i've been doing very well be sure you have your show there with us now or you know visions magazine for. us from every week and ways of looking to the future phone d w dot com science and research for asia. this is d w news live from berlin spain central government takes drastic measures to stop catalonia from breaking away half a million people take to the streets of barcelona in protest separatist leaders are calling it the worst attack on the region since the franco dictatorship we'll get

reaction from barcelona also coming up the far right a.f.d. in germany fared well on election night but today thousands are expected to gather in berlin against racism demonstrations are being directed at the f.t. will cross to our correspondent. and all five living former u.s. presidents tonight for a good cause they attended a concert to benefit victims of hurricanes that struck the u.s. and its territories. welcome to the program i'm marrying in evanston is good to have you with us the spanish government has announced unprecedented measures against separatists in catalonia prime minister mariano rajoy plans to sack catalan leaders and call fresh elections catalan president carlos whose demo. is accusing the central government

of the worst attack on his region since franco well meanwhile large crowds rallied in barcelona to support independence. for these catalans madrid's response is yet another insult hundreds of thousands of separatist demonstrators took to barcelona streets on saturday among them was carlos put him on the catalan leader his supporters later gathered again outside the regional parliament to protest madrid's move to impose central authority. without going through the polls with little support and against the will of the majority the government of marianna wants to appoint a directory to remotely control the life of catalonia from madrid. was harsh in his criticism of madrid likening its announcement to spain's fascist dictatorship that ruled the country for much of the twentieth century. the spanish government with the support of the socialist and liberal party has undertaken the worst attack on

the institutions and people of catalonia since the decree of the military dictator francisco franco abolishing the government of qatar lonia spain's prime minister mariano rajoy was likely expecting a strong rebuke from barcelona and triggering article one fifty five of spain's constitution he has turned to what he considers a measure of last resort in the growing political crisis between madrid and barcelona. the autonomy and self governance of catalonia will not be suspended it will remove the people that put on a mess government outside the law and the constitution. self governance will not end it will be recovered for the sake of its legality and for the coexistence of all catalans not just those who are pro independence. we're always plan foresees cut a line affairs coming under madrid's direction regional elections would be held

within six months that can only happen if spain senate approves rejoice decision to trigger article one fifty five senators are due to vote on friday roy's conservative people's party holds a majority of the senate seats well for more and barbara vai's will joins me now from barcelona barbara could these measures by madrid actually backfire and further fuel pro separatist sentiment in catalonia. of course they do to a certain extent mariano because the movement was more split before and now of course they feel galvanized they say we have to march together and they have a very effective social media networks like calling out people for demonstrations as we saw on saturday evening is so that of course works better however we don't really know how strong they are with regard to the seven and

a half million inhabitants off catalonia and whether they really do carry a majority that is completely unclear that puts them in government of course constantly claims to speak for the people but that's what all populists governments do and nothing is been proven yet right so marinara hall is calling for elections as soon as possible but isn't there a danger that with new elections in catalonia we'll just see separatists being reelected. now this group that's and then power now can stand again so put them on and his ministers are out of course they can put up new leaders however if you look at the latest polls for four put them on a centrist pro independence party they were in so hot it wasn't really so great it's not that he would just easily sail into majority plus his government now is being propped up by an extreme leftist party and we don't know anything about their

fates they might not be able to do this again and get enough votes together so that is completely unclear and there's a further aspect during the last regional elections voter turnout was only in the sixty's of percents so now this time we can be quite sure that everybody who is against independence who wants to sort of return to their life who don't want to threaten economic welfare and the economic future of catalonia will turn out to vote so it's really completely open we don't know what will happen now what do we know about the next move by the catalonian government we know nothing of course because they're keeping their cards very close to their chest however they have three options put cement and really declare independence during this coming week and go down in flames be arrested and become a marcher great maybe some some people some of his supporters would love that but

it's not clear whether he'll want to do it and he could also just sort of keep his feet still and wait for madrid to act and he could still call for elections from his own side he could do this before the senate takes his powers away on friday so he could still call for elections and overtly autonomy being suspended that is basically his best bet but whether he will choose that is totally unclear already delays barbara vey is all monitoring the situation from barcelona thank you so much . now to some of the other stories making news around the world and voters in the northern italian regions of lombardi and veneto are holding non-binding referendums asking for more autonomy from the central government both regions are led by members of the far right northern league they want more powers over infrastructure health and education they're also looking to slash the tax revenues sent to rome

millions of japanese voters are braving a typhoon to cast their ballots and slap parliamentary elections as thought the high winds and driving rain could lead to a low turnout polls show prime minister shinzo avi's ruling liberal democratic party cruising to victory. russian opposition leader are they saying of all these says he's been released from a detention center in moscow he had served at twenty day term for organizing what officials called on authorized protests of only has held numerous rallies across the country since announcing his intention to stand in the next year's election against president vladimir putin. now thousands of demonstrators are expected in the center of berlin today they're protesting against racism and discrimination in german politics and the rally is widely seen as being directed at the far right a of d. party in september the de came in third in federal elections it was the first times as in the one nine hundred fifty s.

that a party to the right of the conservatives was voted into the blindest tug on tuesday germany's new parliament is due to meet and nearly one hundred eighty deputies will be seated for the first time. on the political correspondent kate brady is covering the demonstration for us she's standing by and berlin's brandenburg gate that's where the demonstrators are now gathering hello to you kate so what can we expect from this demonstration today. well we're expecting anywhere anywhere between four and ten thousand protesters to turn out today in berlin ahead of the a.f.d. enter in parliament of course on tuesday they demonstrate the demonstration itself has been able to demonstration against racism and hate now joining me now is ali can one of the initiators all of the demonstration here today so early you say that this demonstration represents the eighty seven percent of german voters who didn't

vote for the a.f.p. on september twenty fourth but of course thirteen percent did they were clearly issues that need to be addressed in german society is a wake up call yes it should is a wake up call we want to we want the a the voters to reflect their mindset you know they voted for a party which said a lot of racist things which is not ok. so it is a wake up call and we want to stress that racism is not allowed in our bonus talk. the majority in germany who want diversity so this is our sign now you said as it's a i don't know little badge that it's a demonstration against hate and racism in parliament why is it that you haven't said very clearly said that it's a demonstration just against the a.f.d. well when i would say it's against the if these so against party then i wouldn't be

a democratic person not at all and for me it's not true protest against the party for me as the democratic person i want to demonstrate and have a protest against racism because you know it doesn't matter who sass bad things who says the racist things also migrants can say racist racist things so it depends just on why. people have what people say so we have. a crowd of persons we just against hate. and how would you like to see the government when it's formed and the other opposition parties dealing with the a.f.d. in parliament well first of all they should respect as a party you know we are just in the beginning they will move to the problem and. if you will move to the parliament and i expect it will move the discussion the balts

refugees migrants a bit to the right. unfortunately i expect that the majority of parliament will hold our values and our constitution just and say the that's our that's all germany we want to have the right wing germany which the f.t. wants to have. that was one of the initiators of the demonstration against racism and hate today marianna back to you in the studio all right thank you very much kate brady reporting for us from the brandenburg gate where a demonstration against racism is just about to get underway thank you so much. so sports news now and in formula one lewis hamilton smashed the track record to claim pole position for sunday's u.s. grand prix in austin the pole was the seventy second of hamilton's career and eleven of the season the mercedes driver can clinch his fourth formula one world

championship if he scores sixteen points more than close his rivals of us in federal who qualified second the ferrari driver trails hamilton by fifty nine points in the standings and wilton's mercedes teammate terry botha's is in third followed by a red bull's danielle ricky and ferrari's kimi raikkonen. now it's not often that all five of america's living former presidents get together on stage but last night jimmy carter bill clinton barack obama george h.w. bush and george w. bush put aside partisan differences to raise money for hurricane victims they were joined by a popular pop rock and country stars for a concert that was broadcast nationally from houston texas or the state to see the concert and a plea for help your fellow americans on the soap the that was the message that the five living former presidents had for america at

a fundraiser in houston texas to help victims of hurricanes that devastated u.s. gulf states and caribbean territories this fall tour over the stormers third tour to mark ford more of the prouder. of the response of americans. when this is their neighbors and they see their friends. this is stranger than me american stepped up. for the concert also featured country and rock n roll stars. but the night's surprise headliner was pop superstar and grammy award winner lady gaga. pain is such an equalizer. and in a time of catastrophe we all put our differences aside and we come together. because we need each other. we can survive. malani and i want to

express our deep the current u.s. president donald trump did not attend but he did send a video message thanking his predecessors for their help. the five former presidents started their fund raising initiative in september since then has raised more than thirty one million dollars through and you're watching news coming to you from berlin we'll be back again at the top of the hour with an update in the meantime you can always get the latest news and information on our website at that dot com american everything from all of us here in berlin thanks for watching. the whole d w one out. four in focus global insights the news

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