this is the news live from berlin and police are saying a car was deliberately crashed into in melbourne the s.u.v. was driven into a crowd outside the main train station injuring more than a dozen people including children two men have been arrested we'll get the very latest live from melbourne. and polls have opened in catalonia for today's crucial

auction it's a gauge of support for independence from spain all of the region seats are up for grabs after madrid dissolved parliament and arrested parliamentary leaders. i'm brian thomas a warm welcome to the show police in australia at this hour are saying a man intentionally crashed his vehicle into a crowd during rush hour in central melbourne witnesses say the white house you they hit the best friends of a crowded intersection on thursday afternoon during christmas shopping authorities say fourteen people are now injured some receiving hospital treatment including one preschool child in serious condition the driver of that. vehicle and

a passenger who was with them or both of them have been arrested. police are not commenting on a possible possible motive but they have said the incident did not appear to be an accident. at the start we believe that a deliberate and i repeat that at this stage we believe he's i deliberately however we do not know either my device and the seal early stages of the investigation let's go straight to melbourne where dr drawn were with our correspondent now live from there dieter herrmann dinner to give us more details right now. well most of what detail i can tell is most probably the police search it was this is deliberate act they're pretty sure but they did not mention any terrorism related press background the police is urgently asking the public for information there were a lot of bystanders and a lot of shopkeepers and the area and they almost since seen

a lot of things happening there are eyewitnesses say the car was speeding some of them say with eighty others say with about one hundred kilometers for our police is confirming that the car was really very very fast as we know the driver of the second person on the rest but so far is not clear what kind of people these are where they come from which nationality they have and what their intention was ok police as you mentioned are not talking about any possible terror related background nonetheless i'm sure questioning by police will will be headed in that direction certainly the questions will be asked about that what is the terror alert level in australia right now. the terror alert level in australia is high and especially and no been very annoyed one of the reasons for that is that police arrested the somalia born man in november. cues to have

planned an attack on new year's eve. last year there were about a half a million people at new year's eve celebration and. already said the somalia on person was planning an attack so that the level is very very high the level of alert and maybe that's one of the reasons why the police today was absolutely just only two minutes after seven police cars were missing herman for us live from melbourne we'll have more details from dinner as they come in now for a look at some of the other stories making the news at this hour the british prime minister three some may has forced one of her key cabinet allies to resign after an investigation concluded that he had breached the ministerial code damian green was found to have made misleading comments about pornography discovered on his parliamentary computers nine years ago he's admitted to making misleading

statements but said he never viewed the porn in question. south korea says its soldiers fired warning shots at north korean border guards after they chased the defector official say twenty shots were fired when the guards approached demarcation line between the two countries they were pursuing a north korean soldier the second to defect to the south in about five weeks. thousands of people are marching british show their support for the country's embattled president. is facing a congressional impeachment vote or legislator receiving money from a construction company implicated in latin america's biggest corruption scandal has denied any wrongdoing in accuses the opposition of staging a coup. we're turning now to spain where voters in catalonia are casting their ballots in a hotly contested election seen as a gauge of support for independence polls have opened across the region a record turnout is expected election comes two months after the region declared

independence that following a referendum opposed by madrid spanish authorities respond to that with a crackdown arresting separatist leaders and calling snap elections madrid hopes today's vote will put an end to the political crisis. our correspondent barbara bays all joins us now live from barcelona barbara are we expecting a high turnout today. we have seen long lines in front of all the polling stations we are here in the center of proselyte owner where a lot of the inhabitants in this old quarter are elderly people and everybody seems to come out and even people sort of limping along on one stick everybody thinks they have to sort of get this vote out in order to decide something bought that is the big problem here that many people think that the vote in the end is going to

that the election in the end is going to end on the side again you have to two big camps pro independence against independence and there will not be a clear majority maybe no majority at all so there is a strong possibility that this election e.-i after everybody really tries to sort of go out and vote will not decide the future of the country and that will create a lot of frustration there's already talk about a new election within a few months time what are people hoping for this election to to produce really hoping that's going to come out of. there are a lot of people here who hope of course that some solution can be found out of this political impasse that is really enervating many people people think you know we have a life we have to carry on with our jobs we have to carry on with our families we can't really concentrate on those divisive politics all the time and so they really

they really are hoping that some sort of a unity can be found but if you look at the political parties who are involved in this election on the left and on the right there are those that say we will never again never ever in the in our lives go with the other side so we can't compromise be found it seems impossible and it seems really without graue. for people even though they going to the polling stations and they are trying to make up their mind we had a quarter of undecided people still yesterday that's what the polls so said here they're trying to make up their mind for a way forward but it's elusive it's not quite clear whether anything can be found at the end of this day polling starts eight o'clock tonight and we will probably have results between ten and midnight but there's not very much hope ok briefly if you could with a quarter of voters still undecided is this day that could decide the future of

independence for catalonia. that is a big problem because the independents can still quite strong and they had those among them there are some among them who say you know we have to find a way out we have to talk to madrid we have to maybe maybe find a compromise maybe get something more for the region and then talk about independence later later down the road but there also are those who say like pushed him on to still undoubtedly one of the independents leaders who says i want to come back i'm still president and i want to continue with this and so we have hardliners so we have a softer approaches and also we have people who are on the other side who say we don't want any of this so still compromise seems really far away and there seems to be no real graspable political solution barbara faisal for us in barcelona as voters across catalonia go to the polls today thanks very much. also the

philippines now in a passenger ferry has sunk off the eastern coast of the philippines authorities say two hundred fifty one people were on board that vessel the boat's understood to have capsized in rough waters off the coast of riyadh all in case on problems. that's about seventy kilometers east of the capital manila authorities are saying some people have been rescued local media are reporting that there have been a number of deaths but this has not been officially confirmed conditions have been poorer over the past days due to a passing tropical storm let's go live now to journalist on the song toes she joins us from manila on of the rescue operation still underway what do you tell us at this hour she. says contact of the coast guard has decided search and rescue operations and they are ongoing as of now the latest update from the coast to them was the casualties of three six four but i dance because then i'm not really

concerned if there have been more since it's not. caring that capsized is a blur class ring it's an inter island serry so these are smaller roles that travel from one moment to another i spoke to one of the tour operators and they said that the journey should have just been about two hours from the destination point to the place of the site of the summation point and origin point of origin that was what essentially a smart trap says this is we're not sure what caused the crash why this area shesh so under investigation but you are correct in saying that condition something very short and that it's hard. to type two has just ended and another want to coming into the cooking area of responsibility park and not the ferry crossing over the open sea out in the pacific ocean which you have very rough waters. under sancho's

thanks very much for bringing us up to date on that a passenger ferry going down from manila thanks very much. well we have some sports now in there was a blockbuster german cup match on wednesday night with table toppers by a new nick hosting informed door and here's the best of the action from the last sixteen clash. dortmund beat by a long route to winning the cup last season i did win two in a row and a new coach. but winning at the audience arena is tough for any team. and but i made a fast start in the twelve minute nicklaus soothers headed to turn to the drone pilot in the rebound it was his first ever could go and get by and it deserved lee . but dortmund almost levelled on thirty five minutes when the bull run through to under ya malenko but cleared off the line. soon after though by and doubled their lead when a well move was expertly fitted through most of. the fine fans knew they'd seen

something special that a rough time in front of goal in the last two seasons but you wouldn't know it's. been pulled one back midway through the second half for young milenko to set up a grandstand finish but it wasn't to be for the holders of first defeat while mighty buy and go through to the quarterfinals were well byron and dortmund were not the only sides in german cup action on wednesday braman came out on top in a high scoring clash with freiburg while laver coups and defeated munching blog box thanks to a goal from leon bally last season's runners up frankford needed extra time to get past second tier hiden haim schalke are among those to win on tuesday the draw is next month's with the quarter final ties taking place in early february and then a very different kind of competition in wigan in a north eastern england it was time that city's holding the world piii eating

championships as the twenty fourth time the pio mad town has hosted the event. in this corner of the world it's the stuff of legend there's a way to figure out the city but if you take too long to get. to it if you. delete. the rules a simple. one of the famous meats and potato pies as quickly as possible it's such a challenge the brave folk of wait until you go every year each eager to claim the title world champion pai some will go to i'm told once to secure victory i'm fortunate because as you know it's an international sporting competition that we've got to shake very seriously and you know what i do often tell you that it's not a test if people aren't known to help make sure that two hundred ten rolls in trying to pipe down is quick as possible.

then the moment of truth. it's a pos that could only be. matson apple sinclair already have three titles and after thirty two seconds of pie scoffing. so as the sun sets on another chapter of northern english tradition the brave folk of waco and bit daft i well made the pollies be with him. this is david is live from berlin i'm brian thomas for the entire news team thanks for being us. images from an isolated country images from the north korea. and italians a target for captured fascinating shots of everyday life in a regimented society. a north korean diary starting december twenty.