this is d.w. news live from berlin turkey and taps the kurds in syria a move that could seriously aggravate the war in the region turkish forces have launched ground and air offenses around the northwest town of apre and as they step up efforts to oust kurdish fighters there russia and the u.s. call for restraint also coming out of germany social democrats seek last minute unity ahead of a vote that could decide the country's political future will they back coalition talks but on the american conservatives we'll have the latest from for lent. and

a new exhibition in basel switzerland celebrates the work of getting out basel that's the german artist has turned the art world upside down in more ways than one . my ass waiter thank you for joining us turkey has begun a military operation against kurdish militia in northern syria turkey's army is calling the offensive operation olive branch the move follows a week of threats from cred inflame the conflict in syria especially as one of the militias that turkey is targeting is backed by the u.s. . on saturday turkey announced the beginning of operation all of branch soon after the army's offensive became visible in the mountains of syria's afrin region

turkish fighter jets carried out raids as ground forces shelled the area turkish forces are targeting positions of the y p g a mainly kurdish militia backed by washington the group controls the afrin region ankara sees it as the syrian arm of the kurdistan workers' party or p k k which it considers the terror group a the turkish military has been locked in a bloody conflict with the p k k for decades last weekend the us announced it would set up a thirty thousand strong border force in northern syria led by the y.p. gee that angered turkish president recha type anyone who accused washington of planning to form a terror army he reiterated his criticism after the first raids that the name of this organization is kurdistan workers' party and the name of the organization in syria is why p.g. the kurdistan workers' party is on the terror list so the us and the e.u. the organization it works with in syria is exactly the same. turkish prime minister

banal yoder am said ground forces may be deployed across the border on sunday russia says it has withdrawn its troops from the region. afghan security forces have been battling a group of gunmen that stormed a luxury hotel in central kabul officials say the attackers entered the intercontinental hotel on saturday evening and began firing at guests some residents and staff managed to flee others were trapped inside afghan media reporting several casualties officials say at least three of the four attackers have been killed the raid comes days after a u.s. embassy warning of possible attacks on hotels in the city. turning now to the u.s. it's been a year since donald trump was inaugurated despite trump's promise to bring people together the country remains wracked by political division the federal government shut down overnight after congress failed to reach

a last minute deal on spending that means government workers are staying at home halting all but the most essential operations recriminations have already begun. are you what. these women are united in their opposition to donald trump. a year into the job the president has failed to deliver on his promise to bring the country together. this is been the worst year in our country we can't believe that we've gone downhill this far but we're coming back up and we're going to wipe out the republicans in the election next november but right now trump faces a more pressing issue the midterm elections the federal government has ground to a halt after republicans and democrats failed to agree a funding deal and both parties playing the blame game senate democrats shut down

this government and now senate democrats need to open this government back up this will be called the trump shutdown. he's been the single driving force in scuttling bipartisan deals in congress the political impasse means all federal facilities will be reduced to skeleton crews that includes government agencies national parks and museums some eight hundred thousand state employees will have to take forced on a day a prolonged shutdown could also raffle investor confidence and impact the economy. it's an embarrassing start to trump second year in office the republicans might hold the reins of power in washington but the softer claims deal maker has been unable to strike one with his own government. aleksandr phone number has been following the latest from washington for us under great to see you we are now one year into the trump administration but with demonstrations like the women's march it seems like the country is more divided than ever what are you hearing on the

ground about how people are feeling about this first year of trump as you said after the election president trump promised to unite the country and today i talked to protesters here in washington and they told me that they think that this school has not been achieved they told me they think that president trumps first year in office was a disaster some of them told me they think that is a sexist and a racist and they do not approve and they think he dies or tweeds and meanwhile we have to say that donald trump approval ratings nationwide is at a wreck or though and more and more republicans in congress are coming forward criticizing the president's conduct his controversial remarks saying that they

job is to work with the president not for the president. and speaking of congress we see that trump has accused democrats of blocking the financial built in order to ruin his inauguration celebrations but really we're looking at this who stands to lose the most from the shutdown. well you know traditionally it is the party that is in control of congress and according to polls more americans think that it's the president and the republicans to be blamed for the crisis and indeed we have to add the president he praises himself as a deal maker and he was not able to. make a deal and actually we have to say that the republicans and the democrats in the senate they were quite close to agreement on the immigration and border security

and it was still no trump who said that he wouldn't support this compromise. for us on the ground in washington d.c. thank you very much. now on to some of the other stories making news around the world check officials say a fire at a hotel in central prague has killed two people they say dozens are injured at least five seriously the blaze broke out at the eurostar is david hotel near the historic center of the city because the fire is not fair. police in nigeria say that two americans and two canadians kidnapped in the north of the country have been freed the four were in the state of when they were seized in an ambush on tuesday two of their police escorts were shot dead in the incident one person has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping. pope francis has conducted a mass in a region of peru hit by devastating floods

a year ago some two hundred thousand people attended the service in a northern coastal town often affected by storms the pontiff later visited a local seminary school. veteran irish politician gerry adams has handed over the leadership of the nationalist party to mary lou mcdonald adams led the party for thirty four years and was no crowned the world as the political face of the irish republican movement which renounced violence in two thousand and five. germany is on tenterhooks this weekend ahead of a key vote that could determine the country's political future on sunday the center left social democratic party will decide whether to enter coalition talks with merkel's conservatives social democrat leader martin shelters in favor of forming a new so-called grand coalition but he faces resistance from within his own party former coalition talks can only begin if she gets a yes vote from the gathering of social democrat delegates in bonn

a no vote could lead to a minority government or two fresh elections. sunday is a big day for the s.p.d. party leader martin schultz he'll face one of his most difficult votes so far is. that we will have lively and controversial debates we just had a long meeting with party leadership and the debate was similarly animated. but the brandenburg state premier is confident his party will vote for a new coalition government the people in this country expect us to act they expect the social democrats to look after the people i'm thinking about poverty among the elderly or pensions nursing care insurance people need us to action now. six hundred delegates a-g. to vote on whether to enter a coalition talks with merkel's conservatives some s.p.d. regional groups have already made their recommendations but delegates here are free

to vote according to their conscience five regional groups have come out in favor of launching coalition talks lower saxony and. brandenburg but three other states. have recommended voting no the wild card is north rhine-westphalia which is sending the highest number of delegates to the conference social democrats they're split on how to vote. it's going to be a tight result and i think we're going to back coalition tox much of our base may be skeptical and we are too but at the end of the day we want to shape policy and no one wants new elections. the head of the social democrats youth wing sees that differently s.p.d. members have been leading the charge against the grand coalition next week we'll see the eightieth birthday of an artist who turned the art world upside out. jr

lets the rebellious painter and sculptor likes to paint portraits this way these days basil that still loves to swim against the stream an exhibition of his life's work is about to open an. art turned upside down an ingenious concept which paved the way for in the one nine hundred seventy s. it helped the artist blaze his own path between abstraction and realism as a young artist he resisted the demands of his teachers to commit to a set style. since i couldn't do that i tried to replicate my subjects i fought against expectations and tried to do something else and ended up with the portraits of my friends which are all upside down. under. basel it's works entities and provoke he adores conformity and the mainstream works from six decades including the heroic portraits from his early period or on

exhibit at the foundation. in tribute to the artist eightieth birthday the show also has a recent works on display fresh from his studio. i've been working on my own pictures for a lifetime and all of them are present in my mind really present and i try to improve them or continue them. at eighty basel it still has boundless energy and unrestrained creative power. champion angelique kerber has stormed into the second week with a comprehensive win over maria sharapova cabot was on top throughout winning six one six three the top women seed simona halep also remains on track after fending off american lauren davis a tense battle that took nearly four hours won the marathon final set fifteen thirteen in the men's draw

a reigning champion roger federer was as dominant as ever in his match the swiss master beat france's reshad gus get in straight sets and novak djokovic also won in straight sets he beat spain on vino last six two six three six three the serbian is chasing a record seventh australian open title. carlos science has triumphed in the dock rally for the second time the fifty five year old spaniard racked up victory in the car section on the final stage through the argentinian city of cordova off the former all former double world rally champion gave their third win in three years in the two week long event the french carmaker is quitting the grueling and durrance race after this year science one previously in two thousand and ten. the bonus they get to show follows after the break with all of saturday's goals so don't go away there's been some surprise results today see if plucky freiburg could get the better of last season's runner up runners up

rb at leipsic down in the black forest that's the bonus they get coming up shortly . and that's your news rob join us again at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and information on our web site t w dot com i'm irish waiter thanks for watching. every journey begins with the first step and every language but the first word in the. eco is in germany to learn german why not learn the simple online on your mobile and free shop d w z e learning course you can speak german maybe you can see .