this is news coming to you live from berlin america grieves the terrible loss of life in los vegas vigils calls for prayer and for gun control after the worst mass shooting in recent u.s. history that's left fifty nine people dead they were gunned down at a country music festival we'll go live to las vegas for the latest also coming up

catalonia calls for international mediation and its bid for independence from spain as pressure mounts on madrid to resolve the spiraling crisis today catalans are set to strike in protest of police violence during sunday's referendum. and as gay marriage equality takes effect in germany many same sex couples want to start families too we need to pair hoping they'll become parents soon under new laws allowing people of the option rights. also in the program it's twenty seven years since germany was officially reunited today german celebrate the end of the country's cold war division but nearly three decades on many differences still remain between the former east and west a special report on this day of german unit.

lowing terry martin thanks for joining us gunned down while enjoying their favorite music fifty nine dead in hundreds injured in a horrific attack on a country music festival in las vegas the man who murdered them opened fire from inside the high rise mandalay bay hotel spraying hundreds of bullets into a crowd of concert goers on the other side of the los vegas strip then he took his own life shooting has renewed the debate over gun control in the us in las vegas locals and survivors are rallying together in shock a normally colorful and vibrant city grieving and stunned mourners gather on the iconic less vegas strip where the attack happened to comfort each other. there's line up to donate blood for do and it in hospital. this was the moment when music turned to gunfire the crowd had been enjoying

a country music festival suddenly they were running for their lives. as panic broke out the shooter continued his rampage. i looked at my wife and my friends and just sort of worked out what we were going to do they were crouched down so they ended up opening up a area underneath the that city area for the ip and we basically ran under there and it down i was lying on my wife. making sure everything was ok just so. many and then. once it popped on it passed we listened to the shooting list and we listened and eventually just stopped police rushed to the scene of the attack at the mandalay bay hotel and casino where the perpetrator had checked in as a guest. from the thirty second floor he began shooting at concert goers

below. police later found him dead in his room they believe the sixty four year old retired accountant was acting alone. the u.s. presidents condemned the attack. last night a gunman opened fire on a large crowd at a country music concert in las vegas nevada he brutally murdered more than fifty people and wounded hundreds more it was an act of pure evil. the massacre has seen democrats renew their demands for tougher gun laws it's become a kind of sick complicity and i hope that in the coming days we can come together republicans and democrats to start talking about at the very least some baby steps

to show the people of las vegas to show the people of orlando to show my constituents my friends in sandy hook silence is no longer an option. the incident on sunday night is now the west must shooting in modern u.s. history. was crossed out to our correspondent carson phenomena who's standing by for us in las vegas. stand you've been speaking to witnesses and survivors of the shooting how are they dealing with what's happened. well it's tough and this is a situation that few of us can even imagine i mean you're going to a music concert trying to enjoy yourself and suddenly there's chaos there's terror people falling down blood everywhere people only novel coming to grips with this even if they were not injured them sounds i just a short while ago talked to

a woman from texas who was there with her husband and she told me how they tried to duck under some chance they had and people around them before laying down a husband trying to assist a man who had been shot in the chest and she was breaking down in tears when she told me about this so this is really something people will be dealing with for for days and weeks and maybe longer to come now understand hundreds of people were injured in that shooting what are authorities saying about their condition cost. some are still fighting for their lives and many of those. still in the hospital being attended there's also been enormous display of solidarity here from the people in las vegas so many people have come out to donate blood that the police

department has knowledge told them to wait for a day or two because the blood reserves in the hospitals. field so to speak so they have everything they need and. but still of course many of them have really serious gun shots wounds and we don't know if that. fifty nine people that will increase everyone of course is wondering why this happened have authorities offered any indication on the gunman's motive. well if they have any indication they're not telling us but it seems like this really is a mystery why this man shot from this hotel the mandalay bay at the concert goers on the other side off the street just a few hundred yards from here and there is no indication from the background of that person he seems to have been quite

a successful businessman his brother who talked to media that he had enough money he liked to gamble he spent a lot of money didn't seem to have any financial problems he also said that his brother was not the gun loving kind of person of course that is strange when we know that twenty three guns were found in his hotel room at the mandalay bay hotel and another nineteen guns also at his private home together with ammunition explosives and so on so this is all a mystery an interesting piece of family history the father of the shooter apparently was convicted for bank robbery in the one nine hundred sixty s. later scape from prison so there seems to be some kind of streak of violence in the family but having said that that still is no explanation for what happened here you mentioned all the guns that the attacker stockpiled in his hotel room this attack at least appears to have been meticulously planned even with we don't know what the

attackers motive was. absolutely the police today said that apparently the shooter smuggled the guns in a total of ten suitcases into his hotel room apparently person now from the hood frequently also came into the room and nobody noticed anything unusual so he must have hidden those guns in the suitcases he was holed up in that room for several days apparently waiting for the right moment in his view so yes he definitely was preparing for this for a long time but why he did it we don't know about the political implications of all this cost in the attack of course has reignited the debate over gun control in the u.s. what are lawmakers saying about that today while

we had some reactions especially from the democratic side of the. people coming forward senators members of congress calling for stricter gun controls again as always. these incidents these calls for gun control come up and somehow here in the united states nothing happens in the end basically because the pro-gun lobby is too strong and also there's too much support for the gun lobby among the republicans who have the majority in both houses of congress and also of course control the white house cost and thank you so much they cost and phenomenal reporting from las vegas let's catch up now and some of the other stories making headlines around the world today myanmar has told the u.n. refugee agency its top priority priority is to bring back hinge of muslims who have

fled to neighboring bangladesh the two countries have agreed to set up a working group to repatriate more than half a million right hinges that escaped an army crackdown in northern rock kind stay. a russian court has sentenced the opposition leader alexei navalny to twenty days in jail for organizing illegal public meetings he was arrested on friday after this rally in the city of oil and book of ali intends to run for president against vladimir putin in next year's election but. the death toll in separatist violence in cameroon has risen to at least seventeen with dozens more people wounded clashes broke out on sunday between protesters and security forces in the country's english speaking regions and was speaking activists are calling for independence from the french speaking with joint. and facebook says around ten million people in the u.s. could have been exposed to political ads from russia in the weeks leading up to

last year's presidential election on monday the company turned over three thousand russia linked ads to the u.s. senate to mid ongoing government probes into alleged russian interference in the election. catalonia is due for more on rest today as workers there strike in protest of police by island states after heavy handed tactics marred sunday's referendum on independence catalan leaders say ninety percent of voters in a backed a split from spain but critics say the poll was flawed because opponents stayed away now catalonia is asking for international mediation as tensions run high in the region and relations with madrid hit rock bottom. supporters of catalan independence were out in force throughout to monday a powerful backdrop to the demands of that regional leader but despite the many defiance in basra now he opened the door to deescalation. a

woman of yes you know what i'm now recommending is mediation yes you are and that mediation requires the presence of a third party. now the. party needs to be international for this to be an effective process this is important to restore the institutional normality which has been disturbed by disproportionate decisions from spain central government biota on the streets people had mixed views on independence but were united in their condemnation of sunday's violence and the spanish government that. if the government thought it was unlawful it could have been without violence everything could have happened peacefully and they could have said we don't recognise the result. it's like going back in time what people on the street are saying is that franco as time has returned but maybe it never left your good. we

don't have to talk about yes or no but about human rights and about what happened on sunday i hope europe does something we've got this better get out of. the european union has indeed expressed concern european council president donald tusk tweeted that he had spoken to spanish prime minister mariano rajoy and appealed to him to avoid escalation roy later met with spanish opposition leaders for emergency talks. as spain faces its biggest constitutional crisis in decades there a fear is a prolonged instability and on mast. the cats and on parliament is expected to vote later this week on whether to make a declaration of independence and less talks is over the crisis it could be set to deepen even further. let's get

the view from correspondent barbara basler who joins us from brussels barbara aside from expressing concern elaters have been reluctant to even comment on the standoff between madrid and barcelona why is brussels keeping its distance on an issue with such huge implications for european unity. because it really has to the problem here is this is a major political headache for the european union of course however the e.u. is organized according to the rule of law the rule of law here in this case is the spanish constitution the spanish constitution says that the unity of the country is imperative now for the european union of course the contracts mean that it has to sort of safeguard the territorial integrity and the unity of its member states so here it really is in the mind even though russell's has been watching was dismayed for weeks this crisis to sort of get worse and worse and has watched was

dismayed the heavy handed tactics of money i know hall in madrid it couldn't directly interfere because it simply doesn't have the powers and of course politically it's not it was it would be really really i mean wise to sort of metal because of course brussels fears to stoke the fires further so that's the very difficult and complicated situation the european union finds itself in complicated indeed the european parliament has called a special catalonia crisis debate at least what does it hope to achieve with. it's not really in fact going to achieve anything however it is just a forum to sort of vent opinions. the conservative. to the sort of soft and medium right parties they all very left parties are all very united that they say now the pictures that we saw sunday are ugly don't want this

in europe to happen crises like this should be solved without violence if people need to sit down and talk if their regional conflicts like that like they arise from time to time with a new member states and they need to find peaceful and political solutions so that much history clear however on the hard left on the very hard right the picture is different on the hard left there are voices who say every democratic opinion of every opinion of expression deserves to be heard and to be considered and it's undemocratic to suppress the the wish for independence of any region and we have a very similar picture on the on the very hard right there of course we know that parties like to form a scene and france or so a really like to to sort of intensive to make this crisis more intense into to stoke this fire in order to break up the european union so that's about the

spectrum we're going to see what about kettle only is regional government there calling for an external mediator is the e.u. in a position to take on that role. that is a politically extremely hot potato because it is quite clear whose side the european union has to be on and that's the side of the spanish government so it could not be possibly impartial on the other hand it also doesn't want to get drawn into this because everybody in brussels sees the game that the regional government karl pushed him or is playing i mean that's his power game and everybody has watched it with fascination and you know we see what this man is doing he really is trying to push this and force this and of course brussels doesn't want to get pulled into this and sort of be made into an actor in this game is so can they deny to do it it would be more prudent to probably think a look to the council of europe or some external body to take on this mediation and

not get involved directly. if the e.u. doesn't get involved directly it's still affected by what goes on in spain in catalonia what constructive role can the e.u. play in this crisis. it really could only sort of talk it can talk behind the scenes to its member states and appeal to everybody not to get pulled into the forces that have been unleashed here in spain not to sort of to search for peaceful solutions for those regional conflicts before they get heated up like we have now seen on sunday when they reach the point because we have had scotland we have floundered and we have northern italy as we have several several countries where this could all of us begin to flare up and so the constructive role of the you could only be to say folks let's not get to this let things not get to this point let's sort of figure something out everybody can speak their language and

sing their songs we need political some solutions for us barbara thank you so much to barbara vessel there in brussels you're watching d.w. news still to come will washington finally take action over gun violence we'll talk about the political fallout of the deadliest mass shooting in recent u.s. history and berlin's state opera reopens its doors after a long and expensive renovation we have a special report on tonight's premiere to mark german unity day. well russia's economy is going strong despite sanctions on it that's right back in the ninety's billions of russians lost their savings to hyperinflation it hit the poor the elderly and families with children especially hard memories of that time are still fresh in people's minds but now the russian central bank has some good

news for the kremlin the economy is growing and inflation remains low use comes just in time ahead of the russian presidential election early next year. here at the danilov ski market in moscow business is picking up the russian government says it expects the economy to grow by two percent this year inflation was recorded at three point three percent at the end of august the lowest level since the fall of the soviet union the numbers sound good and point to economic recovery but the benefits have yet to trickle down to the average consumer. the rice is a rising tide filling us little with these plums a good and cheap because they don't come from abroad. the price of fish is going up above all the price of free falls in the summer it all depends on the season one of . the central bank has used the low inflation rate as an opportunity to

cut the benchmark interest rate five times this year to standard eight and a half percent low inflation is accompanied by stronger economic growth growth in the second quarter of this year exceeded our expectations as well as the expectations of many experts the economy is still growing in the third quarter as well or those. low interest rates help keep the local economy running but large companies in russia are having a harder time western sanctions against the country over its actions in ukraine mean they often can't get credit abroad that's doing little to dent consumer confidence though the low inflation rate has seen it soar to its highest level in three years but people remain cautious the economic recovery has only just begun and they're in no mood for experiments. because people don't want reforms people perceive the world reform negatively in russia they don't want change he wants to belittle. and stability fueled by low inflation and moderate

economic growth is good news for the kremlin presidential election is slated for early next year. now here one of the nearly half a million people. hoofed preorder the latest tesla models reelected car you might be in for a wait the company says it only builds two hundred sixty of them and the second quarter as far short of the one thousand five hundred had forecast tesla blamed production bottlenecks for the shortfall but it says sales of its existence existing costs are up expects to sell around one hundred thousand of its s n x models this year that's a third more than last year. now so the bees is sold a rare one thousand year old both from china's song that misty for get this now whopping thirty seven point seven million dollars that makes it the most expensive piece of chinese porcelain ever sold according to some of the bees the ball was

initially expected to sell for much less bidding started at around ten million dollars last for a full twenty minutes before the phone better made the winning of. this man really likes is chinese food now it's nobel prize week and terry has the latest that's right a whole lot of interesting announcements coming through the how this week some very distinguished people and indeed later today it's going to be physics in the spotlight will have the winners of that prize as soon as they're announced but for now let's take a look at the trio of american scientists who claim the biggest prize in medicine yesterday it was their pioneering work on our internal body clocks that wowed the nobel assembly. in the modern world our lives are dictated by clocks today's megacities are open twenty four seventh's but there's a problem our bodies don't want to play along everyone has an inner clock that

regulates critical functions including behavior hormone levels sleep and metabolism . we ignore our inner clock and our peril it can affect our moods memory and even increase our risk of contracting a range of diseases. but how does this inner clock actually work that was a question answered by geoffrey hall michael ross bash and michael young back in the one nine hundred seventy s. and eighty's working with fruit flies they isolated the genes and processes that drive those insects in our clocks and it soon became clear that those mechanisms work the same way in humans the prize winning research laid the foundations for the modern discipline of chronobiology the science of biological rhythms thanks to them we're now able to recognize the dangers of disrupting our inner clock. gay lesbian couples in germany or polly tying the knot after a new marriage equality law came into effect this week and all means that married

same sex couples will enjoy almost the very same rights as their heterosexual counterparts that includes the right to adopt children is more. it's a very special day for kai and michel their wedding day it's also a big occasion for germany the two men one not only be among the first gay couples to get married don't also be among the first to adopt children. pretty intimate these are when i look at this development it's such a great thing. i'm shaking a little. you know since october first same sex couples have been able to marry and have the same parental rights as heterosexual partners that's going to be the i think it's an incredibly big signal to the world and for germany just to say here same sex couples are loving parents wonderful spouses who love each other just

like other couples. and on the ball. now michael can adopt or foster child once he's officially their son to live overcome the final hurdle to marriage equality for gays and lesbians. it's a foot race in the desert starting at an altitude of three thousand meters athletes and in durance junkie's met in chile to kick off the desert race series with the al to come across in the athletes face all kinds of obstacles as they make their way across the rugged and harsh terrain of the outcome of desert competitors pass through rock fields canyons wide open desert tent face a long climb up an old caravan ripped in the end sandy mango from the united states and uncle its here from germany one the first state.

still to come here on news while washington finally take action over gun violence we'll talk about the political fallout of the deadliest mass shooting in recent u.s. history. and sending a message to madrid. we go live to barcelona to look at the standoff over catalonia is the drive for independence also berlin's state opera reopens its doors after a long and expensive renovation we have a special report on tonight's premiere to mark german unity day. all that and more still coming up. kick off the disk. dortmund song to head with a win and i would spoil lucy pursue music. only one point for billie under their interim coach son long time can't seem to win not even in berlin

. sixty. hijacking the news. where i come from the news is being hijacked journalism itself has become a scripted reality show it's not just good versus evil us versus them black and white. in countries like russia china turkey people are told is that stuff and if you're a journalist there and you try to get beyond that you are facing scare tactics intimidation. and i wonder is that where we're headed as well. my responsibility as a journalist is to get beyond the smoke and mirrors it's not just about being fair and balanced or being neutral it's about being truthful. when he was born golf

and i work in the deli. it's about. it's all about this. it's all about george chance to discover the world from different perspectives. join us inspired by distinctive instagram or yours. d.w. story topic each week on instagram. welcome back here with news i'm terry martin our top story last vegas is mourning the fifty nine victims of a mass shooting yesterday that's after a gunman opened fire on a concert on the city's famous strip before killing himself. sunday

night attack is the deadliest mass shooting in recent u.s. history but it's just the latest in a string of gun massacres across the u.s. these are some of the worst shootings over the past decade each time there are new calls for tighter firearm controls but neither the white house nor congress seem able or willing to act and meanwhile the number of victims of gun bottles continues to mount us president donald trump embraced the gun lobby during his campaign and was silent on gun control when addressing the nation after the massacre it was an act of pure evil to the families of the victims we are praying for you and we are here for you and we ask god to help see you through this very dark period in moments of tragedy and harm america comes together as one and it always has.

we call upon the bonds that unite us our faith our family and our shared values in time such is these i know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos some kind of light in the darkness the answers do not come easy. u.s. president gul trump there commenting on the shootings in las vegas well joining us now to talk about all this is tyson barker program director with the aspen institute think tank here in berlin and he's a regular commentator and us affairs here on d.w. good morning tyson morning when president trouble speaking there he seemed to studiously avoid the term guns much less gun control what do you make i mean it's clear that he has a constituency that he needs to address his spokeswoman sarah huckabee sanders said that this is not the time to talk about policy issues but this is

a time to come together as a country and and just be morally have moral solidarity with each other and that is frankly not enough this is a pattern that we've seen over the course of the past fifteen years since sandy hook it is such a difficult issue it's in these moments that focus the mind better when policy needs to come to the fore because this is frankly an epidemic in the united states gun policy advocates have now been given yet another tragic example with los vegas to illustrate their case will last vegas make a difference. it's difficult to say i mean to be quite frank as we all know the n.r.a. the gun lobby the voters in many of these rural states that hold the second amendment so deer are very politically powerful in the united states they represent a minority of the u.s. population as you see in the polling but it's an intense minority and they are motivated to vote by this issue so it's very hard to get that lift but if you have somebody like senator chris murphy who is kind of the standard bearer of the sandy

hook tragedy of the shooting that took place at an elementary school he has tweeted out and said that he is going to reintroduce the legislation that he introduced in two thousand and twelve point thirteen to try to address these issues and handle it on the federal level but we might look for more local solutions quite frankly it is a republican controlled congress when this debate hits the floor as we know it will following a loss. vegas how is the how is it likely to proceed i mean. it's going to be difficult to be quite frank it's hard to think of a scenario where a republican controlled congress takes up any form of gun control in fact in the past six months we've seen a loosening of gun control gun sales regulations particularly for foreigners who want to buy guns in the united states and take it back to own country so. the political environment in washington does not reflect the kind of environment that we need in the country to restrict these issues he said that the local way may need

may be the way forward for those advocating gun control what do the american public think of all this where do they stand on the gun control issue i mean i think that the american public is naam frankly to these kind of tragedies we have the american public has edged in their minds these dates and these in these place names post nightclub sandy hook aurora the. movie theater in aurora or the batman movie san bernardino the places that you showed on the screen a second ago it's hard to make them understand that this is a pattern that we have control of our political process can control and prevent. but when you hear sixty people dead five hundred people injured i mean this could be something that focuses the mind let's hope so gun control laws in nevada where las vegas is where the shooting just took place are considered to be among the looses in the country is this issue gun control more something that should be dealt

with at state level than it federal level is it more of a state issue so it's complex obviously the second amendment is something that regulates the federal government is federal law and it's kind of sacrosanct but what it says is that the american people have the right to bear arms in regulated militias and that word right. elated militias gives a lot of power both the federal government and to the states to take action the question is can state legislatures do so nevada is infamously libertarian that is one of the reasons why they have the casinos there that's why frankly prostitution is legal there they want people to live and let live and that includes owning guns so changing that culture will be difficult but we'll see how this plays out there tyson thank you so much tyson barker program director at the answer to spin institute germany thanks for talking to a suspect. now to spain where there's a standoff between madrid and the region of catalonia today workers in catalonia

are set to go on strike in protest at the heavy handed policing which marred its independence referendum on sunday authorities say that vote has won was won overwhelmingly by the separatists but critics say opponents were unable to or unwilling to vote with feelings running so high let's see what people on the streets of barcelona are saying. but i mean we know that to me this was a turning point because i've always been cut the line but i never had strong feelings about independence until now. i've been more civic minded. but after yesterday my way of thinking really changed i mean you see him coming to the money i was the guy was god he was god. and then you're talking about independence not be ok and that's a mistake made by usually one on one i feel i don't think a country own nation that claims to be a state could move forward without

a deal with europe and all the western world something specific. that. it's too soon if you don't. look at. what i think is really an forgivable is that there are these police actions but they do not allow a people to express itself and live in freedom you know so that we don't look at this percent said no we didn't do it tough and that this. seat that meant that if the government thought the referendum was unlawful it could have acted without violence everything could have happened peacefully and they could have said we don't recognize the result of. the the the. on joining us from barcelona as d.w. correspondent funny high funny unions and other groups there have called for a general strike in catalonia today what's the purpose of that strike and how is it

supposed to help matters. well the official purpose terry is to keep up the pressure on the government in madrid and make sure that the message calms across that the people who support independence here in catalonia want to take this all the way through the really want independence they really want a separation from the rest of the country but also the other of people who will probably take to the streets today to call them violence all together all those images that the f. seen playing out there on sunday when the police cracked down on the referendum or on the people who participated in that referendum that is deemed illegal and invalid so it's a mixture of both both officially to condemn violence but at the same time to keep that pressure up ok so still trying to keep up the pressure there for the independence movement in catalonia now the people who voted in that referendum and who held a referendum for independence knew that the that the federal police were going to

try to stop it what do they excel how how has the police violence that they witnessed yesterday affected the debate about independence in catalonia. well it was clear that the police the national police of spain is going to do everything to make sure that the law is upheld to enforce the fact that the law that was reached by the participants in this vote that these fellows are piled into consumer groups that democracy works according to the spanish constitution and a lot of people are upset in fact just this morning i've seen a few people here walking down already on one of the main boulevard shouting a strike they are upset because they say completely irrelevant of the fact who is supporting independence in catalonia what a most people in catalonia disagree with but also many parts of spain and many parts of europe as well the a for different voices is that it wasn't supposed to be

a while and it wasn't supposed to be that we see images of policemen pulling women by the hair out of polling stations and many other horrific images and that's exactly that's changing the debate as well because there are some people who i've been talking to on the streets who say i have not support independence so far but after that while and crackdown on sunday i'm going to support independence as well so where will the standoff go from here we know about the strike today or couple of authorities likely to declare independence on the basis of sunday's referendum. that's a really good question terry it really is a standoff and really everybody is waiting both moderate the capital city of spain as well as barcelona the capital city of catalonia the region what's next now a different run down small could be for example that really the the regional problem in catalonia is calling out or declaring independence now when that happens

what madrid could do is basically. use article one hundred fifty five of the constitution which would mean in danger of the unity of spain they could strip catalonia all together all of their autonomy if that happens. more violence is going to iraq but as you hear already if you don't really know what's going to happen in the next hour or so what we know what we do know at this point of course is police is bracing for more protests and definitely that not only that acts fiala us but the next few days of going to be full of tensions as so far there's no medication in sight bonnie thank you very much state obvious funny charge there on the streets of barcelona. well today is a national holiday here in germany as the country celebrates the end of its cold war division but this year the day of german unity follows hard on the heels of a general election which revealed the differences that continue to split east and

west of the country support for far right parties in eastern germany has highlighted the disillusion there in stark contrast to the euphoria twenty eight years ago when the berlin wall fell. the east germans could hardly contain their joy as the border guards let them through into west berlin the berlin wall effectively fell on november ninth one thousand nine hundred nine. but one that just five hundred metres to freedom i can't believe it can work that. germany was divided in one nine hundred forty nine four years after the end of world war two many citizens began fleeing soviet controlled east germany to join relatives in the west others left after losing property or their livelihoods and many left to escape the all encompassing surveillance of the secret police or. east german authorities ordered construction of the berlin wall in august one thousand nine hundred sixty one many never gave up their hope for freedom at least one hundred

forty people died or were killed trying to flee east germany. following reforms across the soviet bloc east germans began arriving in the west through hungry and czechoslovakia in the summer of one thousand nine hundred nine pressure grew on the communist east german government as massive demonstrations increased. then at a press conference on november nineteenth history changed with a single sentence the bad guys not citizens will be allowed to travel abroad without special documents instrument spokesman said and when a journalist asked when this would start. as he ad libbed to my knowledge right now immediately people crossed the border on light line and the division between east and west germany began to dissolve official reunification followed on october third the following year one thousand nine hundred. yet nearly

three decades later many differences between east and west remain. most of germany's largest firms and most jobs are in one. germany the official unemployment rate is consistently higher in the east. salaries are also as much as a third lower than in former west germany. just ten percent of women with children work full time in the former west in the former east that figure is over one third . the feeling of being left behind by reunification and disoriented in germany's diverse society are some of the reasons for xenophobic attacks and the rise of the far right alternative for germany party which has its strongholds in the former east even so while the economy in germany's former east is starting from a lower base it's currently growing faster than in the west. and tourism in the

east is breaking its own records berlin has become a huge tourist magnet not least because of its recent history. well as you can imagine there are events all around the country today celebrating german unity will be dipping into them throughout the day you can always find our lives stream at d.w. dot com. well today is also an important milestone for want to berlin is most prestigious and expensive building projects the berlin state opera the city's oldest theatre is nearing the end of a major revamp and it's been a big production in its own right the modernization has taken more than twice as long and cost almost twice as much as originally planned its night the doors reopen for the premiere performance of. it stands proudly under the autumn skies the berlin stayed up or is due to reopen on october third

but even after seven long years of building work there's still plenty to do while outside the final polish is applied inside musicians are busy perfecting their performance it's cool but schumann scenes from curtis found the opening premiere. the. music director daniel barenboim has had to wait a long time for this moment the reconstruction took seven years far longer than planned and the final cost is almost double the original estimate but for barenboim it's been worth the wait for him the acoustics are everything. as stone i was amazed because everything sounded really excellent for and i have to say from my ears at least the acoustics are ideal of you and.

we decided to put that to the test clarinetist glenda takes us inside he's been part of the orchestra here for more than thirty years he says visually little has changed the historic auditorium has been faithfully restored except for one major difference. the roof has been raised by five meters extending the reverberation time from one point one to one point six seconds it is i agree. it's still our theater but actually it's not really our theater if you look up there you see this fantastic acoustic gallery. i've been to guys such a filigree design i love it it's just incredible i'm amazed at how big the room is now how generous the space is. it's a fantastic theater. and we've already had rehearsals here and the acoustics are

vastly improved as. the question king frederick the great would surely have approved he first opened the opera in seven hundred forty two exactly two hundred seventy five years ago it would become one of europe's leading opera houses featuring the greatest conductors phoenix mendelssohn. they had. victim for trying not to have that fun convience and now since one thousand nine hundred one daniel barenboim for a quarter of a century he say classical music in berlin and beyond the reconstruction project is close to his heart.

says soon to take over the artistic direction of the state opera he too is full of praise for the revamped opera house your list to play an hour later it's the same it's a building still breeze two hundred seventy five years of history but in fact every square centimeter has changed all the materials are new design to improve the acoustics you know at this stage technology is absolutely state of the art a wonderful keyboard for us to play on the truth of them and us being proud of. daniel barenboim can't make full use of that stage technology yet the longest and most expensive overhaul in the operas history still isn't complete despite the reopening. some are calling it an opening in installments but for barenboim it's

the final outcome that counts. the mission but i we want to continue to be an institution that makes an important contribution not only for berlin not only for germany but also for europe these two for the legion and so on that. the opera is only celebrating the opening for a few days then the curtain will fall for two months to allow the final work to be completed in december the berlin state opera is due to reopen and all its perfection. u.s. musician and songwriter tom petty has died after suffering a heart attack in california has he was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at his malibu home the sixty six year old is best known as the lead singer of the rock band tom petty and the heartbreakers which recorded a number of hits the nineteen seventies and eighties.

try writing a song or move. let's talk a bit more about him and his work i'm joined in studio by marc esben and from our culture desk time are like so what made tom petty's such a standout rock musician when he had a real gift for penning very sort of simple catchy pop rock hits i mean the ones that stand out don't come around here no more and i won't back down to kind of but they go straight into your mind into this of soul of rock music almost but he also was a master of the power cord combined with sharp lyrics as i think we can see here in a clip of him playing in new york last year jamming me.

tom petty they're very sad of course his passing no it looks still so vital they're on on stage as a rocker you mention his sensitive lyrics so where did he draw his inspiration for his song right when he talks in a number of interviews about the songwriting process and for him he said it was a very magical thing in that it wasn't too useful to try to tie it down into the nuts and bolts he would often sit in front of his keyboard or his guitar and play and see see what emerged but he also i mean in the last song he co-wrote that with

bob dylan and he supported bob dylan on tour and he said he learned a huge amount from that master musician about spontaneity about being able to play and live the moment live on the stage not to do and this rehearsal but to really feel the song and get it out in front of the audience he really treasured that live performance you mentioned tom petty working with bob dylan he worked with a lot of other people as well he was a great collaborator wasn't he certainly was i mentioned earlier don't come around here no more that was a song that he co-wrote with dave stewart of the arithmetics quite an unlikely pairing if you think about that but the famous collaboration that everyone will surely know about with the traveling wilburys which was a super group with geoff live boy bob dylan and of course beatle george harrison and there's a fantastic clip of him playing together with. jeff today and doing

a tribute to george harrison of well my could touch and we see tom petty who's sixty six years old of course you he achieved quite a lot in his career what do you think you'll be best remembered for i think you'll be best remembered for us i said these anthemic songs that almost inject into the soul of roll music and what about your personal favors when you look back at tom petty's music well it probably dates me but when i was a student i went back down was writing up the charts and it was the summer and you could just hear it playing almost out of every window i would say it was a wonderful song with the really captured the mood of the time ok mark thank you so much mark s. bonaire from our arts and culture desk thanks a lot. and just reminder the top stories we're following for you here today on the news los vegas is mourning the fifty nine victims of a mass shooting yesterday after a gunman opened fire on a concert on the city's famous strip before killing himself it's the deadliest mass

shooting in modern u.s. history. and catalonia has called for international mediation in its bid to break away from spain the region's relations with madrid face a further test today as workers in catalonia strike in protest at the police violence which overshadowed this referendum on sunday hundreds says that ballot was illegal. this is news coming to you live from berlin we have another fulton coming up for you at the top of the next hour of course you'll find more of all or stories online at the w dot com thanks for watching.

pick up. the phone just like i was. dortmund son to head with a win an ounce good to see the suicide. only one point for billy under their interim coach sun old guy and can't seem to win even in berlin.

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nobel prize is twenty seventeen. this week twenty w. news. this is day w news coming to you live from berlin and america grieves the terrible loss of life in las vegas vigils calls for prayer and calls for gun control up for the worst mass shooting in recent u.s. history has left fifty nine people dead they were gunned down at a country music festival will go live to los vegas for the later.