it's good to see you. do something for your country but you're still the black swan . afro germany starting december tenth d.w. . this is the w. news live from berlin germany on a shelf to police evacuated christmas market a suspect to a suspect package sparking anxiety in the town of potsdam just outside burley no authorities say it contain

a olds and possibly explosives will be going live to pot some in just a second also on the program fresh pressure on the trumpet ministration is federal investigators challenge another senior official this time it's former national security advisor michael flynn he's pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his conversations with russian officials. and the countdown to next year's soccer world cup in russia has begun officials making the group stage draw in moscow we'll find out who's playing who and what that means for the favorite. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring it thanks for joining us german police have secured and destroyed a package in the city of pottstown near the end they say contained nails and a powdery substance it's unclear whether it was whether it was part of an explosive

device the package was delivered to a pharmacy in potsdam leading police to evacuate a nearby christmas market. the christmas spirit was interrupted in central pakistan on friday evening. author and he's cordoned off the area after discovery of a suspicious package near the city's christmas market. police said a parcel was delivered by courier to a pharmacy near the market in the afternoon. the owner of the pharmacy alerted the police. with the support of the german federal police we x. rayed the parcel and confirmed that there was indeed a cylindrical object inside and it contained nails history and. so far no detonator has been found police say the parcel held a large firecracker without a fuse and with hundreds of small nails it's an open question as to the motive. it

is all here for it's too early to speculate because we really cannot yet say whether the target was the pharmacist or whether it was the christmas market would involve notes my. investigations are continuing but the mayor of potsdam says the market will open as usual tomorrow morning. and standing by in part some forested obviously in a few linda as i said police have defused the device in question have they found anything else that suspicious and what else have they been telling you. well they're still trying to play here all of the area what they're doing right now is sending dogs looking for any explosives anywhere around the markets and the surroundings this is a residential area so people really want to be clear that there's nothing here that could be of any danger and what they are saying is in the package now this is what the mayor has been told telling us just

a little while ago there was nothing there was no due to nature so this package that they found in the pharmacy right behind me two hundred meters it didn't contain anything that really could have been explosive so the question is what was the motive behind it was it really somebody just trying to scare off the population this is what the police is trying to find out right now and do you think this will scare off the population this christmas market term is going to be opening as usual tomorrow. yes this is what the mayor and the police discussed there they said there's no. there's no threat right here they can only reopen the market and i talked to the population around here and they to they were telling me yes of course we we will go to the market we have to. go on with our lives but of course there's a there's a certain taste to it i mean this is a is a tiny is a town right at the border to berlin but it's very quiet so people you then not so

on in lurd as we have berliners might be right now after the attack just one year ago at the christmas market so this has changed a little bit of the perception of what security is like there's no hundred percent security this is what the mayor just told me but of course they are on high alert but you know bearing in mind that memories are still fresh of. christmas market attack here in berlin last year how tight is security and pasta. this is lots of police here and they definitely have more and a higher number here than last year but i haven't seen any concrete barrier the police said this was not. the security concept they had here and as we can see an incident like tonight you can prevent with concrete barriers this is something that would have happened anyway so what they're trying to look at is what's behind it

and was there really. a threat to the city of potsdam all was just somebody trying to scare off the population linda many thanks for that lynn affair echo reporting there from potsdam. turning to the u.s. now donald trump's former national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the f.b.i. that's after he was charged as part of a wide ranging investigation into the trumpet ministration over its relationship with russia prosecutors say flynn lied about his conversations with russian officials in the wake of trump's election victory last year. he was one of donald trump's earliest and most vocal supporters no mike flames facing a u.s. court accused of lying to the f.b.i. . that's what flynn said about hillary clinton in campaign rallies last summer in shooting with trump

a chorus of chants against the a point right here you're exactly right there is nothing wrong with that. if i did attend a tenth of what she did i would be in jail today despite the americans of his links to vladimir putin flown remained close to the presidential outsider. and went on to be rewarded with a senior cabinet position in the white house. only to be forced out after twenty four days when it's a marriage he had lied to the vice president might about meetings with the russian ambassador baer is u.s. media says inconsistency in his account of those meetings given to f.b.i. agents are the basis for today's charges the white house has distanced itself from fled. further comment and i think we're this is not even the president wants to talk about him. being flamed on the receiving end now as he left court

having pled guilty to us media report that he's prepared to testify that the call to contact russia came from the heart of his old friend trump campaign. ok let's talk to our washington correspondent kasten fung. flynn who's being investigated for a wide range of allegations but has only been charged with a single count of making false statements to the f.b.i. what does this tell us about how closely he may be cooperating with this investigation. well what seems clear by now is that michael flynn has struck a deal with a special prosecutor appointed by the department of justice and is now effectively a witness for that special prosecutor in this ongoing investigation and it's interesting this context that during the police hearing at the courthouse here in washington the presiding judge said that flynn had agreed to provide substantial

assistance for prosecution of another person and also we know that prosecutors say that michael flynn when he talked to the russian ambassador was directed by members of the trump transition team after the election court documents say that flynn called a senior transition official who was with other members of the team or traumas mylar resorts and to discuss what if anything to communicate to the russian ambassador about the u.s. sanctions so this seems to be the direction that. is now going and there are several level media reports in the u.s. indicating that donald trump's son in law jared cushion one of his special advisers now played a significant role in contacts between flynn and russian officials one of the implications of that. when in fact

a number of media outlets have even said that jericho was indeed that senior transition team official who director michael flynn when he contacted the russian ambassador of course so far this is based on unnamed sources but if it is true it could mean that there is trouble ahead for jared cushion or who is not only the president's son in law but also one of his most senior most important closest advisers there has been some speculation for weeks now whether the cushion on might be on the way out it's quite interesting that we've heard for some time now partly that is said to be because his investment company his his real estate development company seems to be in some kind of trouble but it's also because his advice to the president has not always been that sound is of course charged with a number of very important things like remodelling the u.s.

bureaucracy relations with china and even peace in the middle east but once again his advice has not always been very sound reportedly he was one of the people who told donald trump that firing james cole needed an f.b.i. director would have been popular and of course it turned out that that is not the case ok constant many thanks for that custom phenomena in washington. now dutch prosecutors say the for both me and croat general who dramatically took his own life in the hague this week died of cyanide poisoning probably drank what he said were was poisoned moments after his guilty verdict for war crimes was up held shocks court officials called for medical help but he died a short while later the autopsy showed he had consumed potassium cyanide which triggered a heart attack. turning to sports now it's been a day of anticipation for soccer fans around the world but the wait is now over the

draw for the group stage of next year's world cup in russia is complete all thirty two teams now know who they'll be facing next summer the draw was conducted inside the kremlin in moscow a glitzy affair as ever petri musical and don't performances before getting down to the business of making the draw russia drawing first in group a along with egypt your boy and their opponents in the opening match saudi arabia. let's take a look at a couple of the other groups for you defending champions germany handed a tricky draw in group f. they'll be taking on mexico in the opening match before facing sweden and form a semifinalist south korea one of the toughest groups is likely to be group b. where reigning european champions portugal face next door neighbors spain and then morocco and top ranked asian side iran. ok yen expect from d.w. sports is here to give us a little bit of analysis about all of this so we're just looking at group b.

there is that the toughest one you think yannick i think it's one of the toughest but i mean every world cup fans media are like looking for the toughest group the group of death as they call it this world cup it doesn't seem like it's their group is a tough one as well as germany's group group if i think you said tricky i think that's an apt word to describe it mexico are a good team even though they were defeated four one by germany early this year then you have swayed and who of course knocked out italy in the playoffs and in korea who have faltered a bit in recent years but they were so a finalist back in two thousand and two so they have pedigree always a very hardworking team indefinitely and which teams will be happy with the draw shall we say i would have to say england england have to be the happiest team out of every one of the world cup i think they got drawn with belgium who are tough to name but then the other two are tunisia and panama and i think everyone can see who the top two teams in that group are belgium an england shirt for through you never know with england you never know it. as well what about russia their friends

probably feeling quite confident yeah i think so i think it could have been a lot worse for russia but with their group of saudi arabia egypt in oregon where they have a big chance of going through in the top two they should be confident and they should expect the host nation to go through into the knockout stages ok well that be good for the tournament of course let me ask you to put your reputation. on the fence if you want to looking at the draw who do you think is going to make the running i mean could could germany become only the second time in history to successfully defend a world title i think they have the group to go through the knockouts that's the first first step and they have the players to do it but that historical fact it's just very tough for a team to defend their total i think the pick for me has to brazil has to be brazil they have a fairly ok group that they can get through and they're in. i think them want to take food making it to the farm life they've had an incredibly strong record in qualification and in recent matches i think it's forty one goes in one thousand

games and manage to nil nil jordan there who say it was a against germany as well you know expect from sports many thanks for all that. that's your news update for now we'll be back at the top of the hour for more in the meantime don't forget you can always go to our web site for all the latest updates alternatively follow us on twitter or on facebook whatever you do stay with us here on d w. your.