berlin. another deadly attack on egypt's coptic christians. at least nine people are killed outside a cairo church filled with hundreds of worshipers. police say the locked doors prevented a massacre. also coming up, from world footballer of the year to presidents. liberia's next leader, and supporters from the slums of where he grew up are ecstatic. now the hard work begins. in a win for women,

parliament inches closer to stepping up the contentioous islamic practice of saying "divorce" three times to and marriage. ♪ host: welcome to the program. egypt's coptic christians are in mourning after another attack by suspected extremists. authorities say at least nine people were killed in a gunfight after an attacker attempted to break through security outside a church in a cairo suburb. the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility. militants have repeatedly targeted'egypts christian minority -- targeted egypt's christian minority in recent years. >> full of holes on the coptic church in cairo after another attack on egypt's christian minority.

a church service was taking place inside the church when a gunman started shooting at people outside the building. there are conflicting reports about a second -- about whether a second gunman was involved and got away. the bishop was leaving prayers .before the attack he says hundreds could have been killed the door would have been opened. >> there were crowds. god save this. the door -- saved us, the door was closed. >> not all of the churchgoers were lucky. >> there was an elderly lady coming out of the church to see what happened and she fell and died. her blood was here. >> state media says police managed to capture the gunmen. hours before the so-called islamic state claim to the attack. coptic christians make up about 10% of the regulation in egypt, where the majority are muslim. they have often complains of

extermination -- discrimination. over the years, they have repeatedly come under attack by radical islamists. last week, hundreds of muslim demonstrators stormed a church and wounded three people. friday's attack came ahead of christmas. host: on the line from cairo is our correspondent there. we have been getting conflicting reports on how many gunmen were involved in whether they have survived. what do you know? >> we have conflicting reports if it is one our two attackers. -- one or two attackers. but we're hearing there is one attacker who was shot and arrested. he is one of the most dangerous terrorists in the area without saying which group you belong to. host: there have been several

attacks on the country's large christian minority in recent years. what accounts for this? >> lately we had three particularly bloody attacks. one of him on a chapel at a cathedral in cairo with 29 deaths. another one in alexandria with 45 people dead. i think the number of victims this time is different because the attacker did not manage to enter the church. he was engaged by security guards of the church. they said the attacks were claims by isis. christians are also a relatively soft target for them. these attacks also ensure more international -- it is a way for

them to prove they exist and strike wherever they want. maybe they also hope to split egyptian society. such attacks i would say in the anger about it is more unifying the egyptian society. host: if it is unifying society, do most people feel the government is doing enough to protect christians? >> that was always a topic, especially when they entered the churches. there are now security guards in front of churches, in front of some churches. the streets are blocked during the mass to prevent problems. now they are announcing they also created some kind of deployment forces for the christian upcoming holidays. it is also clear that every security measure is being taken. host: thank you very much.

liberia is poised to assure in its first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades. george wwon a landslide victory in the presidential runoff. a little while ago, the country's election commission declared him the president-elect, receiving more than 60% of the vote. liberia, a country founded by freed american slaves, is africa's oldest modern republic. it will be the first democratic transfer of power since 1934. >> liberia's new president visits his party headquarters to prepare for governments. he has waited a long time for this moment. after previous election to be -- defeats coming this time hewon a landslide victory.

>> this is a dream come true. where the people of liberia. >> we asked if he is a candidate of change, running against the vice president who quickly conceded defeat. >> the captain of this ship. >> weah has long been famous and liberia, born in slums, he shot to stardom, playing for the country's top clubs. after retiring, he had been out of politics for more than a decade. he promised to fight corruption and boost the economy. well enough to dispel concerns about his running mate, the ex-wife of former president and convicted were criminal, charles taylor.

despite thoughts that he was pulling the strings, there's only one name when he was announced. weah will take the reins from the current president in january. despite winning the nobel peace prize, she is been criticized for not doing enough to tackle corruption. weah supporters want him to put that the top of his to do list. host: standing by for us in the capital, monrovia. it is a landslide victory for george weah. what gave him the edge? why did he win? >> simply because the liberian people decided they don't want another party -- this is the time for george weah with over 80% of the and people voting for him with a huge enthusiasm.

they do not want a party -- that is exactly what the vice president had done at this stage as opposed to george weah. host: he is relatively new to politics and he has chosen the ex-wife of the imprisoned warlord charles taylor as his running mate. it is very concern about her role in the new government now? >> the concern is that she has a wealth of experience in politics. she has been elected twice. as a senator for nine years each. she is completing her second term now. completing 18 years. she is a lot of experience when it comes to politics, unlike george weah. so she brings experience on board, with that of george weah, who has no experience in politics except for when he was elected senator in 2014.

taylor has been there for a long time. host: people concerned with the fact that she is involved considering she is the ex-wife of a warlord who is imprisoned? >> during the campaign, there were people using that, that when george weah wins the presidency, charles taylothat we campaign period. but weah has continued to clarify that in no way he has redeemed his past government to bring taylor back to liberia. he is not in jail because of liberia rules, it is an international jail sentence he is serving. host: what is the top of his to do list now that he is in government? >> there is a huge tax.

it is difficult. there is a lot of work ahead of him. property, education. right now, with difficulty in the economy, that is what he has on his agenda. he said that he will work to make his government successful. host: thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making news around the world. dozens of palestinians have been wounded by israeli gunfire during fresh clashes in the west bank and gaza. thousands were protesting against u.s. president donald trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. officials say at least 40 people were wounded in gaza and another 16 in the west bank. in new york, at least 12 people have died after a fire tore through an apartment building.

four others are in critical condition. the city's fire department chiefs as a for your old boy playing with a stove caused the blaze. china's foreign ministry denied reports that it is selling oil to north korea. south korea is holding a hong kong flagship for allegedly violating human sanctions. and south korean newspaper says u.s. by satellites -- spy satellites have spotted the ships transporting oil. german court says that a 96-year-old german must go to jail. he argued he was too old and sick to be imprisoned. he was convicted in 2016. to india, where the lower house of parliament has passed a bill proposing jail time for muslim men who tried to divorce their wives through a practice known

as instant divorce. the bill outlaws the practice of ending a marriage by saying or writing the word that is arabic for divorce three times in succession. india's supreme court ruled in august that instant divorces are unconstitutional. more than 20 muslim countries have already banned the practice. dw's reporter for us. can you first tell us more about the idea of instant divorce and how it works in india? >> instant divorce is a practice whereby a man can divorce his wife by uttering the word that means divorce three times in one moment. this is different from another form, which is spread out over a longer period of time, usually about 90 days, which allows bsome reconciliation.

this has already been outlawed in many countries. in india, this continues to happen in the muslim community. the reason that is is because of concerns about potentially disrupting the secular makeup of india. infringing upon religious rights because the situation in india, when it comes to personal law, when it comes to matters of divorce and marriage, is that different religious groups are allowed to have their own personal laws to govern the. things like this can often -- govern that. things like this can be seen as interference from the central governments. host: it does appear these laws do not match up with the constitution. the indian justice minister says this is now about ensuring equality for muslim women because this fundamentally infringes on their rights. is this generally being seen as a positive step forward? >> the movement we have seen on this issue in the past couple of

months really started years ago. it is a result of stuff that started years ago by many muslim m women, who have been pushing for this. many of them, victims of this practice. always saw in august with the supreme court ruling unconstitutional, this was a huge victory for them. many people have been a bit critical of this bill, which they feel goes a little further than that. that includes some of those activists, who have been pushing for the banning of this for a long time. the issue of this law is that it criminalizes it and it is a bit confusing to some people in the sense that since the supreme court already voided the process, meaning if a man uses this procedure, it basically has no legal weight anymore, people are wondering why this was necessary. given this is a pro government that has pushed probe into policy -- pro-hindu policies or

has been accused of doing such, at the expense of minorities, people are wary of the government's motives and they're worried particularly that since policeman can now arrest a muslim man on this charge whether he has a warrant are not simply because someone may say that this guy said that. that is worrying people. they feel that it is going to demoni muslims further and potentiallye us as toolo harass muslimen. ho: thank you. it is the final trading day of the year,nd investors are taking the time to reflect on 2017. daniel has more on that for us. . that is right > that is righ. investors expected a cake and they didn't get it. they do not have to be disappointed. 2017 on the frankfurt stock exchange went out with more of a whimper than a bank.

the decks was down from its record high this year, ending at 12,517 points. investors still have plenty of reasons to be cheerful. it seems they ignore the potential clinical risks. germany, which is still has not formed a new government three-month after an election. the benchmark closed this friday, 13% up of the year's opening. our markets man has this assessment on the year that was 2017. >> what a surprise, 2017. practically no one had high hopes for the markets but there was one record after the other. for the first time over 13,500 points during the course of the year. the central banks pumping out money at super low banks. and companies earnings improving the world economy, clipping along rather nicely. much better than expected. politics, not a damper, neither

through bribes it, -- brings it, north -- brexit, north korea, or donald trump. 2018 for the potential seen, and germany it could reach over 14,000 points for the first time. quite a few analysts expect that. of course, there were also the political risks. they can play a bigger role in 2018 than they did in 2017, people said. >> wrapping of 2017 for us there. airbus has finalized a formal order for 430 jets worth almost $50 billion. that is the largest ever single order. the deal was first announced at the dubai air show last month. indigo partners bought the a320 neal planes. indigo has stakes in for carriers -- four carriers.

the order is a significant boost for airbus, which has lagged behind its rival boeing in deals this year. around 1000 years ago, long caravans of camels transported goods from china to the west. among their cargo, precious silk, which gave the routes its name, the silk road. the chinese government wants to revive it, invest in hundreds of billions of dollars in ports, roads, airways between china and the western trading partners. this week, we're looking at some of the stops along the route. it is home to the largest inland port in europe, handling 3.7 million shipping containers a year. that makes it an ideal hub for china's new silk road project. the link, bringing freight here from china, is already up and running. it transfers two dozen trains oblique. it has aas a transfer time

for times shorter than the original sea route. in trade, time really is money. >> at europe's largest inland ports, most containers arrive by ship.but not all . it might look unspectacular, but this is one end of the new silk road. a freight rail route stretching 11,000 kilometers. instead of silk and spices, typical cargoes today have electronics and textiles. >> we're part of the largest innovation in central europe. the chinese want to sell masses of consumer goods, and the best place to sell them is where you have a lot of consumers. combine that with a dense network of roads and railings at this end, plus the river connecting with rotterdam and

more on europe's west coast. it is ideal. >> there are now 25 trains a week, peering both goods and hope for the future. located in germany's industrial heartland, it used to be a wealthy city but it has been in economic decline for decades. they still member the steel plants lighting up the nighttime sky. today, let the coal mines, most have been closed down. >> in the last 20 years, we lost around 30,000 or 35,000 jobs in the steel industry. >> which is why he welcomes trade from china. and the new silk road will boost investors.

>> we will be building a china trade center here. on this land behind us, we will have 120,000 square meters of office space, over five stories. >> the center is set to accommodate around 200 companies, which will have excellent access to the european market from here. the construction is being subsidized by the chinese government as part of a long-term strategy. that also includes the neil -- new train link. it may not be making any money for beijing yet, but the financial commitment makes them confident when it comes to the new road, china really does mean business. >> you can tell it is nearly that time of the year again. global sales last year reached

almost $2 billion, according to the market research firm qy. germany will fork out more than 130 million euros on new year's eve fireworks alone. imported products will include three quarters of the fireworks on the 31st. heading back over to abby for some sports. serena williams is back. host: she is indeed. serena williams is set to hit the course yet again. the 36-year-old american took a break from her tennis career for another milestone in her life, the birth of her first child. she is now due to play the french open champion on saturday in an exhibition match in abu dhabi. the organizers of the australian open believe williams will be back to defend her title in melbourne in january.

the winter olympics are on the horizon, and host nation south korea is facing sporting dilemmas, such as how will it fair in discipline it is not known for? like ice hockey. but now, it has naturalized a couple of players who come from the hockey nation, canada. >> he shoots, he almost scores. it is now just a team practice. but koreans certainly hope he will score when it counts. at least his other korean compatriot will stop the opposition from scoring. meet forward and goaltender, two canadians to block the score line. they are now nationalized citizens just in time for the winter olympics. wer he thinks it is a win-win situation. >> i am proud to be a canadian

and in a sense i am representing canada too and my family when i am playing for team korea. i am proud to have lived in both countries, and when i am on the ice, i will do everything i can for team korea. >> being in canada, some people did not even know where korea was. i know some people thought it was representing north korea. they just didn't know the difference. >> he has twice won the best former title in the asian hockey league. and last year, the other was voted the best asian league's goaltender. they hope they can hammer the opposition and play in an impressive tournaments. after all, for everyone on the team, south korea is now home. host: you're watching dw news live from berlin. we believe you now some moments featuring a few people who passed away this year.

thanks for watching. ♪ íhh?dñ'óóóóóóóy

♪ winter. here's a look at what is coming up in the show. winter wonderland -- shop windows around europe gear up for christmas. winter treat -- norway is home to the world's largest gingerbread town. and winter workshop -- homemade skis are all the rage this season. christmas is just around the corner, so europe is getting in the festive mood. everywhere you turn, you can see colorful christmas decorations lighting up the squares and windows. one place where this is very