arch of freedom freedom of arch. a multimedia project about artists and their right to express their views freely. d.w. dot com or the freedom. this is you don't reduce line from berlin or russian opposition leader alexina volley is calling for a boycott of the presidential vote next year after the country's election commission barred him from running against president putin an outspoken food critic

of all that is vowing to appeal the decision also in moscow a bus crashes into a subway underpass killing at least four people several others have been injured and police are now questioning the driver or in the russian capital for the latest and. pope francis delivers his christmas day blessing in his message he called for israelis and palestinians to come together and resume talks aimed at a two state solution as the path to peace in the holy land. i'm well rocket's a pleasure to have you with us. kremlin critic alexina volley is urging russians to boycott next year's presidential vote to all this comes as the country's election commission has decided to bar no volley from running against vladimir putin. of all

these presidential bid was unanimously rejected by a vote of twelve to zero the commission says his conviction in a fraud case widely seen as retribution for his anti corruption campaigning makes him ineligible while the volley says millions of russians were being excluded from the country's political system it has been considers the most serious challenger to putin's bid for a fourth term in office. are seeking out to the russian capital moscow where sherman is standing by this is quite a said back for an evolving isn't it well absolutely the his previous conviction for fraud is now barring him from taking part supporters say that that conviction in the first place was politically motivated and election laws actually say that it someone with a previous conviction can't run for ten to fifteen years after their commission

their conviction but not viney has always argued that there is no mention of that in the constitution and that it actually is legal for him to run so he is probably rather disappointed even though critics have been or. observers have been saying that this is expected and we were kind of just waiting here for for the announcement to be made on his candidacy all right so he is the disappointed nonetheless there was a foregone conclusion what role can he still play because he seems to be very defiant. yeah absolutely he has his team is called has said that they will appeal the decision she's been calling for a boycott in a video that was published just after the election commission's announcement which actually shows of course that he had prepared a video of course he said that his headquarters would now be turned into boycott

centers that they would be monitoring the turnout of the election and that they would be campaigning against the election he actually said that in fact there will be no election at all if he is not taking part he has been questioning the legitimacy of the elections with what the legitimacy of the elections would be without him. all along and now he's calling for a large scale boycott which of course will undermine the legitimacy of the elections even more i think that's his strategy all right emily please stick around because while i have you want to ask about another question because staying in moscow at least four people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured after a bus plowed into a busy but destin underpass russian news agency say the bus careened off the road and then plunged down the steps of the underpass police have detained the driver the incident occurred on one of the busiest roads in western moscow let's go back to where you know emily what more have you learned about this accident.

well this accident took place just off of a huge road an eight lane road. on the outskirts of moscow it's not one hundred percent clear what happened but the investigative committee here in russia has opened a criminal investigation and they're investigating what happened as an accident and moscow police have sort of put forward two possible causes of the accident they said that perhaps the driver lost control of the vehicle or the bus was faulty terrorism is is currently not being investigated as a cause it seems all right but how did people react initially when they heard about this this incident. well moscow's mayor said. when straight to the scene and he also took to twitter to. bring his condolences to the victims of course this is this is

a shocking incident and those pictures that we've been seeing are shocking of this bus suddenly moving moving off and sort of falling down the underpass so people here are likely to be very sad about this shocking incident and reporting from moscow thank you very much. our next we want to turn our attention to christmas celebrations because christians around the world across continents and cultures are celebrating christmas and as is custom francis has given the or be blessing from the balcony of the basilica overlooking st peter's square is one of the most sacred addresses in the catholic calender. then please. it's fleet week. some ten thousand

catholics sent to risk out that outside st peter's to hear the pope's traditional blessing be at or be means to the city and the world and the pope also had a worldly matter on his mind in his address francis repeated calls for a solution to the only going conflict in the middle east which was recently stoked by u.s. president donald trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. on this festive day let us ask the lord for peace for jerusalem and for all the holy land let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. the pope's christmas eve mass was no less political francis drew

attention to the plight of refugees he told catholics to be welcoming towards people who have been driven from their homelands by conflict comparing marion jones its journey to bethlehem with the mass migration scene today the holy couple had arrived he said at a place where there was no room for them to stay. or . so many other footsteps are hidden in the steps of joseph and mary we see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day we see the tracks of millions who do not choose to go away but driven from their land leave behind their dear ones. but i've. shown as i wrote there. the pope support for

refugees has put him at odds with some politicians but already it's become a key feature of his tenure. here in germany president carter steinmeyer has urged calm despite political uncertainty in the country chancellor angela merkel has been trying to form a new coalition government since federal elections back in september while on his first christmas address steinmeyer encouraged germans to draw lessons from the past . thirty years ago the christmas season was characterized by incredible or and enthusiasm thanks to the fall of the wall. although it was an unforgettable moment for all of us it also marked the beginning of uncertainty for many. looking back don't we see how much it paid off to celebrate that unique moment without fear . because indian for help we're not in a hopeless situation so our future is not sitting story when we can overcome the

sense of powerlessness and alienation on both a large and small scale if we take action as a community if we stop calling on others to be responsible and start to realize that responsibility begins with us can and just a programming note we'll be broadcasting the german president's christmas address in full in about two hours time but next i want to tell you now about some of the other stories making news around the world. at least six people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the afghan capital kabul a blast occurred near an office belonging to the country's national intelligence agency during the morning rush hour the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility. for limply to say they believe a man who crashed his car into the headquarters of the social democratic party on christmas eve was trying to commit suicide a fifty eight year old has been taken to the hospital for minor head injuries police found several characters of petrol in his car. the united arab arab emirates

says intelligence about a possible terrorist threat was behind its decision not to let several tunisian women board a flight to the u.a.e. on friday emirates airlines prevented the tunisian women from flying without giving an explanation in response to mission authorities suspended emirates airline flights to the north african country made a marco has joined the royal family for their traditional christmas day service at the queen's that send them a state gets a break with tradition unmarried partners of or else have previously not been invited to the state well prince harry and marco are set to marry in may. president has pardoned the country's former leader alberto fujimori on medical grounds throughout the one nine hundred ninety s. for him or any held in iron grip on power in peru but was later given a long prison sentence for crimes committed during his tenure the former strongman

supporters are welcoming his release but others are condemning the move. morning. morey's hospital bed his son kenji reads out the text of the pardon for quote humanitarian reasons citing doctors' determination that he suffers from incurable and degenerative medical problems. it was but on the streets of lima outrage at the pardon among human rights and left wing activists they say he should remain in jail . where totally opposed to the pardon because fujimori is a war criminal he sterilized women against their will and had union leaders and journalists killed. in that salute indignation we will never forget what has happened and what he has done a look at the town. anger to a current president pedre. he had promised not to pardon for him ari then last week

he survived a no confidence vote in congress which is dominated by for him or his supporters. this pardon is illegal the medical report that supposedly backs up this decision is a fraud it's all part of a political deal between the foci mores and kocinski is party where you reject decision your solution. but fuk him or he also has a large following supporters celebrated his release at the hospital where he'd been taken on saturday straight from prison. he reportedly has cardiovascular problems it's democrat we are extremely happy justice has been done for the best president peru has ever had the man who gave us pace and defeated terrorism. seen here in file footage was president throughout the one nine hundred ninety s. he's credited with defeating the leftist shining path insurgency and restoring economic stability but he was authoritarian he once suspended the constitution and

shut down congress to full transparency international has ranked him among the world's most corrupt heads of state. for he maurice supporters may now be rejoicing but his release has reopened old wounds and threatens to further destabilize the country. was to have. now it's christmas day across the globe so on behalf of all of us here merry christmas to everyone celebrating santa and rudolph are still very busy at the moment as they enter the final stretch of their world tour a while before they set off on their travels on christmas eve they made a pit stop in alexandria virginia on the dual entertained families on the banks of the potomac or river at the annual christmas show before they set off on a world wide present delivery run saying that and removed all were joined by none other than grinch on a jet ski who overcame his grumpy anti holiday spirit to battle the spectators.

you're watching the news from berlin more coming for you at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our web site that's d.w. dot com for now thank you very much for spending this part of your day with us i'll see you again at tomorrow. later the new season of radio crime thrillers became. full investigative cases that would keep you on your toes. crime fighters terror.