from berlin. the spanish prime minister sachs -- sacking catalan's parliament. he has called snap elections for catalonia, the move coming after thousands of independence supporters gathered on the streets of barcelona. we will bring you the latest from madrid and barcelona. plus, new clashes in kenya claim more lives as the country grapples with the fallout of the repeat presidential election. and in the end of an era for air

berlin, almost four decades after they first took off. today is their last ever flight, taking place right here in the german capital. ♪ sarah: welcome to the show. i'm sarah harman. good to have you with us. we begin in spain, where the prime minister says he is dissolving the catalonian parliament. he sat the government -- sacked the government and has called a snap election for the region that that is set to take place on december 21. all of this after the catalan parliament voted in favor of declaring independence from spain. that vote triggered huge celebrations in parts of catalunya, large ones on the streets outside. [cheers] correspondent: yes to independence, the moment the

separatists were waiting for and they took to the streets in the thousands to celebrate. ♪ [singing] [cheers] >> it is an enormous satisfaction because we achieved what we had 44. long live the independent state -- had fought for. long live the independent state of catalonia. >> i never thought it could happen. thanks to these brave people. correspondent: they were singing inside parliament as well, the unofficial national anthem. catalonia's opposition had already quit the chamber, refusing to take part. the remaining lawmakers voting by 70-10 in favor of independence. >> citizens of catalonia, it is up to us to maintain the pulse of our country, our country. to maintain peace and dignity as we have always done and always will. correspondent: later, the

spanish cabinet discussed taking over the government of catalonia, the parliament is to be dissolved. new elections held in december, and the leader could face real billion charges, punishable with up to 30 years -- 3 billion charges, punishable that the 30 years in jail. >> we never wanted it to come this far and we do not think it would be good to extended this status. it is not about suspending their autonomy, but about the return to law and reason. correspondent: in the catalan capital of barcelona, the independence celebrations are continuing. spain's worst political crisis in four decades shows no signs of easing. sarah: the story has been developing at a breakneck pace throughout the day. we want to take a look at the bigger implications. to do thawe will hear from madrid and barcelona. we start in barcelona where

charlotte is on the story for us. good evening. all of the lawmakers were just fired. how is it going down in barcelona? charlotte:here is a lot of jubilance the behind me, thousands here on the streets outside of the government offices. news of the velopments from mariano rajo do not seem to have dampened spirits here, people wanting to celebrate the news of independence. in fact, some people have told me they want to celebrate now because they do not know what will happen tomorrow. you have got children on the streets,en, women, dogs wrapped in flags. to give you a sense of the spirit, we have a band playing behind us with announcements with updates. they said that the public radio had announced live that they were going to cross live to

foreign correspondents, referring to that correspondent in madrid. and we will say hello -- and we saw a fireworks display moments ago. these people rallying, they are starting to move away and it is coming to an end. we have had reports of an anti-independence protest nearby, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple hours. there is real fear that when the two sides meet there could be violence on the streets. sarah: hold tight. we will come back to you in a second. i want to go to madrid where martin roberts is on the story. martin, we have a on the telephone. how is spain in practical terms planning on implementing direct rule? this is unprecedented in modern spanish history? >> it is, since the constitution

was adopted as a way to cement their return to democracy, after 40 years of civil war and dictatorship, so it is a measure of how seriously the government in madrid is taking the crisis. in practical terms, they have been laying the groundwork for several weeks. it began in september, when the catalan parliament first called for the referendum to be held. in response, madrid drafted thousands and thousands of additional civil guards and national police men to reinforce the laws. another thing they did, they took control of the very -- control, very peacefully, the pursestrings of catalonia. the civil service have been paid direly from madrid for several weeks now. that situation will not change and i think the government is hoping most people will not make

waves just because some people at the top are being removed. sarah: ok. martin from madrid. now we are going back to charlotte on the streets of barcelona. what did the people there expect will happen next? how do they feel on how their leader handle the situation? he has really brought it to a head. charlotte: there is a fear on what will happen when madrid starts to impose direct rule. when you start to see arrests of those behind the independence movement, and when you see them try to take control of the government buildings. there is a sense that the people behind me will not tolerate that. for several days there have been calls on social media, and from independence leaders, saying if independent happens, be prepared to block the government buildings to make sure officials from madrid cannot take control. the people who are behind me,

they consider carles puigdemont a hero, but they do not represent everybody. this region, it cannot be emphasized enough, is incredibly divided. just 50% of people according to the recent polls are for independence. those against it will be distraught at what carles puigdemont has brought about. one thing both sides have in common, that will be some frustration over the last few days. this has been an emotional roller coaster for both sides, so many backwards and forwards twists and turns, whether we would have elections, or a declaration of independence, now finally we have an answer and people can take stock of what happened. sarah: it is not just spain, this has divided catalonia as well. martin, is there still a way out of this extraordinary situation so that both sides go home happy?

martin: i think it is too late for that. obviously, the opposition, the socialists in madrid and catalonia were hopeful, but the catalan parliament will do what rahojoy has done and they will dissolve their own parliament and call elections as a way between declaring independence and implementing direct rule. in that sense, i think they felt very disappointed with the roller coaster that charlotte just mentioned, because yesterday it seemed carles puigdemont was going to do that. he had the microphone set up, and then he delayed and said everything would be in the hands of the parliament. a lot of disappointment there. i think what mariano rajoy is trying to do is say look, this is only going to last until christmas, when the fresh

elections are called. it will be a lightweight intervention and it will be very short-lived, and hopefully afterwards everybody can go home happily ever after. of course, whether that occurs remains to be seen, because there is a groundswell of opinion that is not going to go away. sarah: a lot of uncertainty right now. martin roberts from madrid, and thank you charlotte in barcelona. sarah: ok. what ever happens, it will have a huge impact on europe. we want to get reaction from brussels. our correspondent is there, bernd. the eu has made no secret on where it stands on catalan independence. tell us more about that. bernd: the eu is fully supporting the spanish government in every move it makes. that is clear. the eu says the problem has to

be resolved within the legal framework, the constitutional framework of spain, so there is no room for an independent republic of catalonia. and no eu member country, none of the other 27, will recognize catalonia as an independent state and the eu will not do that as well. the only thing is, donald tusk, the head of the european council, twittered today and he said, please do not resort to violence. use forceful arguments, but do not argue with force. so there is a slight fear this might get out of control or out of hand. but the eu officially is not reacting. they say that spain must resolve this problem on their own. for example, the french president also said he is behind mariano rajoy. also the german chancellor told , through a spokesman that she is behind her spanish

counterpart. so there is no question the eu is behind spanish government. sarah: catalonia has no support for independence within the eu, but in practical terms is f catalonia secedes from spain, what is going to happen? bernd: nothing. the eu diplomats tell us that they will ignore any move of catalonia to become independent. there will be no border, there will be no tariffs, passport controls, things like that. every decision the catalan government, which will no longer be in office now legally, would be ignored. so nothing would change actually on the ground from the viewpoint of the european union. we do not know here. i spoke with the catalan foreign minister and he said he would stay in his office and wait for the police to remove him from there. he is prepared to be arrested, so it is clear the catalans want some kind of martyr image

like that but the eu says , nothing will happen as far as we're concerned. sarah: the eu taking a hands off approach, but could the eu have done more to broker a dialogue between catalonia and madrid to avoid some of the tensions we are seeing now? bernd: the eu was reluctant to get involved in this spanish argument between catalonia and the central government, because they were saying we have no legal point, no institution is obliged to get into this inner conflict. and so only if both sides had appealed for mediation, then the eu could do something, but so far only catalonia has applied for mediation, so the eu is sitting on its hands. sarah: ok, not getting involved for now. bernd riegert, thank for bringing us up to date.

here is a look at other stories making news. two white south africans have been giving -- given long jail terms for forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to kill him. the judge said the men showed no remorse for the racist crime. the case caused outrage in south africa more than two decades after the end of apartheid. the united nations says the government of syrian president al-assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 80 people in april. the report, co-authored by the u.n., says the government used deadly nerve gas against the rebel held town of contract couldn't -- syria denies using chemical weapons. the world food program says that myanmar's government has given the go-ahead to resume operations for muslims in the northern state. the u.s. agency suspended work in august after security forces began targeting the muslim minority group.

hundreds of thousands have since fled into neighboring bangladesh. as kenya election officials continue to count ballots in the election rerun, the cost of the divisive vote is becoming more opinion -- more apparent. clashes taking place today by bringing the death toll to at least five. they have been locked in political uncertainty of versus -- uncertainty ever since the supreme court annulled presidential elections that were held in correspondent: the august. streets of kenya's capital, nairobi, are unusually quiet, worried about the prospect of violence many are staying , indoors. those few who have ventured out have had enough after months of political tension. >> i would like politics to quiet down, so we can continue with our work.

we do not want people to fight or kill each other. we want kenya to be peaceful. >> we are fed up with politics. we want life to continue as normal. our incomes are being hurt and we are struggling. we are tired of politics. correspondent: thursday's repeat elections were marred by skirmishes between opposition and police. the clashes stopped about 10% of polling stations from opening and delayed voting in many others. in the slum area of nairobi, the situation was particularly tense. >> they decided to keep from the voting exercise, so it was difficult for us, because we had a lot of problems from rowdy youths attacking the officials. correspondent: voting in four counties was initially postponed until saturday, because of the unrest.

opposition leaders continue to call on their supporters to boycott the vote, citing security concerns. >> everything has its own time. the first thing we are trying to convey to our people at this point in time is that the first repeat election tomorrow, we want to make sure that they are not injured and we will tell them to stay away, because they might walk into a trap. where they will be injured. that is our priority. we do not want any lives to be lost. correspondent: because of the new outbreak in violence, election officials announced the runoff would be delayed until further notice. as counting continues, officials said just over a third of registered voters casted a valid on thursday. some heeded the call to boycott, all but assuring a victory on paper for the current president, kenyatta, who cast his vote in a jubilant mood.

but the rerun looks like it will fail to ease the conflict. sarah: it is earnings season and we have big hitters reporting stateside. now the latest from helena. helena: best for last. big names and big numbers. amazon, google and alphabets -- the three american companies keep growing, turning and better results quarter after quarter, beating expectations. and the stock markets are loving it. correspondent: sales like prime day attracts customers and are driving the prophet of amazon to new heights, but they are not just making money with direct sales, it is earning more with online advertising and turning up the pressure on google. amazon recently opened a new office in new york with about 2000 employees dedicated to selling ds. -- ads. and cloud services remains the market leader when it comes to

helping small companies into the cloud. over the last three months, amazon earned over $250 million. with demand for cloud services growing by the day, microsoft is also doing solid business with their cloud solution. the flagship cloud platform is called azure and it helps companies manage their apps and company data. microsoft's boss has managed to shift the tech giant away from dependency on windows, to a one-stop shop for digital enterprise. last quarter, microsoft earnings topped $6.6 billion. alphabet made a name for itself with its search engine, but is profiting from the a market -- ad market. they are way ahead of the conversation, earning $6.7 billion in the third quarter.

helena: we are bringing in jens, who is there now. tech is back with a bang. strong earnings. are the traders impressed? jens: it was an exceptional day for tech stocks and companies. that is especially true for amazon, the stock gaining almost $130, and it is valued now at $1100. the price increase means the market valuation on friday increased by about $60 billion. that is basically what federal express is worth in general, but the other stocks, like microsoft, up 6%, alphabet up 4%, so it was an incredible day for tech stocks.

helena: next week, we have more reporting. what should we be looking out for? jens: well, besides the earnings reports we will also get the return of the month, a lot of economic data, especially from the labor market. but earnings season will be the big topic once again. we will get the numbers from facebook for example, from apple, those stocks also gaining quite a bit since this friday. they have been accepting orders for the new iphone 10. and apple itself says the demand so far seems to be off the charts. and that will push the stock up by 3%. we will also get numbers from tesla, the company having a little bit of trouble with production. demand is not a problem. so really building the cars is the issue and that is why the stock is not as inflated as the

rest of the market at this point. helena: jens, have a good weekend. and it is goodbye to air berlin. the bankrupt airline's final flight have taken off and passengers could be feeling teary. not just nostalgia, the prices on certain routes could be going up. and the future remains uncertain. the trustee says the bulk of jobs could be saved, but for now it is all up in the air. correspondent: it is a bitter and for many employees in air berlin and some are not mincing their words about the company. >> ♪ who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep what do you feel when you look

in the mirror are you proud ♪ correspondent: even though he took the helm of air berlin earlier this year, he is guaranteed 4.5 million euros, and thousands of employees are furious that they are being left high and dry. three out of four employees will lose their jobs. luftansa and others declined funds to guarantee employment for a few months more. customers could also get a raw deal. >> it will be felt by consumers, less offered flights, and over time it will be filled by luftansa and their low-cost affiliate. and possibly by easyjet or condor, but negotiations are ongoing and it is far from certain whether it will be successful. correspondent: time has run out for air berlin and the rivals are lining up for their assets. the painful -- pain may only be

beginning for consumers. experts say that travelers will have not only fewer options, but more expensive ones, as the germany disappears. helena: we now have sports news. sarah: get ready for a big weekend, two of germany's pesticides -- beste s sides are meeting. bayern has not lost in the last three meetings. but it is only a matter of time before that changes. correspondent: for 120 minutes, they hustled and bustled, now they are preparing to do it all over again. they have come the closest i ever came to defeating bayern. >> the players will rest and recover. i also think that being in our own stadium with the support of our fans gives us strength.

and in these conditions, we will be able to overcome our tiredness. correspondent: but bayern will not bask in their success long. one of the contenders is thrown. >> you can only briefly feel happy after a win. now we're really pumped for the next game. of course, there are a lot of things we are thinking about and we are focused on the task at hand. i do not think we have time to celebrate right now. correspondent: leipsic is ready for another go at bayern. >> we enjoyed the last match and we are looking for to the next encounter. correspondent: despite the disappointment, they can take positives from the cup defeat and their recent victory on the road gives them hope of bouncing

back immediately. >> ifou can win in dortmund, you should not worry about being beaten in munich, so we will go there with the same mentality, to believe in ourselves and be the trickiest opponents for bayern munich. correspondent: on to munich. they are undaunted as they look for their first ever win over the champions. sarah: if you are scared of sharks, and who isn't, maybe look away because we are going to show you close up images of the most formidable shark of them all, the great white. this footage captured by scientists in new zealand and it shows a four meter long specimen playing with equipment on the ocean floor. if you are wondering why it is so interested in the camera, that is because it is attached to a canister filled with tuna. the shark was probably migrating to the tropics when it stopped for a snack.

and a reminder of our headline this hour. the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy has announced he is dissolving the catalan regional government after it voted to declare independence from spain. he has called regional elections for december 21, the move coming of thousands of independence supporters gathered to celebrate in barcelona. and that is "dw news." more at the top of the hour. from the whole team in berlin, thank you for watching. see you soon. have a good weekend. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] óóññ

♪ >> greetings from the german capital once again, and a warm welcome to our highlights of the week -- lining up this time with the following stories. talk of the town -- a belgian designer makes a splash at paris fashion week. on the road again -- an iconic french car makes a comeback in wood. design classic -- an italian storage unit turns fifty. ♪ paris is the city of fashion on any given day -- but this past week more than ever as the prêt-a-porter shows showcased the trends for next spring and summer. one show in particular was