touch. starting february twenty seventh. this is d w news coming to you live from berlin the u.n. war in syrian government forces to stop their assault on a rebel held play at least one hundred civilians have been killed in airstrikes on eastern ghouta many of them women and children we'll talk to an expert about the latest developments in syria's civil war also a shocking poll result for germany's social democrats their numbers have been

plummeting ever since september selection and now they've been overtaken by the far right alternative for germany for the first time what does this mean as they launch a make or break vote for another coalition government with the conservatives. and as venezuela battles hyperinflation and cash shortages for the government launches a digital currency backed by oil proponents say the petro could lift the country out of an economic crisis critics say in some parts. hello i'm terry martin thanks for joining us. the united nations says the syrian government is targeting civilians in the rebel held enclave of eastern guta and that it must stall the syrian observatory for human rights says the government air raids on eastern. close to the syrian capital damascus killed at least

a hundred people on monday around four hundred seventy were injured a suburb has been under siege by regime forces for more than four years this as syrian media reports that militias loyal to the syrian government will soon be entering the northern region of a freend to help kurdish militias there repel turkish troops. an entire town in mourning this is become a familiar sight in a free in recent weeks with residents regularly attending mass funerals for kurdish fighters killed in clashes with turkish troops. it's against this backdrop that syrian state t.v. reported on a move to change the dynamic of the fighting the news anchor of this bulletin announcing that militias allied to the syrian government would soon arrive in a free to help kurdish forces push back the turkish offensive. but

meanwhile in government held aleppo just south of a free syrian kurds have been demonstrating against the turkish offensive and in support of why peachy fine too is many of whom can be seen in the city. now i know they're the syrian army and we are one of the syrian people and we are one we are all one and we have one will. during a visit to jordan the turkish foreign minister said a deal wouldn't affect his country's resolve. before to my kitchen or to my solemn occasion if the syrian regime really does tend to affray into clans kurdish militia then there's no problem however if it comes in to protect them then nothing and nobody can do and stop the turkish army it's very clear operation all these branch and affray names to cleanse these areas from terrorists and if you did terrorists that it would go your. turkey. keen to avoid it could his strong hold on its border

with syria so its own forces launched a major military offensive into our freedom last month in a bid to expel the kurdish fighters that control the region the offensive is full of the complicated and already but will during web if alliances and rivalries in syria. with us here in the studio to help break this down is middle east analyst marcus khan from the german institute for international and security affairs there in berlin good morning marcus what do you make of the syrian army's plan to back kurdish militias fighting turkish forces enough rain i think it's a rather clever move because it serves two purposes first it keeps turkey it be a regime which always requested president assad to be removed. and it. keeps the kurds at bay and allows the syrian regime to push you over the territorial integrity to keep syria together turkey has massive military resources

and says it won't leave until the kurds have been ejected at least the kurdish y p g fighters is the kurdish syrian alliance capable of repellant the turkish offensive indeed the turkish military capabilities are overwhelming it's the biggest military contribute if nato with seven hundred thousand soldiers on the arms to be honest i'm not really through hope took it will proceed to war and events in northern syria because actually they have accomplished what they wanted to accomplish to tame the kurds to put it this way and now the taint of the syrian regime and there's no immediate danger over syria it's already courtesy of autonomy. what makes the african region so important mark is so important that turkey and syria would risk a direct military confrontation with each other over that reach as i just mentioned

fall of tokyo a screen is a possible new clues of could have stayed or he's territorial for autonomy autonomy of soul of whatever you prefer which has to be avoided in full syria it's a symbol of caesar and to talk to me as well the idea that syria is going to fall apart which has to be avoided therefore to keep or to regain feeling is a powerful symbol that the assad regime is going to win and that is that it is capable to keep syria together the includes equal terms as well as into the resort of times marcus time from the german institute for international security fares thank you so much and if you think germany is right wing populist party the alternative for germany or a.f.p. has overtaken the social democrats for the first time in a national opinion poll the latest in the poll for the daily newspaper believed that if an election were held now sixteen percent of voters would support the a.f.d. compared to fifteen point five percent who would vote for the social democrats the

news comes just before the s.p.d. begins a critical internal vote on whether to join a grand coalition government with chancellor michael c. view yesterday's numbers have been in freefall since the national election in september. well d.w. political correspondent host barrow is with me here to talk about this new poll that suggests the right wing the party has overtaken the s.p.d. as germany's second biggest party thomas that is quite a bomb shell how significant is this poll result is a bombshell terry but it's only one poll out of many that are conducted here in germany there are other recent polls that still put the social democrats in second place behind the conservatives but what is at least for many people alarming here is the actual trained situation that the traditional parties here in germany face not only the social democrats but also the concern conservatives they have been losing support and at the same time you see the rise of the act immigrant so these

are two elements that have to be analyzed and understood together well there are two parts the story of course there's the fall of the s.p.d. but there's also the rise of the d. tell us about that how do you kill for the d's success well let's not forget that the f.t. enter the german parliament for the first time in september they became germany's the most important political force in the german parliament and they tap essentially into people's fears and we're talking here about immigration we're talking here also about this suspicions regarding be establishment the established political parties and that's one of the reasons why they have been able to take some of those voters away from both the conservatives and the social democrats and they've also been able to to attract many people who previously didn't vote at all were non voters so that explains at least in part the rise of the alternative for john and what about the s.p.d. how do you account for their decline because they lost profile this engineer

they've been into grand coalition with with merkel and johnson democrat has sort of managed to take away some of the core elements of the of the social social democrats don't forget the social democrats for a very long time were if you will they're not. home of germany's working class and the us i think stand they've lost that idea of being the natural home of germany's working class so the fall of the of the. in the accounts for the fact that they've lost their profile as that party on the left side of the political spectrum and tell us stay with us because this supreme poll comes just as the s.p.d. members are due to vote on whether or not to join transfer merkel's conservatives in another grand coalition government it's a topic that deeply divides the s.p.d. even even family as this report. father and son one for the grand coalition the other against at this s.p.d.

event in northern germany there's only one question on everyone's minds should the party risk another coalition with anglo merkel's conservatives it's up to party members to decide including five b.n. stake now the critical young socialist and his father the veteran s.p.d. man and takes the lead with the party rush take now. i believe the majority of members will say yes if we convince them so we need to use the time i'll try to do my part even for his son and most of the party's younger members it's far from a done deal they want change. that's going to do that we need to be more proactive in forward looking string quartets are ok but we need some heavy metal too and a political keyboard. at home with his statements of course there's plenty of talk about politics the prospect of governing with angela merkel for another four years has triggered

a number of arguments between father and son during this shift at the grand coalition doesn't happen i think we'd face a debacle in pressure elections it'd be likely because everyone would blame us for pulling out. stage member leaves the party needs to have courage and refocus on its core values. where people say this is social democracy this is the kind of society we want this is our idea of humanity of social cohesion of solidarity and social justice. things are certainly not harmonious in the s.p.d. right now the rank and file is spit right across the party. critical vote against the grand coalition quite simply because it would not be good for the s.p.d. it is pretty. good there for it to be a member of this party for over forty years but if the majority refuses to appreciate the many things that was achieved and the good cabinet posts we've gained then i'll be handing in my party membership. approaching

is set to continue until march the second social democrat members will get to decide on the fate of germany's next government and the future of the country's oldest political party. so tell us what effect do you think the negative polling numbers for the s.b. team will have on that coalition could such an increase the fears of those who believe that a new grand coalition would harm the u.s. even further this is such me not good news for those who would prefer. to enter the new grand coalition without them thomas thank you so much from our political desk for. take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world a court in peru has ordered former president about so fujimori to stand trial for the killings of six farmers in one thousand nine hundred two a court decision comes after fujimori was pardoned for moving the prison term

because of ill health which morea was jailed for crimes including commanding military death squads. in mozambique at least seventeen people have died after they were buried in a landslide garbage authorities say heavy rain caused a mountain of trash at a dump in the capital hutto to collapse on to surrounding houses officials believe more bodies could still be buried under the debris. and in the u.s. students at the florida high school where a gunman killed seventeen people gathered on monday for a vigil they also organized an effort to urge lawmakers to pass stronger gun control laws a group of nearly one hundred students plan to lobby state officials for tighter regulation as. we're heading into day six of the berlin international film festival and film director philip yet it is with us here in the studio his documentary shut up and play the piano premiered

at the belly nala this weekend good to have you with us philip thanks for having films about the piano player chili gun saga is some viewers might not have heard of give us an idea of who he is he's a canadian musician composer producer who lives in cologne and he does a rap he does classic oh chamber music pop music and i had a really nice expression yesterday that he's fluid i think that describes it's pretty well and force them foremost he's an amazing entertainer. or a fluid i like that expression let's get a taste of his style we've got a clip here that we can play for eight hours. i started a daily routine in two thousand and twelve actually shortly after i moved here to cologne in a different apartment and. i've had

a little more or less fifteen twenty years along which to get better at reading music. i. asked. very very fluid very diverse talented seems the character what inspired you to make this documentary philip and helen did it take you until your idea for it and actually getting it premiered at the berlin film festival it took me from the first

day i met him and i actually asked him about it until i finished the film and we have it here took me three and a half years altogether and. the inspiration was actually meeting himself so i did an interview with him for the watchability in two thousand and fourteen and it was supposed to be only about his book that he brought out around that time was called reintroduction it tud and we had an interview slot of we were supposed to have there's a lot of twenty minutes but in the end we talked like for over an hour and we talked about cultural differences between canada and europe and between the countries he lived in he lived in and not only in canada but also as you can to berlin then he went to paris and i saw what a multifaceted puzzle he is and i got interested in and in a sudden i asked him can i do feel about you and he just said yeah go ahead that's how it started so i have to be grateful for the edge of a totally. this is

a well yeah i mean it's great to have you as a colleague doing such wonderful work getting to know maybe you can tell us a little bit about the do some behind the scenes shop talk here and tell us about how you end up getting a work like this into the berlin film festival briefly yet everyone can apply for that every any filmmaker of course you have certain requirements depending on the section you apply for but basically it's you ply for it online you have to fill out some forms and you send in the film it's like any other film festival so. go for it. we'll thank you for so much for coming in this morning philip yet to come. the director of shut up and play the piano premiered at the berlin belly not a film festival this weekend on the one chilly gonzales thank you so much thank you very much. desperate times call for desperate measures in venezuela

a severe economic crisis is front of the government to come up with an unusual strategy north showing a new crypto currency called the picture now the oil backed digital currency goes live today amid doubts it'll actually work as well as actual opposition on legal grounds. if you can dispute just how badly venezuela needs a plan hyperinflation shortages and soaring debt have brought the country to its knees and its citizens to the streets. when venezuelan president nicolas maduro announced plans to launch a new crypto currency some viewed it as an imaginative way out of the crisis and as a workaround for western sanctions that effectively keep venezuela from raising cash from bonds happen and this is going to allow for advancements in international financing for the economic and social development of the country the new crypto currency will be backed by reserves of israel and while the old oil gas and diamonds get from the phenomenon is way low announces the creation of its crypto

currency a big fan of not going to feel the fact i haven't. the idea is to link venezuela's oil reserves to the value of a petro with one hundred million petro tokens worth around six billion dollars being issued initially but not everyone is convinced venezuela's opposition controlled parliament considers the petrol a ruse to borrow money using the oil as collateral circumventing laws that demand legislative approval from. and many observers are skeptical that was lucian to be managed by authorities like the central bank whose policies helped create venezuela's woes in the first place. let's talk more about this now with market analyst craig from foreign exchange company craig what do you reckon what are the chances of successful venezuela's petro cryptic current say.

i think it's still very difficult to say ultimately what we're looking at here as you should mention the program is a bit of a desperate attempt to both avoid sanctions and also deal with the hyperinflation and other economic issues in the country but that they smoke is the standard by which of the countries choose to adopt their own i'm not necessarily convinced i think some nations will of course look down this route such as russia maybe even the likes of north korea with the backing of all the cons but whether they speak omes the norm in countries like the u.k. or the u.s. may be a little bit further down the line and may take a slightly alternative form cryptocurrency is of course craig are meant to be free from institutional control so it's a little bit contradictory to have a north or a terry in government like venezuela suddenly using them yes it does go against the grain. i think really when we're looking at crypto

currencies though this decentralize ation that it's targeting is ultimately the aim of the project but once governments gets involved it's difficult to achieve that aim governments around the world courtly will be looking at ways to adopt it themselves utilizing the block chain technology that it's behind that in order to democratize society and also maybe that is where we're heading so i do think governments are going to take control of this and possibly in the future adopt their own crypto currency isn't but i don't think it's necessarily going to follow the same route that the likes of bitcoin health and you think there's any merit to that because we're not just talking about countries like venezuela we know that sweden japan singapore are also exploring that idea. yes a lot of these countries the likes of japan and singapore for example these are not countries that are looking at create their currencies as a way to evade sanctions that cetera they're looking at those ways to welcome the

future and they're looking acushla society is very very real and feasible possibility in the next ten years or so and that looking at their currencies as a way of managing that transition process but ultimately governments and central banks will want to retain control over that crypto currency is all right then briefly craig i'm getting the sense from you that you think that cryptic currencies will become proper currency one day i think they will i think they will but i do think they're going to be in a different four months what we see with bitcoin a theorem at such a now let's not say that these comics just alongside it but government grown central bank controlled crypto currencies will be centralized craig from oh and thank you very much indeed and as a day it's back to work for traders in asia off to the lunar new year celebrations and so far hong kong's hang seng index is trading more or less unchanged.

and betrayed as the first day of work week was doubly special a new hole was opened with a big party to move will be used to host ceremonies of the companies that are listed in hong kong's hang is staying index is also an area with a museum that tells the history of hong kong's stock market which started trading in eighteen ninety one. now thousands of k.f.c. customers in the u.k. were left disappointed after the fast food chain was forced to close most of its nine hundred outlets across the country k.f.c. was unable to get a fresh chicken delivery to most of its u.k. restaurants in the fast food chain recently he switched its only free contract to d.h.l. the delivery service which is owned by germany's deutsche of pasta blames the problem on operational issues k.f.c. cannot say how long it will take to get chicken to its restaurants but it has set

up a page on line don't worry telling customers when restaurants are back up and running . right over to tearing down a new phenomenon in the bundesliga that divided fans three much so it turns. we've got the official monday night game in the bundesliga the very first one took place last night and that in itself made the frankfurt controversial even before the first whistle. some protests at the first scheduled monday game in bundesliga history stewards were instructed not to intervene as frankfurt firms showed that discontent things remained peaceful as kickoff was pushed back five minutes. then leipsic jumped ahead shortly after one nil thanks to kevin. but frank but quick to react to the chandler equalised just eight minutes later.

and the home side found their groove another five minutes passed and kevin prince bowed saying had made it to one to turn the game around his fifth for the eagles this season. at half time fans continued to protest peppering the pitch with tennis balls when play continued leipsic thought they had a penalty but eventually the decision was overturned by the video assistant referee for an early offside. it was like six tons of protest as frankfurt were jubilant in victory jumping up to suds in the table. former english youth football coach barry bennell has been sentenced to thirty one years in prison for child sex abuse he was found guilty of fifty charges against boys he coached between one hundred seventy nine and nine hundred ninety one the judge in the case called him the devil incarnate as he handed down the sentence i

am a survivor of the piece from party panel my name is mickey phelan a survivors of crimes and cruelty these were the men that spoke out as boys they dreamt of a future in soccer they were trained by barry bennell charismatic youth coach for clubs including crewe alexandra and manchester city he took them under his wing encouraged them to chase their dreams he gained their trust and then he raped them . on monday bennell was sentenced to thirty one years in prison five but now we have one. today we handle shame. i know. i know some of this back to you. should never have been over to the county in the first place. another eighty six men have come forward to report sexual abuse by bendel since the case began the judge spoke of abuse on an industrial scale for

decades bennett victims suffer depression panic attacks and suicidal thoughts but there are increasing signs that the clubs themselves were aware much earlier of the rumors surrounding bennell and covered for him the new boy. allowed it to continue because there was puce in the results. even after a battle was convicted of child abuse in florida in one thousand nine hundred four and later in england the english football world turned a blind eye it was only when former soccer player andy woodworth broke his silence in two thousand and sixteen and many followed his lead that sports clubs promise to set up hotlines and take action today two and a half thousand people across the u.k. have come forward and reported sexual assaults at more than three hundred clubs. and just for a go or month of our top story the u.n. has warned syrian government forces to stop their assault on the rebel held enclave of eastern near damascus. so for now thanks for watching.

the touch. to. pick up the bundesliga highlights. miami sneak another late game say much more with the final minute penalty going to. endorse one to financial institutions not much else to

a stunning goal from marco loyalists. to. poverty has made faces. the gap between the cars on the wealthiest keeps growing. countries saying inequality is dividing the world in a rich society and are focused on going to meet him in sixty minutes g.w. . school. the scholars on the move. the pain is still tangible. for c.b.s. and. they have survived do they also have

a future. i really understand people who say they don't want to stay here. but i also admire people who want to stay here and who decided to create something . in peace time what needs to happen if tolerance and reconciliation are to stand a chance of darkness' cities after more starting march tenth on t w. i i see. the bundesliga it's a three classes.