an exclusive peek behind one of the last iron curtain is. a north korean diary starting december twenty eighth on t w. this is the news live from berlin after scoring victory in regional elections catalonia fugitive independence to make some call this puts them on says the time has come for dialogue with the spanish government we've found pre-conditions but spanish prime minister mariano rajoy is playing tonsil he says he'll meet the

leader of the biggest potty and not small. also coming up. human rights watch accuses russia and syria of targeting civilians in an strikes on rebel held on faves we'll get the latest from there research on who's been in touch with civilians who are trapped there. 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 . and in spain the festive season is all about children and singing brings billions of euros el gordo the fact one is here again the world's biggest player paying lottery has brought celebrations and cash to the streets of spain.

thank you for joining us spain's prime minister mariano rajoy says he is open to dialogue after yesterday's regional elections in cuts alone which saw supper to spot is when a slim majority roy said he would. talk with the new regional leaders as long as they didn't violate the country's constitution but he did not respond to calls for a meeting by colus pushed among the ousted independents need a is in self imposed exile in brussels here's what the two men had to say. i'm sure i'm ready to meet prime minister or high in brussels or in a different place in the e.u. except spain for his reasons aren't 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 political solutions not by the by non and dilute he has to pression we've been seeing so far. i know you're . going to have a new era based on dialogue not confrontation with beginning to have a long and

a ton of cooperation and not imposition of time or plurality and not unilateral as . the government of spain would like to offer all its cooperation and all its willingness for constructive open and realistic dialogue always within the rule of law. but then. as i'll bring in data business the louis was in barcelona for us lisa. rejecting a meeting with put them on their separatist leader offering dialogue does this mean the standoff will just continue. yes it does really if you listen to them closely so what's put them on to saying obviously i'm happy to talk but i'm still in favor of independence on the other hand you've got the holy the holy saying i'm also happy to talk but not to put him on he wants to talk to you know that he might as the head of the cia that honest posse which came out first in these elections it

doesn't sound that these two will be sitting at one negotiating table together in the near future so who gets to form a new government in this region. it's a very good question actually obviously the pro independence bloc came out first in the elections but it will be very complicated for them to come together and form a government and that's because the parties actually diverging on the one hand you've got the two main parties the r.c.n. put in monsoons per catalonia party and they will have a leadership battle on the one hand you've got because one obviously who's in exile in belgium so he can take up the pace unless he comes to spain as soon as he does that he will go to jail that was made very clear by the head of the spanish state on the other hand audio who care us the head of the other big coalition party possibly coalition party are c he's in jail at the moment and his number two was today also indicted for rebellion and sedition as the other former government

members so you have really a problem here you don't know who to put they don't know you to put forward and on the other hand they have a problem with a minor party line a coalition party c u p which has won four seats in the new parliament and that party has said we will only join you if you clearly go for independence now the larger parties are saying we are pro independence but they haven't said they would impose it right away so there is a struggle going on here. lisa mariano rajoy calling this election and then his party the conservatives registering their worst result yet has a selection weekend him. absolutely and not only catalonia where he's won about three three seats actually is party to a popular that people's party and that was down from eleven seats in two thousand and fifteen but sudan has has come first that party which is quite new was founded in two thousand and five is now becoming a serious competition for the people's party for marianna was

a highly their general elections looming in two thousand and nineteen and it will be a lot harder for money to win those elections now so far the e.u. has largely stayed out of this crisis is there any sign that brussels me now get involved and not really actually one member of the european parliament said today we will not get involved in this conflict this is an internal conflict in spain it doesn't concern the european union obviously the pro independence camp was hoping they were telling me yesterday again last night we will we want the e.u. to intervene so that everybody can come to the negotiating table and find a solution to this crisis right looks like this is not going to happen in the near future he said lewis joining us from barcelona thank you let's now look at some of the other stories making news around the world french president emanuel mccraw has held talks with his palestinian counterpart mahmoud abbas the pair met at the el is

a palace in paris to discuss the u.s. move 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 russia of cyber hacking johnson clashed with a laugh at a joint news conference with a love of saying relations between the two countries had reached a low point johnson's visit to russia is the first by a british foreign secretary in more than five years. police in western australia say they have made the country's largest ever seizure of methamphetamine the one point two ton hole 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. cuba has postponed the historic transfer of its presidency role castro confirmed 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 sixty years. human rights watch says syrian and russian forces have stepped up their airstrikes on eastern go 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 have killed dozens of civilians it's as government forces have been fighting have been tightening their siege on the enclave and are blocking evacuations and restricting humanitarian aid now the population is a tryst of starvation with drinking supplies of food and medicine. bring in human rights watch researcher sarah kay ali in a month she's been talking to locals in eastern guta and she now joins us from there thank you so how would you describe the humanitarian situation there.

the humanitarian situation in eastern is catastrophic the area has been under siege since twenty thirteen and now we're talking about close to half a million civilians innocent people who are triscuit starvation and dying because of the lack of medical supplies and refusal of medical evacuations and how much food and water is left there. there's not much the reports that we have been receiving from the ground is that there's barely any any food and medical supplies are dwindling we're talking about children who are dying from medicines that are available ten kilometers away at the regular damascus pharmacy that they can't get to because of the siege sara the u.n. has put together an evacuation list of civilians but an evacuation hasn't happened yet why is that. so they want to cite administrative and security that is but there's also the fact that the syrian government has refused to evacuate these medical cases despite the fact that there is

a plan and case and this has meant that around twelve twelve people have actually died since the plan has been put in place simply because they're waiting for these people to give them permission to move it's now apparent that process forces have tightened the siege since october why is that. so there are a couple of reasons. the closure of the smuggling tunnels in early february to april of twenty seven thousand which were which were used to to provide aid and also smuggle out urgent cases but they've also closed across and called off the deem crossing which is the only commercial which is the only commercial crossing point into eastern walter. and this is in addition to the fact that they rarely give give permission to you and convoys to enter and when they do their partial permissions whereby they remove life saving medical supplies and a lot of other material is all so sorry given what you're describing would you

compare the situation to aleppo just before it fell. i mean what we're seeing in eastern now with the intensification of the of the airstrikes and the offensive as well as the tightening of the siege this could very well be another a local in the making our hope is that it isn't. but it does seem to be heading in that direction now peace talks between the warring parties continue in a stunning stand this is the eighth round what likelihood is there that the situation will now change. we are hoping that the talks come up with with with the plan and actually push the syrian and get their actions to push the syrian government to allow humanitarian aid and access in this is particularly vital given that little is actually an area under one of the escalation area under this agreement which means that which means that there should be humanitarian access there should be suspicion of hostilities but

even where there isn't civilians shouldn't be dying because of this and humanitarian access should be allowed sarah kay eileen thank you form a german chancellor get her tried says his social democrats should quickly agree on forming a government with chancellor conservatives exploratory talks will start on january seventh and the shuttle to last just six days now 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 bitterly opposed taking that step but in an exclusive interview with d.w. and german public broadcaster. says the social democrats need to take responsibility and help bring an end to the longest wait for government in german post-war history. this is the first time that we've got a six party poem and two of those parties 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 area fifty on the other that's why it will become more difficult so i'm telling my party very frankly there is no way round it you have to take on this responsibility you have to convince the party members that this is necessary and do it quickly. you're watching still to come no olympics no problem russia proposes holding its own winter sports competition after the country was banned from the twenty eight hundred games because of doping allegations. and it's a festive season in spain it's all about children singing songs and billions of euros in cash. one is here again the world's biggest lottery. push has been anything but a lottery of the financial markets fank you edith spanish stock slipped on the

election result from bosler the country's. about one and a half percent after separatist parties one that slim majority in regional elections most affected by banks like keisha and which have significant exposure to catalonia both lenders moved their headquarters out of the region following october's independence for banking group some time debt was another loser spanish stocks had outperformed their counterparts across europe before the referendum. let's bring in our financial correspondent in frankfurt and to get the reaction from there why isn't the market reaction more intense. well because we don't really know what's going to happen mr hoyer the prime minister of spain is saying now we talks need to start but to be fair those talks like three months ago haven't given any outcome and that's why we have those elections in a way one cannot can argue that point at the same mistake as cameron the u.k.

and other politicians in the euro zone when they were asking the people to solve their problems bottom line is that we have political risk back on the agenda but most likely nobody really wants to go into that risk knowledge to stay a day before christmas and we know how messy it's go with briggs but the u.k. is a huge economy although catalonia is an important economy for spain why do investors really care about it. but actually catalonia makes up one fifth of the spanish economic power it was and is still the powerhouse somehow off spade and investors actually care because that whole fragmentation process of the the the risk of fragmentation could actually set a president for president for other regions there are other regions in the euro zone which also want to be more independent perhaps also separate from the their

home country and that's a stretch that's a tendency of course the european union does not support because it would mean for the fragmentation investors are always wary about the political stability of the euro zone because many investors about full from the anglo-saxon word don't really understand the political concept of that european union and see it inherently unstable and that's why there's a big risk in such a movement. ok in the device but on the dollar concerns over catalonia thank you very much. yes passengers have been spared flight chaos in germany the first of a strike to hit ryanair fizzled out the smalling no cancellations and a limited delays the no frills irish carrier scramble to bring in pilots from abroad as some of the ones based here in germany walked off the job for four hours but they aren't getting anywhere with their demands for better wages and working conditions that could be further strikes union officials are happy with the

campaign saying they've shown management they 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 were part of the strikes the union claims and i 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 but could walk out as soon as the twenty sixth a busy time for holiday travelers the big coin roller coaster ride continues the only way to bring up this year for the last four days have seeing big losses financial experts in singapore don't like what they see the island state's highest

fiscal authority is warning investors to stay away from the cryptocurrency but not everyone is listening. just a front 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 the currency second to stay i don't think there's a question the way technology evolves 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 bit calling 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 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 the heat 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 du qantas are 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. for fifteen minutes of business for you next hour. thanks ben well russia's sports minister says the

country will host an alternative competition following its banned from february's winter olympics in south korea that suspension came after the international olympic committee found evidence of a quote unprecedented systematic manipulation of the anti doping system. in less than fifty they use around two and a half thousand dollars leaks were descend on pyong chang 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 announced on russia because of state sponsored doping. the launch now appearing somewhat premature 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 a boycott the country wants to stay general terms of games for those choosing to stay behind. it will 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 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. i and south african is vying to become the first black alpine scare to represent

his country at the olympics as a teenager say spielman was invited by the international olympic committee to compete at the twenty fourteen sochi games but south africa declined to send him saying he didn't need the required standard now he hopes to make the cut for the winter games in february in south korea. promo. missing out on sochi hasn't stopped him for seven spielman the very novelty of participating in alpine sports in south africa spurs him on to keep going for gold you know. the great thing is. that the remoter 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. to kids. and qualifying for turning forty so like the difference.

within the community with children wanting to grow in the sport and through the development program kids are. a 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 even spielman is more determined than ever. to some football transfer news from germany and veteran strike a mario gomez is on the move again after leaving foles bug the thirty two year old is returning to fellow bundesliga star a side street got the club where he started his career gomes scored nineteen goals in fifty two appearances for the wolves has signed a deal until twenty twenty and will cost a reported three million euros germany international hopes the move will boost his chances of going to next year's world cup in russia.

it's a festive season and in spain that means children singing songs that bring billions of euros in cash and gold dodo world's biggest paying lottery is here again celebrations broke out across the country after the fat one was announced in the traditional fashion by schoolchildren in madrid singing the winning number which carries a cash prize of four million euros but instead of putting the entire prize into one winning ticket el gordo shares the wealth by having many smaller prizes in total two point four billion euros will be paid out so it's no wonder the practically the whole country has a flutter. the numbers of every winning ticket a song out each year it's the world's biggest lottery held as madrid's to the subtle prize payout is more than two billion euros many spaniards believe that being present at the drawing improves their chances of winning. going out

hello merry christmas we came here tonight all the way from anybody you know going three generations and you don't like them and. you find when all quit working only was the only one of the games you did any kind of fun when you all leave here really slowly. so that people won't notice and you know maybe and you know about that even if. all you need is twenty euros to play and spaniards are crazy for the last three in madrid alone more than three times as many tickets have been sold as the right residents everyone dreams of winning big gordo the four million euro top prize this is the day when supposedly loses can become one and two years ago for example el gordo went to a region suffering from s. unemployment and the second prize more than a million euros went to a betting syndicate in an old people's home and the spanish state always wins big as it writes in up to two hundred million euros in taxes. and remind of the top

stories we're following for you catalonia sproing depending. on has scored a victory in regional elections now he wants talks with madrid without preconditions that's vanished prime minister mariano rajoy is playing hardball he says he'll meet the leader of the biggest party and that's what pushed him off. and human rights groups say syria and russia have stepped up unlawful attacks on civilians in rebel held. the latest round of syrian peace talks in kazakhstan. don't forget you can always get us on the go just download the app from google play off on the app store and that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for breaking news you can also use the date of the app to send us photos and videos. you're watching the coming of the top of the hour you can also logon to our website dot com for around the

clock information thanks for watching. and. to call flight we take football personally. from a stop to our cost and spend the tears. money to a charity germinal someone to say 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 . but is there anything to the allegations. next on d w. d so try and found a prison tens of thousands of refugees are languishing on the greek island of misplaced. tricity or health. they wait for months for their asylum applications to be processed. the locals can barely come it's a breeding ground. violence. in sixty minutes on d. w. . every journey begins with the first step and every language of the first word i looked in the nikko he's in germany to learn german. business why not learn with him. it's

simple online on euro mile and free. stuff. d w z e learning course goes greek german made easy. for. the t twenty i don't think. tells them to and i make a few of them tell of the famous potato. action .