big news live from bird lane can they deliver a grand coalition of german chancellor angela merkel's conservatives and the social democrats finally begin formal talks to forge a new government chancellor merkel speaking at end of those talks right now let's listen at the end beginning. with this good moment all fulfill what puzzlement all four men all feel for though

it's not that's been views that is that see that they need this are their goals that we wanted to work towards we're going to negotiate quickly. we want to form a government quickly and so i'm optimistic but i will also be very determined in these talks that we receive achieve results. and i would like to take do those in the shortest possible time. you have been watching german chancellor angela merkel speaking there at the c.d.u. headquarters in berlin where germany is moving one step closer to getting a new government formal coalition talks between the chancellor who we just heard from and the social democrats are finally getting underway at this hour more than four months after germans went to the polls to elect a new government as well as germany's future government also at stake in these talks the political futures of the two party leaders the social democrats only

narrowly voted to begin the negotiations at a special conference party conference this past weekend now as p.t. chairman martin schultz is has indicated that he is unlikely to stay on as leader if those talks fail and if they don't fail the s.p.d.m. four hundred forty thousand members will vote on whether to approve it here is what their party leader said going into the talks have less relief on. the negotiations building on the results already achieved in the. different social democratic mode so we don't agree with you know the document i share with you is going to be of use and that was the head of the s.p.d. party speaking a short while ago for more let's cross over to our political correspondent who is standing outside of the c.d.u. headquarters in berlin where as we mentioned those talks are taking place in homs we just heard from the german chancellor also angela merkel a few moments ago basically saying that the goal is to form

a government quickly i mean that's quite a statement for her to make given that it has been four months since the election is this finally the start of forming a new government at last. yes i think we have to say this is the start it's a strange ritual in german politics that the talks that have been going on for the past two months have all been regarded as exploratory as not really definitive but what is starting today other definitive negotiations about the nitty gritty about the details of a new contract as it were a new treaty for such a coalition government so yes indeed things are starting right now but what has in fact happened in this party congress that you mentioned last weekend where the social democrats gave the go ahead from their party's side to these talks was of the social democrats put together further demands that they want to bring into these discussions in the sense put up further hurdles and one of my colleagues has

been looking at what those demands are let's have a look at that. it's been a long road to get to this point and the politicians aren't nearly done with their demands yet america's conservative alliance says they won't allow for any quote cherry picking of the twenty page document that both sides have already agreed to in the preliminary negotiations the social democrat leaders on the other hand are promising to quote make them squeal and extract more concessions from the conservatives during the coalition talks but is there even room for more negotiation at this point let's take a look now at the big issues that the social democrats want to bring back to the table. number one health insurance the s.p.d. wants to end the so-called two tiered health care system right now doctors in germany earn more when they see patients with private insurance first as those with the public plants insuring no one would get preferential treatment. number two jobs more than a million people in germany are employed on temporary contracts this is especially

true for young people up to the age of thirty four the s.p.d. wants to allow temporary contracts only in extraordinary cases for example when a full time employee has to be replaced because of a pregnancy or illness. and number three the perennial issue of refugees the refugee question was a central theme for the s.p.d. during the campaign sense twenty sixteen so-called refugees with limited protections are not granted full asylum in germany and exist in a sort of legal limbo they will not be sent back to their homelands due to the danger there but they also cannot bring over family members but many social democrats are still pushing for exemptions in cases of particular hardship. yet another round of talks and so much to wade through before germany gets its next government. you know so

a lot of policy is up for debate there are a lot of work to do in order to build some consensus and you know when we heard from german chancellor angela merkel speaking just moments ago she really had an optimistic tone going into because meetings i just want to play that for our viewers now and then get your reaction there after. for folks in garden do know. this is. good and correct because we are beginning with the actual coalition he talks i believe the exploratory talks created a very good framework. that's what's important to me is that we. set future absence for germany and that these talks move forward quickly that we. digital ization for our children for future generations for schools. we need more

investment for germany. we need to make germany into a place where startups are also more easily made possible and it's not only a call to europe but it is a call to germany here these are the goals that i want to make real with him and we're going to work fast towards them and. i think we will move quickly towards forming a new government and i'm going into these talks both optimistically and very determinedly that this will take place in the shortest possible time thank you the german chancellor laying out there where she stands on the issues also laying out what she hopes will be speed going into these talks that that a coalition will be formed quite quickly over to you now is there optimism that

that indeed will transpire here. there is a sense of urgency obviously has never taken so long in germany ever before since the second world war to form a new government so everyone's waiting for that including in the world and in europe so there is a sense of urgency and i think one can say there is a sense of optimism as well that some form of coalition agreement will be hammered out in the next couple of weeks that the social democrats if the leadership at least and the conservatives can agree on but there is one further step after that which will take a little bit of further time and that is that the social democrats have said that they want all their more than four hundred thousand members to vote on the results of these talks that will add another three or three weeks or so it is said to the timetable so while there is a sense of urgency one still has to say it will probably be the end of march before

finally a government is sworn in as brant standing by for us outside of the city you headquarters there in berlin where as we mentioned formal coalition talks between chancellor angela merkel's conservatives and the social democrats are finally kicking off getting under way at this hour hons thank you so much for putting it into context for us. let's get a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world. the new york times says that u.s. president donald trump planned to fire prosecutor robert muller just two weeks after he took over the f.b.i.'s russia investigation it says that trump only backed down after his top lawyer threatened to resign or if true it could bolster miller's potential case of obstruction of justice against the president. a brazilian court has barred former president luis ignacio lula da silva from leaving the country a federal judge ordered authorities to seize the seventy two year old's passport

earlier this week an appeals court upheld list corruption conviction and increase his sentence to twelve years in jail. parliament and on do it us has begun its new legislative period amid furious protests opposition parties reject the reelection of president one orlando hernandez. he is set to be sworn in for a second term on saturday at least thirty one people have died in protest since the disputed november election. to turkey now where president has traveled to his country's border with syria for a briefing on the turkish offensive against kurdish forces there on january twentieth turkey began what it calls operation olive branch it's targeted the area around afrin in northern syria in an attempt to clear the town of kurdish militia which turkey views as a security threat the attacks have opened up a new front in the already complex syrian civil war look for more let's bring in

correspondent you leon who is following the story for us from istanbul good morning to you we know that the turkish troops are continuing the offensive and attempting to move east words what our president wants plans there. well almost a week into the african campaign now took soldiers and their rebel allies appear to have made only limited gains so far at least that's what we hear from the border region. of course the plan is first to take over the enclave offer in and then move further east towards another majority kurdish area called monday each that's more than one hundred kilometers away from where the turkish army is right now and that's also where u.s. troops are stationed so moving further east for the turkish military means increasing the risk off confronting a nato ally but the turkish government that's what i get from recent remarks is willing to take this risk so this is one worst case scenario that international

observers are discussing right now another one is the possibility of the syrian government actually intervening on the halls of the kurdish forces in north and syria at least the for in a regional authority cold for help cold on bashar al assad to intervene and help protect the syrian border against the turkish military so this shows you how complex the situation can get and how messy it is actually on the ground and despite the fact that it is messy there i mean it does have broad support among turks right why is the. well patriotism and nationalism are really running deep in turkish society and that's what political leaders are using and appealing to when mobilizing when actually preparing the population for such a military offensive and there is

a strong enemy image here i mean for on curry the syrian kurdish fighters are practically the same as the outlaw p k k that is fighting a war inside turkey since decades so there is a strong am enemy image here and of course media reporting has been very much in favor of this offensive so this is shaping public opinion you barely hear any critical voices let me show you what i mean i follow the reports here from istanbul let's have a look at this. war on every channel the military operation in syria is the top story on turkish television the tenor of the reporting they repaired how ugly critical the majority of to people it seems support operation all of branch in this teahouse at least no one thinks the offensive is a mistake the terrorists are looking for an opportunity to divide the country but

we will not. be. fighting against isis and other terrorist groups those who don't want to help us should at least not stand in our way out of the angel motion of. the army fighting in. and strengthen it and i hope that. we will take home to reason that it is the. new beautiful when i'm absolutely sure of it. turkish politicians agree as well and it's not just the ruling a.k. party that supports the offensive in syria opposition leader came out kill it stole says he also backs the operation as does meryl action are the head of the new party that wants to challenge president dredge of tired aragon in the next election she tweeted that she's praying for a glorious army the only party to condemn the offensive is the pro kurdish h d p jamie a former spokesperson calls it inacceptable. and you could have to put

a lot of the olive branch has always been a symbol of peace but now it is stained with blood it's also the one is extending the olive branch to bashar al assad in syria who once used to be his allies it was not much but this operation is an attempt to massacre the kurds opus we hope that statements like this one by jimmy are dangerous right now in the past days the turkish government has detained dozens of people including politicians activists and journalists for criticizing the military operation in syria the official charged terrorist propaganda. the journalist who knows servile colleagues who got into trouble with authorities over reports criticizing the offensive he says the government gave editors of turkey's leading media outlets directives on how to report petrino sickly. i mean you know how all of the newspapers have similar

headlines. this is actually government propaganda. for their journalists my sense of themselves to avoid trouble. unfortunately i can't do you proper journalism in turkey anymore. but mahmoud a columnist for the government friendly daily disagrees he says the government is not influencing coverage of the offering offensive. when it comes to national security every journalist bears responsibility that's how it is everywhere in the world. but that doesn't mean they're not free to report on everything but there are some media and intellectuals in turkey who cannot use a freedom of speech with hatred of the government. to be out of the offensive enough in looks set to stay turkey's main story for now the government has announced that it intends to further expand the operation. and as we saw there in your report we saw some turks basically mentioning their doubts about this ongoing

offensive do you have the sense that their voices are being heard. well barely so actually i mean since most of the parties the major political parties are supporting the operation critical voices are not given any ad time on pro-government channels so you would really have to look for those critical voices somewhere else in independent online media for example but as journalist mentioned self-censorship is a really big issue here many journalists fear for their safety for the family's safety so it's really it's become really difficult for them to speak out and to criticism. yulia han in istanbul thank you. a fire has torn through a hospital for the elderly in south korea killing at least thirty seven people and injuring dozens more the disaster unfolded in the southeastern city

a mere young reports say that the fire broke out in the emergency room of the hospital and soon engulfed the building firefighters needed several hours to extinguish the blaze a cause is still unknown. daring rescue from the place that was supposed to offer them care for the elderly and critically ill were overcome with smoke as the fire and got off the first floor of the hospital. officials say the blaze could have been much worse. he will. turn as you saw or logical some can we stop the fire from spreading from the first to the second floor early on. to or got them going get all you chilled out i mean we also prevented it from spreading any further. hundreds were evacuated and transferred to other infirmaries an official revealed that the hospital did not have sprinklers

as they were not legally mandatory. forensics teams were soon on the scene collecting evidence president moon in held an emergency meeting with advisers and promised a thorough investigation. into communion even the president said that the cause of the victims' deaths should be determined quickly for the sake of the families authorities should inspect the life support and medical equipment to see if they contributed to the deaths of the fire broke out where patients were in critical care. i took pity. on through click with well. it's the country's second deadly blaze in just two weeks twenty nine people died after a sports center caught fire in december substandard construction and blocked emergency exits contributed to the deaths. more from south korea and now we're heading to switzerland where monica jones in standing by with the latest from davos

it's the last day but there's no sign of slowing down sarah quite the contrary the high poll and off today's proceedings is likely to be u.s. president donald trump's closing address that he arrived in the mountain resort in davos late on thursday and he wasted no time in getting cozy with his p.s. flanked by the c.e.o.'s of two major german corporations a.p. and siemens trump got straight down to business the eagle had finally landed president trump's arrival in davos was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated moment at the world economic forum so far but not everyone was pleased to see him there. he started his visit with an informal dinner with a group of some of europe's most powerful business executives and just as had been expected he wasted no time in pushing his america first agenda congratulations i just want to say that there's been a lot of warmth

a lot of respect for our country and a lot of money billions and billions of dollars is coming into the u.s. and people are very happy with what we've done not only on the tax bill but also cutting of regulations and i think also prematurely or for a country you know if you're not a cheerleader for your company or for your country. no matter what happens it's not going to work and that's what i've been and that's what my whole group has been so his audience included top executives from corporate giants including nakia volvo and siemens the business leaders seated around the table introduce themselves and describe what their respective companies were doing to make america great again. trump is due to give the w a f closing address later today of just over four hundred speeches which have been made during the forum this one is likely to attract the most attention. now than donald trump of course is a controversial u.s. president but he also seems to be the darling of the corporate world been facility

told this from. zeman c.e.o. joe kayser personally congratulated mr trump for his tax reforms at a dinner last night he says it's the reason why his company is investing in gas turbines and developing them in the united states a lot of money goes into that europe's top managers employ tens of thousands of workers in the u.s. and trump is and industrialists dream he's cutting corporate taxes reducing regulation and also weakening environmental standards conservationists are up in arms about that and global leaders are not too happy about his trade policies they're very protectionist and they say that's damaging to the global economy n.g.o.s here are also very critical of mr trump they say his agenda america first is more about putting billionaires first and pursuing in their reporting from davos

while european investors are also keeping an eye on. and a lot of those investors are in frankfurt where standing by for us only trump per gathering corporate bosses of europe any reaction way you are perhaps speculation on what the mood was like then. i spoke to some traders about what the mood could have been like sitting next to donald trump at an event like that and they refused to speculate because they can't begin to imagine what it must have been like and one guy said you know. you have to go donald trump said that if you're a head of a company if you're president you have to be a chief cheerleader basically that's the assumption here as well if you're the head of the humans or as a p. also saw the head of doesn't propose sitting at the table on the other side then you have to represent the interests of your shareholders and hundreds of thousands of workers and another guy said he wouldn't like to go on second thought he would

to see the guy up close is he really what it's like on t.v. but in the end he's successful that's what the people here say with tax reform getting money into the states and whatever you think of donald trump as u.s. president he has been quite a market what are investors looking for in his upcoming davos speech today. i think people are hoping that he will reiterate what he said earlier that he wants a strong dollar the market was up in arms in the e.c.b. at a loss of how to react on the remarks by stephen minutiae in the treasury secretary who indicated the weaker dollar was in u.s. interest no donald trump said that was misquoted he wants a stronger dollar and that took up the dollar and took down the euro and that's to the markets liking and i think there's a wish but probably not a very realistic expectation that donald trump dial back a little on the america first tune he's the cheerleader of has come from his

country people know that they fear what he will be saying today on protectionism not helpful they fear away when you've got some front to thank you so much for this . believe it or not not everybody is looking to davos some. people rather watching a bowl rowing from left to right and right to lifts and of course what we're talking about football soccer as some call it that is because the bundesliga never turns to action tonight as i tracked frankfurt host bill rosia linton gladbach now both of these teams they find themselves at the sharp end of the table but the title seemingly byron munich's to lose their focus is on getting a european spot for next season have a look. are flying high this season with the club in the race for a european spot. this despite a run of form that could be described as inconsistent and part june the injury list

. with the news that several key players like will be back in the squad to coach is feeling upbeat this was a president of the things are getting better for us because the players that were out for a long time training. this helps me build up the squad and i also have more players to choose from. but both will be hoping to take advantage of frankfurt's less than impressive home form the eagles have only managed to win a paltry two games on their own turf starkly different to the railway record which is only bettered by people in this league leaders by on several big names. among the marco fabiana and alex meyer peter hacking expects a tough encounter in frankfurt. team book i watched that game. and they played well but he seems it seems. to be among

the teams vying for a spot in months of. well we know it's not going to be an easy game. is on the cards with the winner being catapulted into second spot in the bundesliga titles. a quick reminder now the top stories that we're following for you formal coalition talks between chancellor angela merkel's conservatives and the social democrats are finally getting underway more than four months. in the polls to elect a new government says that she. can be. a reasonable timeframe you have today thanks for watching.

the international. for journalists discuss the living mean feat colleton t. semitic is germany. a german boy was bullied and attacked because of his jewish heritage . opinions arguments analysis. on d.w.i. . lights camera attraction the best start of our show. the mind come to some odd way the human are bad french odd

moments. more drama the fabulous mountains of sounds to all offer a spring time should a century and my mother sounds terribly five minutes long doubling. this you know i mean in your minutes i'm going yes what i have posted that what i'm focused on him is you know what i'm with what i'm organize here i know what is it there. was here it is as if to say yes it can i've only said that i caught it going on what they're doing fun to. learn german with w. any time any place. with her with jo jo and her friends. it's tough to believe. we friends all over the world. online and interactive. german to go and. learn

german. hello and welcome to quadriga this saturday is international holocaust remembrance day the murder of more than six million jews by the nazi regime is a defining fact of germany's post-war identity and the country has worked to confront it yet.