this is news live from berlin the united nations gets even tougher on north korea imposing sanctions on the country the u.n. security council unanimously agrees to measures proposed by the u.s. to limit oil supplies needed for pyongyang's nuclear program also on the show. one

million the number of people now suffering from color in yemen the outbreak in the war torn country has already killed more than two thousand people. dead last in spain a separatist parties in catalonia look to form a government in the region after earning a majority of the votes. says he's ready to talk with madrid but spanish prime minister. won't play ball we'll find out why brussels is reluctant to intervene. and the palestinian christian minority gears up to celebrate christmas and bethlehem but the mood is far from festive. and welcome to the program the united nations has slapped tough new sanctions on north korea and. spawn's to his missile tests the measures were strict oil supplies

needed for pyongyang's a nuclear and missile program the sanctions were proposed by the united states and backed you met a mostly by the council including veto holders russia and north korea's main ally china nikki haley the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. said refusal to rein in its nuclear program left the international community with no other choice their arrogance and hostility to anything productive has set their country on a destructive path nine times before today we have asked the north korean regime to choose the path of peace and if they do we would welcome them back into the community of nations but pyongyang has chosen the path of isolation strong words there from u.s. representative nikki haley to discuss this further i'm now joined from the south korean capital seoul by journalist steven burrill like stephen it's good to see you

these are further sanctions but if tightening the screw on north korea are really making any changes or difference. well north korea has already absorbed other rounds of sanctions and they've proven to be pretty resilient when it comes to enduring economic hardship and so finding alternative forms of income other ways to fund their nuclear missile programs one thing that's interesting about these sanctions is that they specifically target north korea's imports of petroleum products which are very important for these weapons programs north korea has none of its own oil and needs to import a lot of its energy also a lot of the better off people in north korean cities rely on petroleum imports to run the generators that they use for their own private security supply so the screws are tightening as you said and we perhaps can expect a major change right away but this is an important step towards further cutting north korea off from its source of income an important step that have been also

backed by russia and china will the camera team be concerned about this certainly on the short term to be concerned they'll be wondering how there will be able to continue to supply their energy needs and all the rest but like i said they've gone through this kind of thing before and there are unlikely to be pushed to some kind of major policy change over this they are have shown that they're very determined to continue to pursue nuclear weapons they see that as a really important part of their identity as a country and how they sell themselves to their own population so we can expect them to choose straight for many of their major policy goals just yet ok and russia's u.n. envoy has stressed that the resolution also includes measures where all five have to reduce military maneuvers on the peninsula let's have a listen to what he had to say. which you would notice but your cue in the result is again we stress that in order to normalize the situation on the korean peninsula

what is necessary a comprehensive approach is an approach which stipulates both this is a shouldn't but north korea nuclear missile tests and an abandonment of scaling up military infrastructure reduction in the scale of maneuvers being conducted as the odds are that you for meddling that clearly seems to be aimed at u.s. and south korea are they likely to comply with that. given the state of affairs is how north korea continues to demonstrate increase of this occasion and in its nuclear missile programs the u.s. and south korea are unlikely to draw back their military exercises just because the state of tensions remain that i level and it's hard for them to say to their own people that now is the time to take a more passive approach you know the times have more face that north korea will keep things in a peaceful state so we hear these kind of terms a lot but i think south korea and the u.s. have shown that they're on the same page when it comes to having

a firm hostile against the north and i think that's unlikely to change others although this steven burrill week in seoul thank you thank you now to some of the other stories making news around the world a former u.s. soldier has been arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in san francisco over christmas the man allegedly told an undercover agent he planned to target the city's busy pier thirty nine area in the name of the so-called islamic state authorities say a search of his home turned up firearms and a letter claiming responsibility. officials in the philippines say more than one hundred people have been killed by a tropical storm which swept through the south of the country dozens more are missing strong tending with winds of up to eighty kilometers per hour has now passed across the southern island of mindanao. and yemen the number of color our cases has reached one million that's according to the world health organization

thousands of people have already died from the disease and the international red cross says most of the population lacks food fuel clean water and access to medical care the u.n. says the country is suffering the world worst humanitarian crisis. noren is thirteen years old shrapnel damaged her spine so severely that she's confined to a wheelchair. before i used to walk to school she says now i can't even hold a pencil so that the war must come to an end. this says it on the edges of yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world civil war drought and hunger have made it situation even more dire the country is now on the verge of collapse epidemics of cholera and diptheria have broken out those who receive no medical care have no chance of survival. the air attacks continue as does a widespread blockade some aid has finally arrived but it's rare and doesn't reach

many locations villages in rebel held areas have been isolated for months that means people are forced to eat leaves because no food is available aid organizations have sounded the alarm. over a living million people who are what we declared an acute need that's one million more than last year and the some four hundred thousand children under the age of five. in a very severe acute moment knowledge situation the war has raged for more than a thousand days leaving ten thousand dead most of them civilians. let's go to spain now a regional vote the country had hoped would stifle separatist sentiment has deepened the country's constitutional crisis that's because catalan separatists held on to their majority the pro independence leader car less put them on could now become catalonia regional president yet again but he's still in exile in brussels even though separatist parties one more than half the seats in the cattle

and parliament it was the independent citizens party that picked up the largest individual share of the vote meanwhile spain's prime minister mariano rajoy is still refusing to consider independence for the region he declined an offer from pushed him on to meet on neutral ground. my colleague. joins us now in studio for more on this story pablo your resident of spain even following the story it looks like a complete deadlocks most of us and it is and it's impossible to ignore particular when you're in spain or across europe for that matter now obviously what the next move is the million dollar question might be on how to hold the spanish prime minister has said that he will speak to the next president whoever he may be but also he said under the right conditions now what he was hinting at was the fact that catalyst was among the former premier the former president who is currently in exile in belgium looks like the possible next president of the region of catalonia but of course the minute he comes back to spain he will most likely be

arrested because of these charges against him for sedition and rebellion related back to the first of october. referendum which was deemed illegal by spain but of course many of the holy has also said that he's very much willing to speak to the head of the citizens party that is in the mother us who they are the party with the most number of votes in the region of catalonia but to so most were essentially in a situation of deadlock and it's going to be very difficult for a government to be formed in the pro independent side and also in those parties who are very much against the idea of independence and in favor of that union with spain basically maintaining the situation that we're in in the moment in spain ok and the european union is definitely watching all of this unfold very very closely many people in spain perhaps are wanting the block's intervene but that hasn't happened why is that no it's very much the e.u. has essentially said that this is an internal matter that spain needs to resolve but they also have very much backed. the government in the dritte particularly

germany and france and i think it's quite important that we hear what this m.e.p. from germany has to say on the issue. i think mr put it is very emotional not exactly realistic and easily carried by the emotions of the moment and the masses of mr a whole is sometimes a bit stubborn and does not have the flexibility or the openness to approach others . think it's incredibly telling ascension what the reaction has been particularly from france and germany on the one hand he's very much backing up money on overhaul the madrid government but on the other hand he's saying that perhaps the tactics or the way that money on other has approached the issue in catalonia hasn't exactly been the best way to approach this situation and have to deal with it so in the next weeks body on a whole is going to be there's going to a lot of spotlight on him to see on how he deals with the situation on the crisis

in catalonia which is not going away anytime soon yeah especially with a vote that was meant to bring more clarity and that hasn't happened. yet thank you for joining us. christians in the palestinian territories are preparing to celebrate christmas but this year is the spirit is less than festive but the christian minority feels a responsibility to keep the christmas spirit and its colorful traditions alive and bethlehem one of those traditions is the game of bingo i am are joined in for around. christmas time is being go in at the auditorium of the orthodox christian community there keeping track of every number of people here play bingo all year round but during the festive season the extra special. palestinian christians see themselves as a custodian of christmas and it's often colorful traditions and bingo is one of them that they call the. friends and family to play every sunday after going

to. from everything going on with all the checkpoints the situation is difficult and people can't go anywhere they want that's when we open the community so we can play bingo over the holidays and have a good time. being groupings everyone together. we really have a good time. would be christmas here without being go maybe christmas day wilfredo it we we have a nice holiday atmosphere that's why we meet here who has business. instead of sweets the winners get practical hosts want items like rice detergent or toilet paper it's been like this since intifada times this spirit of helping families is strong but this year the next in more sober living them and say you know if we're

in a crisis situation this is about the future of to a city that's holy to us tonight it's about our homeland that we are losing. a message. in bethlehem cutting off the roads to jerusalem images of trump familiar sight palestinians from the west bank need a special permission from israel to visit jerusalem. bethlehem the birthplace of jesus decked out for the christmas holiday here too the mood is far from festive but locals and this is just try to make the best out of the situation. to sit looks like this christmas will be back after what happened in the west bank following trump's decision so everyone here is against terrorism is down to what they're. like to come to bethlehem today to show the baby the atmosphere the city i love the circumstances we are in is dishonest dress because of the occupation.

it's just third round of the bingo game everyone's enjoying the long evening and trying to forget the uncertainty casting a shadow over this christmas. you're watching the w. news live from berlin more coming up at the top of the hour and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our web site e.w. dot com thanks for watching. this man his germany is a strong country. that we have achieved so much we can do this and if something him to resign we must overcome it and. going.