this is detailed in the news blog from berlin will they or won't think of any social democrats seek last minute unity ahead of a vote that could decide the country's political future acts take our coalition talks ongoing marcus conservatives will have the latest from the party special congress also coming up. in turkey dr sacks across the border into syria as the country's defense minister says a ground offensive on the new front there is only a matter of time.

hi michelle henery thanks for joining us. german chancellor merkel's future hangs in the balance today the country center left social democrat party is due to hold a key vote on whether to enter a coalition talks with merkel conservatives social democrat leader martin shultz is in favor of forming a coalition but he faces stronger systems from within his own party a no vote could lead to minority government which merkel has already said she won't lead or to fresh elections. i'm joined now by our correspondent thomas sparrow of the s.p.d. congress in bonn. thomas the congress has just started can you tell us what's happened so far. so well you can probably hear martin shows the leader of the social democrats speaking right behind me here in

a barn or he and another prominent member of the party leadership. regional leader of the s.p.d. clearly stated why they believe that the s.p.d. should enter those formal coalition talks with the conservatives they have in particular mentioned that the party could change more within a government than if they went into the opposition in particular in two areas one the keystrokes of democratic areas in the social justice for example pensions or health or other areas like that education and second one in europe that's one that martin shows himself has been very on many occasions stress that it's particularly important for the social democrats of this is not only about the party not only about germany it is also about the future of europe he stressed that him self and this is also part of his speech here in bonn there's talk of a yes vote but with conditions there are some s.p.d. delegates who've said they're they're already going to vote no from their point of

view what are some of the pro and con arguments. well one of the pro arguments is the one that i've just mentioned the idea the s.p.d. could do more for the country and for the people in germany if they are in a coalition government and not if they are out of it that they could still present some of their key proposals being part of a grand coalition although they have said of algae they wouldn't be able to pass every single measure that after all it would be a coalition where the conservatives would also be able to pass some of their proposals the arguments against another grand coalition basically refer to the so-called renewal of the party those who are against it believe that the social democrats suffered a lot under the grand coalition are not the best way in which they could renew their structures and their profile would be from the opposition also if they entered the opposition they would prevent the alternative for germany the party

which got the third best results in the election september becoming the the main leader of the opposition so those are the arguments for and against the grand coalition this vote is not only important for the s.t. but for chancellor merkel what is at stake for her today. well for her is a lot it's a stake and as i mentioned this vote here will decide where the social democrats enter those formal talks with angela merkel angela merkel had already tried to enter another coalition or at least discuss the possibility of entering another coalition with two minor parties the liberals and the greens those talks collapsed and she was left with the only chance of talking to the social democrats in order to form a stable government in germany if the social democrats here decide to vote against that. would be left without coalition partners she would be either forced to have a coalition of minority government something that she doesn't want all the possibility of fresh elections which could also harm her and her party it

essentially could also harm the s.p.d. and that's obviously why the pressure is so high not only for i'm going to michael but also for the conservatives on the social democrats in general to try and form that grand coalition thomas sparrow and don thanks very much. for the kurdish why p.g. militia in syria says it has forced back turkish troops trying to enter the northwestern region of afrin turkey's military announced it has so far struck one hundred fifty three kurdish militia targets in the region it's part of an offensive and calls operation all of branch but it threatens to further inflame the nearly seven year old conflict in syria turkey civilians cheering on the tanks headed towards the syrian border. many support and kurds light is military operation dubbed olive branch. he's inside of turkey why shouldn't we be placed. take his air and ground forces have been

pounding kurdish positions in africa and that targeting the y. page a militia which is backed by the us. took his tanks have been shelling the kurdish controlled syrian on clay and fighter jets have been bombing from the sky and chris says the y. page a is a syrian army of the kurdish workers party opaque. it considers that a terror group. could just on workers party and the why p.g. in syria they couldn't stand worker's party is on the terror list of the us and the e.u. the organization that works within syria is exactly the sign. that the syrian operation doesn't come without risks for turkey of a not sever rockets from syria landed in a turkish border city one person has been reported wounded as turkey escalates its involvement in syria the dangers for civilians grow on both sides of the border.

correspondent delia han joins us for more you know you know we understand that turkish forces have crossed the border into syria and are attacking the african region what more can you tell us. well this weekend turkey opened another front in the syrian war a war that is going on for nearly seven years now making an already very complex situation even more complex yes we have consumation by the military now that the ground offensive has started turkish soldiers have moved into a friend alongside fighters of the so-called free syrian army that's a rebel group supported by ankara and the language coming from the turks is that this is just going to be the start that they're then going to move into another town called monday which about one hundred kilometers further north and there are turkish media reports saying that turkey is aiming at establishing a thirty kilometer so-called safe zone safe zone that's of course the word that is

using here you have to know there are about a couple of thousands of kurdish fighters inside and around africa but also hundreds of thousands of civilians including displaced families from other war ravaged areas in syria and for them the next days are going to be probably anything but safe. turkish president or one has vowed to flush out what he describes as terrorists who are a kurdish enclave in northern syria why do kurdish groups post such a threat to turkey well to keep a long story short turkey consider is the syrian kurdish groups terrorist groups with links to the banned kurdistan workers party the p k k that has waged a decades long fight inside turkey and ankara specially fia's the creation of a kurdish corydoras along its border inside syria and fears that this could further inspire a separatist notions within turkey's kurdish community. the u.s.

and russia are calling on court to stop the operation in northern syria isn't turkey isolating itself by pushing ahead. well this operation is definitely going to complicate relations with both washington and moscow just to highlight the complexity of these old you have to know that turkey a nato ally is now bombing a kurdish groups inside syria that the u.s. on the other hand considers its most important ally in their fight against the so-called islamic state group and russia on the other hand the strongest supporter of syrian president bashar al assad is controlling the end space of both offerings and the russians have now said they will demand in the united nations turkey to stop this oh peroration so we're going to see if turkey really is is backing down or is continuing no matter what you leon thank you very much

now to some of the other stories making news around the world the taliban have claimed responsibility for a deadly siege on a hotel in kabul security forces say the standoff is now over after more than twelve hours of fighting on saturday evening three gunmen stormed the landmark intercontinental hotel killing at least six people. the iraqi government has condemned a german woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to the so-called islamic state of baghdad court said the woman who was moroccan descent had traveled to syria and then to iraq to join the terrorist organization. u.s. vice president mike pence has arrived in jordan on the second leg of his first middle east tour pense is defending president on a controversial move to declare jews lived a couple of israel and is due to meet king abdullah the second later today head of his arrival demonstrators gathered outside the u.s. embassy to protest u.s.

foreign policy in the region. in romania the masses have returned to the streets to protest corruption at the highest level at the heart of the country's ruling elite there were occasional scuffles with police as an estimated fifty thousand people can a first in the capital bucharest with smaller demonstrations taking place across the country was romanians have had enough countries ranked one of the most corrupt in europe and now people are turning on the politicians tens of thousands descended on parliament many carrying giant yellow hands with the slogan all for justice in every people traveled from right across the country to join the demonstration. and necessary nobody paid us to protest with simple citizens who pay taxes and we can no longer tolerate this. since last year romania has seen the biggest wave of popular dissent since the fall of communism

many blame this man for bringing things to a head. his head of the main party in government the social democrats he's banned from becoming prime minister because of a conviction for vote rigging them his party has passed legislation to decriminalize some graft offenses it's also pushed through a judicial overhaul which critics say limits judicial independence the moves haven't just drawn the people's washington and the e.u. have also been sharply critical. does the club hamburg has fired coach marcus because dole it comes the day after the club lost to cologne the league's last place team the two nil loss left hamburg in the relegation zone and seventeenth place to still took over the tainted twenty six team and the club narrowly avoided being sent down last season after saturday's defeat to cologne his

dole told reporters he'd give it his all for the club with passion and heart. has triumphed in the early for the second time the fifty five year old spaniard clinched victory in the final stage through the argentinian city of cordoba the form of double world champion gave their third win in three years in the week long event the french carmaker is quick. after this year science previously won in two thousand and ten. finished second place. has taken place in america instead of africa because of security concerns. and just a reminder of the top stories we're following for you the head of germany. the

head of the vote that could decide the country's political future. talks with. a new government. friendly part of. operation. one hundred fifty three kurdish militia targets in syria. just download our app from google play or from the apple store. to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also. photos. you can get the latest on our website. in the meantime thanks for watching and.

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