this is d w news live from berlin the world starts to ring in the new year australia one of the first nations to publish or in twenty eighteen did a dazzling fireworks display in sydney's iconic hard work is getting ready to celebrate as well violence during past festivities make security a top priority also coming up the largest protests since two thousand and nine the group iran the government blocks access to popular social media apps in two demonstrators are shot dead in the west of the country. in. a matter of a welcome to the program. the world has begun ringing in the new year australians were among the first to celebrate the capital actually not the capital that's

canberra sydney starts off the new year with a bang a dazzling fireworks display lit up the skyline around the city's iconic harbor this year's celebrations have a rainbow theme to celebrate the introduction of same sex marriage to australia in december. and the countdown to midnight is underway here in germany and here in berlin tight security measures are being put in place at the brandenburg gate where the main festivities will be taking place the mass sexual assault that took place in cologne on new year's eve two years ago do still hang over the celebrations the finishing touches on preparations for new year's eve in berlin and the brandenburg gate is getting ready to host hundreds of thousands of people a massive party and an even bigger security concern. course there will be police at the event especially outside as well as five hundred security personnel.

we have strict admission policies will be checking all visitors and their bags and no fireworks glass bottles large bags or suitcases will be allowed and there will be concrete poles outside the event as well as vehicle road blocks. and. the blocks are to prevent truck attacks like the one on a christmas market at brightside plots last year but another major concern is women's safety during the celebrations for the first time organizers in berlin are setting up a place for women to seek help at attention run by the german red cross volunteers will be on hand to help anyone who has been sexually assaulted or just needs a place of refuge celebrations are also planned at the cologne cathedral near the city's main train station this is where hundreds of women were assaulted or robbed on new year's eve two years ago many of the suspects were recent immigrants or asylum seekers fueling criticism of chancellor angela merkel's decision to let more

than a million migrants into germany. but after the masses salts in cologne do women feel less safe. i'm not the kind of person to be afraid and so honestly i haven't really thought about it i won't be at the clone cathedral but i live in cologne and i go out at night without any worries. because i'm not worried about it i think there are enough security measures after what happened. yeah i don't know something should be done about this but i think it's clear that you won't be safe anywhere germany isn't taking any chances it's beefing up security with more police on the streets and video surveillance cameras hoping to usher in a happy and peaceful new year. germans must come together in twenty eighteen that is the messenger message from chancellor angela merkel in her annual new year's eve address to be broadcast later today the w has

a preview where medical highlights the challenges ahead she's struggling to form a government after the most recent elections failed to produce a clear ruling coalition it was a difficult political year for chancellor angela merkel at the very beginning of her speech she addressed the social atmosphere in germany and the tensions. i think i know from many conversations an account is this yet that a lot of you are concerned about the cohesion of germany it's been a long time since the differences of opinion about this have been so stark some have even spoken of a rift running through a society. merkel mentioned the worries over whether the government would be able to organize and direct immigration into germany but she also spoke of the fears and doubts of people living in the countryside who feel left behind those are her obligations as for foreign policy she look to europe and says she is expecting decisive years ahead for the european union. plans and all of this germany's

future is inseparable from the future of europe the twenty seven countries of europe must be motivated most strongly than ever to hold together as a community this will be the crucial issue of the coming in is and this will be a matter of whether we europeans represent our values in a globalized and digital world assertively and in a spirit of solidarity both internally and externally. but european policymakers are also waiting for germany to form a new federal government for chancellor marigot that will be the most pressing task in the coming months. all in all a bit to chew on for medical we have political correspondent michele in the coast are here with us to talk it over mentioned this rift in society in those remarks i mean is this her failure in that she's led germany for the last twelve years well that's what her critics are saying that she failed to detect this that she failed

to actually create the kind of conditions where this wouldn't be possible she carefully avoided the word nationalism she avoided the alternative to many rightwing extreme policy that for the first time into german parliament but she certainly now is feeling this pressure and she is calling this challenge by the name this rift in society in this very much is and has been her government style to date that she didn't have the kind of macaw approach of drawing this grand vision of where the country where europe's to go but rather works down the list of challenges and that's what she did in this address well we were just mental go from here then i mean we mentioned that these coalition talks are dragging on and merkel herself as a political figure in germany has a different meaning than just a few years ago i mean is your future bright she going to see out another four year term well that's the big question right now is seat technically able to put

together what really what is the only option realistically left in another grand coalition with the social democrats will the democrats go on with this we're expecting this talks to begin for real over the coming days that's the first thing that's going to happen here at the beginning of the year at the same time we saw him many times before talking about is this the beginning of the end of uncle america well she has pasta prime i think there is a recognition from all sides that this is if it's another time in office will be most. likely her loss the big question is would see. so another full time that's what she says she intends to do but there's many ifs and there's many questions and we didn't see any kind of questioning of her power in the past so there is a different quality of power that she has right now but if you start talking about who else is there in europe who will see that kind of power i think that's a good fresh look at really how much power she still holds suddenly looking on at germany from the outside right. thanks so much for joining us.

over a move on now to some other stories making news around the world rights group in the democratic republic of congo says police have shot dead two protesters in the capital city can. after security forces interrupted a catholic mass and arrested altar boys who were protesting against the country's president elections to replace him have been delayed they are set for next year. at least thirty six people have been killed in a bus crash in central kenya police say a bus and a truck collided on a dangerous stretch of highway close to town more than one hundred people have died on the route just this month alone. at least twelve people have been killed and fourteen wounded after a bomb attack on a funeral in eastern afghanistan there is not yet been a claim of responsibility but both the taliban and militants from the so-called

islamic state have stepped up assaults in the region in recent months. well iran has restricted access to the popular social media apps telegram and instagram this comes after three days of protests have spread across the country in the western city of doe dude two people have been killed in clashes state officials have denied security forces were responsible they instead blame foreign agents authorities warned that those stoking disorder will quote pay the price. protests against unemployment inflation and corruption went into the third day in several cities across iran the capital tehran saw burning bins on a burning building. of the gates of the university hundreds of students and others clashed with riot police earlier state television finally reported the demonstrations that have been spreading over the last few days the newsreader blamed what she called hostile websites and alien media for stirring up just as his

faction called the protests illegal state television showed a peaceful demonstration but there were clashes earlier with police in the western city of come on show. the government does not like support tens of thousands of iranians took part in rallies planned for weeks they commemorate pro-government demonstrations eight years ago that put an end to unrest following a disputed election rallies were shuttled in more than one thousand two hundred locations on saturday but some supporters did acknowledge that there were valid reasons to protest and what people are protesting because they are under economic pressure the government must be responsive in the face of rising inflation and economic hardships. to get them out of it other people have protested against inflation and other problems but that doesn't show that people have turned on each other or are against the ruling says stan and the leadership. of the security police are everywhere in the islamic republic so open political protest is

rare but this crowd in the port of banda shouted we don't want a clerical regime that suggests that what began as frustration over unemployment inflation and corruption has become something more revolutionary. right for a bit more we are joined by a.f.p. correspondent eric randolph in teheran eric we have now seen these three days of protests perhaps going into four we had two protesters killed last night what is the situation like today and do you expect expect these demonstrations to continue so far it's been pretty calm today we haven't had any reports of any major. during sunday its government has just shut down the popular social messaging service out instagram which suggests that they are worried that there are going to be people protest ops nightly sort of the protests yesterday starting in the evening after dark across many cities across iraq. authorities

have promised to come down hard on protesters and i guess if two of them ended up dead they have made good on that promise how else have they been dealing with these protests or we have very little information on how those two birds died yesterday but in general so far the police are taking quite a softly softly approach to this there is a recognition that a lot of these people out there just in the economic reports and those are it's easier king to distinguish those from people who are taking it to the next step and actually the fall of the regime i can only protest to go on for a long time to run a quite regular occurrence sun you know taking all this time to actually regime starts the government recognizes they need to tackle the issues that are underlying purchase rather than just crackdown on that said already. the big guns if necessary

stick starts out. u.s. president donald trump has tweeted the world is watching at the iranian government is the regime they're really concerned about what the international community whether it's trump or anyone else makes of how they're coming across. no you know ron likes the how far. these things this is a lousy thousand protests. directed from out so. far agents. by the americans so. they dismissed those remarks. but rather to this day and i think so far we are seeing very different signs of the protests themselves. both by what's going on outside these issues very much. directed by those who. are problems with the local economy we haven't seen that so you know international flavor is. very much

to do with their own issues right now you know there's too much to what's going on in the white house. all right eric randolph thanks very much for the update well thanks for joining us here at g.w. news in berlin we're going to leave you with a few images of spectacular new year's fireworks from auckland and sydney as those cities rang in twenty eighteen joy.

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