this is d.w. news live from turkey presses on with its offensive in syria despite international criticism turkish troops and allied syrian forces are advancing on the kurdish enclave of a friend of the turkish president says there's no turning back as the u.n. leaves calls for the strikes we'll bring you a live update from istanbul also on the program india's prime minister opens the world economic forum there and promoting warns against barriers to free trade as the united states places a fifty percent tariff some so many poles. and heavy snowfall trends avalanches

crashing down across the alps cutting off ski resorts and leaving holiday makers struck. with. a welcome to the program turkey has intensified its military offensive against kurdish militias in northern syria despite calls from the international community for restraint and perhaps promise that it will press on with itself for asian and african against groups that it regards as terrorists. operation all of branch is anything but a peace offering the following airstrikes the turkish military with the support of regional allies is marching across the border into northern syria turkey's president has pledged an unrelenting campaign against the syrian kurdish militia which he considers a terrorist group. will handle a free and there's no stepping back we have an agreement with our russian friends

kind of also discuss that with the u.s. and other coalition forces. i mean it's the attacks russia has pulled back its ground troops from the region to avoid accidental clashes experts say turkey is looking to russia for further support. this is inevitably going to mean more close cooperation with russia for turkey and. this is probably russians through to pull turkey. three thing is it. the u.s. position meanwhile remains ambiguous having backed the kurdish militia during the war against so-called islamic state washington is now refraining from direct criticism while urging turkey to quote exercise restraint in its military actions the u.s. is also said it takes turkey's legitimate security concerns seriously the call on

turkey to show restraint was echoed by the u.n. security council on monday but operation all of branch continues to intensify creating yet another front in the seven year syrian civil war. correspondent dorian jones who is covering this story from. dorian so day for this offensive what's going on on the ground. well the fighting appears to be continuing to intensify not only in the rugged mountainous terrain but now increasingly in the villages the numerous villages that dot the are for an enclave there's been reports of very fierce fighting several villages are being captured then recaptured also a lot of very fierce confrontations are occurring over a very strategic mountain there has been continued reports of both sides are claiming to have seized it and then the other side recapturing it on top of that there is all going airstrikes bombardment with turkey air force continue to pound the syrian kurdish militia but those operations are being hampered by very bad

weather heavy fog and clouds on top of that turkish airstrikes also hit the bases in iraq underlining turkey's claim that it places not only problem of terrorism in in syria but also in iraq as well so what then is the end game as far as turkey is concerned or what does it want. and so you've got if you let me just repeat to dorian jones what is turkey's endgame in this what does it want. yeah it looks like we lost the last sounds to dorian germans in istanbul see if we could retrieve that and later in the program meanwhile he says it has discussed its military offensive with the united states and with moscow russia of course you heard in the report responded by withdrawing its troops from africa so does this

mean russia has given its blessing to this operation pavel felgenhauer is a russian military analyst he joins us from moscow welcome to d.w. has russia given operation olive branch its blessing. de facto yes that's a that's a positive there are rushed there is where is a small russian contingent woke kind of in a frame and the kurds believe that while the russians are there they're more or less secured of the turks will not attack and the third to share for us will not appear because the russians all kind of on agreement with the met with the pentagon were covering that part of syria but the turkish military high rebel delegation came to moscow last week they had talks with here in the russian defense ministry in general staff and apparently they reached a package the deal that the russians allow de facto the. turks to go

on a freeing while the turks so well the russians and the their allies from the pro asked that force as an iranian forces to go for the syrian opposition in the. so this is a kind of two thing there's two operations happening similar thing as slee russian operation in the so-called former announced the conflicting zone and turkish operation against the kurds. the kurds appear to be indispensable in the fight against islamic states now that that fight appears to have been won it did look to the rest of us and so they've been abandoned. well there is an i beam that i've been in court just on i know the kurds they kind of always say the kurds have no friends only the mountains are the the friends of

the kurds they had been abandoned by outside powers who kind of used them and then abandoned them many times in their history they say they're used to that to some extent but because for the bigger powers there's always the bigger picture and the kurds are sort of dispensable i would believe that right now for russia of course it's important that the turks allow them to go for parts of the and nuestro front in the opposition and it will province but there's even a bigger target that's to put the wedges between turkey and the nato and its western allies because for russia the greek the greek real prize would be break up if not a break out of turkey from its alliance with the west and america and then russia could more or less believe that it can secure the black sea straits which has been an objective for moscow for generations i would say and generations of russian

rulers i see very clear thank you pavel felgenhauer in moscow. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world clashes and fist fights broke out in germany over airport overnights during a demonstration against a to is military operation in syria protesters chanting fascist marched with sides and iraqi tribes down flags the situation was quickly brought under control. a tsunami warning issued for the west coast of the united states and canada has been lifted of the warning followed a seven point nine magnitude quake a two hundred fifty kilometers off alaska's kodiak island footage posted on twitter initially showed streams of cars leaving the island after residents were warned to move to higher ground and. officials in the philippines are warning us of violence eruption of the country's most active volcano could be imminent now it's my own has been spewing lava and ash prompting all thoughts is to expand the danger zone

around it thousands of people living nearby have been told to leave the area. and is prime minister narendra modi has delivered the keynote speech at the opening of the world economic forum in davos switzerland is trying to drum up investment in one of the world's fastest growing economies in his speech mr modi stressed india's rich cultural and spiritual history as a unique selling point for the country. this is the first time up to twenty years that india's prime minister is attending the world economic forum in the swiss alps and he has brought a large delegation it includes six ministers and one hundred business representatives they are all here to show that india is open for business if you want wellness along with wealth then you must come to india if you're seeking wholeness in life along with help then you must come to india if you're seeking peace along with prosperity then the answer is you must come to india. out of my.

i got to. prosperity gets out the south there. last year india's economy grew six point seven percent failing to meet market expectations but i'm melissa expect modi's economic reforms to drive growth. but i was shocked at first it is necessary that the big powers of the world have cooperative relations among them it is necessary that a sense of competitiveness among the major nations of the world does not become a wall between them we will have to set aside differences to face these challenges and work together for a larger vision. an open global economy that is what indian prime minister mori is calling for for many here this is an alternative to the america for a strategy of u.s. president trump is expected later this week. further than usual so falls in the alps of cut off towns and higher elevations and increase the risk of avalanche

thousands of holiday i went to holiday makers are trapped in some of the mountain ranges most popular ski resorts a report starts in serve that they are the swiss border with italy. no escaping the power of nature in these swiss alps avalanches have been falling down these mountains all around the ski resort of so matt it's the second time in a month heavy snow has cut off the town leaving thousands stranded this. is not the only swiss resort where locals and tourists alike are trapped getting in and out of suntan tourney a near death for us is almost impossible. to have more than thirty five years lives uncertain but i never saw so much snow like today to last the past week the police tell us that that's forbidden to leave the house you have to stay inside right and no route and you have to secure lation and where we have no past we have no

possibilities to go was the train all the traffic is closed. in the italian alps the road to chevy neah has been closed for the third time in a month it's estimated that five thousand people are stuck in the ski resorts. the risk of avalanche has also affected roads around salzburg in western austria. and snow is also a big issue at the world economic forum in davos for many it's all hands on deck to ensure the meeting runs as smoothly as possible. here in germany divisions between the countries up to two. well governing partners are showing even as they prepare to launch formal coalition talks and america's conservative bloc has the social democrats to finish the talks quickly and deliver the country and you government the left of center s.p.d. says it will negotiate hard to push its agenda. light snow falling outside

conservative headquarters last night the kind of inclement weather that matches germany's political mood at the moment with the country waiting for government to be given the green light party leaders have been hammering out a negotiation schedule behind closed doors. during sunday's party conference the social democrats instructed their leaders to extract further concessions. by the team and we will talk again about all the issues we raised during the exploratory talks it's quite clear that in the end the full coalition negotiations will always involve compromises that both sides will have to make senior conservatives however are signaling there's little room to maneuver especially on the s.p.d. is demands for liberal immigration policies. this is it's important for us conservatives to hold our line on migration but there cannot be more migration and we need less we need stricter regulations especially in terms of family

reunifications we cannot start that debate again. one of the rising stars in the s.p.d. parliamentary leader under novelist's has promised to squeeze the conservatives until in her words they squeal analysts believe the s.p.d. will be a prickly partner. opposition within the party. and coalition so in that way the social democrats will be kind of complicated within this polish government they will be not easy partner for the christian democrats for now political winter still has germany in its grip with weeks of negotiation ahead before a coalition is finally formed. the nominations for this year's oscars are in the shape of water tops a list with thirteen nods and del toro's fantasy romance is in the running for best picture and best director sally hawkins was nominated for best actress for her leading role world war two drama was next with eight nominations three billboards

outside everything was already received seven. became only the fifth woman to be nominated for a best director award for lady bits that's it you're up to date i'll have more for you at the top of the hour in the meantime of course there's always the web site the w dot com have a good.