asia looking for the next big business idea. our ten part series founders valley starting october twenty third on d w. this is d w news live from berlin calling a snap election appears to have paid off big time for shinzo ave. exit polls are projecting a landslide victory for the japanese prime minister's ruling conservatives this fall is a short campaign that focused on the economy and the north korean crisis. also

coming up thousands of people have taken to the streets in catalonia to protest central government rules this comes as madrid looks to impose direct control over the region following demands for independents to get reaction from barcelona. and all five living former u.s. presidents unite for a good caucus they have attended a concert to raise money for victims of hurricanes that struck the u.s. and its territories. i met her thanks for joining us japan's prime minister shinzo as sold to a landslide victory after taking a gamble with stop elections now the votes are still being counted but exit polls indicate his governing coalition is poised to win a super majority he called the elections last month to consolidate his government's

position to revise the country's post-war constitution so as to tackle the north korean crisis voter turnout may have been hampered as a typhoon washes japan official election results are expected later this evening. well joining me now from tokyo is journalist michael and michael what is the latest from the vote when will we know whether ave has got his supermajority. most likely will find out about the super majority a little bit after midnight local time which is a little over two hours from now. at that time the proportional bloc voting results will be coming in as of about fifteen minutes ago we have confirmed through the district races and what we do already know that he's won a simple majority combining both his ruling party plus his ruling coalition partner so there's no doubt that it's going to be a landslide election in favor of the ruling party in the ruling coalition we just

don't know quite the size of it at this moment. i'll be still have a year to go in his term why did he you know jump the gun and call this election so early well you see he has a lot of a personal baggage at this time he's not particularly personally popular he saw that the opposition parties were in a very weak position to challenge him in the main opposition party at that time it was just had a new leader and was clearly very disorganized and then there was a very popular governor of tokyo who was preparing to move into national politics but by going now instead of next year he was able to essentially get the tokyo governor to move too quickly before she was ready and her effort to unseat him fell apart pretty badly. let's talk a little bit about this supermajority if he does get it what will it let his

government do in the coming years. well prime minister abbott sheens all but all of his life it's been very clear what he's been aiming for long before he was prime minister probably when he was a teenager he's wanted to revise the constitution of japan in particular to get rid of its pacifist article nine or to modify in some way so whether or not he gets the supermajority i think he's going to go forward with that because he has very little time maybe a couple years left so i think you'll see him go for constitutional revision and even if he doesn't get them super majority i think he'll probably try to get other opposition parties to join him in that effort. looking ahead and beyond this constitutional question you mention that some of the other parties might have stronger challengers in the years ahead what do you see in their future well there is one really interesting development how come on the opposition parties.

previously up for some years basically the main opposition party was a mix of conservative centrist and liberal lawmakers but as a result of the last few weeks we've seen finally the emergence of what may be a credible left of center party called the constitutional democratic party of japan they didn't have time to prepare they weren't able to put in a candidates out there but they're doing a pretty credible job in their first election and we may see in future years finally maybe a system in japan where people can vote for parties that have meaning rather than rather meaningless groups of politicians all right we'll see if that future comes true michael penn thanks for joining us from japan thank you. we can move on now to some other stories making news around the world the world health organization has withdrawn its appointment of zimbabwe's president robert mugabe to

serve as a goodwill ambassador that move came following outcry around the world from governments and rights groups who say the original decision to include him contradicted the un's ideals on human rights. russian opposition leader let's see devolving announced on social media he is out of detention he served a twenty day term in moscow for organizing what official called unauthorized protests of all the has held numerous rallies across the country since announcing his intention to stand in next year's election against president vladimir putin. documents related to john f. kennedy's nine hundred sixty three assassination are set to be released next week by the us national archives that trove is expected to include more than thirty thousand classified documents that were previously redacted some three thousand have never been seen before u.s. president donald trump could block the release but he has suggested he wants.

voters in the italian regions of lombardy and the nato are holding non-binding referendum 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 tax revenues sent to rome. well the spanish government is moving forward what's being called the nuclear option in catalonia whether it has announced unprecedented measures to temporarily strip the region of its powers by fire firing the leaders and triggering fresh elections cataloged president called his push to months is accusing the central government of the worst attack on his region since franco meanwhile large crowds rallied in barcelona to protest spain's proposed. to these pro independence catalans the central government's decision to fire catalonia separatist leaders and trigger new elections was yet another insult in response

hundreds of thousands of protesters took to barcelona streets among them as preached amount to now still the question on president since about. i want what without standing for any election and with very little support and against the will of the majority the government of mariano rajoy wants to name a board of directors to remotely controlled the life of catalonia from madrid in announcing the decision spanish prime minister mariano to hoa's says triggering article one five five is the last resort the article announced the central government to wrest back control of regions acting in a way that seriously undermines the interests of spain not been there but we are not suspending catalonia as autonomy or itself governance the measure will remove those people that put the autonomous government outside the law and the constitution itself governance will not end it will be recovered for the sake of

its legality and for the coexistence of all cattle lands not just those who are pro independence look independent. the measures still needs to pass the spanish senate which votes on friday it's expected to pass as roy's party holds a majority of senate seats. for more data used by faisal joins us now from barcelona barbara madrid is upping the ante with this move could it backfire and actually fuel separatist sentiment in catalonia in the way it does of course because before this came to the point to the boiling point that we see. now this crisis of course the independent movement was split i mean there were people who were more moderate who said we just want a bit more from madrid and others that said no we want to be an independent state

and sat and now they are all going out in the street together to protest so that has certainly happened however it is not quite clear that it will really mean that this is creating sort of a new majority for independence that hadn't been there before so we have to wait till we to be seen you opinion polls because there is a silent majority in catalonia and in reality this region is really deeply split into people who are really fighting for independence and now the people who just want to return to their lives and want to go back to normality what we do know what carla s'posed amount wants he wants independence and he's going to give his supporters the red meat that they seek and declare independence. that is yet to be seen because in the palace behind us the crowd a sportsman and his government that is just going to be in office now for a couple of days told and try the senate takes away its powers and there are

hedging their bets there are still playing for time and they're still hoping that they're there somehow can remain in the game and he has three options basically as you said declare independence go down in flames and probably be arrested for that he can sort of go on playing for a time and just sort of step back to the shadows here off the cuff alone politics and he can finally and the last day for that would be like thursday declare elections from his own side and stop this whole thing so those are the options and we don't know yet what he's going to do all right let's talk about one of the elephants in the room. or this until government and the authorities in catalonia prepared to use force to get their way in this conflict. the first answer to that would be no they are of course trying to secure the

central infrastructure like the airport to the main train station we have heard that they've put a few police representatives in the t.v. the regional broadcaster here that really has become like a propaganda tool for the independence movement however on the other hand they will try to avoid inflaming emotions further and creating these big demonstrations that can be sort of brought out here at the drop off ahead and from their side the independence say we are peaceful and they have been peaceful so far the mood is not violent it's not really aggressive that can change but for the for the time being the two sides are trying to sort of get out of this sort of move this crisis along with i would say having any violent clashes particularly madrid has that interest right barbara vessel thanks so much for keeping an eye on things for us from barcelona well it's not often that all five of

america's living former presidents get together on the stage together 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 popular pop rock and country stars for a concert that was broadcast nationally from houston texas. oh say on the cd a concert and a plea help your fellow americans oh so close 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 us gulf states and caribbean territories this fall tour over storm or the surge here tomorrow could not be prouder. of the response of americans. when they see their neighbors and they see their friends they see these

strangers in me american step up. my hand the concert also featured country and rock n roll stars. but the night 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. how we can survive. and i want to express our deep the current u.s. president 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. to sports and formula one and lewis hamilton smashed a track record in texas to claim pole position for sunday's u.s.

grand prix the pole was the seventy second of hamilton's career and eleventh of the season mercedes driver can clinch his fourth f one world championship if he's forced sixteen points more than the closest rival sebastian fattal fettle he qualified second in austin the ferrari driver trails hamilton by fifty nine points in the standings and alton's city's teammate del terry bought us is in third followed by daniel ricciardo and kimi reichen at. that's it for us that you are your news stay tuned i'll be back the top the hour. w.'s program guide to the highlights. the holy month. dot com highlights. when history books.