it's regrettable that. this is the don't you news ally of the from berlin a standoff in france travelers face more destruction through the weekend as trade unions founts a carry on that strikes over planned pension reforms but the government insists it will not back down we'll get the latest from paris also coming up and bush fires are burning out of control in australia several have combined to form a mega fire near sydney shrouding the country's largest city in a cloud of toxic smoke and fire fighters say it is too big to put out. tough

searching for motives u.s. authorities launch an investigation after a deadly shooting by a saudi air force lieutenant at a u.s. naval base in florida the saudi national distributing as a pilot. a manuscript mckinnon thank you very much for joining us fronts is bracing for a weekend of disruption with yellow vest protesters joining striking public sector workers it is the largest strike in decades and it has crippled transportation across the country but in his 1st comments since the strike began france's prime minister insisted the government government will not scrap its pension reform plans and that the changes he's proposing will be fair. high speed trains standing still. massive traffic jams outside paris transportation in chaos as strikes run

into the weekend polls showed a strong majority of french citizens supported the strike as it began over 800000 people took part in nationwide protests on thursday there is widespread popular discontent with the government and pension reforms are always a difficult sell in this country the present scheme allows some workers to retire much earlier than in other european countries the popular feature but the government says changes to the system are necessary and inevitable let's go and give your citizens know that the hugely diverse nature of the current 42 pension plans cannot continue. the french people know that one day they will have to give up these systems that don't make sense anymore of the illusions. mccraw was elected on promises to make the french economy more competitive on employment has come down but many say they feel a new sense of uncertainty they say the proposed pension reforms are another

example of out of touch government policy making but unions risk losing public support if people get tired of the disruption caused by the strikes and demonstrations as somebody who is just another wasted day yesterday you can't go to work and you can't go to school i went be able to catch up that's annoys me actually you know will fit. disruption is expected to continue over the weekend and unions are calling for another day of mass protests on tuesday as they test their mettle against the government and public patience. and we're joined now by lisa lewis from paris lisa with seeing another day of nationwide strikes protests the unions are out as well as the yellow vests how likely is it that things will escalate today and get violent. well you said it is this demonstration planned by the city union last wing union just behind me that will kick off a in very little time there's also this the yellow vests that will jay join the

group later on there and if you look at this area around here there's lots of police presence police cars blocking the roads was actually quite difficult for us to get here this morning when we took the cab so yes there is more violence expected the train the protesters and police although obviously they're less purchases on the road today compared to thursday now the trigger for these protests is pension reform president not color thing he's trying simply trying to fight france's notoriously complicated pension system so why are people so angry. well the interesting thing is that a majority of french are in favor of reforming the pension system they know that this system which has 42 different regimes somehow needs to be simplified and put back on be put back on track because it won't be sustainable in the long run if that isn't done but they just don't trust him on

a clock to do the right thing he hasn't really on the all the details of his reform but they fear these protesters and many friends fear that what he will do is actually take away money from those people that are already struggling to make ends meet instead of taxing the rich more and give more money to those who otherwise would be very poor when they retire ok so a lack of trust and yet mccoy is obviously standing who's likely to back down 1st will it be the protesters or will it be president michael. came out cause determined not to back down not to scrap his reform but he's also frayed that a weeks long or even months long strike might completely paralyzed the country and then force him to back down so he knows he has to negotiate. he has to talk to the protesters as i said the government will unveil the details of the reform at the middle of the next of the next week but it's likely that they will keep talking to

the unions to try to find some common points although it's quite sure that they were not actually move away from this the main pledge that is infusing 42 different systems into one pension system. or at least lewis and paris thanks so much joining us. now with several bushfires have joined together north of the country's largest city sydney they have formed what's being called a mega fire the thora he say it is simply too big to push out. grass fires bushfires. and even a fine nato a deadly swirl of flames spinning out of control. these are just some of the dozens of blazes this is ripping across eastern australia several fires have come together in a mega fire in an area roughly 60 kilometers across leaving the nearby city of sydney

swaped in toxic smoke. the speed and unpredictability of the fire leaves rural residents with little choice so any torn him or just calm are just leave bushfires a common in australia but meteorologists say climate change is exacerbating this fire season it's an extreme challenge especially for firefighters equipment as well for the next where there's a 30 to 40 boarders i mean used to actually go up there's little relief in sight forecasters say more hot dry and windy conditions are on the way in the coming days . have a look at some of the other stories making news around the world today there are reports of more gunfire in the iraqi capital baghdad a day off or at least 15 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in an attack on anti-government demonstrators widespread protests of rocks iraq in the last 2 months over corruption and the economy. in india

a woman who was set on fire by a gang of men has died in hospital police say the woman who was on her way to testify in her own rape case when she was attacked a case has provoked outrage in the country. authorities in samoa say almost 90 percent of eligible people have now been vaccinated against measles the south pacific island nation has lifted a curfew imposed because of an outbreak of the disease measles has killed 65 people in samoa in recent weeks with thousands of others infected by the virus. and u.s. authorities all searching for motives after a shooting by a saudi air force lieutenant at a u.s. naval base in florida the saudi national was training as a pilot he killed 3 people and wounded several others before police shot him dead the saudi government has condemned the attack. the saudi air force trainee opened

fire in a classroom building at the u.s. naval station in pensacola where a couple of 100 foreign students are in training in washington president trump said king solomon of saudi arabia had called to express his condolences. i'm sorry people are greatly angered by the actions of the shooter and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the saudi people who love the american people so much f.b.i. hasn't yet named the shooter or commented on his possible motives there are many reports circulating. that the f.b.i. deals facts but at the naval station florida's governor addressed latent concerns i think there's obviously going to be a lot of questions about you know this individual being a foreign national being a part of the saudi air force and then to be here training on our soil or to do

this the station's commanding officer has defended the international training program saying it's important to train aviators of the united states partner nations. some good as they go football now and the 15th match day of the season kicked off friday night with frankfurt hosting hatta berlin and then new coach klinsmann he had to boss was looking for his 1st win since taking over and his team went in front in the 38th minute. get back here scored the opener much to his coach's delight so went on to make it to nil but were unable to hold on to their lead sebastien order type things up in the 86th minute of frankfurt and that was how how it finished 2 will the final score. of the biggest game of the bundesliga season so far whites found later today with league leaders that mentioned hosting last year's champions by in munich and the one their last game with relative ease while suffered a shock defeat so today's encounter could be

a crucial match up in the title race. it will be the biggest game in years for him and she brought back the surprise leaders of the bundesliga all relishing the visit of boy in munich knowing a win would put them ahead $57.00 points ahead of the champions off to 14 games. are used to fighting for food spot and the champions league places but this season de offline freiburg with their latest victims last sunday it was their classy display in the 4 to win which really stood out well what goes up becoming a key feature of the past play i coach marco who's a says there will be no change against by. now but yes we have to stay true to ourselves stay true to our principles and our way of playing well and that's very important but of course against byron he also needed to be your lucky day was through it all to. be certain he wasn't by and lucky day last weekend

day lost 21 at home to buy a later p.c. it was a 1st defeat for interim coach pansy flick but they created plenty of chances in the game so no one 4th placed by and is panicking just yet i. demand soft 15 has enough experience and they have enough quality to be able to rectify the situations with us to come. but another buy and slip up means gladbach could end the weekend as a clear front runners in the bundesliga title race. and time to the noise from the sport is here to talk about that match up high tell me thanks for joining us so it's been decades since with us good how have they managed to build up that late at the top of the table yeah well i mean it's a massive lead over by munich of course 4 points gap the last year's champions there are a couple of teams in between them because of course by

a down in 4th so the best lead of a lot is just one point but they've really been fantastic. season it's coach marco was his 1st season in charge and he's really brought a new start of football that the team has really taken to their very powerful going forward their front 3 markers to alice on the play i. have been just overwhelming defenses all season and they've got fantastic strength in depth as well so whenever somebody is missing takes a bit of a knock needs a bit of a rest there's always somebody ready to come in and replace them another big thing has been their home forms not the best man for bomb unit today but coming to this game having won their last 5 fixtures in a row. they all still beatable though they lost a dormand they lost and lots of very early on they lost it when you were quite recently so they won't be feeling too complacent i think before this clash against popular ok now if by and do lose later on they'll be 7 points behind the top spot that's obviously

a big margin to make up yeah definitely so you know today really will be consequential result either way there are of course like i said lights and shout who are in the. barn at the moment as well but they could lose a big up points today so far and do news and their 7 points behind the rest of the pack could really be running away from them obviously though it's still december there's still a very long way to go the season on the was of course a point in the last season you don't mind where 7 points in front of by munich about this time of year as well and barnabas he came back reduced that gap and won the league eventually so 7 points is a massive gap it's not the end of the world if it happens but like i said either way whether go far in front of this off the noon or by and managed to reduce their points difference just to one point big consequences for the top of the league all right we will see what happens tom benoit thanks so much. you

all watching news from berlin coming up next well story so stay tuned for that and remember you can always follow us on twitter at t w news and there's more news on our web site that's dot com i'm on you tube this mckinnon. next watching. carefully. to get.