german police are searching for a man who slipped a lethal poison into food products on sale in southern germany including baby food police say the alleged perpetrator sent an e-mail threatening to poison more products across germany and elsewhere in europe unless he was paid millions of euros. on. tensions are running high in spain over cattle long as plans to hold an independence referendum a spanish government says the vote is illegal and won't go ahead but come on leaders insist they've got everything in place and the people's voices will be heard i'm sorry herman in berlin this is the day.

the better miska no matter how much they intimidate us no matter how many times they say they will not give us the keys to classrooms or that schools won't be open and there is a generation growing up in our country that adds to this new majority that want to vote in catalonia with a new look at the. young status all this secessionist process is illegal based on illegal premises it is the obligation of the rule of law and of each and every single government to prevent this from happening the motivation of those behind this is sessions process is to destroy spain feel that. way and this is the one that i feel about spanish and kept a line of i'm not embarrassed to have two different cultures i mean which by both of them i speak two languages and it's nice to have this option is that.

i don't share any of the ideas traditions or culture that are part of the rest of the country. you don't know i was born a slave turned from cause dictatorship. but i show my through this vote i will die. liberated. and even. also on the show it sounds like something more crime thriller but it actually happened here in germany police are searching for a man who poisoned supermarket baby food and is threatening to do it again unless he's paid millions of europe's. he didn't indicate which groceries in which regions and in which shops he wants to poison. even announced that he wants to target national and international branches of german grocery stores and drug stores. as i move some of his i want to stop

shopping that's really one thing where i think it makes me shudder. all the countdown is on for a contested referendum in the region of catalonia local authorities are determined to go ahead with a vote to break away from spain more than seven and a half million people live in a semi autonomous region of catalonia and officials there are calling for a peaceful ballot but thousands of spanish police officers have been sent to the region to prevent people from voting on sunday these are the ballot boxes that the leaders of self-governing catalonia say its citizens will use to vote in the planned referendum from spain on sunday. and i was drive from the catalan capital bus alone well thirty's in the town of vic insist residents will be able to vote despite the ban from madrid. mayor says for her the issue is

personal. but i mean. for me the worst punishment would be to go out into the streets and not be able to give my citizens the opportunity to express their opinion and decide. i am not afraid of what the spanish government can do because we are not committing any crime. invicta hoping sunday's vote will go ahead. but the spanish government has other ideas it says the planned ballot threatens the country's very foundations. if the provisional. secessionist process is illegal and it is based on illegal premises don't believe other legation of the rule of law and if every single government is to

prevent it from happening. this is a specialist initiative is only trying to destroy spain. place. in barcelona the farmers brought their tractors on to the streets to back their demand to hold the referendum. polls suggest catalans are evenly divided on how they would vote what is the tensions already running high alright let's cross over to our correspondent pablo foley l.e.o.'s joins us now from the spanish capital madrid how well you've just returned from barcelona how divided are people generally. i was very you're absolutely right i mean people are incredibly divided over this issue i was very interesting to speak to so many people about this on the streets of barcelona and what i felt was that people were very determined to have this referendum whether they're on you know the pro

independence saw it or against this there's also a lot of concern over what could happen on october the first but what was interesting was that if you speak to people it's become in some ways a to do subject and then the other ways it's not i mean people are quite happy to open up to talk about it with their friends and family but at the same time they were really talk about it that openly because they feel that maybe it's such a divisive issue with people you know with really strong feelings about whether you should be independent or not so often it's best to leave it and just not discuss it yeah understandable that people are avoiding that as kind of a touchy issue do you think that cadillac plans are going to be allowed to vote on sunday because the spanish government seems to be doing quite a bit to stop them. you're absolutely right i mean the spanish government have confiscated twelve million ballot papers and also ballot boxes as well they've also shut down the cattle and the government's referendum website that was shut down

a several times and then it was sort of reopened. they opened it abroad and then of course the social media as well has been sort of cracked down upon and they've basically said that people shouldn't vote there's also talk of fines for people who go and work in the polling stations across catalonia and that this is in sharp contrast to what the cattle and regional government they're saying they're absolutely determined for people to turn out on sunday and vote and they've said that polling stations which will be in schools will be opened and there are ballot boxes there was an event held on friday showing what the bought of boxes looked like so you know it's basically a complete and utter standoff so it'll be very interesting to see whether people will turn out on sunday and from what i was saying to before talking to people on the ground the barcelona everybody seems quite determined to go out on sunday and go to the polling stations people determined to have their voices heard what can we

expect on sunday. that's the million dollar question sara no one really knows and it's not often that we actually say that really nobody knows what's going to happen that what we do know what the moment. there the regional police in catalonia has been ordered to go to the polling stations at six o'clock in the morning on sunday and make sure that they are locked and also to take away any. ballot boxes and they've also said that this is where it's a little bit of a gray area they've been also told that they you know it depends how should they act if things got a little bit out of hand because obviously there is a bit of a concern will it turn violent i mean you know i don't like to use that word but i mean you never know what i mean people are very heated there's a lot of tension and it'll be interesting to see and also it is worrying to see how the police because they've been reinforced as well from with police officers from other parts of spain it'll be interesting to see how they react to the protests.

and protests to the protests some people turning up to the polling stations on sunday a problem we've seen pushes for cattle on independence in the past this isn't a brand new issue what makes it different this time. what makes it different is i mean the independence movement is not something new book particularly since around two thousand and twelve cutline regional governments have been very determined to hold a referendum and actually just a few months ago in the regional parliament they passed legislation which was essentially the legal groundwork and framework that would be implemented if catalonia did decide to vote yes in a referendum for independence and that was immediately struck by the constitutional court here in madrid and of course the government of money and of the holy has said that you know this is completely and utterly unconstitutional but the regional government has decided to ignore that and they've pushed ahead with it and this is where we are in the situation where basically the word i would describe for it is

confusion. other confusion will continue on sunday when the vote either happens or doesn't you'll be reporting for us pablo folio as i will thinks for that. it's been ten days since hurricane maria slammed into puerto rico and the situation for people on the island is becoming dire abandoned homes the litter puerto rico and while most of the three point four million residents are still without power and struggling to find fresh food and drinking water the storm brought the small islands economy to a standstill and there is little hope of recovery in sight. are running out of cash diesel and gas are hard to find and many people are wondering how they're going to survive. well to make matters worse communication on the island is also extremely difficult

ninety percent of cell phone science are still not working and more than a week after the storm hit one woman has only just managed to establish contact with a friend she tweeted crying my friend in puerto rico is alive first contact with her since maria is so bad they're young they need help now a california based university professor has called on cruise companies to use their passenger liners to help deliver a working c. supplies and evacuate people she tweeted please send your ships to puerto rico adding the twitter handles of some of the biggest cruise companies including oseola and could not bind many of president trump's critics the government aid efforts have been inadequate the award winning documentary filmmaker michael ward tweeted trillions wasted on a military set up to defend us when our citizens in puerto rico need to be saved nothing criminal you signed off of the hash tag impeach for more on the situation in puerto rico i'm joined now on the line by journalist carla minette she's in the

puerto rican capital juan carlos thanks for joining us tell us what the situation is like on the ground right now. all right now. trying hard to get back. to. that is. we have water. no internet connection. we are still very sickly stressed that right now. we have lost so high. because they don't have. to serve. any kind of survival. they have so we are really having a very hard time right now it's

a desperate situation you're describing when you talk to people what's a priority what do they need most right now. it depends a lot about what work examine just you and your family. were exposed to if you lived in the co. don't have a when. you are in iran fusion on looking part. of a media needs like taking a bath and having your children. or something like that. you know trying to get water. trying to get food. trying to get gas to move around to look for you know whatever you need to go to war to try to go to the school. you know is everybody have

a very different situation but you know it's it's no routine for for anybody right now not retain for anyone right now are people in puerto rico still hopeful that the u.s. government is going to provide aid to them. oh yeah i think most people feel the u.s. is partly responsible for what happened. was over the hard. no responsible for what happens in the going terms that we are america. and also because. the recall is you know a us territory a colony of the us. a lot of what has happened because of the here it cane is just. the worst part of

a crises that we have been living for the best eleven years ago and economic crises . were lots of people have come have migrated from forgotten us of people have lost their jobs. we have being living a very good but only situation we have a year or so now with the here and maria. it's just like. the turning point for or for the situation where the legal thank god otherwise. yeah definitely definitely and transfer response to hurricane relief in puerto rico has been controversial what is the feeling toward him at the moment in puerto rico. and frankly i i think that most of the people don't even know he will be here in

a few days because they don't have. internet and they don't have. ways of seem to be or you know and even if they know me i think that is that is not a priority for nobody right now so he coming to the call is going to be what it is for local. older than all the features of orange. what it is you know i think we feel. she should take a look at what's happening here in philly really all right carla minae thanks for speaking with us we wish you all the best for a swift and full recovery from the hurricane damaged. well after athol and the u.s. is relations with cuba from struggles have emerged u.s. ordering more than half of its personnel and its cuban embassy to leave the island

following what it calls a series of attacks targeting diplomats now some embassy workers have reported injuries including concussions and hearing loss and authorities say they're working now to establish exactly how these injuries occurred and who could be behind them. for more i'm joined now by jason marks act he's the director of latin american center at the atlantic council jason thanks for being with us this is such a mysterious story what else can you tell us about these alleged attacks. well thanks for having me i think that you know these attacks date back to about a year ago when they were first reported first didn't get much public attention that's come to greater light these are these are attacks not only against u.s. diplomatic personnel but also canadian personnel the secretary tellers and i met with the cuban foreign secretary with bruna rodriguez earlier this week the u.s. had been away a number of options and and the secretary decided last night on his way to china on

board the flight to reduce u.s. personnel by sixty percent and to leave only the emergency personnel in the embassy this is clearly i think i think it's unknown who is actually behind these attacks the attacks yes acute occurring cuban soil but it's unclear the actual perpetrators one could be the cubans who are not happy with the opera smogs another option could be foreign state actors that want to reduce the amount of of cooperation currently exist between the u.s. and cuba backers like russia for example there see attack like this it is a way to further their foothold in on the island. the nature of the attacks is so big we're told it caused hearing loss and concussions what kind of attacks are we talking about here. yeah i mean these are these are sonic attacks there are attacks that are low for use low frequency sound waves

that are not on of old two to a human. the you know the the there was a lot of i think the clear point right now that is that there's a lot of mystery around these attackers not it's not clear how they happened only who didn't but how they happened and why it's certain people were were specifically targeted and the exact period in which the attacks actually actually occurred you know the u.s. as a response not only has reduced its embassy staff but it's also issued a travel warning to all americans to avoid travel to the island because many of the traditional areas in which american tourists would gather were some of those areas that were. faced with the sonic attacks about a year ago and this just after u.s. tourists have been allowed to travel to cuba earlier we heard trump speaking out about this issue let's take a listen now and then i want to get a reaction from you in the western hemisphere the united states has stood against

the corrupt destabilizing regime in cuba and embrace the enduring dream of the cuban people to live in freedom my administration recently announced that we will not lift sanctions on the cuban government until it makes fundamental reforms until it makes fundamental reforms so jason what's your take on this story is this really just about ensuring the safety of embassy staff or is this sort of a pretext for a toughening of u.s. cuban relations something that many people have expected under a trumpet ministration. yeah i mean you know president came out in miami in june with a seminal speech in which he announced a change in direction and his approach toward cuba he there were a number of other things on the table that he could have taken could have taken further steps back from what president obama did beginning in december of two

thousand and fifteen but what he announced back in june was a restriction in the people the people travel so under president obama individual americans could go to cuba. not in groups but they could go just just on their own and he also announced that there would be a restriction on u.s. tourists from spending money and entity whether it's a business whether it's of the how whether to restaurants that is affiliated with the cuban military now right now what we're waiting for are the actual regulations that will come out that will be issued by the treasury department that put into greater clarity on exactly the implementation of president trump's announced policy shift it's unclear still because these regulations are not out how sweeping the change will be if it will be more of a rhetorical change or or if the definitive definition of engaging with them until military is so wide sweeping that it really affects of way prohibits some of the

jordie of americans from traveling to the to the island going back to the embassy staffing withdrawal isn't going to leave the u.s. embassy in cuba under staffed during a crucial period when relations were just beginning to thaw and raul castro is expected to step down as president of cuba soon. yeah well actually remember oh castro not only is expected but he signs are that yes he will be extending down in february of two thousand and twenty eighteen this will be the first time in over five decades that one of the castro brothers is not the president of cuba. this comes at a important time. i think that the since the announced opening restoration of diplomatic relations we've seen a number of different working groups that have formed with us and cuban officials look you know cuba is is ninety ninety miles off of the off of us u.s. shores this is you can reach cuba you know on

a hydrofoil and you know under two hours hour and a half and the cooperation with cuba is so fundamental to u.s. security from everything from narcotics trafficking to environmental concerns and across a number of other issues and so that has been i think very positive over the last couple years to actually have us in cuban authorities seem down and talking about issues that affect both countries as part of the announcement last night the secretary torsen announced that the u.s. will no longer be sending official delegations to cuba as well so any of these talks if they're going to continue to occur must now occur even in either washington or potentially in a third country all right times there are a changing jason marsac he's the director of the latin american center at the atlantic council thanks for talking with us this evening. german police are hunting for

a man they say is blackmailing companies for millions of euros by threatening to poison food on supermarket shelves including baby food and authorities have actually released footage of him doing just that putting food on shelves at a supermarket in southern germany five jars of baby food containing a lethal amount of poison or later discovered there. the manhunt is on this suspect is believed to have placed poison baby food in this supermarket in the southern city of fleet how often he warns other cities in europe or next unless he's paid over ten million euros hundreds of mine and this is an exceptionally severe case of extortion and we have to assume that we're dealing with a very ruthless six torsion who's willing to go to great lengths to get what he wants and who's even prepared to kill in an e-mail the suspect told several local supermarkets that he contaminated five jars police say they were able to find all

of them the suspect has threatened to poison even more police say he may have accomplices and urging people to be alert and check supermarket products for potential manipulation. for. food and glass johnson's usually vacuum sealed. so you should hit pop when you open it. up when i'm clock and police have now released these surveillance photos hoping for clues that could lead to the rest they say they've already received several hundred tip offs. all the day is nearly done by the conversation continues online to find us on twitter either at g.w. news or tweet me at sarah armin five three and don't forget to use our hash tag the day i'll leave you now with some very cute panda kwame's from china say one province the oldest is five months the youngest just two months old enjoy and have a great weekend.

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but he did it with passion. and now it's time for his life sized mega house to open its doors. your romex next to w. welcome to quadriga he was one of them sat on in the act you have thought you had a business. women's talk w. smart women. all smart told us we think we have a hard smart station you'll find out if w. . actions. hi there and a warm welcome from our studios in berlin.