the good. news. this is do we use live from berlin clashes marna downs a dialogue between spain and catalonia protesters in barcelona a scuffle with police that stands spain's cabinet meets a new city in an effort to reduce tensions over the region's independence movement also coming up u.s. allies react with shock as defense secretary jim matters quids matters says america's abrupt pullout from syria sends the wrong message to the country's friends and emboldened since both just and germany marks the end of an era as it

closes its last underground coal mine and meet the miners who powered german industry from deep below the earth and the man. on layla iraq it's a pleasure to be with you all spanish police have arrested at least eleven protesters during clashes in barcelona spanish media are reporting dozens of people have been injured in the violence the clashes broke out at a demonstration organized by radical separatist groups who were protesting against a meeting of the in spanish cabinet which was being held in the regional capital and is traders have been trying to block growth since early this morning but the cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister pedro sanches went ahead anyway ministers agreed on new infrastructure spending for the region. well joining us from

the daily news desk is my colleague publicly at least who has reported extensively from spain and knows it very intimately so it's great to have you here with me in person set the scene for us one unfold it today in the streets of barcelona what we saw it there already in the images that there were protests across the region in particularly in barcelona because of this cabinet meeting that was taking place in barcelona it's believed that there were rand one thousand protesters gathered but of course we saw over twenty roads main roads across the region being blocked let's not forget this is friday just before christmas and a lot of people are getting taking their holiday so of course a lot of disruption across the region of the clashes are of the awful scenes to see there you mentioned that there are at least eleven protesters have been arrested in fact in just the past few minutes it's gone up to twelve and there are over fifty people injured from these clashes and among them many police officers as well now the thing is there's also potentially another mass protests taking place at this

evening and in particular in barcelona parts of the temperatures still very very high on the streets in barcelona to why are people so upset by this particular cabinet now we need to go back one year today's the twenty first of december the twenty first of december twenty seventh team was when regional elections took place in qatar when you have these were called by the previous prime minister mariano rajoy following the declaration of independence in catalonia and and would obviously the powers have been taken away from the regional parliament and there was direct rule in place so the twenty first of december is already a day which causes a lot of anger among some people in particular those in favor of the independence movement think of the new decision that would have to sanches to current prime minister and his cabinet to hold a meeting was to what he says bring the madrid government closer to the people now this was seen as a provocation by cattle on pro independence supporters and despite the fact that there is these symbolic gesture. as we'll say may for example they're going to

rename the airport in barcelona and also more money for infrastructure. it doesn't seem to have gone down very well all right so very symbolic and kind of dates the timing it's kind of odd actually very briefly if you can what has the reaction been from the opposition i think the most interesting is actually from the she's a spokesperson for the catalan regional government she says coming all the way to barcelona to announced a change in the name of the airport maybe it wasn't worth it so that's what was in from cut the money and then of course the opposition from the spanish parties have said public us although from the p.p. has said it was an act of betrayal betty betty has told us humiliating for the spanish people that they have gone to catalonia to speak with the regional president there and also there actually the fact that they are dealing with the regional power and so the fallout is well we saw what the fallout will be but for now thank you so much for that update publicly elliot's u.s.

allies including germany have appealed for clarity over washington's foreign policy well this comes after defense secretary jim maddest resigned in protest at president dollar trumps decision to withdraw american forces from syria that mouf was undertaken with no consultation with the pentagon or u.s. allies on now the search is on for a successor to mattis widely regarded as the last check on the president's unilateral foreign policy decisions. here with secretary of defense james much as has been widely viewed as a stabilizing force and u.s. president donald trump's cabinet. many had hoped that the four star marine general would help the president mike good policy decisions on matters of international and domestic security but now that's come to an end due to fundamental differences of opinion the defense secretary says he'll be leaving the administration by the end of february in his resignation letter the defense secretary appeared to criticize trump's america first foreign policy not to stress the importance of the u.s.

maintaining strong partnerships such as nato and the international coalition fighting the so-called islamic state in syria james mattis knows the situation in syria and afghanistan well he thinks it's wrong to remove u.s. troops from these places or to cut their numbers by half both republicans and democrats expressed their worries after mattis resignation secretary mattis was one of the few symbols a few items of strength and stability in this administration republican senator marco rubio commented on matters decision on twitter just read general mattis resignation letter he wrote it makes it abundantly clear that we're headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will endanger our nation damage our alliances and empower our adversaries. now trump needs a new defense secretary who followed the president's line. on this for you know up

to speed with some of the other stories making news around the world. iraqi authorities say they've discovered another eye us mass grave containing dozens of victims the site is located west of kirkuk and soldiers say the so-called islamic state disposed of civilians they killed there is one of roughly two hundred dyess mass graves discovered since the group was forced out of the. riders as who don't set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party in the capital hard to live on thursday and soaring consumer prices have triggered the biggest protests in the country in five years at least eight people have died in the violence the government is rumored to have shut down the internet. here in germany the nation's last underground coal mine is closing today for two hundred years coal was a driving force behind the economy dominating industry infrastructure and people's day to day lives but the reign of king cole is coming to an end hundreds of miners

gathered at an underground ceremony marking the closure and the who value today german president think about a steinmeier who received the last lump of coal mines at the prosper hi neal shaft which has been in operation since the nineteenth century but while the shutdown is happening because the world is moving to renewable sources like solar power and wind power still miners at the last mine in the western german industrial region were sent to see it go. these are some of germany's last coal miners. many of them have given decades of their lives to the job in four shifts a day twelve hundred meters deep shifting thousands of tonnes of bituminous coal sitting in a no blue better known as city can clearly remember the first time he went down in a pit cage thirty years ago. the first time i did it i was still an

apprentice so the training supervisor was there you learn where the escape routes were in case something happened but it was still overwhelming. even. the prosper. was once highly productive now it's the site of a massive sell off everything is being dismantled and sent back over ground most of the machines here will be sold on to turkey or china it is not feeling a bit melancholic because we're the last of our kind this job on exist anymore. always will be. used to mining coal for years now but it's difficult. to finish mining one coal field i know that in two weeks we move on to mining the next one. but those days are over a probe it's winding down everywhere it's not herds. it's thanks to the

coal mines that the rural valley region became the most densely populated area in germany the peterhead frames the coking plants and the steel works have left their mark to kiosks and miners housing next to the pits are testament to that there's hardly a city or town here in the region that doesn't boast a foreman street or pittman street works manager you're going croaker has already had to close down two mines to prosper honey all mine will be his third and last. three big events take place in. life this year as i close my last mine germany stops producing black coal and at the end of the year i'll retire i don't think anyone can experience more emotions in one go than that. the curtain has fallen on coal mining and fifteen thousand locals have turned out to give it a fitting send off there's plenty of melancholy in the air as traditional clubs miners choir's pittman mine rescue teams and foremen march by.

the whole traditions of mining itself the royal region its family knavery time of pick closes down it's like losing someone in the family. once more they sing the song of german miners. these days it's the soundtrack of the region. the last miners at the prosper hi neal coal plant will continue to wind down operations until the end of next year after that most of them will retire. a bittersweet goodbye or at last that's taken our city of news correspondent kate brady who's in the bar trumpet good to see you kate was the mood at the farewell ceremony. well it was a very moving ceremony here at the coal mine here in both rock and western germany

today and hundreds of minus gathered at the shaft here behind me and there is also many a tape being shed as well as that last piece of coal was retrieved and presented to . frank cultish steinmeyer now it's him all through some very moving words from the chairman of the german coal co-operation. said as that piece of coal was handed over to the president so many people this is just a start and for you it should be big paul it's all. german history but for us it was all well and that really was evident today at the ceremony that the miners here and the locals to the region it really was the end of an era and what does the end of the black coal black hole means for the region. well there have been preparations they've been underway for the best part of a decade now since i'm going to macos government announced back in two thousand and

seven that underground coal mining would be phased out and local authorities here have been keen to avoid the rather disastrous consequences of previous mine closures which of course of resulted in a lot of unemployment as well to make sure that form a mine is all well equipped with skills so that they can go on and find future employment and also in recent years the city of both show up here specifically has been trying to attract small to middle sized companies as well to make sure that the city continues to prosper. in kook lucian kid into thousands of the german government committed to ending your subsidies for coal mines by the end of twenty what will that climate protection play in deciding to stop funding for coal. well what's interesting is that the fight against climate change played a quite small role actually in the decision to phase out underground coal mining

here in germany still continues to source black coal from other sources but from abroad where it's cheaper but the idea of phasing out underground coal mining here in germany was to avoid those subsidies which the german government has been paying now to prop up the german coal mining industry which supports all of those thousands of jobs but of course germany is in the spring jus to announce a new climate goes to make a measures to make sure that it becomes carbon neutral by twenty fifty. to bridge the reporting from bartra thank you so very much for your reporting. all right you're watching the w. news yourself a lot more in store for you coming right out garrett was take a closer look at the history of coal mining in germany and what it means for the country's energy mix as coming up in the basement.

and i'll see you again at the top of the hour. munni. raring to me. everyone who loves books has to go around saying. w literature list i'm pretty sure i'm in my street. by street. the most colorful.