the breakfast and plus TV Africa. Today in history June 24th 2018. Now on this day in history Saudi's first women were allowed to drive. Before now women were not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia but the ban was lifted today in history June 24th. Now Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women could not go behind the wheels of the car and they had to hire private drivers or their relatives had to drive them. Now some women activists had you know taken pictures of themselves behind the wheel, posted it online basically saying that you know these laws need to change. Those women activists were arrested you know simply because they took pictures of themselves behind cars. Now at least eight women activists were being detained. They could face trial for counter-terrorism and long prison sentences for their activism. Now if you were caught driving in Saudi Arabia before 2018 you could be fined or arrested. So when on this day in history King Salman actually announced that the ban on women driving had been lifted. Women celebrated you know when behind the wheels of cars taking picture you know and just basically celebrating the fact that they now had some sort of freedom regarding driving. So this this was widely celebrated the United Nations congratulated Saudi Arabia but you know even other groups like Amnesty said this is just one step. There were other things that women are not allowed to do you know like interacted men and you know many other very restrictive laws in the country but in this day in history June 24th 2018 women were allowed to drive by themselves unaccompanied by a man in Saudi Arabia. Fantastic two things I would quickly chip in one of them is I think I remember you know that Mohammed bin Salman who had been you know over time you know and many other times he criticized for being also very very draconian and you know having you know a grip on Saudi Arabia that wasn't very very juicy but at the same time you know he also was able to has been able to bring in some level of modernization and relax and some of those very very strong age old laws. Yes and many have attributed that to his son you know ambassador to the US and all the reforms. So there is that you know and then the second point is Saudi Arabia is a country that Nigerians go for Mecca go for what's it called now Hajj pilgrimage. It's a country that a lot of Muslims also look up to as you know like the idea of what you know Islam should you know be like and all of that but in Nigeria we don't seem to be adopting a lot of these you know ways you know and relaxing some of these of the grip that we have on women with regards Islam and being a Muslim. We see that they allow women to drive we see that they be there you know being able to create a freer society for women Muslim women in their country but here we still have a society where people can still be sentenced to death or blasphemy because of a song or WhatsApp. We see a society where people can still be be cursed and attacked on social media because they wore a dress you know the person wore a dress that showed you know her back. We still have a lot of all those things that we don't seem to want to let go of you know I'm not sure why exactly if it is because you know the Muslims here are more religious than the ones in Saudi Arabia or the ones here just love. It's the Sharia law even not even everybody was happy when this ban was lifted many leaders you know many religious leaders spoke out against the saying this was basically eroding the values of you know Islam and you know going against Sharia law so really that basically is what it is. It just drains me to be honest. Anyway that's it on Saudi Arabia let's move away from Saudi and out to Russia where on this day in history the 24th of June in 2020 Russia celebrated the 75th anniversary and it's biggest celebration of the Nazi surrender. This was initially meant to be celebrated on the 9th of May but it was postponed because of course of the COVID-19 and some other reasons. It was eventually celebrated on the 24th of June in 2020. It's a 75 year anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany. It was celebrated with a huge military parade through the Red Square in Moscow. It of course is one of those events in Russian history that has continued to be celebrated for many many years and Russian President Vladimir Putin reluctantly postponed the annual celebration because like I said earlier of the coronavirus pandemic. It takes place on this day in celebration of the end of the world war two after Nazi Germany surrendered. If you look back in history the war actually started in 1939 I believe after Hitler invaded Poland and of course led to the loss of 40 to 60 million lives about seven million Jews also were killed in concentration camps in Germany back then because Hitler was trying to create his own form of supremacy of the German blood or the German race or whatever it is that his story was but eventually he committed suicide and you know the Nazis had to surrender after his death. There's many people who have had conversations on what really led to the surrender. Some people say it's after the United States of course stepped into the war the British of course had held on for a long time and then the US came in and bombarded you know some parts of Germany and of course the attack on Japan the atomic bomb in Japan also maybe some of all the things played yes played factors. There's also been some history documentaries that have seen that have shown certain parts of the war that were won because of the weather because there's parts of the army that weren't prepared for the cold at that time and eventually couldn't fight. So on this day Russia celebrates 75 years or 75th anniversary last year of its Nazi surrender after the Second World War. Fantastic that's what we have for you today in history let's take a break and we'll return to begin our first major conversation this morning.