calls for strict action as north korea with its nuclear ambitions foreign ministers meet in canada for a u.n. . summit on the north korean nuclear program the u.s. warns that the threat is growing and leads the charge for increased pressure on pyongyang. also coming off. his body but they could not lock up his mind so says hong kong pro-democracy activist after a court jailed him for his leading role in the twenty fourteen umbrello protests.

and rebel troops last stronghold in syria warnings of a humanitarian disaster increased attacks by assad regime forces are putting millions of civilians. welcome to the program thanks for joining us. china has criticized what it called a cold war mentality after foreign ministers from twenty countries met in canada to discuss the north korean conflict the ministers discussed increasing economic pressure in a bid to end the country's nuclear ambitions u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson warned that the threat of war is growing and called on nations to remain sober and clear eyed about the current state of affairs . and japan's foreign minister is also weighing in urging the international

community to continue economic sanctions despite the recent warming of relations between north and south korea have a listen north korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile programs even as we speak and we should not be blinded by north korea's charm offensive in short it is not the time to pressure or to rework north career. and for more we're joined now from seoul by josh smith a reuters correspondent covering korean affairs welcome to you josh we've been hearing stark warnings from diplomats around the pacific at a time when it seems like seoul n.p.r. now you have found common ground is this a disconnect. well i think it signals something of. concern over the fact that the talks so far have focused mostly on

the olympics as well as a few other kind of side show elements of into korean relations this is something that i think all sides see as a positive step but one that's very limited in that it doesn't get to of course north korea's nuclear program which has caused so much of the tension on around the world. just we heard the japanese foreign minister warning that we shouldn't believe the north fence if so and that remains an open question right now it seems that the south koreans have no better option than to respond to the north korean overtures because of course everyone is interested in having an uneventful olympics however many observers including those in south korea have said that is a strong likelihood that north korea is interested in using these overtures as a way to blunt and reduce international pressure which has increased in recent

months and especially when it comes to sanctions yeah but that international pressure i mean it's not dying down from the united states at least we heard rex tillerson is warning that. diplomats that people remain sober and clear eyed when it comes to north korea his comments and the u.s. role is that impacting what's happening on the peninsula right now. well i do think it definitely goes to the fact that many of these officials around the world especially in washington are looking ahead to after the olympics when many people expect the north to continue its weapons testing program and. going back in some cases on some of these elements that have led to a soft and so i think signaling that they are not backing down from this pressure is a big part of their plan to try to bring north korea to the negotiating table on these bigger issues. josh smith with the latest from seoul thank you so much. thank

you. let's get a quick check now of some other stories that have been making news around the world a military court in thailand has dropped charges against said eighty four year old historian who has been accused of insulting the country's monarchy so lock questioned whether a national myth about a dual fought five hundred years ago by a king on the back of an elephant had really happened the court said that there was not enough evidence to proceed in chile a pope francis has expressed pain over the roman catholic church as sex abuse scandals in the country he asked to forgive the church earlier he met with abuse victims and held an outdoor mass in the capital santiago the pope's visit has been accompanied by unprecedented protest three churches were set on fire overnight. steve bannon the former chief strategist of u.s. president donald trump has refused to answer questions about the election campaigns alleged ties to russia than it was testifying before

a congressional committee reports say that he has also been subpoenaed to talk to a grand jury investigation on the russian allegations. a meteor lit up the sky over parts of the american midwest and canada yesterday evening the clips that you're seeing right here were recorded in michigan officials say that the meteor exploded about seventy kilometers north of detroit and cost a two point zero magnitude tremor. a hong kong court has sentenced pro-democracy activist joshua long to three months in jail wang found guilty of contempt of court relating to his role in two thousand and fourteen pro-democracy umbrella movement street demonstrations it is the second time that he has been imprisoned over these rallies. and ahead of the hearing was made a brief but defiant statement had less than an hour about it but they called the hour i will have to do it is different we need to face a prison sentence and presto quite you know the fight for the boat we're seeing in

the future right here. and that was hong kong pro-democracy activists joshua wang saying that his movement will continue to fight on but how likely is this given that the umbrella movement's leaders are all tied up in court cases i put this question to hong kong correspondent florence earlier today you know we eat cheese pong of strategy. party and most of these young people surely see disobedience and passive resistance to them being sent to jail ease consistent with what they expect almost accept this as a price to be to get the message across but obviously it is a struggle at the moment there is another notion of casey's implying the pro-democracy leaders and activists but for example. for the coming out

by election they have people in reserve and they will have announced that they will use that number three the younger of next show. that was journalist florence shah speaking with us a short while ago in other news the assad regime forces have stepped up attacks on the country's last rebel held stronghold thousands of fighters and civilians fled there after the fall of aleppo in twenty sixteen but intense fighting has once again pushed people to flee and aid agencies warn that a massive humanitarian disaster could lie ahead. rebel counter attacks against the syrian regime. president bashar al assad's forces have stepped up their assault on this last opposition stronghold in the north of the country in recent weeks. against them this coalition of jihad east and moderates don't stand much of a chance. troops backed by russian airpower

launched intensified attacks on northern hama and southeast about a month ago. that's led to the biggest wave of migration we've ever seen. one hundred thousand people have already fled the fighting in southern this is raised fears of yet another humanitarian crisis in syria we are extremely concerned that amid this escalation in fighting up to two million people may be at risk this is an area where tens of thousands of people have already been displaced and their own going fighting could provoke even further displacement of civilians. that meat and doctors are exhausted. there are so many injured people we can't take care of them or. no hospital in the world could treat the

number of patients that come here after their neighborhood has been bombed. it is a war zone and that's all they russia iran and turkey designated it as a deescalation zone last year more than a million people have fled here from other former rebel controlled areas fighters as well as civilians but they're no longer safe the syrian regime and russia say they're targeting terrorists but political analysts disagree. to syrian government wants to bring all the remaining rebel held areas under control and wipe out the opposition that doesn't care what happens to them he wants to take control of the whole country before peace talks began. that's just a few weeks ago this market in its lip was bustling. that was a sense of normality. but that's over now. it may be

a stall holders have nothing to do anymore no one dares come here because of the airstrikes people are staying indoors. after seven years of war in syria peace is no closer it appears that the side wants victory at any price. catalonia as a newly elected parliament is due to meet for the first time since december's election separatist parties won those elections and should have the necessary votes to nominate a separatist president but their favored candidate catalonians x. leader carlos pushed him on remains in self-imposed exile in belgium where he is avoiding charges of her belly and sedition thousands of catalan independence supporters took to the streets in barcelona last night calling for the release of independence leaders in custody for the past three months. well seven years ago formula one driver robert partially severed his arm while

taking part in a rally race in his spare time his career as a top level motor sport participant basically looked over but now after years of rehab rehabilitation he is back in his beloved sport. robot crew but so was one of the most promising young formula one drivers but after almost losing his arm in a two thousand and eleven rally accident is painstakingly worked his way back now he's williams reserve driver which means you fill an integral brief a team a car race it's not quite the job you wanted but still a major achievement but enough for me it's a great pleasure to be back in the form on of course my target still become a race driver but there is a great feeling for milan has been the my biggest part of my life russian rookie served ice a rocking got the starting drive ahead of the pole but william still expect to get

set to make a major contribution. well we all know the robot is a legend really you know you heard of a fantastic career in formula one before his unfortunate accident in running he will be attending all the races to use reserves. from more importantly she is a development driver two brits are already has one grown pretty big two to his name from two thousand and eight still a chance it might not be his last. just a quick reminder now of the top stories that we're following for you here at e.w. foreign ministers from twenty countries have agreed to maintain pressure on north korea in an attempt to end its nuclear program u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson warned of the threat of war is growing china did not attend the summit in canada but criticized what he called a cold war mentality. and a hong kong court has ordered pro-democracy activists joshua wang to jail for the second time for his role in the twenty fourteen pro-democracy umbrella movement street demonstrations he has been found guilty of contempt of court and must serve

three months in jail. you're watching news live from berlin we will leave you now with some images from the united states where record snapping cold temperatures have transformed the city of chicago's lakefront into a magical landscape of ice sculptures enjoy so you can say.

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