brent: this is dw news life in berlin. tonight, donald trump at war at home. the u.s. president-elect dismissing claims that russia has compromising information about him. mr. trump: nothing like that should have never been written. it should never have been had and it should never have been released. brent: trump suggesting intelligence agencies had something to do with leaking the claims. he covered lots of ground in his first news conference since the election today. we will go to washington for the latest.

outgoing president barack obama bids and emotional farewell. he vigorously defended his time in office and urged americans to protect the nation's democratic ideals. could it rival the sydney opera house? spectacular philharmonic, the concert hall putting on a star-studded opening concert tonight. i'm brent goff, good to have you with us. donald trump came out fighting as he denied reports that russia has compromising information about him. in his first news conference since late july, the president-elect said u.s. intelligence agencies may have released the information he scolded news organizations in the u.s. for publishing the

material. he admitted publicly that russia was probably behind the hacking of the democratic national committee during the elections. >> donald trump when 160 seven days without a press conference, the longest of any president-elect. it was supposed to be about his conflicts of interest before he won the electoral college but the first questions were about the salacious buzz feed article alleging that trump himself has much deeper ties to russia than previously assumed. >> i think it was disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. i think it's a disgrace. it is something that not see germany would have done and did do. i think it's a disgrace. information that was false and fake and never happened got

released to the public. as far as buzz feed, which is a failing pile of garbage writing it, i think they will suffer the consequences. they already are. >> trump continued to deny he had anything to do with putin or his country. business or otherwise. his organization is so large and sprawling, this is exactly why some people voted for him. he said he would maintain the spirit of having no conflicts of interest. mr. trump: i could ask the run my business and government at the same time. i don't like the way that looks but i would be able to do that if i wanted to. >> he will be sworn in on january 20. brent: that was u.s. president-elect donald trump at the first press conference in six months. let's pull in craig holman.

he's a government affairs lobbyist. extra taking the time to talk with us. i'm trying to figure out what happened at that press conference today. how would you describe it? >> there are many different stories about this press conference but it was supposed to be an ethics press conference. donald trump has scheduled the original press conference to announce his ethics policies to deal with conflicts of interest that he's bringing to the white house. that's what was scheduled to be at the press conference today at 11:00 and instead, instead of coming out with dealing with an ethics program and conflicts of interest, he just up with accusations that russia, in fact, has some sort of incriminating evidence about his

own finances and his own behaviors. donald trump, for his first press conference, ended up turning it on its head, addressing issues that are really not what we were looking or. brent: did anything change? do we have any information about these allegations or what intelligence agencies are saying? doing know anything from before the press conference? >> there is one big change, trump finally admitted that may be russia did metal with the elections. he had continually denied that and accused it of being fake news until today. what hasn't changed is what russia knows about government officials ranging from hillary renton and now to donald trump. donald trump's denial and his

steadfast and hard-core denial that russia has anything on him really was one of these nondenial denials. he didn't deny that the intelligence office has briefed obama and trump that russia has information about him. he did not deny that russia might have had information about him. he was just angry at cnn and buzz feed for releasing the story. he claimed it was fake news. brent: a government affairs lobbyist with the advocacy group public citizen. we will stay in washington. the u.s. senate has been grilling rex tillerson, donald trump's nominee to be secretary of state. is also a former chief executive of exxon mobil. responding to questions, mr. tillotson said that he was troubled by reports that russian

hackers had tried to influence the u.s. election and went on to say that nato allies have a right to be alarmed. he said the u.s. needed to move moscow from being always an adversary to being a partner at times. from the incoming u.s. administration to the outgoing one. after eight years, president obama has delivered his farewell speech, returning to the city's campaign started. >> with 10 days left in his presidency, barack obama reminded americans what his tenure had achieved. president obama: if i had told you eight years ago that america would reverse the great recession, reboot the auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history -- if i had told

you that we would open up a new chapter with the cuban people. shut down iran's nuclear program without firing a shot. take out the mastermind of 9/11. if i had told you that we would win marriage equality and secure the right to health insurance for 20 million fellow citizens. if i told y'all that, you might've set our sights were set a little too high. >> how much of that legacy will survive donald trump? he only mentioned his successor in passing. he appealed to americans to put themselves in each other's shoes. president obama: blacks and

other minority groups means tying are very real struggles for justice to the challenges a lot of people in this country face. not only the refugee or the immigrant or the poor or the transgender american, but the middle-aged white guy who, from the outside, may seem like he's got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change. >> he said it means going beyond the bubble of a social media feed and reaching out to people. president obama: if you are tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try talking with one of them in real life. >> one of the most moving moments came after one word. president obama: michelle.

[cheers and applause] >> obama page should be to his wife of 25 years who has made her own mark as first lady. the departing president called on americans to push change by entering the political system themselves. he expressed faith in younger generations. saying that they helped put him in the white house. president obama: yes we can. it yes we did. yes we can. thank you. it got bless you. brent: the city of hamburg

hasn't bailed its new concert hall. they joined other celebrities to celebrate the opening. after repeated delays, the riverside construction finally hosted its first concert, featuring its symphony orchestra. >> a monument to music. after a decade of construction and a price tag 10 times the original estimate, the spectacular new concert hall finally makes its official debut. the crowd taking in the sold-out performance includes german chancellor angola merkel. for the maiden concert, the orchestra is playing a sampling of haskell music from the renaissance to the present. from beethoven to wagner to

contemporary composer wolfgang grimm. tonight's audience will be the first to judge if the acoustics are on par with the architecture. jetting from the banks, the 789 million euros rupture is built on top of an old warehouse. to come see the city and enjoy its music. brent: my colleague is in hamburg tonight, trying to stay warm and enjoy the music at the same time. sarah, how are you this evening? what is the biggest concern?

the cold or the light show? sara: i am cold but i'm having a lot of fun. you can see the light show behind me. they have lit up the facade with a musical light show so it is sort of synchronize as the instruments play inside. the light show gives us an interpretation of what going on. you have to excuse my words. i've been out here for about four hours. it is really cold. brent: getting lockjaw if you're not careful. let's talk about the history of this project. we know it is six years late. 10 times over budget. are all the various sides, has everything been reconciled?

sara: i can't speak for all the parties involved but i can say there's a feeling tonight of wanting to come together and celebrate that they got this thing off the ground. and unlike some of the other massive projects, it came to be in the proof is right behind me. the musicians are inside sitting and playing a concert while we are outside celebrating the light show. we will get reports on if the acoustics live up to the hype and if the money was worth it. but tonight, i think it's nice to take a second to say, hey, you did it. brent: we will take a break in see if you can't get inside and listen to the music and warm yourself up a little bit there. sarah harmon in hamburg. the first night of the symphony orchestra and the concert there.

you are watching dw news. still to come. paying the price for the dodgy diesels, volkswagen in the u.s. agreed to settle for more than $4 billion. we will find out what it means for the german carmaker. that and more in 60 seconds.

brent: welcome back to dw news live from berlin. donald trump has dismissed on verifying claims that russia has compromising information about him. in his first news conference, trump said intelligence agencies may have leaked the reports. germany's government says last year saw a big drop in the number of new asylum-seekers. 280,000 migrants arrived last year. that's one third of the number we saw in the previous year.

the decline is due to the closure of the balkan migration route. and due to an agreement between the european union and turkey to stem the flow of migrants coming from the middle east. >> intentions were clear after a record number of refugees arriving. mission accomplished according to the numbers presented by the german cabinet. in 2015, 890,000 asylum-seekers arrived in germany but the number of refugees entering the company dropped. only 280,000 refugees came to germany in 2016. the decrease of 70%. the interior minister feels it is a success for the government and shows germany ill willing to help. even with 280,000, germany has lived up to its humanitarian responsibility compared to

europe and other countries. from the government point of view, not as many refugees have been coming to germany is because of two reasons. the closure of the balkan route and the agreement with turkey. the circumstances have changed little. with 36%, the highest proportion of asylum-seekers came from civil war torn syria. 13% from iraq. a lot has happened in germany in the meantime. applications for asylum are being dealt with more quickly. the country's bureaucracy is much better prepared to cope with refugees. brent: time for business news with christoph. dieselgate could be in the rearview mirror? christoph: volkswagen is pleading guilty to three

criminal charges and will pay a total of $4.3 billion in fines to settle the dieselgate candle in the united states. it is the largest find to be levied against an automaker in the u.s. in history. charges against vw as a group will be dropped but trouble for half a dozen executives may only be beginning. >> they were pumping illegal levels of nitro sock lights, more than 40 times more than the amounts permitted under federal law. these vehicles were equipped with software that mask the true amount of the pollutants the cars released.

regulators that redoing the environmental testing. to be clear, volkswagen new of these problems and when regulators expressed concern, volkswagen obfuscated, denied, and ultimately lied. >> the announcement means there will be more turmoil at volkswagen. six employees had been indicted by a grand jury. and they will be held responsible for any crimes they may have committed. kristof: he is an automotive expert. welcome to the show. >> there are a few civil cases looming, but the big stuff is behind him, so to speak. kristof: $4.3 billion. earlier, vw were solving claims

with regulators, dealers, and customers. is that manageable? >> absolutely. it's a bit more than they put aside for this but for a company the size of volkswagen, it is definitely manageable. kristof: can we draw lessons from this settlement? >> not really. the legal system is very different. we know the u.s. is the most troubling territory in terms of legal cases. things will not get close to these kind of amounts in europe. >> what are the problems vw is facing? >> think it has more to do with publicity and it is kind of carrying on ?

volkswagen can bring in new stories and try to get a more positive message here again. in the case is going on in europe, this will continue to hit the news. >> six executives have been charged in the u.s.. as the current and former most senior management cleared of any possible charges? >> i'm not sure. we know in germany, mr. winter corn will appear in a parliamentary inquiry. and if more comes to light, i would still be not inclined to rule out that there is something else. >> the company has given itself an internal makeover. the w wants the focus on mobility. is that plausibly being

implemented? >> and sure it's plausible but there is a lot of treasure. we haven't read much about what looming, 8% of the vehicles have to be even vehicles. it would translate to 300,000 for volkswagen. considering that globally, all car manufacturer sold 500,000, it gives you a sense of how big a problem it can be for volkswagen. >> and automotive expert on vw and the future ahead. the key for your insight. >> airbus livered a record x hundred 88 commercial aircraft last year on the back of strong operational performers and a robust market.

deliveries were up 8% on the previous year's record. it is the 14th year in a row on increased delivery numbers. they were handed out to 82 customers but america's boeing was ahead, delivering 748 planes and 60 more than airbus. that's a lot of planes and that is business for the moment. brent: sports news now. no change in the tight overall standings in the dakar rally in south america because wet weather led to a massive landslide in cancellation of the ninth segment. it was clear the effect on parts of the course had to be shortened to 400 kilometers and divided into his drivers and riders made their way from the bolivian high lands into argentina. he leads by just over a minute.

soccer news now, 10 days in the break. one of their top stars has good news for fans. >> a standout player this season. the dynamic midfielder was outspoken in june and has already scored four goals. he is hoping to shake off his thigh injury. >> i will be match fit and ready to return. >> revealed his favorite player was revealed. >> i think that we play in a similar way.

an absurdly done thing. it >> tackling is generally a last resort in our game. the staff will find it easy to forgive the team. brent: a reminder of the top stories. dismissing unverified claims that russia has compromising information about. they may have leaked the reports. barack obama has made an emotional farewell speech.

urging americans to become more involved in the countries political elite. i will take you back through the day and we will take you in depth in that first press conference by donald trump since the election and what it turned into. we will be right back.

seoul. capital of south korea. one community in the center of this city is drawing widespread attention. seongmisan maeul is mad