violence against children. this is the. quest for a new german government another day another missed deadline germany's main political parties extend their talks on forming a coalition government yet again four months on from the election i'll ask our correspondent what is the hold up also coming up deadly violence targeting the last rebel strongholds in syria activists say government forces drop chlorine on a province last weekend. and it. goes on trial in belgium he's believed to

be the last surviving suspect in the twenty fifteen terrorist attacks with links to bombings in brussels. it's good to have you with us tonight a test of patience here in germany the country's main political parties have yet again extended talks on forming a new coalition government transfer is trying to wrap up a deal between her conservatives and the social democrats who are led by martin schultz germany needs the parties to find a compromise on labor and health policies if it's to finally get a new government. these negotiations have already had their share of ups and downs today germany's main political parties had once again hoped to conclude this last phase of coalition talks and move a step closer to forming

a government four months after national elections. but reaching an agreement is proving tough. but i know everyone's trying their best i'm not sure it'll work. the stilling come on the economy say at this point where the will succeed but the window is there on all sides it's just that the hurdles are still being goals health care reform has been a sticking point the social democrats want to end germany's to tear health insurance system a second optical is fixed term employment contracts which the s.p.d. wants to replace with permanent positions that provide greater job security the green party now in the opposition is vehemently opposed to the coalition agreement as it now stands. instead of having the courage to address toss of the future with seeing a grand coalition concerning south with minor issues while the really critical challenges in europe aren't getting the attention they deserve. talks are set to

continue tuesday even if agreement is finally reached the social democrats rank and file still need to sign off on the deal. i want to go now to our chief political correspondent lyndal crane she is outside the social democrats headquarters here in berlin where these talks are taking place good evening to you melinda well these are not doing that we're not burning the midnight oil this time on on a very cold berlin february night the deadline we know has been postponed again can we expect in your opinion can we expect an agreement this time tomorrow. we've just heard from an s.p.d. spokesman who says tomorrow absolutely is the last phase and it is the moment when we will know whether in fact the negotiators have succeeded and in fact some are burning the midnight oil we earlier had said that the talks were adjourned but that isn't quite true a fifteen member group of the party leadership is still negotiating in this

building behind me it is the s.p.d. central headquarters and they are apparently trying hard to break through in a process that it was described just now as being very controversial there e intensive the spokesman said there has been some progress but they're not where they want to get yet and and he was asked well is it possible they will not reach agreement tomorrow and he said the will is there but the results are still open. to what is the big hold up here. at the moment they're talking about health care and it was mentioned in the report germany has a two tier system essentially there are private insurers who can be more selective about who they take into their insurance and their public insurers who are essentially required to take anybody who applies the public insurers pay lower fees to doctors than the private ones with the result that publicly insured patients

often have to wait longer for treatment and sometimes get inferior treatment the social democrats say that is a two class system and they do not want it to continue and they're pushing hard on this point they need visible wins for the party base as your report mentioned the parties will be voting on whatever agreement the two parties come up with and therefore they need to keep pushing on this and apparently they're doing so in the pushing on this despite what the polls show a majority of people here in germany are less than enthused about this new grand coalition why news there. that's right and i think the reason is that for many people it looks like business as usual and there's a broad sense that the parties lack perhaps the drive and the vision to address some of germany's really critical problems problems like tim demography this is an aging population in this country so big questions around pensions and around and

around care for the aged and then also a freight train coming at to this important manufacturing esque sporting giant in the form of digitalisation and automation both of those could kill the kind of manufacturing job that this economy is still based on so big issues there and i think a sense on many people's part that perhaps these politicians who've been in power for so long don't necessarily have the drive to find new approaches but that said we don't yet know the details of all that's been hammered out and on one point there surely is some vision and that is on europe and that is a very crucial area where germany needs to be in the driver seat with france i think there has been substantial movement there so let's see what they unveil if and when they get to yes tomorrow are yet to marble be the big day for sure our chief political correspondent linda gray on the story for us tonight in berlin melinda thank you. the british based syrian observatory for human rights says that

twenty three civilians have been killed in airstrikes on rebel held areas in damascus the bombing comes hot on the heels of an alleged coreen gas attack in the province over the weekend the syrian regime denies using chemical weapons but medics say seems in the town. paint a very different picture. some of these horrific scenes reportedly show the aftermath of a chemical attack in northern syria. the syrian white helmets organization says a helicopter dropped chlorine gas over the city of such a cab the group says at least twelve people were killed in the attack but it's not possible to independently verify that figure witnesses reported a chemical smell in the year after the strike. smelled chlorine and one of us went outside and then there was an air strike. during the night russian jets pounded further targets throughout the province the region is under control of islamist

rebel groups a number of buildings are said to have collapsed in the airstrikes like this one in the provincial capital risky crew said at least nine people were buried in the rubble. one rocket hit a seven story building and another one hit a four story building. and we've recovered six bodies from the rubble a child was also injured. in mount it on newman a hospital was hit and badly damaged. the bombardment comes after rebel shot down a russian fighter jet on saturday that he had missed at the u.n. says some ten thousand people have fled the fighting in the province in recent weeks. the only surviving suspect in the twenty fifteen paris attacks has refused to answer questions in court. is on trial in brussels on charges relating to the shootout that led to his arrest he will face

a separate trial in france soon but in the belgian capital he defied prosecutors and relatives of the attacks one hundred thirty victims. after nearly two years of silence it was time for salaam disli to have his day in court but his trial in build him began as many thought it would with a refusal to cooperate or even stand up for the judge. he's about your identity sir i use a lot of dislike born in brussels on september fifteenth one thousand nine hundred nine. i don't wish to answer your questions. bilgin prosecutors want up just slam and he's alleged accomplices to new zealand so fianna yari seen here above jailed for twenty years for attempted murder of police offices just a french citizen was europe's most wanted man until he's a rest in brussels in march twenty sixth jane that was four months after one

hundred thirty people were killed in the islamic state terror attacks in paris that attacks in which he is a prime suspect his trial is concerned with the shootout in brussels that led to his capture not the paris attacks but many hoped he'd use the opportunity in court to shed light on either incident but that was not to be my silence does not make me a criminal just said accusing the court of bias against muslims his reluctance to engage disappointed victims. could. unfortunately. prefer to stay silent that's his right. almost but it's a shame since he said he wanted to be present at this hearing. we did. i sit with us. and you know i don't think anyone can be satisfied with what happened right now

we hope his lawyers will bring us the response as the victims are entitled to. trial was initially jury to last until friday is expected to run longer. for now we take a look at a turning point in history the berlin wall stood for more than twenty eight years but as of today it has been down for as long as it was up it was in august one thousand nine hundred fifty one that overnight berlin became a city divided communist authorities constructed what they called an anti-fascist protection barrier around west berlin making it into an island within east germany east berliners hoping to flee to the west attempted all sorts of ways around or under the wall the entrance to an escape tunnel has recently been rediscovered near the city's mauer park. char as more. the streets of berlin are steeped in history from the second world war to the cold war one of the

best places to get a sense of the cold war is right here in berlin although many important is this place rise over here and opening up the basin about all strauss and things like you see right here clearly indicates where the burley war once stood and haha it was really only the i did laugh about it over there with the body or maybe it's this shocking stories of east germans who try to make it across this wall. some tried to escape before the wall was even finished they said connick picture shows a young soldier from east berlin who jumped over a barbed wire fence in one hundred sixty one. some try to flee to the west above ground many hundreds try to escape underground at least seventy five tunnels were dug beneath the war in berlin most of them from the west to help friends and relatives trapped in the east we met karl holtz up full who told us how he tried to

help east germans to freedom and showed us the place where he started digging a tunnel today it's a construction site they call back to reach that house on the other side in the east about eighteen meters away. very hard work you could only progress one to one and a half meters per day i remember being completely alone in the tunnel for a few days hearing the tram rumbling above me my heart was pounding like i was really scared i thought the tunnel would be discovered it was well known that security forces in the east could open up a tunnel somewhere and just start shooting inside. the wall from the beginning an activist in one thousand nine hundred sixty three he teamed up with these five men to dig a tunnel they worked on it for four months almost six decades later hold. he's the archaeologist who recently discovered the tunnel entrance this dark patch of earth

. to meet the man who actually built this tunnel was a special moment for me we spoke for several hours when we first met it's like a piece of puzzle that you put together we have the excavation the findings but now also the actual exchange with a living source that's an important element of the tunnel was almost complete when the east germany secret police found out about it and shut it down but it wasn't all for nothing. the result was in vain yes but the fact that we try to bring people to freedom and to give them hope that is never in vain and that's always good regardless how it ends. for the people we felt committed to help those who were not free and couldn't raise their voice lets them in the study important it's been almost three decades since the brawling wall came down and discoveries like a secret tunnel entrance show that history in berlin remains very much alive and

relevant as long as the stories are told. and we will keep telling those stories you're up to date with the news for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company we will be back at the top of the hour with more bold moves from. the. dortmund leipzig the biggest favor team and so we've got all the best goals we've got all the action the double is the home of german football shared experience every match fit. this legal free weekend here d.w. . beat the germans new and surprising aspects of license culture in germany. u.s. american keep newsa take a look at germany it is.