experience outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. be our gassed at frankfurt airport city managed by for. this is d.w. news live from berlin from world player of the year to president soccer star george weah is elected as liberia's next leader his supporters celebrating into the night in the capital monrovia but we now faces huge expectations guiding his country

through recovery from the years of civil war and a recent poll outbreak also coming up. triple the lock on its way out in india in a win for women parliament interest closer to stamping out the contentious islamic process practice of being divorced three times to end marriage. and shred it and forget it for those hoping to be luckier in the new year it's out with the old in new york city visitors and residents celebrating good riddance day this farewell to last year's bad memories in the lead up to new year's celebrations in times square . and and welcome to the program liberia is poised to usher in its first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades international soccer star turned politician george we won a landslide victory in the west african countries presidential runoff

a little while ago his opponent joseph book i conceded defeat liberia a country founded by freed american slaves is africa's oldest modern republic it will be the first democratic transfer of power since one thousand nine hundred forty four. i to the cheers of jubilant supporters liberia's new president weeps tears of joy george weah has waited a long time for this moment after past election defeats this time he's won a landslide victory. supporters on the streets celebrate the triumph of the rags to riches candidate. because certainly. the korean is not a kid. but the minute it took a tour. was such a just a reality present. in europe. has long been

a familiar face to liberians born in a slum he shot to soccer stardom in the one nine hundred ninety s. playing for europe's top clubs since retiring he's been active in liberian politics for over a decade. in this year's elections he stood as a candidate of change running against outgoing vice president joseph barak i. we as promises to fight corruption and boost the economy went down well with voters well enough to dispel concerns about his running mate jewel howard taylor the ex-wife of former president and convicted war criminal charles taylor. despite rumors that taylor was pulling the strings there was only one name on everyone's lips when the results were announced it. was the we will take the reins from incumbent president ellen johnson sirleaf in

january it will be the first democratic transition of power in the country in over seventy years. standing by for us in the capital monrovia evelyn. evelyn it's good to see you it's a landslide victory for where what gave in the at. well. there are excitement across the country. supports us so much as we can stop the celebrations of the summer which has been cut to the incense and the food you know was actually came out and this one image well how it still of the mind of one of us is just a little. it's also a long time for him and some of them have never been so he's going to support us and close to country. ok while he's relatively new to politics he has been involved in two thousand and two and he's chosen ex-wife of imprisoned warlord charles

taylor as his running mate is there any concern about jewel howard taylor's role in the new government. indeed you know it's a big concern and she's also going to be in court that this passes because true or how it's in the why did i discuss it as one of the astute. politician to liberia she has been in politics for it's a long time and she has a seat as a senator for two terms of nine years each so she has a wealth of experience when it comes to politics and public leaders government especially the president came back to this formal question lady doing different from one person to another. ok so she'll be able to help him in some way but what's at the top of his to do list.

that he should have out publicly and has said that one of the things on his platform and especially dealing on addressing each of you or imply mentioned because an awesome song asked the question for they don't people coming from muslim community so that you sort of are you. and they will wear your pants down high on judge and check up though he still has and i said how people who have power even with these different issues but every time you make it you know he says it's about these issues. property and he's like my mate. evelyn in monrovia thank you. we apologize for the quality of that connection now to some of the other stories making news around the world in new york at least twelve people have died after a fire tore through an apartment building four others are in critical condition the city's fire department chief says a three year old boy playing with a stove cause the blaze in the bronx china's foreign ministry has denied reports

that it's selling oil to north korea south korea is holding a hong kong flagship for allegedly violating u.n. sanctions a south korean newspaper says u.s. spy satellites have detected chinese ships transferring oil to north korean vessels about thirty times since october. egypt's coptic christians are in mourning after another attack by suspected islamic extremists authorities say nine people and a policeman were killed when a gunman opened fire outside a church in the suburb of cairo the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack if stream is have repeatedly targeted egypt's christian minority in recent years. bullet holes on the cup to church of in south in cairo after another attack on egypt's christian minority. a church service was taking place inside the church when a gunman started shooting at people outside the building there are conflicting

reports about whether a second gunman was involved and got away. bishop and drills whose leading prey is inside before the attack he says hundreds to have been killed if that door had been opened. in the autumn here there were crowds god save those the door was closed i don't know but that's the way but not all of the churchgoers were lucky because there was an elderly lady who was coming out of the church to see what happened and she too fell here and died her blood was here. egypt's state media says police managed to capture the gunman but his identity and motivation is yet to be confirmed. coptic christians make up about ten percent of the population in egypt where the majority is muslim they've often complained of discrimination and accuse the authorities of failing to protect

them. over the past years they've repeatedly come under attack by radical islamist just last week hundreds of muslim demonstrators stormed a church i'm going to three people friday is a turkey came ahead of christmas for the copes who celebrated on generate a seventh. to india now where the lower house of parliament has passed a bill proposing jail time for muslim men who are trying to divorce their wives through a practice known as instant divorce the bill outlaws the practice of ending a marriage by say or writing the word arabic for divorce three times in succession india supreme court ruled in august that instant divorce is unconstitutional more than twenty muslim countries have already banned the practice. ashish malhotra is in delhi for us ashish can you first tell us more about the idea of instant of war and how it works in india well instant divorce

or instant triple the law is a practice whereby a man can divorce his wife just by uttering the word lock which means divorce three times in one moment this is different from another form of the lock which is spread out over a longer period of time usually about ninety days which allows for some reconciliation between the couple instant triple to lock obviously leaves no room for reconciliation and it's a practice that already been outlawed in many muslim majority countries but in india it's continued to happen in in the muslim community and the reason that is because it was it's really because of concerns about potentially disrupting the secular makeup of india about infringing upon religious rights because the situation in india when it comes to personal law when it comes to matters of divorce and marriage is that different religious groups are allowed to have their

own personal laws to govern that and so things like this can often be seen as interference from the central government in personal religious law ok but it does appear that these type of laws don't necessarily match up with the constitution the indian justice minister says that this law is now about ensuring a quality for muslim women because triple talaq fundamentally in infringes on their rights is this step generally being seen as a positive step forward. well the movement that we've seen on this issue in the cut past couple of months really started years ago i mean the it's a result of stuff that started years ago by many muslim women who are been active activists who have been pushing for this many of them victims of this practice themselves and so what we saw in august with the supreme court ruling that this was unconstitutional was really a huge victory for them but many people have actually been a bit critical of this bill which they feel goes a little bit further than that and that includes some of those activists who have

been pushing for the banning of triple the lock for a long time but what their issue with this law is that it it criminalizes it and it's a big confusing to some people in the sense that since the supreme court already voided the process meaning that if a man and uses this this procedure it basically has no legal weight anymore people are wondering why this was necessary and given that this is the it pro a government that has has pushed the pro hindu. policies or has been accused of doing such at the expense of minorities like muslims that people are a little wary of their of the government's motives here and they're worried particularly that since policeman can now arrest a muslim man on this charge whether he has a warrant or not simply because someone may say that this guy said that that's worrying people because they feel that it's going to demonize muslims further and potentially be used as

a tool to harass muslim men as she's my whole track in delhi thank you. tennis superstar serino williams is gearing up for her first match in nearly a year after winning the australian open in early two thousand and seventeen the thirty six year old american took some time off for the birth of her child she's due to play the french open champion banco on saturday an exit bishan match at the move meant and. the organizers of the australian open believe williams will take to the court to defend her title in melbourne in january. you may have heard the expression good riddance to bad rubbish while in new york city visitors and new yorkers are headed to times square to literally shred and forget some of the bad memories of this year to kick off a new year with a new slate. these people in new york are ready for a fresh start it is good riddance day and passers by on times square are invited to

shred their bad memories of twenty seventeen some serious. it rested and it has controlled my life and i want to get rid of it some not so. today is a small farewell to twenty seven thousand here on times square it is said to host hundreds of thousands of revelers in two days for new year's celebrations the security alert is high but authorities aren't warning of any specific threats. terrorists regard new york as the exact kind of place they want to disrupt and new yorkers respond consistently with strength and resiliency we saw after the two attacks in the fall concrete blocks and sand trucks have been put up to stop vehicles from speeding into crowds visitors to times square it will have to pass through a number of checkpoints along the way and snipers on top of buildings will be

assigned to eliminate any threats the n.y.p.d. and our partners are well prepared is going to be one of the most well policed best protected events at one of the safest venues in the entire world the aim is to leave visitors with no worries as the ball prepares to drop. and usher in a fresh start to twenty eighteen. that's your news wrap get all the latest from the world of business the day all winter that's next thanks for watching. where i come from we have to fight for a free press and was born and raised in a military dictatorship with just one t.v. channel and a few news papers with us.