i should honest when i've only said what i thought of going on with her being funded. by mackenzie it gets us into say i said. this is d.w. news live from berlin tonight the biggest defeat in the war against so-called islamic state the city is claimed as its capital rocka that city has fault the announcement came today after a four month campaign to retake the city by u.s. backed forces a city left in ruins and riddled with mines and booby traps but how damaged is isis

after this long also coming up they fought together against isis now they may be fighting against each other iraqi forces are pushing ahead with an offensive to retake disputed kurdish held areas as the u.n. and the u.s. appeal for calm and fresh protests erupt in the kettle on capitol barcelona the regional government there says it will defy madrid and is refusing to stop its bid for independence. it's good to have you with us tonight residents in the syrian city of raka are bringing to a close their first day free from so-called islamic state the city was the capital of the islamist groups supposed caliphate or u.s. backed forces took control of almost all of the city today the price has been high

and the city has been left in ruins with reports of small pockets of resistance. a five month battle is over for the syrian kurdish and aren't fighters. well backed by the united states they killed dozens of i asked militants in their final push rocka is now a shell of a city. there's nothing left where near the end we haven't seen any i asked militants we haven't seen any of them near the stadium either i think the city will be fully clear of them in the next two days which once all of the i asked militants are gone from syria i'll go home. i asked took control of rocca in early twenty fourteen and made it the capital of its self-styled caliph that. the militants imposed a strict interpretation of islamic law and used extreme means such as beheadings and torture to quash those who oppose their rule it became home to thousands of

jihadists from across the globe after a call by us leader of a blackout baghdadi to migrate to the syrian city however in recent months the so-called islamic state has steadily lost territory in syria and iraq. the fall of rocca is a major blow to the militant group but the extremists still controlled territory in neighboring regions on the iraqi side of the border a long road lies ahead to heal wounds and rebuild the ruined city of rocca the spite these fighters celebrations. and how long will those celebrations last for more now we want to cross over to journalist of let him hear from the building block he joins us from kabbani in northern syria good evening to you so we've got the liberation of iraq today does that mean that the back of islamic state has finally been broken. because of course because rock out of the

capital feiss in syria i thought the isis wives that are now satisfied advice in this that it's got lots of isis they would have had given them victory but now isis it sort of defeated aka of course there are still some isis pockets left and there is or the fight is largely over and more in syria so the fight is over but the people remain particularly the residents in iraq and around the city how much support from area residents is still there for isis do we know well i don't think there are many people that supported isis in iraq are there were people bought that for their salaries because there are not many jobs that join isis general the support was very low and now that isis is defeated especially nobody supported like at least not many people because it was the foreign fighters actually in isis that were fighting the lawless and not the syrian isis fighters

and now that the city is fall in the military campaign is over what has to be done politically now to re store some semblance of civility to the wall of the u.s. u.s. coalition u.s. aid the rockets have been canceled they're working on a plan for the construction of raka that divided in eight eight this direct or reconstruction but the problem is the money mine so first that to be the mining clearing all the rubble and then they're going to start on working repairing the telecommunications that's where the water electricity. but i don't think the whole set of be easily reconstructed because the damage is too large but at least a lot their activity will be back soon and what are you hearing let amir in terms of where the fight against isis goes from here what's the next objective the next city for example that anti-s. forces will be targeting. well there's

a very strict thirty day study of. you know record border so the syrian regime wants to go there and that by america wants to go there so does a sort of a race or a competition between both sides or to study so they're still fighting and there's our problems against isis by the regime and by. all right journalist vladimir borg joining us tonight from northern syria talking about the fall of the isis capital rocket let me thank you very much welcome. to syria's neighbor iraq where government forces say they have taken control of all the major oil fields in the disputed north of the country now this follows fast on the heels of their capture of the kurdish held city of kirkuk. celebrations in can't cook as iraqi forces ruling. supporters of the iraqi central government

could contain their joy. thousands of kurdish residents fled the city ahead of the advance. i'm sure you were heading to where bill because the situation is getting worse the iraqi troops are ventured and there's no way we could stay one up on. our children are terrified even afraid that it would be clashes and mortar rounds would have that's what i'm worried about. can't cook an oil rich province claimed by both kurds and iraqi government had been under kurdish control since iraqi forces fled when the militants swept through the region in twenty fourteen now it's back into the control of the us government the advance comes three weeks after residents in the kurdistan region and also here in kirkuk voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence in a controversial referendum. kantishna. feat and seizure of cute amounts to

a declaration of war. now here are some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world philippine president to tear tests as declared morale we liberated from tear steve is it in the southern city one day after the last two islam as leaders there were killed but military leaders say that the battle is still ongoing as they search the ruins for remaining pockets of militants taliban militants in afghanistan have carried out a suicide car bombing and gun attack on a provincial police headquarters and attack that killed at least thirty three people it was part of a series of attacks against police across the country that have left at least seventy eight people dead hundreds wounded portugal has declared three days of national mourning after at least forty one people died in forest fires in the country's north and center firefighters have been brought here have now brought most of the five hundred blazes under control the government says the fires the

worst in more than a decade were caused by higher than average temperatures and a drought catalona regional government has said madrid is quote choosing repression over dialogue after jailing two leaders of the cattle on separatist movement in a sedition probe thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of barcelona calling for their release the spanish government warned catalonia that it must revoke its declaration of independence or face direct rule from madrid earlier a cattle on government spokesman said that the autonomous region will stand by its decision. our for now we want to go to los rambus in barcelona that's where our correspondent barbara faisal is following developments for us tonight good evening to you barbara so the arrest of these two separatist leaders it has really inflamed the situation there hasn't. really because it's been relatively quiet

throughout the house and it was like a standoff situation every side was looking at the other and waiting what they would be doing however after the high court in madrid decided to wrest those two independents leaders. really boiled out and of course the independence movements the spokesperson people. trying everything to release the fire they announced that there will be more demonstrations in the days to come this is the first one it was entirely peaceful some ten thousand people behind us was candles chanting liberty and free free think all these two that's the two leaders that are now in jail however we will see the showdown on thursday when the decision will fall whether madrid will impose direct rule of a couple only or not and that is the big question and if you consider what we're seeing tonight knowing that this new deadline is basically what forty eight hours

away i mean it looks like this crunch time the next two days it's already been decided to be would you agree with that is the kettle on president is he going to back down. absolutely not what we see here is like two trains racing towards each other and it is going to end in a big political crash because the both the regional government and of course no one in madrid has done they have ducked themselves in they cannot function they would definitely totally lose face if they don't turn around and say ok we didn't really mean anything bad you know let's sit down and talk the time for that is past i think this is not going to happen and we'll see the final showdown on thursday where this is the biggest political crisis that spain has seen in decades i think you have to go back to the early one nine hundred eighty s. to find something this severe you've been talking to

a lot of people gauging public sentiment do you think this crisis has the potential of spilling over into civil unrest. if we don't know this so far as the independence movement all of this stress is that we are completely peaceful we want negotiations we want independence and if on thursday after ten o'clock after the deadline runs out if madrid then sends in the state police if they maybe even send in troops and troops already in the harbor you also known then things could really get nasty very quickly because emotions are running high here and people feel that really something bad has been done to them they say you know spain is losing its democratic values since those two independence leaders are in jail and so nothing can be said at the moment that this will really stay quiet for the who are funded barbara vanes all joining us tonight in barcelona reporting on renewed volatility there between catalonia and the

spanish government barbara thank you very much. or mourners and demonstrators have hit the streets in malta after an anti-corruption journalist there was murdered deathy elites was accused or had accused malta's top politicians of corruption and had helped expose money laundering in the country she was killed in a car bomb blast after leaving her home on monday. a day after the killing of daphne cutter want to leave by a car bomb hundreds of marti's gather to show their outrage at the journalists murdered they want to know exactly why she was killed some point a finger at the state authorities. we are here today to ask the state to protect us the state did not defend daphne it didn't do anything everyone who said she's going too far she's homing in on personal issues they're all guilty we expect everyone to do everything for us but these days we have to look after ourselves.

two weeks ago daphne cardona guy had told police that she was receiving death threats on monday the car she was driving exploded not far from her home in the north of the island the prime minister of malta promised an investigation into is death it is going to work and i condemn without reservation the barbaric attack as one against freedom of speech in our country. everyone knows that. it was a harsh critic of mine both politically and personally but nobody can justify this barbaric act in any way which is against all dignity and civility. malta has long been considered a tax haven and it was the focus of daphne koller one of investigative reporting as part of the consortium of journalists who revealed millions of documents known as the panama papers she wrote many reports alleging government corruption. her

accusations included the prime minister's family joseph scott's wife is suspected of owning a firm in panama that has funneled funds to her through the leader of azerbaijan both the prime minister and his wife deny this. one of the journalists three sons matthew took to social media to brainwash scott and his government for his mother's death saying you are all complicit he said she was targeted because she was the only journalist exposing ties between organized crime and the government you're watching news from berlin i'll be back at the top of the hour with more. rationalists are on the rise with morning warning to make your contract great account that is their slogan their focus put your nation first i am taking a global trip to highlights different shades of nationalism and to find out what the nation mean to you.