this is the news live from berlin an unexpected victory for the separatists in spain as catalonia region is focused on them another absolute majority in the regional assembly that lead to a colleague's. colds the vote a defeat for the spanish state so what is next for catalonia we'll go live to boston from all. the united nations general assembly projects trumps recognition of

jerusalem as israel's capital but the vote isn't as one sided as been expected we'll get reaction from our correspondents in washington and in jerusalem. also on the program former german chancellor speaking exclusively to oscar news he urges his social democrats to put an end to the long wait for a new german government and join a coalition of the old. to warm up its relations with russia. a strain he has great barrier reef fighting for its life at the moment experts say coral bleaching if you launched into climate change threat things the natural one does very survival. and father christmas may be on his way but way is he from actually goes in search of santa claus.

hello and welcome my name is christopher springer good to have you with us separatist parties in catalonia appear to have won a slim my georgia majority rather after yesterday's crucial regional elections in the region the results could further inflame tensions between the wealthy spanish region and central government in madrid spanish prime minister mariano rajoy called the election after stripping catalonia of its autonomy and sacking its government following an independence declaration late in october. long before vote counting was finished the party of former catalan leader catalyst please the moment was celebrating victory. we see exactly right we saw it not only for us but for the forty nine and then these movement. may not be here especially.

having one game these pieces and it's amazing we walk away sad sacks we got them people was passing them on to see and feel we are finally we. have to. be the first to the. last year the yankees. finally will help. along with the two other separatists who parties together focus alone year has a narrow majority seventy out of one hundred thirty five seats. from his exile in brussels praised the moment said it was a black day for spain central government. you must not dispute the spanish state has been defeated. and his allies have lost and i've received a slap in the face from the catalan people who are young they have lost a plebiscite through which they wanted to legalize the coup d'etat through article

one five fired one prime minister all high has failed in catalonia. within a few. of them. but the pro madrid camp was also celebrating victory the citizens party which opposes independence emerged as the single biggest party with thirty seven seats now its two wants to form a coalition government. today we have sent a message to the world that the majority of catalans feel cadillac spanish and european and will continue to do so. and the nationalist parties can never again claim they speak for all catalonians because we are all catalonia. yeah i can't believe not only with rival groups declaring victory this election has seemingly done nothing to end catalonia as political deadlock but it has made one thing eminently clear the independence movement is not going away ok let's talk now

to barbara vessel has been monitoring this election result for us in barcelona barbara good morning to you catalan separatists celebrating victory but so are all the citizens party the sudan knows not everyone enthusiastic about the result what kind of reactions are you hearing. of course the election showed christopher that the country is of the region is as divided as it was before straight down the middle because the electoral law here is such that it gives an advantage to the rural areas the where the separatists are particularly strong so if you look at the absolute figures you can see that is really split marlice exactly down the middle between the pro independence camp and the other side who says you are sort of bringing us bad luck and you're tearing down the economy and

this is no way forward so where to go from here this is the big question that everybody asks himself this morning because there is no obvious way really out of this impasse it really is a continuation of the standoff between madrid and barcelona and there is a lot of hand-wringing this morning here in the capital city city of catalonia so what you're saying barbara is that we are no closer to knowing what the future of catalonia is is it going to be inside spain is it going to be outside spain we're still in deadlock and there's no clear. roadmap out of this deadlock. they need to be a political sort of solution but this election didn't do anything to bring catalonia closer to that solution now if you if one looks a bit more closely at the two parties who form the pro independence camp you can see that the second party where who is leader all the keris is in jail it might be

more him a novel too to talk to madrid during the election campaign there were noises that said ok we don't need to have independence immediately we could talk to madrid we could talk about tibet a redistribution of money in other sort of. form it's two to sort of. intensify our our independence so they might be they might be willing to talk about a political solution by whether they might be willing to go together with the conservatives who are diagnosed because they're a mall left wing party that's anybody anybody's guess and these two did on the liberal party the biggest fraction here in the in the local parliament will try but it's rather to expect that that the independents can holds strong and so no nothing we're at the same exact point that we were at that we could go and just briefly

barbara where does this leave the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy he called this election as a bit of a gamble as a bid to break the deadlock that appears to failed to have failed shortly. it's a terrible blow for oil merely shows that he has mishandled this conflict from the beginning on he had hoped of course folks here result against independence what he got was an even though slight majority for independence now he you know where to go from here he's not going to that she's not going to say ok take your stuff and leave state he's trying he will be trying to keep them within the union of spanish region regions however it is going to be difficult because the independence camp is that is hard and also we see the rise of syria to diagnose a young party a vigorous party energetic was young leaders who is really threatening the whole own stand was the party to popularity the governing party they just got four seats

here in the regional. in the regional parliament which shows that they are really deeply hated here by all sides in barcelona ok barbara many thanks for that barbara with all the reporting from barcelona. we're going to catch up now with some of the other stories making the news around the world the peruvian president has survived an attempt to impeach him pedro public with facing down a vote to remove him from office the vote followed accusations he had accepted bribes from a scandal ridden construction firm in return for political favors. denies any wrongdoing wrongdoing. cuba has postponed the historic transfer of its presidency raul castro confirming that he will stay on until april two months longer than planned due to the damage caused by hurricane. castro and his late older brother fidel have ruled the country for nearly sixteen years. the deadly

tower fire in south korea may have been worsened by flammable materials on the building's exterior that's according to experts twenty nine people killed and dozens injured in the blaze in the city of yet sean officials say the fire tore through the eight story building off the starting in the basement. in south sudan a fresh cease fire deal has been signed between the government and rebel groups that will come into effect on sunday and will allow humanitarian aid to reach conflict hit areas south sudan has seen four years of civil war with tens of thousands killed since it declared independence from sudan now the united nations general assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the united states to reverse its decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital that's an emergency session on thursday one hundred

twenty eight states voted in favor of the motion within the eight countries voting with the u.s. against the motion despite a threat from a u.s. president all trying to cut aid to countries that back the measure but there were more abstentions and no shows than many analysts had predicted palestinian president mahmoud abbas hailing the decision or the vote as a victory for his people. we're going to get some reaction to that vote now two of our correspondents standing by first causton phenomena in washington tenure in jerusalem causton start with you if i may the u.s. heavily defeated in this vote has washington been gracefully accepting that defeat it. not really we haven't heard from donald trump yet his vice president and mike pence has tweeted under president trump the u.s. expects our allies to stand with us thank you to the countries that recognized our right to determine where we put our embassies so mike pence doubling down here and

nikki haley the u.s. ambassador to the united nations also sent a thank you note to the sixty five nations who are the vote no or abstained or didn't even show up for a vote she also sent that via twitter so in the way the u.s. are now trying to twist the result of this vote claiming that all those countries who didn't vote for the resolutions were with the americans but that of course is nonsense because yes there were a number of countries probably who didn't want to publicly offend the u.s. or were afraid that maybe eight they receive from the u.s. might be cut if they voted against the u.s. but in the end only seven countries voted with the u.s. and israel and that's what tamala. make rooney's on nauru polo and the marshall islands and that is

a very unimpressive coalition of the willing and an embarrassment for the u.s. indeed not many major nations among that list constant what about reaction in israel tanya. well it doesn't seem to me that the israeli prime minister mr netanyahu is too guarded about this israeli officials have tried to play it down a bit also before and to this resolution most mr netanyahu made it clear to us that he wanted and theater of the absurd but he also pointed out and i think this is important that more countries abstained or there were more no shows so on the one hand you know they're trying to play down on the other hand you know that there was a lot of lobbying going on also the threats by the u.s. might have played a role that there was no it was that it's an on binding resolution some of this is you quoted even it's a publicity stunt by the palestinians so this no really backing down from their

position in this case you mention the palestinians that obviously they're quite happy about the results of the u.n. vote doesn't count for anything though you were suggesting it's more a symbolic victory. well i mean as you know officials here say they would like to keep this momentum this international support that is seeing them would like to continue being in the national organizations but they're also very well aware this is a symbolic move and also it just reaffirms that longstanding position of the u.n. on the issue of jerusalem so in that sense it is a bet if you ask palestinians i mean there were other skeptical they didn't expect you know much to come out of that they they see that israel is in their eyes about international laws that they're not expecting that anything will change on the ground for them any time soon ok and you were talking about the threats that president trump was making the perspective of cutting aid i mean i

know that for instance egypt jordan and iraq are among the countries the voted against the u.s. all three major recipients of u.s. a military aid economic aid can we now expect concrete measures from washington are they going to cut aid. well it is possible that the u.s. move against some less important countries to send a message to others but as far as these countries countries like egypt jordan iraq are concerned these two important partners for the u.s. to just let them down because if the u.s. would stop supporting them basically other rival powers what food the void maybe russia maybe china iran in the case of iraq so this is clearly not in the interest of the united states and actually already seen the u.s. backpedaling a little bit

a spokeswoman for the state department said that sanctions or reduction of aid to the country so voted for this resolution is not a foregone conclusion and no decisions have been made so far ok. in washington tanya kramer in jerusalem many thanks to both of you. we're going to look now at one of the world's biggest tech companies google and daniel i believe that the owner is see some changes coming up the right christopher google parent company alphabet says eric schmidt will step down as chairman in january it will remain on the board of advisors as a technical advisor he says he wants to focus on specific science and technology issues within the company as well as his philanthropy schmidt has been the face of google's business side since his recruitment to c.e.o. of the search engine pioneer in two thousand and one that's when google founders larry page and sergey brin turns to the former software engineer for his business

back. singapore is a global financial center but with that pride of place comes caution financial experts there and not warming to the new trend of investing in crypto currencies such as bitcoin the island state's highest fiscal authority has just warned investors not to give in to the hype but where some see risks others see opportunity. it's almost a minor affront just one street away from singapore's financial storage an opponent of digital money a cafe has opened where customers pay with crypto currency. we just want to make sure that people understand the crypto currency second to stay i don't think it is a question the way technology develops and goals right now is no doubt about that development record. and governments maybe you have

a little bit of an issue too to to follow through so far there haven't been any problems in the cafe people that don't just pay for drinks and snacks with bitcoin they can also use the cafes own currency known as the dukakis it's also the name of the cafe. still experts warn that crypto currency is a very volatile bitcoin for example lost a quarter of its value now only worth around fifteen thousand dollars it's a problem for investors experts see the trend soon coming to an end the second one . we don't know more progress with connecting it with the retail world so if you can't speak crypto currencies or if you can't redeem them for cash if you can't get rid of them back as cash. people are going to lose interest and when that happens he will come out of the market and people will move on to do other things and

that's when we'll see that crash. but the owners of cafe dukakis i'm not so sure about that quite the contrary they soon want to expand cafes hotels and travel agencies where you can only pay with digital money. craftspeople have powered the global economy for centuries and it's not just a bunch is because in candlestick makers but people who look to ensure safety and quality construction and engineering but the future isn't looking so bright for these pillars of the economy especially here in germany trades people assault off around the wall but the national chamber of trade says is a critical workforce shortage at home benyamin plots owns a plumbing company in berlin and he can't complain there's enough work and he has contracts into june of next year but he still sees tougher times coming . finding apprentices is getting harder and harder no one is

applying and the applicants that we do get are not qualified for the job. klutzes tried out a few things to find good apprentices but with little success he thinks the digital generation has the wrong attitude. craftsman are disappearing of course it's nicer sitting in an office with a cup of coffee and working on a computer than it is on a construction site and clogging a drain or carrying in mounting a radiator. and. it's couple. in the last twenty years the number of skilled worker apprentices has gone down forty three percent the plumbers training center as h.k. is trying something new it's a revoke berlin initiative is training refugees for a career in plumbing today's lesson plumbing techniques and work vocabulary.

and listen to that second one spoon we have to make sure we find workers any way we can with that and why shouldn't the refugees get a chance if they're hardworking motivated and well trained in the profession for. that and will be for. it. around fifteen thousand apprentice positions have remained an occupied in germany and the number is still going up. many employers hope that refugees can fill the gaps but is it realistic. comparably there are two main problems one is their refugee status and are they allowed to stay in germany can they complete their training at the other problem is the language like not just general knowledge they also need to know the trade language . and this is an on off. hello from iraq is pursuing his dream

he wants to become a plumber in berlin and he has a message for other refugees. you have to get training because training is the decisive factor for having a future or not. is you can tell. from all on how many developed its global reputation for quality hand work and all about becoming an apprentice in germany visit the website and our facebook page. and now it's back to christopher's money daniel thank you yes we're going to look at sports now in germany the trial has started a german russian man charged with carrying out a bomb attack on the. team bus back in april the man charged with attempted murder causing an explosion and serious bodily harm investigators initially thought the incident was terrorism related but now they believe the motivation for the attack

was just greed the suspect taken out on thousands of the receipt don't match betting that an attack would send prices plummeting and net him millions. moving on to the ski cross world cup in italy a race on thursday seeing a swiss ski fending off austrian competition mock. leading the race almost from the start and crossing the finish line ahead of christophe vosh to the wind put special in the lead of the ski cross well cup series meanwhile in the women's rice came away victorious the german finishing head of canada's georgia similarly overtaking who had just close to the end hangs on with that victory to her in the overall standings. staying with skating one young man determined to become the first black

alpine skier to reprint represent south africa at the olympics is teenager called sea by spielman he was invited by the international olympic committee back in twenty fourteen to compete that is games but south africa declined to send him saying he didn't meet the required standard now he hopes to make the cuts for the ping chung winter games in february in south korea. missing out on sochi hasn't stopped him for a civa spielman the very novelty of participating in alpine sports in south africa spurs him on to keep going for gold you know. great thing is that the motive is another thing that motivates the twenty two year old inspiring local kids to also get involved in a sport they wouldn't normally have on their radar. i think i'm

a good role model to the kids. and qualifying for fortune turned fourteen so like a difference. within the community with this more children wanting to question the sports and through the development program kids his father. at decision on his participation in pyongyang twenty eighteen is likely to be made in january but after missing out on the sochi games ziva spielman is more determined than ever. to have the required standard in my opinion now the bundesliga may be on its winter break but that's not stopping clubs from getting busy in the transfer market by munich completing the signing of germany struck a sandro wagner from hoffenheim for a reported twelve million euros the thirty year old who scored for only go so far this season has penned two year deal lasting until twenty twenty he joins by an on

january the first mainly expected to play a backup role to first choice striker robot ski. now if you've ever been to germany it's tallest peak so you may remember having quite a long way to get to the top that is a thing of the past because the mountain now boasts a brand new cable car system capable of transporting over five hundred people every hour to the summit it's also breaking records in other ways the weather in the kitchen wasn't playing ball but just as the gauntlet was being christened the sun decided to show itself the opening meant the end for this gigantic construction project one of the world's biggest the cables to the top are roughly four and a half kilometers long there is only one support pillar along the way it's been described as an engineering marvel. and it's a very unique project and many were gods but particularly the final stages if you'd

been here two or three weeks ago you probably wouldn't have believed that we would finish it in time and we're really happy we made it. to fit the crews worked in all weather conditions at the top of germany's highest peak to get the job done but despite the sometimes tough conditions the fifty million euro cable car system was finished on time and on budget the bavarian interior minister your home hellman thinks it's an engineering wonder. it's impossible to plan well work well and then finish your project on time without spending extra for. the new cable cars expected to carry about five hundred people one hour to the summit. around half a million for the does make their way to the top every year and this lived is sure to make that journey a whole lot easier. quite a view from up top the bits still to come on this program with germany still waiting for a new government

a former chancellor tells his party to get it together. speaking exclusively to g.w. news. australia's great barrier reef is in danger mortal danger some people say scientists say could face more coral bleaching in the coming months this as they race to protect the fragile ecosystem. and father christmas may be on his way but from where do w. goes in search of santa claus. all that and plenty more coming up next here on news. kickoff why we take football personally. from bundlers lakers star to outcast and his band heads here he donates money to a charity germinal farmers here say is linked to extremist muslim groups really scored an arm go on the buses make sure i'll never play again at least in germany

for the bunch of but is there anything until the allegations. in sixty minutes on d w. b our fighters want to start families to become farmers or engineers every one of them has a plan for you. so nothing is just the children who have always been the lawyer and those that will follow are part of a new kind of. they could be the future of. granting opportunities global news that matters d. w. made from mines. they live to serve. danger lurks in the water we were the only old surfing ways to end and polluted water. basically the safety

of all as well as a backup but. i did a shell. is going to taste it sucker some way every day and see more and more broadly she much time or less the sea gives me everything the way moves the wind i have to give something back in a life it is true seems already got it worse or. waves surfers fighting against unseen the seas starting january seventh on. the comeback tour with the news in but then these are the top stories of the moment separatist parties in catalonia have held on to a slim majority in a key regional election the result could inflame simmering tensions between the wealthy spanish region and central government in madrid. and the un general

assembly has overwhelmingly back to resolutions announcing total trumps recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital the vote came into finance if u.s. threats to cut off funding for countries voting for a resolution. turning now to be only going efforts to forge germany's next government for much chancellor gerhard schroeder says his social democrat should quickly agree terms with angela merkel's conservatives exploratory talks on due to begin in the new year. the seventh that's scheduled to last just six days that's less than a week for the two sides to find enough common ground to form a so-called grand coalition many social democrats currently oppose taking that step but in an exclusive interview with g w and german public brokaw's the m.d.i. sure to says the social democrats need to face up to the national political responsibility and bring an end to the longest wait for government in german post-war history trudeau also recently became chairman of the russian state

controlled oil giant role sniffed speaking with his christian f trip but he defended the controversial german russian pipeline project an old stream to. i believe that any future government will see this project as a good business and will support it just as the current chancellor and the current foreign minister do i have no worries on that score. so don't you see the danger that because of this power vacuum in berlin interests in brussels are of course that could be the case that's why i'm one of those who say let's get a move on let's act as soon as possible. what's your advice to your party a new coalition or loose cooperation with the dramatics and get on with a grand coalition what else do you think that in future governments in germany will always take so long to far. it's difficult this is the first time that we've got a six party parliament two of those parties are not seen as potential coalition

partners in fact they aren't capable of being in a coalition of the left on the one hand and the f.t. on the other that's why it will become more difficult so i'm telling my party very frankly there's no way round it you have to take on this responsibility but you have to convince the party members that this is necessary and do it quickly. europe needs it europe needs a stable france which they've got in the form of macro and europe needs a stable germany with this in mind i believe the sensible thing to do is to form a government quickly and as things stand the only option is a grand coalition that's what we should do and no one profits from new elections and no one profits from playing around with other ideas like case by case corporation or whatever that won't get us anywhere but. through winter. hundred to six which cost the new government take on russia what do you advise

there of. the corporation rather than confrontation that's the sensible way to go it. we need the equivalent of a new policy of daytona and it's about time it's nighttime i'm in favor of the step by step removal of sanctions is dependent on how things go and donbass we should not always be talking about an escalation when there are prisoner exchanges when the heavy weapons are withdrawn verified and supervised by the appropriate people then we should go ahead and say ok we see there's goodwill and we want to reward this by dismantling sanctions step by step. and by the way he has the economic research institute to tell us of the sanctions most damage to germany. the former german chancellor that are talking to two dollars christian f.

triple lots to talk about as far as what he was saying that are going to pull in one of our political correspondents on this. good morning hunt a former chancellor a former social democrat leader telling his party to get on with it let's let's move on with it he was saying how likely are rank and file social democrats. listen to that advice. well obviously get house where there is still a respect the representative of a social democratic party and when he speaks that party congress is a party meetings he is a rousing public speaker speaker and he knows how to move a crowd as it were but if you look at it a little more dispassionately in the end at the. rank and file of the social democratic party there is a lot of reticence a lot of dollars about whether another grand coalition is in fact going to be good for the party so these words from. we'll you know will be taken seriously but

i don't think that they're likely to sway a lot of people very quickly at the moment and some of those rank and file members of the social democrats hands talking about a loose a pallet deal case by case cooperation with a cooling a co-operative coalition should it in the interview categorically didn't dismissing that is there any suggestion that he time this interview to boost those within the and speedy leadership who want to grand coalition. well we are in a sort of hiatus at the moment there have been exploratory talks in the last couple of days and there has been a decision made that. you know some form of more formal talks would thought it would take place at the beginning of january in about ten days time so during this period certainly should raising his voice and putting his weight on one side of this discussion is likely to make some sort of a difference is likely to be noticed but it does not change the dial

a mother the social democrats are in there have been a grand coalition for the last four years and it has not really done the party much good it did not do very well in fact it did very badly during the last general elections and there's no prospect that entering a new coalition is going to improve the party's support so that is why some members of the party are saying well maybe there should be a some sort of more loose cooperation with the conservatives known as the so-called co-operative coalition it is not an idea that in the end is likely to get very far and the concert was of course are completely against that they're not likely to agree to it either. once the other big issue in our interview with the truth was russia should advising any new german government to move swiftly towards better relations with the russian president vladimir putin how is that advice likely to go down him by then. well obviously that's not something you would

a has been a close friends personal friends with jodi mia putin for many years and he is in effect in some sense a spokes person for russian interests so these kinds of this kind of advice he has given repeatedly in the past and it has been repeatedly rejected by the government especially by the conservatives by anglo-american and her political party because they feel that russia in fact is playing hardball is not really cooperating on issues such as the annex ation of the crimea and not really cooperating very well in the conflict in eastern ukraine so there's very little progress on the points which means that the sanctions that schroeder is lobbying against would have to remain in place so if i understand you correctly. it's the conservatives taking a much stricter line on russia on russian sanctions what about the social democrats

you know whose opinion. opinion there appears to be quite divided actually that is the case the social democrats have a tradition of detente of. with the east with russia and this is the tradition in which to go how much would a sees himself and there are significant other voices within the social democratic party that would support him in this approach that. russia should be taken into the community the international community that there should be some kind of got close role again between germany and the european union and russia so within the social democratic party i think that will find some sort of support. and run-time political correspondent many thanks for that analysis. now every year unicef germany chooses an outstanding photograph depicting the living conditions of children around the wild as its photo of the year all too

often unfortunately it's a picture of suffering and this year's winner is no exception or sad testament to the hundreds of thousands of children who are the innocent victims of conflict displacement and exile the bewilderment of war in the eyes of a child she's five years old and comes from syria mohammed was in took this picture of zahra in a refugee camp in jordan in twenty fifteen czarist parents fled the war in syria with her and seven other children they have lived in a tent ever since every time i look at the picture i still go back to that moment i remember this traumatized she's so beautiful but the war is all over her face through her eyes you can see that all my she passed through the ongoing war in syria and the flight of the revenge in the face of mass persecution in myanmar with the central topics in this year's competition unicef germany grants the award each year to photos and photo series that best depict the personality and living conditions of children worldwide. it is

a mirror of the reality that many children in this world live in a bitter reality which is why there are three pictures in this competition that address the flight of the range from me and more to bangladesh but you can still find pictures from iraq there are still images from syria and if you had to find a headline for this competition it would be it is still not over people are still dying still starving people are still on the run with google not as with floor for this year's winner there is still work to do no harm and was scenes new project to shooting portraits of refugee children stranded in serbia we're going to stay with the talk of fee but the photographer we're now going to focus on has overcome what most would consider an impossible disadvantage she can see a name call she works as a preschool teacher here in berlin and she's developed a unique approach to the skill of making pictures. zaheer khan is blind she can see colors outlined or even light. but she can recognize them

by using her other senses. and that is how she chooses her subjects. but i don't overextend just a moment when i'm alone i take pictures according to the sounds the smell or the mood of the setting. for example and now i can feel the pavement that's a little different take pictures of that. or that bird just now i want to capture it in my photographs. the thing. as a child that was in your current could still see and she used to photograph and paint a lot but that changed when at the age of twelve she lost her eyesight in a car accident it wasn't until she was in her forty's that a professional photographer encouraged her to start again by exploring the world in her own way. way out on the map. and that's when i realized well this opens up

a dialogue between the sighted and the blight on it was so interesting that i decided to continue i've been taking pictures ever since. her husband often helps by telling her what the things she touches and here look like. they are con's pictures capture everyday objects in a new light. she can also discern color using a special sensing device for blind people. are you seeing it squeaks like that so it's lighter. working with light is a special challenge. question and i'm going on. this really used different types of plants of that i was the model and tried to feel the light on my skin. you can play a lot with the light and shadow and i wanted to find out how to do that in

a controlled way but it's quite difficult as a blind person. so you know kong can see the pictures she has taken for that she needs the help of a sighted person. to hear is great here and white here and then it narrows all the way down to here. you make of it it depends on how the person describes it my husband has known me for so long that he knows exactly what to say so that i can picture it myself then it's almost like seeing it with my own eyes but there's no question about who decides whether a picture should be exhibited. well it's me if we ultimately she does there her pictures. sometimes you try to nudge me in a certain direction but it mostly doesn't work. the result is a window into video cards view of the walled. australia's great

barrier reef is without doubt one of our planet's great natural wonders but its survival is increasingly threatened by a phenomenon called coral bleaching bleaching occurs when the coral is stressed by brightening water temperatures south a record bleaching in twenty sixteen and last year twenty seven this year rather twenty seventeen around fifty percent of the reef has died off now scientists fear another bleaching event could be on the way as they race to protect the fragile ecosystem. this is got to be one of the world's best locations for a university lecture and the professors assistants and students clad in black with suits are about to get to work they've come to live that island to investigate the underwater world of the great barrier reef dr anne hoggard has lived on the island for twenty seven years no one knows the reef as well as she does and she's deeply

concerned. on its own to forecasting what is going to happen in the coming decades as they would world wars are predicted that we would get back to back coral bleaching that the middle of the city but here we are in two thousand and sixty seventy who are already having. one year up to the next so it dictates that you know we need wouldst case scenario suggested. anne and her husband lyle lead what many would consider an ideal astray in lifestyle. this son alex grew up on the beaches of lizard island he learnt to dive here as a child on the reef is not just an object of research for the family it's their own backyard and that backyard is changing dramatically. two years ago the underwater world surrounding lizard island was intact the blue

lagoon still looked pristine and beautiful but now there are signs of a catastrophe about to take place. the water is warming at an alarming right. and this in turn causes coral bleaching. the car loses its color and is effectively dead. it can no longer support life and is diving in a world of grey. of color all this is to get a wrenching car off. and lots lots of big car. despite the beautiful blue skies in the white sands the great barrier reef is fighting for its life lizard island is on the front line in this battle in hundreds eyes there is no doubt about the cause of the coral bleaching climate

change it's devastating but by and by in the last four years to get it they just cycling's into coral bleaching if the so and those that really benefit and that's going to make a third of it because. the great barrier reef is more than two thousand kilometers long it's the largest coral reef ecosystem in the world and includes some three thousand individual reefs. but not far from the reef it abbott point we see mountains of called the largest coal port in the world is under construction here coal of all things one of the major contributors to climate change. at nearby early beach the locals a seething they're angry at their government for approving the project they say colon coral just don't go together. the minute it is not a stable industry if you pop up towns and then that is your exam and you're left

with the guys town that is what this is the eighteenth century solution to a twenty first century has to resume up right here i'm devastated if we're building this mine adanis building this mine with a culture of no i think four thousand ships out there how is that going to possibly benefit the world queensland tourism operators and kids who have an expectation they're going to see the same beauty that we see every day. the reef is roughly ten thousand years old all along the coast like you say it's in the process of dying like here on the beaches of cannes the people collecting garbage are all aboriginal australians astroids indigenous inhabitants see themselves as custodians of the land they too are concerned about the land of their forefathers. suppresion people we want to see that that break the stilling like a sink you know i turtles and i jus gone's and i guess it's all comes down to

education and thank the people you know. have respect when you go out to those places look after that because we want to win generations to come. the great barrier reef is astray as most famous tourist attraction two million people come here every year. some want to experience the reef before it's too late like keith and helen from melbourne. that have. been there like a fish a pathway given that. i was. here the reef is alive and full of clown fish powered fish and barracuda. the coral is a veritable fish nursery. protected by the coral the fish are able to grow. and this is what's at stake with is coral there is life the when the coral is dead

the ocean floor is a graveyard. because i. well it didn't because i took a lot but i think in terms of those things every few years i'm not sure it is. one of the seven natural wonders of the world the great barrier reef. made. everybody going to. the great barrier reef can still be saved but the environmental threats a daunting. two days to go before christmas eve and here in europe that means last minute shopping bright lights and of course father christmas bearing gifts and spreading good cheer children of course know

he's coming but the question is where is he coming from his you know han set out in search of santa claus and she found him in present day turkey. but. it's christmas time a reason to celebrate for some people here in istanbul as well and like every year curious children want to know where does sounds like laos come from. are from somewhere in europe more awake. from a snowy place from england. america maybe. from over there. i don't know. unbelievable but true even many

turkish people don't know that good old center is in fact one of their own so states you and we will show you where father christmas really comes from. it's right here the small town of demaris in southern turkey. in the fourth century a bearded man known for his generosity lived here children were especially fund of him because he often gave out gifts it was this man st nicholas. the reading this is the very church in demarest where st nicholas prayed about seventeen hundred years ago he was officially called the bishop of iraq that was the name of this town back then. as is nicholas. between saint nicholas is important all over the world to some of his good deeds

reflected in the first here in this church which. like protecting those in prison and healing the sick you also mention the surgery because it is. devoted his entire life to the well being of others yet shall moon have. many such stories surround the legend of saint nicholas he was known for sharing his possessions with the poor and filling children's boots with gold coins pilgrims spread the word of his miraculous deeds over the centuries the persona of st nicholas evolved into the santa claus figure we know today. the most sacred spot of the church and daimler isn't open to meet behind the glass screen people have long believed that this is the last resting place of saint nicholas they say his remains were stolen and taken to italy hundreds of years ago . but a team of scientists recently made a fascinating discovery at

a con you can use findings point to an intact burial crypt below the church you clue is convinced that this is where the real grave of st nicholas lies still bet you so we should it will take some time before we can prove it but i think the chances are good. you that you think. it will be a sensation importance of this place will grow there are many more people would visit them. maybe then the word will spread that the original sounds like klaus actually comes from taki. tonight you know a quick reminder of all top stories at this hour for you separatist parties in catalonia have held onto their slim majority in a key regional election the result could inflame simmering tensions between the wealthy spanish region and the central government in madrid. and the united nations general assembly has overwhelmingly back to resolutions in. of jerusalem as

israel's capital to vote coming in defiance of u.s. threats to cut off funding for countries voting for the resolution. in just a few minutes at the top of the hour in the meantime you can get all the latest news updates from website that dot com do stay with us here on news.

kickoff why we take football personally. from. cost and spend had serious. money to a charity germinal someone to say is linked to extremist muslim groups really scored a no no on the buses make sure i'll never play again at least in germany. but is

there anything to the allegations. in thirty minutes on d w. images from an isolated country images from north korea. any tell me is a target for captured fascinating shots of everyday life in a regimented society. the north korean diary starting december twenty eighth. and d.-w. book after me speak your language being dug up. for content in dari pashto and order prospects for returning to our web special refugee journeys life in germany and the prospects for those returning home. and join the discussion on d w dot com and on facebook. prospects for returning. d.w.

may for mine. it's all about the moments that right before. it's all about the stories inside. it's all about george chance to discover the world from different perspectives. join us and inspired by distinctive instagram others at g.w. stories the two topics each week on instagram. frank food. international gateway to the best connections self and road and rail. located in the heart of europe you are connected to the whole world. experience outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. be our guest at

frankfurt. managed by for. this is g.w. news live from colin an unexpected victory for separatists in spain's catalonia region as voters and them another slim majority in the regional assembly their leader colleagues pushed him off the coals for kosovo to defeat for the spanish stage while she is now.