me. and now. this is d. w. news live from berlin it's christmas day again for orthodox christians around the globe. to me take you to the

celebrations in russia egypt and the west bank on a holy day for the world's estimated three hundred million orthodox christian faithful also coming up it was done as one hundred percent growth that's what they do is reduce the constructor of churches and i only saw president again reject accusations that his campaign colluded with moscow in the twenty sixteen presidential race as he pushes back against claims in a new tell all book. plus remembering an extraordinary astronaut u.s. space pioneer john young the ninth person to walk on the moon has died at the age of eighty seven. welcome to the program i'm marrying in evanston is great to have you with us. orthodox christians around the world are observing christmas today on january

seventh the celebrations come thirteen days after christmas celebrations in other christian communities because the orthodox church retains a different calendar for its liturgical schedule christmas eve mass ceremonies have been held and drawing orthodox believers as well as people of other faiths. orthodox christians in the west bank turned out to attend christmas eve mass and bethlehem's church of the nativity the orthodox patriarch of jerusalem the office the third presided over midnight mass palestinian president mahmoud abbas also attended the service. in egypt president. made a symbolic appearance at an orthodox christmas mass amidst high security to protect egypt's minority christians from possible attacks by is the most militants cc's visit was seen as a show of solidarity. with two men who are our family you

are part of us they are all one christians and muslims yes and no one can ever divide us. in moscow russian patriarch kirill held christmas mass in the city's opulent christ the savior cathedral in a ceremony rich in song. like the other orthodox christian denominations the russian orthodox church also follows the julian calendar which is thirteen days behind the gregorian calendar used by catholics and protestants. russian orthodox christians celebrate christmas eve on january six. key talks are getting underway here in germany on possibly forming a new government a coalition to lead the country until americans conservatives and the center left social democrats are holding exploratory discussions to see how much common ground they can find major sticking points are expected to include germany's migration

policies and its approach towards europe if the talks fail germany could face fresh elections and with them and uncertain future for chancellor merkel. will be going live to our correspondent in the next hour for more on those talks well how germany proceeds and its relations with turkey could also come up before discussion in the coalition talks times between the two nato allies have deteriorated since the failed coup against turkey as president of thai air to one in two thousand and sixteen but this weekend brought a meeting between germany and turkey's tom diplomats at which they pledged to try and improve the two countries relationship germany and tacky seem to have struck a new year's resolution to improve ties off the use of escalating tensions the minute it was called testes foreign minister emphasizing i hope the progress. of

the just the differences. that have been problems even tensions and as collisions. but we all agree and have the shared desire to overcome these tensions and differences through dialogue. notable news that city. during galileo's hometown the two men discussed how to steer relations onto a better course in these historic streets they focused on their country's shared experiences and common ties the flag waving crowds a reminder that some three million people of turkish origin live in germany those citizens as well as mutual economic interests forming some of the incentives to thaw relations. from for i believe we have the responsibility to find a way to get along. that's due to our historical legacy and the wishes of our citizens. we must not forget that. we've both made it our business to do

everything we can to overcome the difficulties that they have been in german turkish relations. about as both men have conceded key differences remain particularly over the case of denis usual he's one of several german and german turkish nationals in detention in turkey for what berlin calls political reasons reports suggest gabble had made his release a precondition for restarting arms sales to turkey top player now denies this though he did say the case came up in talks. donald trump has been stepping up his attacks on claims and it is an explosive new book about his presidency trump said the book called fire in fury was a work of fiction and that is author had never stepped foot inside the oval office or trump was speaking from the presidential country retreat camp david after

meetings with republican congressional leaders. the book that questions donald trump's fitness for office seems to be doubling in its impact and largely things to the us president himself trying thought out of his series of early morning tweets defending his mental capacities as not just smart but genius and a very stable genius at that. at this hastily called press conference at camp david the republicans hope to talk party priorities instead came questions on those tweets and the bit everyone in washington is talking about i consider it a work of fiction and i think it's a disgrace that somebody is able to have something do something like that the libel laws are very weak in this country if they were strong it would be very helpful you wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head but just so you know i never interviewed with him in the white house at all he was never in the oval office we didn't have an interview the book is speaking on n.b.c.

the book's author michael wolff said he'd had far reaching access inside the u.s. center of power and white house reporters have supported his account interview questions over trump's mental stability and nothing new has been mounting over the course of his first year in office now it's emerged a professor of psychiatry at yale university briefed some members of congress on the president's mental health late last year she told the w y. o what we're saying that. in the office of the presidency there's a danger to national and international security we're trying to educate the public about the finding. instability our doubts about. the need for a capacity evaluation. as more copies of foreign fury sell trump is said to be

frustrated that the issue of his mental fitness is gaining traction. now iran's parliament has been holding a closed door session to determine why anti-government protests broke out around the country starting more than a week ago at least twenty one people have been killed during the demonstrations which began in part due to frustrations with corruption and economic turmoil iran's leaders have accused foreign enemies of being behind the wave of unrest. that is some of the other stories making news around the world hundreds of venezuelans have queued outside supermarkets after the government ordered shops to slash their prices authorities in caracas and forced price cuts in response to spiraling hyperinflation the country is in the grip of an economic crisis with food and medicine shortages affecting millions. in honduras thousands have protested

against the reelection of conservative president john orlando hernandez supporters of the leftist opposition are demanding that their candidate salvadoran us rolla be declared the winner of the november twenty sixth poll instead of hernandez the opposition is also calling for a nationwide strike the thirty two person crew of an iranian oil tanker is missing after the vessel collided with a freight ship off china's eastern coast a tanker caught fire after the crash a search and rescue mission is underway at the scene all crew members from the cargo ship have been rescued. north korea's representative to the olympic committee has said his country's athletes are likely to participate in the winter olympics that south korea is hosting next month the two countries are set to discuss the issue on tuesday after making overtures towards more dialogue earlier this week

u.s. president donald trump has called the talks a big step. after the politicians tried and failed it's taken to figure skaters to break the ice on the korean peninsula but seoul that makes up the modest north korean winter olympic team that will likely no participate in pyongyang the news went down well with south korea's major ally the u.s. president donald trump saying he hoped it was a sign of things to come i would love to see them take to be on the olympics we have a very good relationship with south korea i would love to see it go far beyond the other things absolutely just probably time will get involved but i like the idea of dealing with the olympics that should be between those two countries trump statement echoed comments made on friday by north korea's mean i like china the chinese will surely be delighted that their hopes of korean olympic cooperation are likely to be fulfilled we hope that all relevant parties on the korean peninsula issue will seize upon the opportunity of the winter olympics to meet each other halfway into the correct path of peacefully solving problems through dialogue and

make realistic efforts to alleviate tensions on the peninsula. it's good news too for the international olympic committee security concerns have been one reason behind sluggish ticket sales they'll be hoping the sudden thaw in the peninsula will lead to a deluge of interest in the games. prestigious for hill's tournaments have come to a close in austria with one name on everybody's lips coming star with untouchable over the first three stages and with the overall victory almost in the bag he had a record of his side is hoping to become just the second man after germany's and one of all to win all four events find out if he managed it. head and shoulders above the competition reigning champion and olympic gold medalist camel stock was king of the four hills again after winning the first three stages

the pole was equally impressive in bischof softened he set the longest distance in the first round and held his nerve on his final jump to ensure victory again. that gave him the grand slam and kept one of the most dominant for hill's performances in years. it was a really good competition for me the chance wasn't perfect today but i did my best and can i say thank you for one team team colleagues team coaches because they they've been working so hard and i'm. after germany's best type is a coward fighter crashed out of the tournament in the third stage is countryman and that is bellinger stepped up with a strong performance to claim second place for the tournament. he was followed in third by norway's and does fine and the. former astronaut john young has died at the age of eighty seven u.s. space agency nasa hailed him as

a pioneer young's trailblazing began the one nine hundred sixty s. and he was part of the first manned gemini mission by the time he commanded the first space shuttle flight in one thousand nine hundred one it was his six travel into orbit in the meantime he also joined an exclusive club. oh my god. was a pro nine hundred seventy two john young and his fellow astronaut charles duke collecting rock samples from the surface of the moon. it was an achievement that they shared with only ten others adding them to the exclusive fraternity of moon walkers forty nine years later young would break new ground again. that we have. commanding the maiden voyage of nasa's new space shuttle program young took on a particularly risky assignment it was the first time that nasa launched people on

a rocket ship that had not first been tested in space. when we launched we'd really didn't know a lot of things and we learned a lot of things i think chris craft said bessie said when we got back he said we just got in fully smarter over his forty two year career at nasa young became the only astronaut to go into space as part of the gemini apollo and space shuttle programs before retiring in two thousand and four he spent his last seventeen years in management focusing on safety issues john young passed away aged eighty seven at his home in houston texas leaves an air up to date now here and w. thanks for watching. freedom of expression. of belling that always has to be defended and new. all over the world. of freedom

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