this is news live from berlin after scoring victory in regional elections catalonia fugitive independence leader makes an offer carlos says the time has come for dialogue with the spanish government without preconditions but spanish prime minister marianna boy is playing hardball he says he'll meet the leader of the

biggest party and that is not. also coming out aid groups accuse russia and syria of targeting civilians in airstrikes on rebel held enclaves that says another round of syria peace talks gets underway in kazakhstan. and alternative trivia lympics after being banned from the winter games for systematic doping russia says it will stage its own sports extravaganza. also former chancellor gerhard trigger in an exclusive interview germany's most recent social democrat chancellor urges his party to form a grand coalition with angela merkel's conservatives and put an end to the long wait for a new german government. and france's community and former first lady has made a career out of surprising people she's now turning fifty and is back on the road with a new album. i'm

sumi so much going to thank you for joining us spain's prime minister mariano rajoy has said he is open to dialogue after yesterday's regional elections in catalonia separatist parties won a slim majority but it remains unclear who will form the next government now where he said he would talk with the new leaders as long as they don't violate the country's constitution he said he expected a quote new era based on dialogue but he did not respond to a call to meet with ousted independence leader carlos bustamante pushed him all is a self-imposed exile in brussels and earlier today he called on report to meet him to discuss catalonia future here's what he had to say. i'm sure i'm ready to meet prime minister oha in brussels or in a different place in the e.u. except spain for his reasons are ready to do that because it's time for catalonia for the spanish and for europe to start a new political phase and this phase needs to be defined by

a political solutions not by the but i did use depression we've been seeing so far . let's talk to the abuse lisa lewis she is in barcelona for us hi lisa good to see you so carlos pushed him off calling for dialogue marianna centrally rejecting that offer it seems like we've ended up right where we started. exactly the elect actions really haven't who act if you look at it colors put them on to saying i'm open to dialogue with her you saying i'm open to dialogue too they just don't want to talk to the main to the same people. you want to talk to. the head of the cia that the analysts party which came out first in these polls however she will not be able to form a coalition government in the new parliament because she doesn't have a majority for the other with the other parties that are against independence it seems like this is not really that that this really hasn't brought us closer to any

solution of the crisis so lisa who will then form of the next government in catalonia. well the bloc that has earned and gained a majority in these elections is the parties which are in favor of independence however they will have a slight problem as well because you've got party jones per catalonia you've got the r.c. party but these two big parties can't really agree on who will be the leader is an exile if he comes back he's likely to go to jail and that's that's quite sure considering what the whole is said today he said we can't have anybody violate our constitution and on the other hand you've got the sea party and the leader of that party hume kara's he is in jail in spain so who should lead this government and they have another problem a small coalition party they see you peace party has won four seats and they need these four mandates to form a majority however that party has said i'm only going to join you if you will

push through independence the two big parties are a bit weak on that point they're not really sure if they really want to impose independence because they have seen that that can a lot of problems so it seems like that the coalition will be very very complicated in that respect complex situation there and dave lethal and meanwhile mariano rajoy he's not exactly in a position of strength here he called for the snap election and it turned out to be a big risk that fell short awarenesses us all leave him. it's a big defeat for money on overhaul his party the p.p. party has plummeted it used to have eleven seats which it won in two thousand fifteen now it has three seats overall in the overall picture is also not looking better actually died down and as i said is now the first party in the catalan parliament that anna's is quite young party and that's also the party that's kind of stealing the limelight on

a national level so that hoyt comes out of this really weakened because he will face a general election in two thousand and nineteen and then he will face a much stronger seat on his party it will be a lot more difficult for him to win those elections in two thousand nine hundred lisa what does the e.u. do here it's largely a stayed out of this crisis until now any sign that brussels could get involved. the e.u. hasn't changed its position at all actually that set in the past that this was an internal conflict in spain and they wouldn't get involved obviously the supporters of independence are saying we need the e.u. to get involved and to get everybody to the negotiating table but only today one member of parliament has come out and said no this is not going to happen we're not going to intervene in this conflict and listen just briefly if you can what are some of the reactions been there in barcelona today to entire crisis. while the independence supporters campus of the very happy that at least when it

comes to the catalonia party and and the party they think they really won these elections and and have shown that there is those silent majority that is against independence but overall the overall situation for the people here is obviously that they still in a deadlock they don't know what the future will hold for them all right lisa lewis reporting for us from barcelona thank you lisa. now human rights watch says syrian and russian forces have stepped up their airstrikes on eastern bro to near damascus the area is one of 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's us government forces have tightened their siege of the enclave and are blocking evacuations and restricting humanitarian aid the population is at risk of starvation with windell in 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 cars capital the un special envoy on syria staffan de mistura is taking part he usually holds separate talks with syrian representatives in geneva but with the reports about worsening humanitarian situation in eastern rota he's hoping to get the sides to agree to allow u.n. aid convoys in 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 as we said fresh air strikes in eastern and meanwhile stuff and i'm a store is expected in a standard 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 all sides know what each other wants but but

there is this 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 whereas that gives time for a sadden the russians and the iranians who are supporting him to just go and and exert control and influence and try to regain all of all of syria militarily san if we look at the specific situation and eastern botha 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 four 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 not 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 king monetary and aid that's 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 sending you said yourself all the sides here involved seem to have intractable positions so after today's meeting and. what are the next plans. well that's the big question i guess so 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 units 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 stone owned geneve groups there are so the rounds of talks in geneva which i imagine there will be 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 all right simon may been middle east expert at the university of lancaster in the u.k. thank you simon now to some other stories making news around the world french president has held talks with his palestinian counterpart mahmoud abbas the pair met at the elysee palace in paris to discuss the u.s. has moved to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel the meeting comes after the united nations voted to reject donald trump's decision. british foreign minister boris johnson has confronted his russian counterpart over the annexation of ukraine and russian cyber hacking thirty lavrov told them relations between the

two countries were quote very low johnson's visit to russia is the first by a british foreign secretary in more than five years. cuba has postponed the historic transfer of its presidency raul castro confirmed that he will stay on until april two months longer than planned due to the damage caused by hurricane or mob rule castro in his late older brother fidel of rule the country for nearly sixty years. and police in western australia say they have made the country's largest ever seizure of methamphetamine the one point two tonne haul as an estimated street value of more than six hundred million euros eight men have been charged with offenses carrying a maximum life prison sentence. you're watching t.v. news still to come no lympics no problem russia proposes holding its own winter sports competition after the country was banned from the two thousand and eighteen games because of doping allegations and it is the festive season in spain it's all about children singing and billions of euros in cash el gordo the fat one is here

again the world's biggest paying lottery. while the catalan independence push has been anything but a lottery the latest news hitting the financial markets been exactly we've seen spanish stocks tumbling on the election news out of bosler the country's banks exchange falling one point one percent of the separatist parties won this slim majority most affected banks like and some but they'll have significant exposure to catalonia both land is moved their headquarters out of the region following up towards it and its banking group some time there was another loser spanish stocks had outperformed their counterparts across europe before the referendum. passengers were spared flight chaos in germany this morning the first ever strike to hit ryanair fizzled out there were no cancellations and only limited delays and frills irish carry a scramble to bring in pilots from abroad as some of the ones based here in germany

walked off the job for hours upon its demands for better wages and working conditions and going anywhere and could lead to further strikes union officials are happy with the campaign saying they've shown management they're willing to fight. it's a rare occurrence a pilot strike that's barely felt by passengers the reason ryan air brought in other pilots who weren't part of the strikes the union claims. high in. the overnight ryanair of course activated all its pilots who don't have permanent positions those who work harder the strikes it activated for pilots who are now flying the planes so they could look good in other words we would call it cosmetic but ryanair has had chaos overnight as these pilots are than missing from their normal assignments one. it's almost certain o'leary could afford raising benefits his airline has been extremely profitable the ryanair is known for cutting not spending and its o'leary's willingness to bend over backwards for

a book that has made the airline a force to be reckoned with in the european market further 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 simply left ryanair now facing new pilot walkouts in some european territories over the holidays ryanair management recently announced it would finally enter into talks with unions the move worked in italy portugal and ryanair is home base of ireland where unions cancel strikes planned for friday. pilots in germany weren't convinced however the union there said ryanair broke off schedule talks after objecting to two union negotiators the union say they won't strike on the christmas holidays walkout as soon as the twenty sixth a busy time for holiday travelers. to switch up my computer tonight and spend the

next week sitting around the tree reading books eating cookies millions of germans have pretty much the same plans but having time off on sundays and public holidays is no longer something you can take for granted the number of those who do have to work is going up each year. early shift some public holidays are normal for these two women. house a care home in the black forest sundays and holidays are no different from any other day. doctors caregivers hospital workers the majority of the two point eight million people who prop up germany's health system have to work while others put their feet up and then not the only ones almost fifteen percent of germany's workforce has to work on sundays and bank holidays four percent more than in the mid one nine hundred ninety s. and it's even more common for the self employed twenty two percent of them have to

work over christmas or easter and guarantees of extra pay a becoming rare at two. hotels and security firms also offer round the clock service to their customers day and night sundays and public holidays included and in restaurants someone has to clear the table when the festive meal is over sunday the day of rest that's how it used to be in the retail sector but special rules now allow shops to open some sundays and that particularly in the run up to christmas means turnovers in the millions for stores and for their employees it means working with their customers have the day off. now ok so if you can't join them. that's right russia sports minister says the country will host an alternative competition following its banned from february's winter olympics in south korea and that suspension came after the international olympic committee found evidence of a quote on precedented systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system.

in less than fifty their use around two and a half hours and awfully young child for the twenty eighteen winter olympics the question is how many russians will be here among them earlier this month i.o.c. president thomas bach amounts to russia because of state sponsored doping. this launch now appearing some more crime a chore russian athletes will be allowed to compete in pyongyang under a neutral flag if they can prove they're clean but with some russians calling for boycotts the contrary wants to stage an alternative games for those choosing to stay behind. but it's it'll hold a number of competitions for athletes and we're working on it now the competitions will also be an opportunity to invite foreign after. the last winter games in sochi in twenty fourteen were meant to be a display of russian sporting prowess they've since turned into a russian nightmare. evidence from gregory wrote

a chunk of the former head of russia's anti doping lab revealed cheating on an unprecedented scale this year an i.o.c. investigation finally confirmed that evidence to be credible. the year has been an intense warm hard warm. believe we've never had a harder year for both soviet and russian sport. but still russia and its president vladimir putin continue to deny state involvement until that changes the country may find itself left out in the cold pariah of international sports. let's bring indeed that is emily share when he was standing by for us in moscow hi amalie other any more details on this alternative russian winter games will they take place in sochi because that would seem to be the obvious venue here. well there aren't there aren't many details here yet apart from the announcement that the sports minister made but she would seem in

a way to be the obvious venue that's where the last olympic winter games were hosted so they have all the right facilities for competition but you have to remember that sochi olympics the sochi olympics is where the international olympic committee says russia committed this state state sponsored widespread doping so if they did hold competitions there that would be a rather aggressive signal to the olympic committee and after all russia is at the moment complying with all the rules set by the committee and they have decided to send their athletes there so i think they might choose a more neutral venue they already hosted alternative games in two thousand and sixteen for the track and field athletes that were banned from the summer olympics in two thousand and sixteen in rio and that was held that competition was held in a rather modest stadium in moscow so we'll have to see where this one is held when more details emerge so with this competition than before athletes who are not

considered clean enough for the actual winter olympics or for clean athletes who want to boycott the olympics. well the clean athletes have basically decided that they're going russian athletes are being encouraged including by putin himself to take part in the olympic games if they're deemed clean by the olympic committee so russia has decided not to boycott these days these games as had been discussed ahead of the olympic committee's decision but this and the sports minister has actually announced now that over two hundred russian athletes have already qualified as clean and can compete in the olympic games that are coming up so these alternative games seem to be just for athletes not deemed clean. off the sports minister said that this would provide an opportunity for those athletes to earn some prize money as well to show off their

talents internationally and nationally and be allowed to compete so it seems that this step is is one you know to be fair to the athletes who aren't allowed to compete since russia thinks that they that they should be allowed to ultimately emily wouldn't holding alternative games essentially anger the international olympic committee the i.o.c. even further make it harder for russia to be brought back into the fold. well i think this is a mixture of kind of compliance and of course there is a note of defiance here as well so when the sports minister spoke about these alternative games he emphasized that russia is not holding an alternative olympics he said that the olympics belong to the olympic committee and they're not trying to steal the show that was the message here in russia but of course there is some

defiance to this decision from the international olympic committee here when i spoke to people just after the decision people seem to think that this was all part of a a kind of more general political campaign against russia which includes you know allegations of russian hacking include sanctions as well and now includes these these doping allegations which many people here feel are more political than actually to do with sports so russia is complying with the international committee as a limp it committee is decision but there is of course a note of defiance there as well. when reporting from moscow only good to talk to you. now a young south african is vying to become the first black alpine skier to represent his country at the olympics as a teenager survey spillman was invited by the international olympic committee to compete at the two thousand and fourteen sochi games but south africa declined to send him saying he didn't meet the required standard now he hopes to make the cut

for the winter games in february in south korea. quo. 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 how it's been slow. and of the great thing is that the dream water 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 because being at the youth olympics and qualifying for switching turn fourteen so like a difference. within the community with this more children wanting to grow in this sport and through the development program kids are. the

decision on his participation in yung chang twenty eight team is likely to be made in january but after missing out on the sochi games ziva spielman is more determined than ever. to some 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 a but if they decide to start current the club where he started his career come escort nineteen goals and fifty two appearances for the world he signed a deal until twenty twenty and will cost a guard a reported three million jobs the german international hopes the move will boost his chances of going to next year's world cup and russia. spain has been marking one of its big christmas traditions drawing the winners in the world's largest lottery this year a total of two point four billion euros will be paid out in el gordo or the fat one as it's affectionately known instead of putting the entire price into one winning ticket al gore though shares the wealth by having many smaller prizes so it's no

wonder practically the entire country joins in the fun. the numbers of every winning ticket are sung out today's draw will take five hours it's the world's biggest lottery held at madrid's to. the total prize payout is more than two billion euros many spaniards believe that being present at the drawing improves their chances of winning. hello merry christmas we came here tonight all the way from. three generations don't. know if i win i'll quit working it was hot. and if i win i'll leave here really slowly. so that people won't notice and you know maybe you know. all you need is twenty year olds to play and spaniards are crazy for the

lottery in madrid alone more than three times as many tickets have been sold as there are residence everyone dreams of winning big el gordo the four million euro top prize this is the day when supposedly losers can become winners two years ago for example gordo went to a region suffering from mass unemployment and the second prize more than one million euros went to a betting syndicate in an old people's home and the spanish state always wins big as it rakes in up to two hundred million euros in taxes merry christmas spain. you're watching dude i mean you still the calm with germany's still waiting for a new government a former chancellor tells his party to get its act together. speaks to. australia's great barrier reef is in danger scientists say could face more coral bleaching in the coming months as they race to protect the fragile ecosystem. bitcoin is plunging on world markets down as much as twenty one percent on friday

the fourth day of a global sell off but many are still clinging to their faith in the cryptocurrency will visit a bitcoin cafe in singapore. don't forget you can always get news on the go download from google play or from the out store that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the date of the op to send us your photos and your videos so. much more news coming up in two minutes. into the celestial be. spiritual messenger. it's. coming from. part of the human form.

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w. g w true diversity. where the world of science is at home in many languages that there is a. photo of a program to go in there is to be sure you have your good show now with our innovations magazine for in. the us from every week and always looking to the future fund d w dot com science and research for any show. welcome back you're watching the news our top stories catalonia is pro independence leader parlous bush tomorrow has scored a victory in regional elections now he wants a talk with madrid without preconditions but spanish prime minister mariano rajoy is playing hardball he says he'll meet the leader of the biggest party and that is

not to push them along. and human rights groups say syria and russia have stepped up unlawful attacks on civilians and rebel held on place that's amid the latest round of syria peace talks in kazakhstan. now former chancellor gerhard schroeder says his social democrats here in germany should quickly agree on forming a government with chancellor angela merkel's conservatives exploratory talks will start on january seventh and they're scheduled to last just six days so 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 however bitterly opposed taking that step. in an exclusive interview with g.w. and german public broadcaster n.p.r. should us 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. six but this is the first time that we've got a six party parliament and two of those parties are not seen as potential coalition partners in fact they aren't capable of being in

a coalition that delivered on the one hand and the f.t. on the other that's what will become more difficult so i'm telling my party very frankly there's no way around it you have to take on this responsibility you have to convince the party members that this is necessary and do it quickly. and we can talk to our political correspondent simon young from on the story hi simon so you have a former chancellor social democrat leader telling his party essentially to get on with it how is that likely to get go down with the party members. well again howard further was chancellor twelve years ago and he doesn't have any official role in the party right now he obviously still does have a certain amount of influence they invite him along to rallies to speak these days but he also has plenty of enemies within the s.p.d. a lot of people are worried about the idea of joining another grand coalition with

angela merkel's conservatives they think that a lot of their policy priorities will you know not be given due attention and they think the voters a likely to score anything that they like that happens under a joint coalition government to angle americal and her side so they're very worried about it schroeder is saying well you know he's trying to steady now. he's saying there really isn't any. alternative to a grand coalition and he also says the world needs stability in europe in particular needs stability and of course as always that means germany needs political stability as well some and he also advised any new german government to quickly improve relations with russian president vladimir putin let's listen to what he said and put this in both the i'm in favor of the step by step removal of sanctions dependent on how things go and. we should not always be

talking about escalation in the fund and of course 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 is good will and we want to reward the spy dismantling sanction step by step and soon and by the way as economic research institutes tell us that the sanctions do most damage to germany in indochina. ok simon scenario we do have to say very controversially works for ross that that's russia's state owned oil company how trustworthy is his call to remove sanctions on russia well go to it has often been criticised for his links to russia and most recently for that decision to become chairman of the supervisory board of sniffed and indeed he was praised by the boss of that company as the most loyal german chancellor from moscow's point of view so

there is skepticism and of course there are lots of strains in this relationship not just ukraine but also allegations of state sponsored hacking and military tensions and so on i think. there is saying we know we need to have a practical line we need to improve relations with moscow between germany and russia it's notable of course these only talking about these sanctions in relation to eastern ukraine some of which affects rosneft it's hard to see how any deescalation of detente could change the situation over crimea which is of course the real stumbling block in relations between europe and russia at the moment. the political correspondent simon young simon thank you for that analysis. australia's great barrier reef is one of our planet's great natural wonders but its survival is increasingly threatened by a phenomenon called coral bleaching now bleaching occurs when the coral

a stressed by rising water temperatures after record bleaching in two thousand and sixteen and seventeen around fifty percent of the reef 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 university lecture and the professors assistants and students clad in black with suits are about to get to work. i've come to live that island to investigate the underwater world of the great barrier reef dr and 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 scientists to forecasting what is going to happen in the coming decades as they would the world warms up predicted that we would get back to back all bleaching that the middle of the same story but here we are in two thousand and

sixteen seventeen who are already having. one year up to the next several decades that it openly a buddhist case scenario suggested. anne and her husband lyle lead what many would consider an ideal astray in life style. this son alex grew up on the beaches of lizard island he learned 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. often karl is so to think wrenching corals. and lots lots of decorum. 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 hogs eyes there is no doubt about the cause of the coral bleaching climate change is devastated by that but in the last four years. they just cycling's into coral bleaching if the so and those that really didn't 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 abot a 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 contribution is 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. like they're whining about it is not a stable industry if you pop up towns and then that is your exam and you're the good guys town that is what this is the eighteenth century solution to a twenty first century tourism uprising 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. people we want to see that that reef is still really like a sink you know i turtles and i jus gloams 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 they want to but 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 rich before it's too late like keith and helen from melbourne. in their look at the account well 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. and of course i.

will continue to think i can call up but i can't think of times of good schools every few years i'm not sure it is. one of the seven natural wonders of the world the great barrier reef. everybody going to. the great barrier reef can still be saved but the environmental threats a daunting. you're watching news still to come models singer and former first lady of france carla bruni is a woman of many talents now she's turning fifty we'll take a look at her newest album french touch. and being santa isn't easy we need an old school instructor to make sure the students have what it takes us brad that person this year. the first bitcoin has had an amazing ride this year ben could it be

over it could be it may be no other questions who adds a bit asking myself time and again the past few weeks and months the roller coaster ride certainly does continue the only way he's been up this year but the last four days have seen massive losses financial experts in singapore don't like what they see the island state's highest fiscal authority is warning and best is to stay away from bitcoin but not everyone is listening. it's almost a minor affront just one street away from singapore's financial story an opponent of digital money a cafe has opened where customers pay with crypto currency. we just want to make sure that people understand that crypto currency second to stay i don't think that that is a question the way technology develops and goes right now is no doubt about that development record. and the government's 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 will be when we don't know more progress with connecting it with the retail world so if you can't speak crippler 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 opening cafes hotels and travel agencies where you can only pay with digital money. into hong is with us from singapore our asia financial correspondent linda ah people suddenly losing interest or what's the what are some of the main reasons for the huge losses in big coin all of a sudden. well as we have seen so far what goes up because it has really gone really up very fast in september and like with all sorts of financial derivatives what goes up quickly must go down and that is possibly what is happening with bitcoin. perhaps some of them the governments have also issued warnings we have said she seen singapore china as well as japan issuing one is about the fact that this kind might not actually have value off the wall and there might be some sort

of euphoria that's ongoing. would you say that over the losses really are justified just based on on warnings well if you think about it i mean bit kind doesn't really have a particular assets to back it you see we've seen online stores allowing the acceptance of bitcoin but then i mean if you think about all your currencies usually don't to really exactly i mean traditional currencies that you see are backed by governments you can use it to exchange for something else like maybe oil or gold and the league or gold you can use it to make electronics and oil as far as we know of course you can use it to generate electricity as well as to feel your transportation so in that sense. it doesn't really have anything to offer like tend to pull it off so that's questionable for now in terms of that just briefly going forward is there really value in bitcoin in your opinion. i mean if you well

because so far there's not much that's being offered but if you think about it but quite actually started in twenty zero nine and that's like perhaps a reflection off the fact that you've got lehman brothers crisis the last people's lost confidence you also have to grease financial crisis where people actually have governments are printing money physical money so that's in this self quite reflection or against a physical money so perhaps it's like decline came up only for that linda thank you very much for filling us in from singapore. now she's a woman of many talents but perhaps her biggest talent is keeping people on their toes. over the last decades carla bruni has gone from a terrorist to

a supermodel to singer songwriter to first lady of france and now she's back to music turning fifty years old tomorrow and she still surprising people this is the cover of depeche mode song enjoy the silence from her latest album french touch. david leavitt's mark alter desk is here with us now david you know a lot of people internationally might know what carla bruni is being francis former former first lady what about at home well you know she's had so many different roles as you said yourself or community but it's hard to put her in a box and really her career has been defined by these big surprises first of all there was the surprise that this supermodel who was seen on the arms of eric clapton and mick jagger turned out to be a very talented singer songwriter no one saw that coming and then for years she was she was this left wing artist who told the press that she didn't believe in monogamy and she was that she believed in for your love so who would have seen her getting married to the conservative president that was another big shock and then

of course the shock that she kept together with him after he was voted out of office that surprised a lot of people a conservative president nicholas sarkozy right now he's out of the picture and she's come back to music she's gotten back to music and i really want to talk to you about her new album first of all though i'd like to take a look back at her career her incredible career carla bruni turning fifty this weekend. italian born carla bruni began modeling in the ninety's and soon became one of the highest paid women in the industry alongside such names as naomi campbell and claudia schiffer but bruni is more than a pretty face she gave up modeling to focus on another challenge of hers music in two thousand and two she kicked of her career as a singer songwriter with. her debut album sold over a million copies worldwide. bruni

grew up in a musical family and says music has always been her passion. makes me happy. explains things to me and it's it's a great deal of things at the same time that really. it gives a meaning to my life and two thousand and seven bruni met then french president nicolas sarkozy at a dinner party just a few months later the couple tied the knot making bruni first lady of france for the next four years. besides attending state dinners bruni became an ambassador for an international aids charity and founded her own charity just support universal access to education. but behind the scenes bruni kept writing music and in two thousand and eleven she made her acting debut as a tour guide and woody allen's midnight and paris life. is she was an influence

look at me was not there was that his mistress yes. rose was the line or he was never allowed to roam yes even. in the last year of their lives that your mistake in arguing with the guy is. uncertain. now separating her fiftieth birthday bruni's touring europe and north america with her new album french touch. the broom a woman who never tires of reinventing herself. it was actually her cover of the rolling stones song miss you have heard from her new album this latest album seems to be a cover album she's covered depeche mode ac d.c. lou reed willie nelson the world and stones how did she pick these songs physically i think she's a person who just does what she wants to do in the future that already and they are

very different songs she does sort of bring them all together with a very particular jazzy poppy. and she's on tour right now in europe and north america we've got a little clip of one of her concerts for. cover of the winner takes it all. the critics are pretty divided over the album i have to tell you some of them have said she's surgically removed the emotion from particularly this song some of sort of borders on muzak you know that her music others say it's a tasteful and unique mixture of pop and jazz i personally miss her original album where she was writing beautiful songs and french i wish she would go back to that a fascinating person and any case a truly unique character and i wish her the best for her fiftieth birthday happy birthday carla bruni or a david leavitt's from our culture jeff thank you very much for me. now with a christmas just around the corner santos are in peak demand they play to the

toughest of audiences namely children and they'd better be ready for the unexpected one old school instructor wants to make sure the santos he schools meet the highest standards. that's my earthly records so i want to welcome your wall ladies and gentleman or you'll be doing a workshop on how to be santa claus today the first rule is discover you're in the center. is a first time center and perhaps it's not as easy for him as others to impersonate the festive figure but the course instructor here in a local town hall takes his yuletide mission quite seriously but. is beards like this one here all for. people run around with these things and call themselves centers and they have no idea what it's all about. that's pretty good i think we need to head outside for

a practice your bite with both of you give each other a bit of room or keep an eye on you and be the referee season and maybe give you a few tips about what you can do better. now is it. good it's a lot of fun. i do. know. but the first trial run isn't all smooth sailing. look do you want some. look here i'm not i want to hurt you. no where they're going to christmas. do you have a blonde drawl with long hair now you learn to love how learn how to love and a car as

a christmas present. no up us money but i want to barbie car for christmas when bobby to try mind wait a second i know of a blonde girl in the christmas albums told me about her. oh can you bring me one of those ones bring me to i'm sure i can push them two days later all of his first proper appearance it's december sixth and he's classed as a sense technically it's st nicholas day but no one's being too picky certainly not at a local car dealership this is opening night so to speak to your what's your name you . should be trying to find them. long. the pressure is on if the children were good this year tradition dictates that their boots will be filled with goodies. he wants. and then the

next kids have arrived it's a chance for to work on his holiday chops. but he is well aware that his outing at the car dealership is just a warm up for the main events christmas eve. thanks for watching dude have you to come on he will have an update on all of your top stories in just a few minutes the big . folks. suitably.

we've. been to so let's just be honest. spiritual. jokes. from. fire meet human flu

at why we. thank you enjoy. the feast you'll. see they live to search for a much lower. danger lurks in the water we were there all year long surfing into waste and and polluted water not only being the witness but the thunder being victims i mean with you troubles all gastric troubles. basically this is sort of always moments to back up what was on their show so i was on a shelf. is we do these things it's sad to go somewhere every day and see more man from issue to time sort of assumed gives me everything with the waves the wind i have to give something back to me and i feel obliged to miss him to many others. point waves

surfers fighting against unseen pollution. starting january seventh on g.w. . the. climate change is affecting us all. rising sea levels and imagine when i join the line through our streets. homes. and change grounds. through entire communities.

the good news is our own choices in energy conservation. recycling. and transport can help we draw the line find out what you can do today at redraw the lines out all. this is the news live from berlin after scoring victory in regional elections cuts alone as fugitive independency to make some off a push them on says the time has come for dialogue with the spanish government with the hold pre-conditions but spanish prime minister mariano rajoy is playing on full .