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this is v.w. news a live from berlin a decisive moment in spain separatist crisis catalonia as president is set to address the region's parliament today will he declare independence or come back from the brink. also coming up fast moving wildfire said devastate california wine country at least ten people have been killed and authorities say that number could rise around twenty thousand residents have been evacuated including hospital patients. plus as part of our weeklong series on what it means to be gay in today's russia we meet a tall young like young woman tells us about her coming out in a country where the gay community is under growing pressure. and emmanuel mccall brings a french accent to the frankfurt book fair which spotlights right before frankel for. literature this year the french president open sea events together with

germany's chancellor later today finally. granted iceland are celebrating in the way that they are famous for after their national team qualified for its first ever world cup. i'm sorry kelly it is great to have you with us he is the face of the catalan independence movement and today carlos pushed him on could trigger the next phase in spain separatist crisis he's hinted that he may declare catalonia as independence when he addresses the region's parliament that is despite intense pressure from the spanish government not to do so so will he or won't he did abuse

mattis has this report from barcelona. this route the planetary assembly of the catalan parliament may be about to go down in history if catalonia as leader declares independence. the pressure from within his own coalition government to part with spain is huge this lawmaker from the far left says the government has no other choice but to declare independence he we. well i think that we will not do what majority people here in catalonia wants us to do and is the reason because we were elected in two thousand and fifteen so i think that we must do what citizens ask us to do but the catalan opposition maintains the referendum was illegal and a unilateral declaration could mean madrid would impose direct route. support it possible that tomorrow independence will be clear in the parliament. will this

change anything nothing because spanish won't simply doesn't allow a separation from. the corresponding. but it would deepen the political crisis the scenario everyone threats particularly in the regions tourism sector recent opinion polls indicate catalans are split on independence i mean i don't think the government of qatar is going to make it right now for both government win win relationship. but just want to make nice and they are doing it it has to happen as fast as. we need in the band until now because spain is being so mean to us so we need we need let's see who is the first. to do the first move and i think no one is going to move pro independence associations already called on supporters to come and celebrate outside the regional parliament. if the catalan leader doesn't declare independence here in

this room if he steps away from the brink the government in madrid has two options declare victory on their part and escalate the situation or start a dialogue with barcelona and we have team coverage as we will await this decision from catalonia as leaders let's bring in funny for char who is live on the ground in barcelona the l.d.s. is standing by in madrid welcome to both of you and funny i'll begin with you how likely is it that we will see a declaration of independence today. serbia for so many different conflicting voices from within the government over the course of the past week one member suggesting a cease fire and actually pulling back here and really look at the fact that really this could be a major consequence for catalonia forget the lowness economy if president bush about pushes and presses i had the declaration of independence what others said no and independence declaration must be made to see really everything is possible all

possible today both a declaration of independence but also that he's not going to decree anything at all but maybe just make a symbolic reference to independence to ease tensions here in barcelona but also to maintain a political credibility even when it comes to his position to his office as president of the region what we know according to the spokesperson of the government people here a very short explicit statement and even know at six pm here at the bar at the problem into barcelona just what the statement is going to be about and madrid there in the spanish capital of course they are closely eyeing as well what the decision is what sort of response can we expect pablo. well we do know is that the government of money out of us said that they're going to take a firm hand and they'll do what's necessary now we've heard plenty of voices that today from different members of the government and they haven't really explicitly

said exactly what they're going to do they've just said that there are several options on the table one being article one fifty five everyone's talking about this this is the suspension of autonomy in catalonia that essentially means that madrid would take over control of their all the functions of the regional government and so that's one option the other option is the national security law which is almost like a state of emergency similar in the sense that the regional governments powers will be taken away and they everything will be controlled from here in madrid but of course we're not going to get any confirmation of what's going to happen until we know what happens at six p.m. in catalonia and money and a whole is going to appear in the parliament behind me four o'clock on wednesday afternoon and he is going to line exactly what the government are planning on doing and funny you have been talking to a lot of people out there on the streets of barcelona what do they want to hear from their leaders there and catalonia do they support independence.

depends really on who you talk to because really this region catalonia is very much split over this question what should be that dream scenario today of the creation for or against independence today you know what i can tell you is not the fact only that you see huge media presents or behind me but also a massive police presence here both at the parliament as well as all side of the parliament where we expect a huge pro independence demonstration to take place at the same time when the declaration of independence or not is going to take place here at the parliament tonight. very own funny char there in barcelona and pablo for the l.d.s. in madrid with the very latest we are awaiting this decision as we mentioned on whether or not catalonia declares independence today thank you to both of you for your reporting. and let's turn to some other news now because at least eleven people have been killed in multiple wildfires that have been sweeping through northern california the blazes are concentrated in one of the state's main wine

growing regions with sonoma and napa counties among the worst hit many of the country's most prized vineyards have now been destroyed firefighters say that their main job at the moment is saving lives. a state of emergency is in force in california's famous wine country centered on the napa valley and sonoma and yuba counties hundreds of homes and businesses been destroyed as the wildfires ripped through the region at least twenty thousand people have been evacuated many ordered by the authorities to leave for their own safety firefighters say their focus is on saving lives rather than putting out before as i do my blinds and i just saw flames all up on the hill behind my house so of course the poor victims still shaking. and they were screaming fire fire fire get out get out so that's when i called my neighbors were all together some of the one country's most opulent homes and

celebrated wineries been razed to the ground this man was lucky. there was just glowing red headed this way. the fire moved very fast i mean the wind was blowing forty miles an hour so it was going that fast you know we were very very worried. a labor south. of the hilton sonoma wine country hotel is among the businesses destroyed by the fire as the complex left a smoldering ruin along with a nearby mobile home park. never heard a bomb or. nothing left you know all these people calling us want to know when they get back in the room no good there's. nothing. high winds are fanning the flames thick smoke from sonoma has reached the

city of san francisco sixty miles away from the fires the still burning. let's get a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world the people of liberia are voting in a landmark election today the ballot could mark the first peaceful handover of power between elected governments in the west african country and over seven decades president ellen johnson sirleaf is stepping down after twelve years in office. campaigning has officially been begun for japan's upcoming lower house elections analysts are calling the snap vote a referendum on prime minister shinzo abbay who has been in power for nearly five years obvious facing an unexpected challenge from a one month old party but is expected to win the vote will take place on october twenty second. people living in poverty are at greater risk of being sentenced to death that is the conclusion of a global alliance of activists working to abolish the death penalty they've

organized hundreds of initiatives to mark this year's world day against the death penalty so where is the problem most acute human rights group amnesty international points to china the world leader when it comes to executions by amnesty international's latest estimates china remains the world's biggest executioner more people are sentenced to death there than the rest of the world combined or exactly how many remains a matter of speculation since there are no official figures most information on the death penalty in china is a state secret. joining china as the world's top five executioners are iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but twenty sixteen did see some changes taking china out of the equation global executions fell from the record highs seen in twenty fifteen just over a thousand people were put to death last year down more than

a third with the sharpest decreases in iran and pakistan pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in twenty fifteen following the pasha our school massacre a wave of executions some more than three hundred people put to death but last year the pace slowed the report found that only a handful of countries were executing people on a large scale last year just four countries were responsible for eighty seven percent of all recorded death penalties. for the first time in a decade the united states has dropped out of the top five the number of executions there is at its lowest point since the early ninety's but amnesty international warns they could go up again this year if a variety of legal challenges to lethal injections are cleared. and for more now we are joined by james lynch deputy director of global issues at amnesty international

thanks so much for being with us james thank you now we understand that your figures we heard there they have suggest that executions have actually decreased globally how solid would you say that trend is and would you call it progress. well that's what i mean the numbers over executions in twenty sixteen was it didn't create this against the previous year twenty fifteen but it's worth saying that the figures in twenty fifteen were a kind of historic high. and actually if you look at what happened in twenty sixteen. the number of people we recorded having been executed one thousand and twenty three in addition to thousands in china is actually still higher than the average over the last ten years so you could look at that as a gloomy i think the broader picture is the number of states executing is is falling twenty three states executed last year and fifty five imposed death sentences through the courts. that is

a significant change you know amnesty international started campaigning on the death penalty around forty years ago one hundred seventy seven and at that point only sixteen countries in the world abolished the death penalty today one hundred five countries have completely abolished the death penalty in law and in practice and a further thirty six you know have gone part of the way so you know the states that are using the death penalty in carrying out executions are in the minority they're becoming increasingly isolated yeah let's talk a little bit more about one of those states which you say is becoming increasingly isolated we've heard that most of the executions are probably taking place in china which does not publish official figures we understand tell us a little bit more about your advocacy and the challenge is to your advocacy in the country. yeah i mean in china we haven't published a specific figure for several years because we believed it was in danger of

significantly and understating the reality you know our assessment remains that thousands of people are sentenced to death and thousands of people are executed every year. you know what we did this year was we did take a look at what you can establish by looking at the one of judicial databases that china. has has has started to sort of fill out you know in an attempt to show that it's being transparent and accountable and in terms of its criminal justice systems what that shows is that the number of executions and that sentences is clearly for are far bigger than the than those that are announced in public media. and even you know that is a very late it's a very limited sample but even from that you can see that there does appear to be some kind of this proposal to effect against certain groups against poor people's or poor socio economic backgrounds now we have to be very careful about this because this is such a partial it's such

a part of the sample but the point is that china needs to come clean about how it's using that a policy any is it it's the death penalty of the state secrets in china what that means is that when we published our report earlier this year you know we saw some media were going into the streets in china and asking them what do you think about this amnesty report and people are saying thousands of people are executed i have no idea so this stifles problem public debate about the use of this you know cruel and inhuman punishment well we thank you so much for telling us a little bit more about it and your findings and your work james lynch deputy director of global issues at amnesty international thank you. pete. we have some breaking news just coming in now kenya's opposition leader riley apparently saying that he is withdrawing from the country as fresh presidential elections slated for october twenty sixth and he said that electoral officials failed to make the necessary reforms this month's election is a rerun of a vote which only held back in august and you will recall that kenya's supreme

court notified that vote due to procedural irregularities as opponents incumbent president hu kenyatta won that election and now it appears that the controversy in the country continues now we're going to turned to a push back to president. labor reforms from unions in france here in europe and their heart out first as that story that's francois affectively france has come to a standstill five and a half million public service employees have gone on strike to protest controversial labor reforms has announced at least a quarter of its short and medium hold flights are canceled the french unions are protesting against the government of president they want to call which is planning to slash one hundred twenty thousand public sector jobs. voltaire college in paris is district eleven is shut down its entrance blocked and

students armed with fire extinguishers many schools all over france are affected by tuesday's public sector strike for the first time in a decade all nine unions representing five point four million public workers have united behind a protest call their aim is to stop president emanuel might call in his plans to shake up france's famously inflexible labor code organizational sunday kill all the unions are calling their members out to protest we are more effective when we united than when we are divided. in past weeks the c.g. union has sent tens of thousands of workers into the streets to. test against planned reforms like making hiring and firing easier mckown says moves like these will fight france's chronic high unemployment but the unions are furious about his plans to x. one hundred twenty thousand jobs and reduce sick pay that something they see as a direct challenge to their power to use the showdown may just be

a taste of things to come as mccrone presses ahead with his reforms. on monday britain's prime minister terrorism aide told parliament that breaks it negotiations are now in the e.u.'s courts and one of the issues the two sides need to nail down before discussing trade terms is the border between northern ireland which belongs to britain and the republic of ireland which is part of the e.u. it's a thorny issue because no other e.u. country depends on trade with the u.k. like ireland and the locals are getting more nervous as talks drag on with no solution and sides. there are over ninety thousand companies on the emerald isle that survive on trade with britain many of them are farmers sixty percent of the brief output goes to the u.k. dairy and other projects would be like over and all our stuff is usually in par. but it is becoming increasingly clear that arlen needs britain

a lot more than vice versa. so hard i would call them to go and that's going to affect our our prices because you care to be able to go or why you don't store there who. have to have heard of our projects going in well that's going to affect all. economists believe our lead could fall victim to a power struggle between brussels and london. so i'm going with clarity like as soft a break as of as humanly possible but you have to recognise you know the european commission concerns that they can't offer too sweet a deal to the british so ireland is very culture in the middle and in that in this regard talks this week in brussels will show whether the border issue remains a barrier to bracks a trade negotiations. many international financial institutions headquartered in london are not waiting until the brakes it negotiations are done and dusted for

their licenses to continue to apply for the whole of the e.u. they have contingency plans to move that european operations to cities like paris dublin or indeed frankfurt some are already doing it and the affected bank has of course what the best for their families so they are now in a rush to secure flats and places in schools and keep the costs. some ten thousand new jobs are expected to spring up in the frankfurt area as a result of break that. real estate broker stefan pointing observes developments from up high and senses change in the air but believed that fund of course breaks it will boost frankfurter will be renting an extra fifty thousand square metres of space thanks to break and we're also sensing a second wave in the making. on the companies providing services to the banks are also increasing their staff numbers out of frankfurt wasted no time for motoring

itself as an alternative home to banks leaving london it's a development that could benefit the entire region. and talk. on the very first day after the referendum we activated a website explaining what it's like to live and work here. instead of using billboards the frankfurt marketing team contacted banks directly and discovered widespread interest except for certain reservations when it came to families. people asking about international schools and being assured that people here speak sufficient english. pupils arriving in the metropolitan school in frankfurt in ten years people numbers here of mushroom from fifty to five hundred and the building itself continues to expand as seen from the scaffolding from the previous extension. principle pitta feather's used to be an investment banker in london himself and is now receiving a growing number of inquiries about his school from that city.

it happens every day because we're still growing physically we're able to offer individual places for all school grades. the school has yet to be overwhelmed by families fleeing bragg's it although elsewhere there are indications of change. we were just about to buy a house for the summer and a banker came in from london and snapped up when it was just within our grasp so yes we've already feeling the effects of brits at. school places and office space evidently an ample supply and fun but what is likely to become a rare commodity thanks to the breaks that effect is affordable housing for the new arrivals. well there's more business to come a bit little edge of the show first back to start with the story of the state a state of civil liberties in russia in fact this is a this is a series that we've been working on all week here at t w hard on we've been

broadcasting a series of reports on what it is like to be gay in russia pressure is growing on the country's gay community and activists there have called on the international community for help today we meet the tallia a young woman who experienced prejudice and abuse when she came out. and there was when they were running around school screaming that i'm a damn lesbian and that i should die that their homophobia was reason enough to attack me or be. ok. so. when i started dancing i met people i knew i'd feel comfortable with doing a book on what. works and swore it would be most of them are either

bisexual or lesbian it gives me a feeling of freedom for the. moment my mother was really upset when she found out she cried a lot oh no it was a shock for us she i'll admit i even felt a physical which was a version of my god is my daughter a monster or a freak. and i certainly felt uneasy about it. well why should she. and what will people say that there are people who can never find out you can't even hint x. and that's not you know these are i can see that she wants to understand me more but she can you know this is my parents were brought up in the soviet union with god though it's interesting that it's this year we went on a trip to greece and went to an island where there was a monastery and pilgrims one woman went down on her knees and crawled to the monastery i was surprised maybe she wanted god to help her heal someone and then i

thought to myself if someone told me to get down on my knees and roll and then my daughter would be just like everyone else i would do it the book. in russia the reaction is harsh parents freak out and kick their kids out of the house even disown them and that's not all one girl i know her father almost killed her for it. when i was fourteen my classmates and some of the kids at school found out they spat at me hit me with their heavy backpack filled with books beat me up and insulted me. i freaked out i cried because i was so scared life was over the most never want.

to. see or. sexual relationships are seen as degrading here people react really aggressively to them if i realize at some point that i just can't live here anymore and i have to find a way to leave it here. you're watching news live from berlin still to come on our program french president emmanuel mccall takes his push for deeper european integration to germany today and chancellor angela merkel are opening the world's largest book fair in fact. all that mark back in a few minutes. time

. what drives the world's most inscrutable leader. behind. in ponsi friends and confidantes provide exclusive glimpses. north korea's dangerously. close up in forty five minutes of d w. that. there would. be a sun media where does it come from the month of two is all of us stop. starting october fifteenth on w and online welcome to quadriga art what is that he

said about him in the uk if the way you read it is that. women's talk w. more women. more talk we think we have four more days to find out how this w. . fake hair and real story. where i come from a lot of women like me have fake hair sometimes a hairstyle takes up to two days that's a lot of time that needs to be filled so people at the salon talk about what's happening in their lives. i became a journalist to be a storyteller and i always want to find those real authentic stories from everyday people who have something to share. with all the time a friend of the salon i know good quality here when i see it and a good story when i hear it. my name is elizabeth chong and i work at steve.

welcome back you're watching news i'm sarah kelly in berlin our top stories catalonia leader charles pushed a mob is under growing pressure to back down from plans to breakaway from space that is ahead of a parliamentary address in. where he put it there the beach is independent. but some breaking news we told you a little bit more about the head of the break kenyan opposition leader riley says that he is withdrawing from the country's fresh presidential elections slated for october twenty sixth this month's election is a rerun of a vote of originally held in august kenya's to pray in court all of that vote due to procedural irregularities opponent president hu kenyatta won that election we will have more on this news as we get it but in the meantime i want to tell you that relations between germany and the turkish government led by president breccia

type have been deteriorating since the failed coup attempt in turkey last year three germans are in detention in turkey including journalist. two lu she was arrested in april on charges of membership of a terrorist organization and spreading terrorist propaganda her trial is due to begin on wednesday berlin says that she has been unjustly imprisoned and turkey's critics say that it's yet another example of how freedom of expression has come under attack one of her greatest supporters is her father. back here could a women's prison is done by. a reason tolu comes here regularly to see his daughter . this time he'll take his young grandson con back home with him for the weekend the two and a half year old leaves here with his mother inside the prison to visit are in the last half an hour and then the little boy's carries him outside where

a group of relatives is waiting thrilled to see him. but he. did say. when i see my grandson. i feel so happy. i'm delighted that for me. it's like i'm the happiest person in the world events for. guns. mashallah tolu has been in prison for more than one hundred sixty days public prosecutors accuse the young mother of only having german citizenship of terrorist propaganda and of being a member of a terror organization. mashallah had worked as a translator and journalist for a left wing turkish news agency before the weekend begins with these grandparents sir khan's allowed to visit his dad michelle

a told whose husband was an active member of a socialist party he too was accused of being involved in a terrorist organization and he's now in seal if we present at only two and a half years old mashallah told his son lives with his mother in prison and visits his father in another prison after the visit ali rates a tells us that his son in law and grandson was only able to speak through a pane of glass. is that. i've taken him there twice so far. but they've had to speak through a telephone. that's not so great but still he saw his father and was really happy. and he said father one of you coming. and his dad replied i'm just having a little holiday here. the boy's parents want their son to be as unaffected by their imprisonment as possible it was his mother who decided to have him leave with

air inside the prison. ali riza tolu says mashallah and her son are treated well there but the weekend outside is none the less important for the boys development. ali riza tolu meets regularly with michelle his lawyer michelle his trial begins on october the eleventh thing is done both criminal court the lawyer is worried about her client many legal cases of being decided in favor of the turkish government right now mashallah its official indictment has arrived and her lawyer can only shake her head mashallah is being accused of having attended a funeral a demonstration for women's rights and commemorative events for dead activists in twenty fourteen and twenty fifteen the activists were members of the marxist leninist communist party which is classified as a terrorist organization in turkey day lost their lives fighting the so-called

islamic state in syria. events most supervised by turkish security personnel and took place peacefully as part of the right to freedom of opinion but. now though they are categorized as terrorist propaganda and those who participated as being members of a terror organization. now it's time for khan to go back to his mother ali riza hopes that he's daughter and grandson will be released in october once the trial is over so he too has his doubts. this sort of. they always search for evidence but there is no evidence. and they only arrested her to get their revenge or whatever on germany that's all the little princess alice. the turkish government has repeatedly stated that it's countries justice system is independent and if that's the case says michelle his lawyer mother and son should

be released in october. a quick reminder now of the breaking news that we have been following for you at this hour on kenya's rerun election which was scheduled for a little later this month october twenty sixth it is now coming to light that kenya's opposition leader raul has apparently said that he is with a drawing from the country's fresh presidential election let's get more now on this breaking news with catherine on one thought who is on the line from nairobi and catherine this is quite a shock announcement what more can you tell us about it it is quite shocking but this stuck to their guns in the sense that that saying that the electoral commission has no will to conduct a free and fair election come the twenty sixth of october and that's what that's what this sticking to this said that no indication this it's cleaned up its act and those who they accuse of bungling the last election. and policy in this

election that's coming up and these are just going some little worries that they've put forth so is this just a tactical move by o. ding a because i mean we know that he is the challenger and that in the last run of the selection that president. who is the incumbent actually won it so what does this announcement now mean for or dangerous chances. it it's hard to say at this point what it does mean it means that an air of uncertainty in the country because just as they were making that announcement they also made an announcement to nationwide demonstrations that this is one of the oppositions you know one of the stakes that they hold during these conversations they call for mass action and that's how they make their point across so now people are more worried of how what what will that lead to. but it does throw the country into

a serious situation because now we could see a constitutional crisis because as it stands incumbent president who can yet it can only act in that capacity until the first of november after which he acts as a temporary president so we see a constitutional crisis ahead of us. let's talk a little bit more about that worry and that uncertainty just generally speaking in the country because we have seen increasing levels of protests there in kenya some of them have even turned violent who are these protesters and what have they been demanding. well majority of the press. the protesters are part of the national super alliance which is the opposition but we have seen some members of the ruling supporters of the ruling party taking part in counter protest but majority of the protesters from the opposition and they're demanding free and fair elections and so for them what that looks like is possibly new commission and

possibly a new secretariat within the electoral commission and possibly you know opening up the service so that people can see that you know there was not those no manipulation of this because that is the one issue that. the electoral commission seems to be very adamant to not showing the public so it's the supporters of many opposition and those crying for a free and fair elections but then now this brings you know it's a whole different dynamic now because right now you go to the streets and then we probably will see a police heavy police presence tomorrow as of tomorrow and just to recap for our viewers this is a shock announcement here in this election rerun there in kenya opposition leader violent odinga says that he is withdrawing from that race the vote was supposed to happen on october twenty sixth catherine alonso with the very latest from kenya thank you.

time now for culture news the frankfurt book fair the biggest in the world begins tomorrow the guest country this year is france and french president and manual call has arrived in france to open the fair along with german chancellor angela merkel we see him here outside of frankfurt city hall where he will be discussing his ideas on europe at an open debate before moving on to the fair. and as always robin merrill joins us here in the studio with the very latest you are our culture editor robin so biggest book fair in the world as we've just heard is that in terms of books or visitors or business or what are we looking at here well all of those really i mean they're expecting up to three hundred thousand visitors this year seven hundred sorry seven hundred exhibitors from over one hundred countries represented there and there's huge amounts of business done the you'll even get the occasional hollywood producer there as well looking out to buy

secure film rights for certain books as well when we think about frankfurt i mean many of us we think about you know the business the business community in that city you know very much dominant on that level why books well as the price historically goes right nearly six hundred years down the road from there you have his gutenberg invented the printing press in minds just down the road from frankfurt and around fourteen fifty we're not quite sure of the date the fair recorded around that time where the manuscripts were sold and books as well these first books are really all go back there but let's come back to the present and look at a couple of young french authors who are making waves in the world of literature. that's the money belongs to a new wave of young french writers second novel soon to be published in english as

the perfect noni one france's most prestigious literary prize the gong core in twenty sixty. a story that stuck with a shock the brutal murder of a child. cruelty is very important in literature all children's tales are tales of cruelty tales of terror and injustice and i love these tales and want to tell this kind of story but for big children for adults it's the story of an affluent family living in paris who employed the perfect nanny to look after their children they choose a french woman with excellent references but they actually know nothing of her real life in a pole paris suburb soon the a dell is shattered. he examines current tensions at work in french society. deep divisions have been evident in france since long before the recent election

many fear that the radical reform program of president emanuel will only push more people into the arms of rightwing populists the end of it he is twenty four year old eduardo louise autobiographical debut novel it describes growing up gay in a post industrial town in northern france homophobia is rife and there's a deep disdain for mainstream politics. which will be called you. when there is talk of france today it's not about my parents it is not about the working classes i very quickly perceived this as an injustice and this drove me to write that it's not just in politics in there too that there is this invisibility more than that more of a violent exclusion people don't know that the people that i write about even exist . exist. in the

meantime writers in french come from five continents this year their works have pride of place at the frankfurt book fair in neighboring germany. and everyone can attend but this also of course attracts famous authors and every year a special prize this year going out to margaret. yeah this is the canadian author who's written over forty books of fiction she's written lots of poetry as well that's rather nice but she's to receive the peace prize of the book trade this sunday for her and i quote political intuition and clairvoyance when it comes to dangerous underlying trends and current now perhaps best see most recently in what we're seeing right now this is this dystopian novel that she wrote way back in ninety five the handmade style being made into a mega series by streaming site who don't want eight emmys. recently including the outstanding drama series the other way anyway she people feel it has relevance

today her story from all that time ago and she said to be very happy to be receiving this very good prize for peace prize from the book trade for well we wish her a very big congratulations and we thank you robin merrill for telling us a little bit more about it from our culture desk we appreciate it. well time now to talk about germany's trade surplus is good news for the country but perhaps not for some of its trade partners erhard alpha's has more that's right germany's economy is powering ahead the nation's trade surplus expanded again in august on a monthly basis data shows export outweighed imports by more than twenty billion euros germany's massive surplus has been widely criticized by allies and trade partners alike complain the country fails to buy enough from abroad to share the fruits of its own economic success that argument continues to fall on deaf ears forecasters expect this year to be the best for german exports since twenty ten

now stocks in the u.s. drug make a fire shot up one percent after the firm announced it is considering the sale of its consumer health care business unit makes over the counter products like chapstick or advil and it could be worth up to fourteen billion dollars in cash pfizer has asked banks to review if the sale would make financial sense saying it wants to concentrate on its bio pharmaceutical products. japan could have foreseen and avoided the twenty eleven fukushima nuclear accident that's the ruling of a district court in fukushima that has ordered the government and nuclear plant operator tepco to compensate the thousands of plaintiffs it is the biggest class action suit over the incident so far. four million euros compensation the plaintiff's lawyers announce their success in court the three thousand eight hundred residents of fukushima victims of the nuclear catastrophe there will

receive compensation from the government and the nuclear power company tepco six years after the disaster a district court in fukushima has concluded that politics and the power company itself are to blame both failed to conduct proper risk management and security measures there were thirty more similar court cases on the way this past summer former tepco bosses appeared in court and apologized to the victims of the disaster according to them they're not responsible but still the plaintiffs want answers. that's how did this nuclear accident happen what was the cause of it who's responsible for it and i hope this trial will clarify this point. the disaster took place in twenty eleven three reactors exploded after an earthquake caused a massive tsunami radioactivity escaped tens of thousands of residents had to leave their homes behind. many areas around fukushima are still uninhabitable today.

both tepco and the government knew there was a risk of a tsunami but they underestimated that risk and that led to the catastrophe. almost six years later the first victims have finally been granted their long awaited compensation. that's all we have business back to sarah and the icelandic thunderclap yes some people might know this i mean this really became popular. and if you've ever seen it it's hard to forget it check it out it is quite famous it echoed around stadiums at the twenty six euro. this clap. that you hear quite. on that will be heard at next year's world cup now that's because iceland became the smallest nation to ever qualify for the world come the vikings ended up topping their group after beating kosovo and with a population of around three hundred and thirty thousand there preparing for

a new wave of those thunder clap. on icelandic presenter proudly announced the historic achievement wearing a national team jersey. goes by goofy sigurdsson and johan good months and sealed the two nil victory of a kosovo to set the party going in the icelandic capital reykjavik after the match the country's president captured the mood in typical icelandic modesty. that the rain starts the pride and joy come to mind this is one of the biggest moments of the sport's history of iceland and we're a small nation but we use that as a strength. congratulations iceland. the victorious players gathered with fun's in downtown reykjavik to celebrate through the night. now the icelandic thunderclap made famous at the european

championships will be heading for russia twenty eighty. five. and it is not just iceland that we are going to talk about now we're talking world cup qualifying with our sports reporter back tomorrow joining us here in the studio hi to you max iceland of course a very small country how do they make it well it's a fantastic footballing faeries when you saw the excitement there in the country and with the fans i mean the smallest nation to ever qualify for world cup tournament and the they were the big surprise package at euro twenty sixteen so this isn't necessarily new news that they are this good but again just supposed to observers of hers every time they beat england out that tournament and went on to the quarter final and now in their world cup qualifying group beat out croatia turkey ukraine all teams that have a bigger population a better footballing infrastructure what they did though seventeen years ago is invest heavily in dog training facilities as you may know i think it's

a little bit cold especially in the winter. and they built those know mostly near schools and then the other thing they did was educate coaches now that population as you mentioned around three hundred thirty thousand every eight hundred person is a coach more or less and seventy percent of those own a you a for b. license now that is a professional license which allows you to work for actual football in clubs so they've really spent the money that in growing the game at home and we will see how they fare of course everyone always loves an underdog i'm sure that they will be a fan favorite meantime there are some other teams which still have yet to qualify so so what are some interesting match ups on that front yet there's still some. people with agendas i mean favorites from sue many tipped to win the world cup they still need points to guarantee qualification in their group netherlands another big team looks set well they are pretty much set to miss out by a miracle and european championship champions portugal also need points to get

a direct qualification spot in africa morocco play ivory coast and a real face off the other side needs a win really that the biggest story is in south america where argentina they made it to the final last time around in twenty fourteen but now they're in danger of not even traveling to russia next year how did it come to this. take a good look at leonardo messi because there's every chance you won't be seeing him in next year's world cup in russia he might be one of the world's best players but his country argentina are going through something of a footballing crisis rainy days struggling to school. it's front page news here and speaking of it being the last chance after the goalless draw against peru last week people are nervous. but i think it will be tough but they'll do it they'll qualify it's complicated to end up in a tie in this situation it's difficult because i think qualifying will be hard not

impossible because mathematically speaking we can still qualify but we're also depending on other teams result so we have to wait it out. argentina's qualifying group is tight with only three points separating second from six seven outcomes are possible but in short losing that win and they guaranteed at least a play off place the altitude in quito hasn't done this squad well over the years the last picture in ecuador came in two thousand and one and so despite his talents he's been crowned ballon d'or when a record five times may soon have to accept the world cup is a trophy too far. so argentina with lionel messi could not make it max i mean who would have thought that it would have come to this how did it come to this. i mean it's unbelievable really that one of the best teams in the world the only thing you can really criticize is that imbalanced their attack features some of the world's

best players linnell messi paolo di bella said you are glare zero but further at the back it looks a bit thinner they haven't got a world class goalkeeper haven't had for many years and their defense is weak as well strong players like roberto i have is and that's the retired long time ago and they haven't really been able to replace these big players for many years their coat. polly he was brought in in june to sort of fix everything he had great success with chile but he hasn't really been able to put his style which is a very attacking style successfully on to the side three drolls in five of his games he won the other two but it's just not enough in a qualifying group that features really really strong teams so you sound really a pessimistic there max fair to say that the heirs to fend for argentina yet literally because they have very high up when they face ecuador now ecuador and bolivia as well they do this they play a really high altitude it's very tough for the players two thousand seven hundred meters high up it's going to be

a slow game and ecuador are very hard to beat at home argentina haven't managed it since two thousand and one and there are six teams just ling for a full spots now and you look at the competition chile colombia peru paraguayan argentina is just one of many acts merrill with the very latest from sports desk we will indeed see argentina are able to make it through we appreciate your reporting . you're watching news a quick reminder of the top stories that we have been following for you catalonian leader call this pushed along is under growing pressure to back down from plans to break away from spain that's ahead of a parliamentary address today where he could declare the region's independence. and that speech is expected within the next hour do stay here with g.w. phil gallo is monitoring all the action for you he joins you after a couple of minutes with the headline you're watching i'm sorry kelly as he said.

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should in forty five minutes. it was a shock and i have to admit i was disgusted by main door to. get in russia you can make money with homophobia. they fixed a piece of wire to my little finger and switched on the current their people without rights in their own country because they're homosexuals gay in russia our series this week in the news on d w. something nice when i ask him to endure is or didn't mean anything at all they killed many civilians with him in the irish coming including my father why the things that i was a student because i wanted to build a life for myself. but suddenly life became elish kind of sad.

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