this is. from berlin a new frontline in a new war in the middle east turkey defies international criticism and pushes ahead with its offensive in syria turkish troops and syrian forces are advancing on the kurdish enclave of afrin the goal to destroy kurdish militia which turkey labels as terrorists you win says the fighting has already displaced five thousand people and left many others trapped also coming out activists slammed germany's latest repatriation of afghan migrants just days after

a deadly taliban attack in kabul we'll hear from one of the organization's criticizing the government. and the world economic forum gets underway in davos with a free trade plea from india's narendra modi but not everyone is thrilled by the gathering of the global business elite in this was. it's good to have you with the night to turkey is intensifying its military offensive against kurdish militias in northern syria and that despite criticism from the international community the united nations says the fighting is already displaced five thousand people and left vulnerable civilians trapped says it will press on with its operation in africa and against groups that it regards as terrorists. turkish forces firing on come as she and other towns

along the syrian turkish border officials say their aim is to divert attention from the main campaign their advance on the kurdish enclave of our frayne it's the fourth day of a push by turkish forces and their syrian rebel allies to clear the northwestern border enclave of kurdish y p g fighters and correct considers the y. p.g. to be allies of kurdish insurgents who for decades have force against the turkish state within its own borders and turkey wants to prevent kurds from gaining their own independent territory but ankara has promised an unrelenting campaign. bitter terrorist elements will be cleansed from this region. and our brothers came to our country from syria to save their lives. being able to return there and continue their lives in the terra cotta door but they are trying to establish in

the region. the attacks russia has pulled back its ground troops from the region washington back to the kurdish why p.g. militia during the war against so cool the islamic state but is now refraining from direct criticism while urging turkey to quote exercise restraint in its military actions the u.s. has also said it takes to legitimate security concerns seriously. well there's some tough talk coming from turkey yet it concedes that it discussed this military offensive with the u.s. and with moscow beforehand well let's pull in our correspondents in russia and the us tonight your english other joins us from moscow and michele macneill is in the u.s. capital washington to both of you good evening yuri i want to start with you can we confirm what russia is saying did it give turkey its blessing for this operation

all of branch. hi brenda there was indeed a small russian contingent enough for it contingent and to the chorus believed even the russians who was there would be more or less safe from turkish attacks experts say the kurds obviously believe that the turkish apheresis wouldn't come because russia has a sort of agreement with the pentagon covering that part of syria but last week a turkish military location came to moscow for told with the russian minister of defense and apparently they reached a deal the deal supposedly allowed turkish forces to go to a free mean while turkey for its part allowed russian iranian and syrian forces so everyone fighting on the syrian government's side to bomb to this here in the position in the loop so they have obviously been to operations going on at the same time on the ground as rational duration in one of the so-called these collation zones and to the turkish operation against the kurds ok if we go to operations going on when once the dust settles i mean yuri what does russia plan to get out of

all of this. well russia is a big military power brand to that the has become an influential player in the region for russia it seems to be very important to the turkey a lot of them to fight against parts of the so-called al nusra front which is a part of the syrian opposition in egypt province province so there is obviously something big at stake here as well moscow wants to drive a wedge between turkey and nato between turkey and its western allies because for russia the greatest prize could be if turkey breaks with the west and is special with united states yes speaking of the united states what are we to make of washington's luke warm reaction to all of this. let me ask you i mean why why has america's response so far been so muted. well because washington is walking a very fine line on this issue i mean the u.s.

clearly doesn't want to anger turkey a key nato ally but of course it has also no interest in an all out extensive a war against the kurds because of course the course played a key role in defeating isis the islamic state in syria so the u.s. so the u.s. in a way is in a very difficult position here and we heard from europe that one of russia's aims here really is to destabilize already strained relations between turkey and the u.s. so let me show you how is the u.s. reacting to that if we if one of the goals of russia is to see to nato allies basically fall out with each other well it seems to be that for now at least the u.s. is siding with with turkey a key nato ally and not the kurds this is of course contingent on on this this this is a kurdish district defensive not not extending beyond

a few days probably and also not being it becoming an odd war against the kurds but it seems that so far when push comes to shove the u.s. sites with them with its key nato ally instead of the kurds and. michelle let me start with you i mean the kurds they were indispensable in the fight against islamic state they were considered the best ground troops that the u.s. led coalition had against islamic state in syria and now we've got a different conflict is the u.s. willing to let its best ground troops just in to be delivered to the turks and just be abandoned. well it could certainly be read like that right now at least and also critics here in the us who actually actually make that point that you made that the us it's basically leave it leaving the courts out hanging to dry and and this could only change and as i said before if if perhaps this this this this offensive which is supposed to be limited extends and becomes

a full fledged war than then it could be that the u.s. will will will try to rein in turkey and briefly i mean is that how we'd seen in moscow as well yes it seems that the russians have used the currents to achieve their wide goals goals much more important to moscow than surrendering a small seat in syria brant are the correspondence michelle in washington during the shadow in moscow do both of you thank you very much. the u.s. justice department is confirming that attorney general jeff sessions was questioned by investigators looking into alleged russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election the interview reportedly took place last week behind closed doors of sessions is the first member of donald trump's cabinet known to have been interviewed in the inquiry which aims to establish whether the truck campaign colluded with russia sessions previously served as an adviser to the

campaign or he is known to have had multiple contacts with russian officials during that time. here is some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world a fifteen year old high school student in the u.s. state of kentucky has shot dead two of his fellow students and wounded nineteen others police say he was armed with a handgun he was arrested at the scene the governor of kentucky says he will now be charged with murder and attempted murder a tsunami warning issued for the west coast of the united states and canada has been lifted the warning followed a seven point nine magnitude quake two hundred fifty kilometers off alaska's kodiak island of footage posted on twitter and this really showed streams of cars leaving the island after residents were warned to move to higher ground. officials in the philippines are warning that a violent eruption of the country's most active volcano could be imminent mount mayon has been spewing lava and ash prompting authorities to expand the danger zone

thousands of people living nearby have been told to leave the area. human rights activists here in germany are criticizing a decision by the government to deport more afghan refugees a plane carrying at least seventeen failed asylum seekers took off from dusseldorf airport this evening belen for kabul protesters gathered at the airport to voice their concern they say it's not safe to send people back as highlighted by repeated attacks in afghanistan one hundred fifty five afghans have been deported from germany over the past year some deportation flights had to be cancelled because the pilots refused to fly. so i'm joined now by stefan do involved from the refugee support organisation the refugee camps all in munich tonight it's good to have you on the show let me ask you about these deportations you are against

them why so we see that afghanistan is a country in goal which is also confirmed by the united nations and so the against and a sort of deportations. constant this includes deportations from artist on and iran especially from europe with the german government says that the afghans being sent back are convicted criminals afghans are not cooperating with immigration authorities and they say they're afghans who are considered to be a security threat these are failed asylum seekers so what's wrong with sending them back that is the proper course when they fail the asylum application process. so he's we say that the government is deciding on files groans

say that there are secure regions in afghanistan they did never clear which regions they declared to be safe and this is something really difficult to do and we have seen that in many cases refugees are not properly defended by noise and to give an example the very as one federal state of germany voted to send back fifteen people and we quote safe so bring from the plane seven of these people and in four cases only in the last days. german courts sit that here in these cases the petition is not possible so. the. let me if i could if i could interrupt you so you're saying then that these asylum seekers are not receiving due

process and that the legal representation that they receive it is not up to par is that what you're saying. yeah that's that's a point i want to make because because we see that many refugees do not get pocket money they don't have money to pay who has. they often have difficulties to even contact lawyers in these cases to look into into the into the files into the cases and. the people who contact us. in deeper taishan custody even in these cases which is which are difficult to handle for these lawyers because they don't have direct contact to refugees even in these cases we have a couple of successful decisions by courts against these people patiently issues as these these strengthens us to say that many of these failed

asylum seekers say really has good claims and have reasons not to be deported but to get protection in germany. stefan doing what with the refugee council joining me tonight from munich mr devolved thank you very much. yes. well staying with the issue of deportation belgium is awaiting the results of an inquiry into the alleged torture of sudanese migrants deported to their home country of the affair has sparked a scandal in brussels with the opposition alleging collaboration between the government and the sudanese regime belgium has since suspended deportations to sudan but migrants from the african country are keeping a low profile w.'s catherine martin's has this exclusive report from brussels. mubarak a thirty six year old refugee from sudan meets us at

a brussels train station. he postponed our rendezvous three times for fear he'd be arrested. he's been holding out here it's much warmer than staying out on the street. he says he hasn't eaten for two days but that what matters most is that he's not sitting in an airplane bound for sudan. he's already had one close call. they tried to make me leave they bought me a plane ticket and said i was sending me back to sudan. i was staying in a reception center in the rashid. looking you know but it is from the capital of south darfur state in southwest sudan he fled to europe through libya and nearly died on the way deportation would be a nightmare for him. and. so i was shocked that they wanted to send me back to sudan. mubarak is one of

a group of refugees belgian would like to send home immediately the opposition says the government in brussels has been secretive about contacts with sudanese officials who helped compile a list of forty one sudanese nationals to deport. the first mistake is you don't collaborate with a dictator especially on something that stays in the shadows and isn't put in writing as soon as we heard about this we denounced it. it was the research of a middle east analyst kurta birth that brought the belgian government activities to light he shows his message exchange with refugees who've already been deported to sudan. bush says it's unacceptable for belgium to send people to war zones where torture is a daily occurrence. i had to contact with dispy people in sudan who told me personally but indeed they have been beaten and have been told that the

belgian going to have some back at least three people who are coming from a war zone mainly south kordofan and food and these people always deserve protection and anyway so that is international law. press a policy that doesn't respect international human rights. so this is sad for us and our country and if you can judge someone's worth by their passport or a piece of paper. the belgian government is under growing pressure declining requests to discuss its deportation practices prime minister sean michel did call for an investigation committee but for many it's come too late. in the meantime a court ruled that mubarak would not be deported so he no longer has to fear being tortured for the time being. the controversial action of the government might hurt belgium's reputation on international level bad timing according to observers as

belgium is campaigning for a permanent seat on the united nations security council well here in germany polls show a nother dip in support for the social democrats as they prepared to enter formal coalition talks with those conservatives as pretty leaders are under pressure from their own party to extract more concessions from the conservatives yesterday says it will negotiate hard to do that the conservatives have hinted there's limited room for maneuver but nothing more the talks are expected to start this week. all right javier is here now the world's business and political elite gathering where the air is thin and that's right and there's a lot of snow these days we're talking about davos in the swiss alps where of course many of the world leaders are there to speak at the annual meeting of the world economic forum one of them was india's prime minister not into morty and he

too defended more cooperation between the world's largest economies against what seems to be a protectionist approach by the current u.s. administration but his message was also a clear promotion for his own country which is sowing steady growth but wants the world to know it's ready for more. it's the first time in twenty years that the head of india's government has come to devils for the world economic forum and he's brought one hundred executives and six ministers along with him. narendra modi's message was simple warning against the protectionist tendencies of some countries is diametrically opposed to u.s. president donald trump has just imposed punitive tariffs on a range of imports. paul said some argue are very many societies and countries are becoming more and more focused on themselves it feels like the opposite of globalization the negative impact of this kind of mindset and wrong

priorities. can't be seen as any less dangerous than climate change or terrorism. modi's speech was greeted with wide acclaim along duffels participants. so i think it's already of great time for india to snapping and into should be a cabaret to as other countries remember modi made climate change the number one priority but i didn't really want to mention modi is also using davos to highlight his country's progress in the switch to sustainable energy a sector he intends to expand forcefully. two weapons the devils turns its attention to europe as well as german chancellor angela merkel the heads of government of france italy and greece are all expected to attend the great and the good may be gathering in davos though to discuss global ills but criticism persists that it is a meeting of the elite who doesn't always pass on wealth to all sectors of society

to talk more about that we can cross over to the w.'s helen humphrey in davos helena oxfam the ngo has a pretty strong stance on this. they certainly do have year in oxfam's inequality report reward work cannot wealth they point out that eighty two percent of all the wealth generated last year is now in the hands of just one percent of the population to discuss how to close that gap i'm joined now by the executive director of oxfam international will be annie my thank you very much for joining us on d.w. what single way what measure would you recommend to close that gap as soon as possible what you want people here to do when they leave this luxury resort you see that inequality that we show in our report of some report is a result of choices that politicians and business people make if they make different choices the gap could close such as so we would like governments

political leaders to take the driving seat and manage the economies for the benefit of the majority are not for the few at the top so for example they should institute a living wage a minimum wage which is a living wage people at the bottom can have a decent life they should make sure that men and women are treated equally in the economy they can use the law to establish the equity for men and women they should make sure the rich and the big companies pay their taxes and stop dodging and then put the money they collect into health and education of all the people because that's the greatest leveller against inequality i want to pick you up on that point regarding gender inequality and income inequality because the two often closely linked what are your thoughts on the times our movement and yet how necessary do you think it is that governments now follow through with this indeed economic inequality and gender inequality are locked together the countries are tough the

why discuss between men and women also have the way disc up in incomes between rich and poor to tackle that you need to talk or both to give you need. to understand that the majority of women that the the poorest people the greatest majority of the poorest people are women and that they are discriminated against through law and also through informal laws lesser traditions the culture the beliefs of people so you have to tackle both and it's not the job of just governments it's also the job of the private sector to tackle social norms that discriminate against women because those social norms actually that are used to justify economy kicks weight ation of women saw two companies companies especially they can use their supply chain how they source they are products they can use they are their factories to ensure that social norms that discriminate women are dealt with they can use their

advertising to address gender inequality and discrimination and violence against women so all of us from politicians to business to religious leaders to women's movements we can all do something let's see if that message is heard here at the world economic forum will be our new media executive director of oxfam international thank you very much it's back over she have you in berlin thank you very much humphrey reporting for us from davos. and there were more voices today in the world economic forum canadian prime minister justin to door said canada is set to sign the reason recta transpacific partnership along with ten other asia pacific countries to do or used the davos stage as a platform to promote free trade in advance of u.s. president trump appearance later in the week the canadians had backed out of the t p p last year after the u.s.

pulled out due to the trump administration's isolationist stance transpacific agreement is now set to be signed in early march. and while all of this was going on thousands of anti-capitalists protesters marched in zurich to demonstrate against u.s. president strums upcoming visit to the world economic forum in davos many of them carried anti-globalization and environmentalist placards as they marched towards zurich financial district some have warned that the u.s. president's polarizing persona could wreck the violent anti w e f protests seen in the early two thousand earlier today backers in zurich were warned to stay clear of the demonstration in switzerland financial capital. and it's time for a soccer transfer saga and sports friends actually write in some interesting names to you javier british media reporting that dortmund's a star striker pierre emerick obama yob is on the verge of

a move to arsenal obama is considered one of the best strikers in the world he was the biggest leaguers top scorer last season with thirty one goals and has been a key figure at dortmund since joining him twenty thirty arsenal manager arsene wenger confirmed that arsenal are in talks to sign him but they wouldn't comment on a possible deal. confident or not going to do i don't know. if the moment we have done. the. close to do any deal. our the nominations for this year's oscars are in the shape of water tops the list with thirteen nods. fantasy romance is in the running for best picture and best director sally hawkins was nominated for best actress for her leading role of human world war two drama doesn't care she is next with eight nominations the movie that's dominating the hollywood award season of three billboards outside missouri

received. the oscars take place on the fourth of more. after a break i'll be back to take you through the day stick around for that. coming

. to see a culture. the media in germany always has its finger on the cause. of the world. are good the. instruments the world. belonging to one official estimates more than one point two million venezuelans live in colombia legally and illegally. it's already a goal to to return. visit friends is that i don't think i'd ever go back there to live you know what i live there again i don't know so i'm not sure

. bearing witness global news that matters. made for minds. but in dortmund shall like take a peek at a favorite seems to be got all the best goals make up all the action keep dumping is the home of german football share the experience every match if the fund is legal every weekend here on t.w. . dropping bombs on. the situation escalates it's no longer an issue for scruples. ruthless calculation military leaders or topi extent of the past. technological progress brings with it conflagration massacres. coming. to russia starting february third on w.

kurdish soldiers in syria they were key to the u.s. led coalition's defeat of islamic state they are also considered terrorists by the turks tonight in northern syria the front line of a proxy war between on her own and washington a test of two nato allies whose weapons now run the risk of targeting each other i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day.