demented society. an exclusive peek behind one of the last iron curtain is. a north korean diary starting december twenty eighth on d w. this is d.w. news live from berlin and a tropical storm brings death and devastation to the southern philippines storm tembin unleashes flash floods and washes away homes more than one hundred people are dead and dozens more are wounded will bring you the latest on the rescue

operations also on the program. the kremlin has blasted washington's plans to supply arms to ukraine and u.s. officials say anti-tank missiles will provide with quote and a handsome defensive capabilities russia says the move is fueling a war we'll get the latest from our moscow bureau. and christian palestinians prepare to celebrate christmas but the mood is far from festive after president trump's decision to declare jerusalem the capital of israel. thanks for joining us we start in the philippines where more than one hundred people are dead after a tropical storm brought devastation to the south of the country rescue operations are underway to find dozens more who are still missing tembin is the second deadly

storm to hit the country this week it's over the southern island of mindanao leaving destruction in its wake. this man and child and lucky to be alive. the effects of mudslides and flooding have been devastating. entire villages under meters of water. others swept away. volunteers have been digging through mud to try to recover bodies. houses will being flooded but people could no longer get out of their holes so they got trapped by the strong waters they were swept away. when the big. dozens of people are still missing. rescue efforts have been hampered by power cuts

and the loss of communication lines. storm tembin struck the southern island of mindanao on friday it's an area not often hit by tropical storms. winds of up to eighty kilometers per hour along with heavy rain batter the area. for locals and they're taking stock of the damage officials say more than seventy thousand people have been affected. there used to be one hundred three houses here but when the flash flood happened everything was washed out all their homes and livelihoods gone we have ninety family said are affected. by. this nasa satellite map shows the extent of the powerful storm which is now headed towards the philippine island of palawan and on towards vietnam. for those affected by ten

then a long path lies ahead to recovering from its devastation. nato says the russian submarines have dramatically stepped up their activity in the mediterranean and the north atlantic the alliance fears that moscow could be using its navy to damage or tap into vital undersea data cables that run between europe and north america in an interview with german news with a german newspaper nato general secretary general secretary stoltenberg says that russia has invested massively in its marine capability especially in submarines furthermore he pointed out that quote russia submarine activity is now at its highest level since the cold war. ukraine's president petro poroshenko has thanks the u.s. for its decision to provide his nation with lethal weapons commenting off the

record u.s. officials say washington plan to provide the ukrainian government with two hundred ten anti-tank missiles and thirty five missile launchers the state department said it was providing kiev with enhanced defensive capabilities to deter to deter further aggression ukraine has been battling russian backed separatists in eastern ukraine since twenty fourteen more than ten thousand people have been killed in the complex i'm now joined by emily sure wendy correspondent in moscow emily good to see you first off simply what's the reaction been so far in moscow in moscow and in russia. well the reaction to this announcement has been rather severe here in russia as you might expect russia's deputy foreign minister said again said that the us has gone too far that they have crossed a line and he also said that they'll be fueling the war with this step rather than acting as an intermediary he even questioned whether in fact the u.s.

could at all be acting in the interests of peace and put it all act as an intermediate intermediary for those for the goal of peace in the future and head of the decision there were media reports that this might happen and the kremlin already reacted. the kremlin spokesman said that this step would actually spark more bloodshed in ukraine and that the u.s. would be encouraging the ukrainian side to kind of be more violent which as he sees it is just a dead end in this conflict so you know russia has been has repeatedly blamed ukraine for not sticking to the minsk agreements not trying to foster peace and now they kind of have an excuse to to blame to blame the u.s. as well for encouraging the ukrainian side. and emily this conflict has been going on twenty fourteen it's sort of been a frozen conflict or has it been any given any side other feels fears that this

might lead to an escalation a new escalation of the conflict. well absolutely i mean it's certainly not a good sign as well but the tensions between the u.s. and russia are escalating since both play a key part in trying to bring forward that peace process there and. the relations between the two sides have kind of been tense this week ever since trump announced his national security strategy for the upcoming time he said that that he sees russia as a rival along with china and and in fact that that sparked a kind of reaction here in russia as well up until now russia has always been sort of careful about what they said with the u.s. there was a feeling here that. you know putin blamed all the sort of anti russian steps as

they saw it more on the government than on trump for example with the sanctions they said that this was to do with congress deciding that there should be sanctions on new sanctions on russia and not with trump but now there seems to be a hardening of the lines between the two countries and that of course can't be positive for the ukrainian crisis really a sure win for us in moscow thank you very much now on to some other stories making news around the world the united nations has been evacuating african refugees from libya directly to italy for a second day the u.n. a.c.r. called the move a quote ground breaking development over one hundred sixty migrants among them women and children have been waiting for months in libyan detention facilities but hundreds of thousands of migrants are still stuck in the country where they often face abuse and torture. a fire at the london zoo has left one

aardvark dead and several more cats missing the blaze broke out on saturday morning at the zoo's animal adventure section before spreading to a shop and a cafe more than seventy firefighters tackled the blaze but that aardvark called me was one of the zoo's best loved animals catalonia separatist leader carlos preached says he is still the legitimate president of the spanish region in an interview he also asked for madrid to allow him to return home in time for the opening session of the council on parliament separatist parties won a majority of the vote in a regional vote held on thursday they call it the biggest club game in football classical and spanish giants barcelona have taken a big step towards winning the domestic league title by beating on a all madrid three no away madrid wastefulness in the first half proved costly luis

suarez grabbed the opener against a run of play lionel messi added a penalty after a madrid red card they netted a third late on crowd cuts and now have a fourteen point lead over their fourth place rivals kick off had been moved to lunchtime local time in order to attract more viewers. the winter olympics in south korea are a little over a month away and alpine skiers are busy busy honing their skills for the flagship event the latest world cup took place at the italian ski resort of madonna do you compete go but this time it was different it was a different kind of men's slalom a night race under floodlights. calculus night race in madonna is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the ski season and it didn't disappoint switzerland's luka and he was well placed in third after the first run of the men's slalom his second run was even better. excuse

any power down the course with perfect technique to grab the lead. i wasn't happy i. got austrian great moss so here shall be the man to beat at the winter olympics however a mistake halfway down the second run meant this was by no means a flawless race for the six time world cup winner of a compost hershey managed to bounce back though he triumphed by just point zero four seconds to win his forty nine world cup race and reclaim the lead in the standings. tis the season to be jolly and must of the world but christians in the palestinian territories are feeling a less than festive as they prepare to celebrate christmas but they feel a responsibility to keep its traditions alive and bethlehem and surrounding areas one of these traditions is the game of big-o.

state of israel correspondent kraemer was there and joined in for a round. christmas time is bingo invade at the auditorium of the orthodox christian community they're keeping track of every number on people here play bingo all year round but during the festive season the athens here is extra special. palestinian christians see themselves as a custodian of christmas and it's often colorful traditions and bingo is one of them that tumble as they call it in beit jalla friends and family gather to play every sunday after going to change. it gives us a break from everything going on with all the checkpoints the situation is difficult and people can't go anywhere they want that's why we opened the community hall so we can play bingo over the holidays and have a good time. being good brings everyone together.

on a very vigilant look we really have a good time. would be christmas here without being go maybe christmas day wilfredo way 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 when it's been more somber to them and say anything at all when in a crisis situation this is about the future of to a city that's holy to us too it's about our homeland that we are losing. a message for surround speech in bethlehem cutting off the roads to jerusalem images of trauma familiar sight palestinians from the west bank new to 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 stiff but locals and this is just try to make the best out of the situation. to sit looks like this christmas will be bad after what happened in the west bank following trump's decision so everyone here is against it tourism is down to what. we'd like to come to bethlehem today to show the baby the atmosphere the city i love the circumstances we are in is dishonest trust because of the occupation. back in bed it's just third round of the bingo game everyone's enjoying the evening and trying to forget the uncertainty casting a shadow over this christmas. and if you're on the lookout for an alternative festive soundtrack for this time of year in or we didn't use this in

place tunes that might send a quite literal chill down your spine compose a percussionist heard a song set invented ice music around eighteen years ago he's been touring with his frosty songs ever since we'll leave you with some of his music join us again at the top of the hour. here good. day to. chase. waste. pollution. isn't it time for good. africa people and projects that are changing are meant for the better to us.