it's. an exclusive peek behind one of the last iron curtain it's. a north korean diary starting december twenty eighth on t w. this is the w. news live from berlin a victory for separatists in spain's catalonia region as voters have them a majority in the regional assembly their leader promised tuesday long calls a vote to defeat for the spanish state so what is next for catalonia we'll go live to barcelona for more. ryanair pilots in germany launched the first ever strike at

the budget airline has a walkout crippled service will tell travelers what they need to know. also the former german chancellor get much credit in an exclusive d.w. interview he urges his social democrats to form a coalition and put an end to the long wait for a new german government. and the origins of the man in red father christmas may be on his way but where is he from d w goes in search on santa claus. i'm sunni so misconduct good to have you with us separatist parties in catalonia have won of a slim majority after yesterday's regional elections deepening a national crisis over whether the wealthy region should remain a part of spain that opposed president carlos push to months together for catalonia

party won thirty four seats along with two other pro independence party so the separatist movement has a seventy of the one hundred thirty five seats in the regional parliament that has a slim majority majority of just two however the anti independents. a citizens party shown with its abbreviation here c s one thirty seven c. said makes it the largest party it is unclear which parties will form the next government and who will work together the result could see a further increase in tensions between catalonia and central government and madrid spanish prime minister mariano rajoy called the election in a bid to change the dynamics of the crisis that after he stripped catalonia of its autonomy and sacked its government following a declaration of independence and. long before vote counting was finished the party of form a couple and leader catalyst please the moment was celebrating victory. we see exactly right we saw not only for us but for the forty nine and then these

movements. we are in. fear aggression. and having one game these pieces. some may see we've always said sachs we got him he was the monster see and here we are. along with the two other separatists who parties together folks are alone you know has a narrow majority seventy out of one hundred thirty five seats. from his exile in brussels said it was a black day for spain central government. you must go to the spanish state has been defeated. and his allies have lost and i've received a slap in the face from the catalan people. they have lost a plebiscite through which they wanted to legalize the coup d'etat through article one five fired one prime minister has failed in catalonia.

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. today and we have sent a message to the world that the majority of catalans feel catalan 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 only be arguing 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 a day to barbara vessel is in barcelona for us and she joins us for more on the story hi barbara good to see you the results indicate that this region is still

very much divided over the question of independence what kind of reactions are you hearing today. the problem really is that soon me the day after the election is like the day before the election and so it seems that even though everything was really peaceful and very democratic yesterday today catalans are mostly already losing interest christmas is approaching the big lottery draw is today that sort of galvanizes all spain and front of the t.v. screens and their i phones and it is so politics take a back seat however politically the place is still in a mess because practically how could they now form a government in barcelona the one independence leader is in jail the other is in belgium in exile so who could probably and possibly get to govern in the palace that we see in the back of me it is totally unclear and nobody really seems to care

today people have voted in the say ok now somebody else needs to take care of the future the other side of that coin barbara is spanish prime minister mariano rajoy you know he called the selection that was a risk the gamble appears to have failed how big of a blow is it for him. it is the biggest possible blow because he again he has miscalculated as he has done from the beginning of this crisis some years ago he should have handled this independence crisis differently with a bit more political sensitivity and good sense but however he tried to tough it out and that has backfired spectacularly and also we see the rise of this year dominoes the liberal big party in his own conservative camp and they're going to really compete with him on the national level now and so it might very well be that we see the end of the era of monteriano right holly what about the former catalan

leader carlos pushed a month barber you mentioned that he is in belgium and self-imposed exile does this result strengthen his position. it strengthens his position in a way however they call the partner the other independence party they do absolutely not love him because their leader is in jail and you spin sniping against puts them on from there say oh look at this coward you know he didn't even have the courage to stand up for his own deeds which is in a way true of course so how can push the month return kenny return would madrid pardon him. again create a government all that is completely up in the air is resurrect is strong but on the ground of course he has no practical power and nobody really knows how this conflict can be resolved and how he could probably return to office it's the last thing madrid once of course on the other hand you have to see that a lot of catalogs voted for put him on even though he did flee his own country so

it's undecided and the conflict here in ca to loan you continues right you know he's barbara bass of reporting a from barcelona for us barbara thank you. and daniel is here now with a look at how the vote is affecting the financial world that's right and investors being a dish of instability and uncertainty today no wonder spanish stocks tumbled on the election news out of bus alona the country's backs exchange fell one point one percent after separate as parties won a slim majority and catalan vote most effective were banks like bank and sabba del which have significant exposure to catalonia both banks moved their headquarters out of the region follow in october independence referendum banking group santander was another big loser spanish stocks had outperformed their counterparts across europe before the october referendum and an advisor is following this for us so in

that one percent is not really that much of a drop considering how much this independence vote could we can both spain in the why do you. we have stats exactly that case i think the markets are still speculating on a optimistic outcome in space in lost after the last independence vote nothing really happened so this time we just got to repeat off the picture which we already know that catalonia is deeply divided but we also get some sort of massachusetts from at least one of the independent parties say they're open to have a different approach meaning not to go for outright secession so the the positive scenario could be that there will be more autonomy for catalonia and then we kind of move on but having said that of course the spat between madrid and barcelona is growing with that vote and mr hoyer is not

a person who was very good at friendly talks with the catalonian so going forward it would be increased political risk for spain which is not gets captured by the markets the euro dipped a little bit early asian trade but ever since recovered already slightly so investors reacting to the pain in space in looking elsewhere bitcoin investors are also coming under pressure today. yeah it kind of down by twenty per cent this friday and it's not only bit calling other cryptocurrency down as well nobody really knows why and that's the big problem here we had central bankers regulators all over the word warning this week off the risks of those cryptocurrency s. which the risk which they could pose to the general financial system but of course also to invest because they are very well it's kind of tells us the whole story today down by twenty percent nobody knows why and the volatility is most likely

here to stay for cryptocurrency s. and for bit calling because it might not be the bubble but the volatility is clearly that of thank you very much yes i'll be back with more later on now over to thank you daniel human rights watch says syrian and russian forces have stepped up their airstrikes on eastern photo near damascus the areas where the last strongholds of rebels fighting the troops of president bashar al assad the rights group released these pictures showing the attacks it says of killed dozens of civilians it says government forces have tightened their siege of the enclave and are blocking a vacuum and restricting humanitarian aid the population is at risk of starvation with dwindling supplies of food and medicine. now those reports come as power brokers russia iran and turkey hold a new round of syria peace talks in the cousin capital a standup the u.n.

special envoy on syria stuff and of the story is taking part and he usually hold separate talks with syrian representatives in geneva but with the reports of that worsening humanitarian situation in eastern he is hoping to get the sides to agree to allow u.n. aid convoys to enter. let's bring in simon mabon he's a middle east expert at the university of lancaster in the u.k. hi simon so there are new airstrikes out us have fresh air strikes in eastern rota and meanwhile staff and a mr is expected in a stand for those peace talks today we've seen so many diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in syria fail is there any real hope for a fresh push for peace well i certainly hope so but i fear that that might be optimistic right now i think that that all sides know what each other wants but but there was this real intractability between the different sides which means that it's increasingly difficult to actually get a resolution that the assad regime wants to stay in power wants to to try to pay

all forms of of oppositional forms of armed opposition and reclaim control over all of syria whereas the opposition groups the u.s. and u.k. they all want some form of transition to a post assad syria now of course assad's in a much stronger position than he was a year ago or so so so there's very little incentive for him to negotiate or not so it seems that there's just a real impasse where is that gives time for assad and the russians and the iranians who are supporting him to just go and exert control and influence in trying to regain all of all of syria militarily some if we look at the specific situation and eastern russia what are the biggest hurdles to getting humanitarian aid in. well it's clearly just under a blockade it's it's a place that's been under a blockade for years now which has made it increasingly difficult to get any type of humanitarian aid who medical supplies into eastern ghouta so so that's the big

logistical challenge getting permission to do so obviously that involves getting permission from the assad regime and that's been a big hurdle right now obviously the assad regime has been incredibly reticent to to give any access to the monetary in a part of this besiegement as part of this strangulation if you will of the the opposition groups there and so because it is besieged it's been increasingly difficult to get anything in which is having obviously a massive impact on the people around four hundred thousand people signing you said yourself all the sides here involved seem to have intractable positions so after today's meeting and as donna what are the next plans well that's the big question i guess i guess it just depends if any side is willing to compromise but also the one extent assad is able to be successful in his military aims and what type of resistance he's met and i guess that's the question as to what happens next on the

ground not only in start to and geneva if there are further rounds of talks in geneva which i margin i will be in in the early part of twenty eight the but how the facts on the ground to change things and that will have a massive impact on the negotiating positions of all of those involved time and may have been middle east expert at the university of lancaster in the u.k. thank you simon thank you not to some other stories making news around the world french president manuel mccall has held talks with his palestinian counterpart mahmoud abbas the pair met at the l.s.a. palace in paris to discuss the u.s. is a move to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel now the meeting comes after the united nations voted to reject the session. cuba has postponed the historic transfer of its presidency castro confirmed that he will stay on until april two months longer than planned due to the damage caused by hurricane wilma custer in

his late older brother fidel have ruled the country for nearly sixty years and police in western australia say they have made the country's largest ever seizure of metta infamy the one point two ton hall has an estimated street value of more than six hundred million euros eight men have been charged with offenses carrying a maximum life prison sentence. it watching news still to come with germany still waiting for a new government a former chancellor tells his party to get its act together care how twitter speaks to you names. but first it was supposed to be a big strike that pilots have failed to disrupt ryan airs flights from germany and it was a significant strike but not for the reason that the pilots wanted it's the first time ever that ryanair pilots have gone on strike in the company's thirty two year history a major warning strike was announced in germany this morning but they had limited effect withdrawing estell able to operate most flights as planned always delay its

pilots demands for better wages and working conditions on going anywhere and could even lead to thought the strikes employees distrust towards the company runs a lot deeper than the pay package alone and it all comes back to one. ryanair head michael o'leary will bend over backwards to make a buck and that mentality has helped to make ryan air force to be reckoned with in the european market for the refining the ultra low cost model pioneered by u.s. carrier southwest o'leary cut ticket prices in favor of making money on baggage fees on board shopping and other secondary revenue streams but that cost cutting obsession ran him afoul of many unions they objected to what they described as substandard pay poor working conditions and uncertain labor contracts the result many pilots left ryanair and the airline recently announced it would be forced to cancel some twenty thousand flights through march of next year facing pilot

walkouts in some european territories over the holidays ryanair management recently announced that it would finally enter into talks with unions something considered unthinkable years before. but if we've got to make a change we make a change and in this case because it was christmas week was within their control and were where we called in the unions to to. all of this action so people can take away all that i'm sure i get home for christmas the move worked in italy portugal and ryanair is home base of ireland where unions canceled strikes planned for friday pilots in germany were convinced however the union there said ryanair broke off schedule talks after objecting to two union negotiators the disruption early friday was minimal however as most flights appeared to leave frankfurt as scheduled bigger questions why i heard the union say they won't strike on the christmas holidays but could walk out as soon as the twenty sixth a busy time for holiday travelers. and was staying in the skies u.s.

aerospace giant boeing and brazil's embraer discussing a potential merger makes commercial military and executive jets and seoul rise sharply on the news despite both companies saying that no deal is imminent a merger between the two companies would build on their existing alliance on the k c three nine military plane and would permit the much bigger boeing to fill a gap in its fleet with regional single aisle plane it's it would also strengthen boeing's market position after rival busts announced a close cooperation with kind of his own body. and returning now to ongoing attempts to form germany's next government and it is taking its time it is indeed daniella now and germany's former chancellor gerhard schroeder says his social democrats should quickly agree on forming a government with chance on america's conservatives now exploratory talks will start on january seventh and they are scheduled to last just six days and that is

less than a week for the two sides to find enough common ground to form a so-called grand coalition but many social democrats bitterly opposed taking that step in an exclusive interview with w. and the german public broadcaster and d.r. should a says the social democrats need to take responsibility and help bring an end to the longest wait for a government in german post-war history. this is the first time that we've got a six policy poem and two of those policies are not seen as potential coalition partners in fact they aren't capable of being in a coalition with the left on the one hand and the end of the on the other that's why it will become more difficult so i'm telling my poetry 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. let's go right to our political correspondent hans frond hans a former chancellor social democrat leader with some very strong advice there how

is that likely to go down with this party well obviously still a very well known and in many ways respected member of the social democratic party and when he appears at party meetings he still has the capacity as a very good public speaker to rouse the rank and file but if one looks at it a little more dispassionately i think within the social democratic party at the moment the worries taking the upper hand people are warry of that as a result of the grand coalition that the party has been in for the problems for years it did very badly in recent elections at the end of september and the fear is that another ground coalition will hurt the party even for even more so as these fears are true to is trying to speak against and at the moment i think the party rank and file is not yet convinced that another ground coalition will in fact be good for the party and indeed has there's been talk among some of the social democrats of allowing the chancellor to form a minority government and supporting her on certain policy issues should have

rejected that can you really boost the s.p.d. members who want to see this grand coalition with merkel. as i say he still has a way to voice about this possibility of tolerating a minority government led by conservatives is in some sense a kind of compromise that some people within the social democratic party feel might be a way out of a dilemma that took the party finds itself in that the moment. the conservatives have rejects that their idea they've said that they want to have a coalition they want to have the stability that such a firmly agreed coalition will give the government and will give germany and that's in fact the argument and the truth is all supporting forward that a grand coalition brings the necessary so that stability both in germany and especially also in europe. the political correspondent hans front for us thank you hans we have a bit of a football transfer news from germany and veteran striker mario gomez is on the

move again after leaving vosburgh the thirty two year old is returning to bundesliga side stuttgart the club where he started his career gomes scored nineteen goals in fifty two appearances for the wolves he's signed a deal until twenty twenty and will cost at guard a reported three million euros and germany international hopes the move will boost his chances of going to next year's world cup in russia you have to sit two days to go before christmas even here in europe that means last minute shopping bright lights and of course said a class bearing gifts and spreading good cheer now children know he's coming but where is he from. han set out in search of father christmas and found him in present day turkey. 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 santa claus come from. are forgiven from somewhere in europe more away. 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 humans 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 saint 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. like protecting those in prison and healing the sick fish that you also mention so did he give his. or devoted his entire life to the well being of others yes show moon have. many such stories surround the legend of st 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 in. demaris and 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 to come you clues findings point to an intact burial crypt below the church you clues convinced that this is where the real grave of saint nicholas lies are still buried too so we should it will take some time before we can prove it but i think the chances are good only use if you think of salumi it will be a sensation the importance of this place will grow there are many more people would

visit there in the school room. maybe than the word will spread that the original send us actually comes from tokyo. now the draw for the spanish national lottery and a jackpot worth two point four billion euros is underway the christmas lottery named al gore the or fat one is an annual tradition that goes back more than two centuries millions take part in the chance of striking it begged the giveaway is designed so that as many people as possible when something with cash prizes doled out across the country. are minor now of our top story at this hour a separatist parties in catalonia have held on to their absolute majority in a key regional election the result could inflame simmering tensions between the wealthy spanish region and the central government in. thanks for watching day that we were back in about thirty minutes.

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a way to unwind. away from the screen. boardgames are back to. your romance next d.w. . kick off life we take football personally. from bone does make a stop to our cost and his band heads here he donates money to a charity germinal someone to say he is linked to extremist muslim groups really scored an arm go on the bosses make sure i'll never play again at least in germany for the bunch of but is there anything to the allegations. in sixty minutes on d w. crime fighters the new season of radio crime thrillers begins. moving. motion domestic violence cyber crime and human trafficking for investigative cases that will keep you on

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