you're watching the news live from berlin no let up to the syrian government's brutal bombing campaign in eastern guta that's us shelling intensifies in the rebel held enclave monitor say more than two hundred fifty people have been killed in the damascus suburbs since sunday also coming up a new push for gun control after the florida school shootings the u.s. president says he supports a ban on devices that turn in semiautomatic weapons into machine guns but will that satisfy demands for meaningful change. also coming up promoting a movie at the berlin film festival means

a lot of early morning press calls but it looks like actor joaquin phoenix didn't get that memo he and director got some sound fielding questions about their new film a contender for the festival's top prize and bring you all the details. i'm sumi so let's go on to thank you for joining us we start with mounting international concern about the syrian government's ongoing bombardment of eastern ghouta new air strikes today have killed at least ten people and independent monitors say that more than two hundred fifty people have been killed in the rebel held area since sunday night eastern go to is a group of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital damascus and duma is the main town of the song clave it is right now completely surrounded by pro assad forces the siege has lasted more than four years it's thought to have trucked up to four.

one hundred thousand residents. in the bombed out caucus of eastern goods these are the lucky ones terrified shaking but still walking. first responders ushered them to safety as an air raid siren underlines the arjun singh as he escaped yet. the government's four year long aerial siege of the rebel held in clave has intensified in recent days. with hundreds killed and injured and to national observers say it marks a new epoch of violence. we are witnessing some of the worst fighting of the entire conflict and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure including medical facilities. wors received

reports of attacks on five hospitals in eastern go into and is working to verify these reports of the casualties. syrian opposition leader begged for an international response saying the atrocities amounted to a war crime. this the boy these children had been killed just for the game is doable. because of the bomba of the sea their regime and uganda militias. their forces they are the clear in that these are futile it's the oh these are children and it will for a few years. the bloodshed is so relentless here unicef issued a blanket statement in response to the u.n. agency for children said words couldn't describe the suffering. which is left to numbers to tell the story of. more of the story now with martin milius from the aid organizations care in ahmed in martin thank you for joining us

we saw such horrifying pictures there in that report we're hearing also reports that civilians are collapsing from hunger that the medical situation is extremely dire how much has the situation deteriorated in the last few days. we have thirteen. besiegement in the last few months. so basically this area as you mentioned in the report has already besieged since four years or ever since a number of months you know all the tunnels were closed all the checkpoints were closed so the situation before the military escalation in the last two days was already very dire we have seen the monitors generate storying we've seen shortage of essential items drugs and medication and now we are witnessing in the last few days military of elation on the ball on that plane where it should have basically made many care and how they didn't seize to. suspend or just

because of. that you're reaching margin what are the most pressing needs on the ground right now. now it's really i mean the first and foremost i need to be a ceasefire i mean the un called yesterday for it and we totally supported there must be a cease fire we have seen the casualty rates unprecedented cares with the rates in the area after children in the. civilians we see the civilian infrastructure targeted that is outrageous and that must stop immediately and we're also concerned that this is just a prelude for a ground offensive. and that would mean just much much worse of course the people on the ground they need they need safety but they also need for medication systems that. bebo i mean lives it's just. life saving intervention that's required right now about first and foremost really

a cease fire that's what we're hoping for. just briefly martin if you can you mentioned that organizations i aid organizations like yours haven't been able to access this area in the past few days but in recent months how much access have you had. has been very limited in the last few months and these kind of votes aren't particularly you know it's it's a suburb of damascus it has been besieged since for years in the last year it has been extremely difficult for the last convoy that when the inn was in the amber and had enough items for around thirty thousand people and there's around. four hundred thousand people that are locked into that area so access has been very much limit judge already for a number of months all right martin lilias from the aid organization care and aman in jordan thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. thank you for having. staying in syria turkey has vowed to press on with the soffits of enough

free despite a planned alliance between kurds in the region and pro-government syrian forces turkey's president. claimed his country's forces were hindering the deployment of syrian forces in a frame there are fears that damascus is involvement in the region could further complicate syria's bitter civil war. now to some other stories making news around the world the u.s. state department says north korea canceled a planned meeting with vice president mike pence at the last minute he was supposed to hold talks with government representatives during a limpid games in south korea young reportedly scrapped the idea after pens denounced the north's human rights abuses clashes between police and squatters on the outskirts of peru's capital lima have left at least one person dead officers fired tear gas canisters to clear the area the evicted residents say the land had been on used for years. brazil's senate has approved

a decree that authorizes the army to take command of police forces in the state of rio de janeiro now this measure comes in a bid to curb violence driven by drug gangs brazil's president michel temora said they have quote virtually taken over urban rio. to the u.s. where last week's mass shooting at a florida high school has ignited a new push to end gun violence seventeen people were killed in the massacre now the surviving students are leading the movement for change pressuring state lawmakers to pass tighter gun control laws but on tuesday they suffered a setback as politicians rejected a motion to consider a ban on sales of assault style rifles. students made the long journey to florida state capital to confront lawmakers but politicians voted down a motion to even consider a ban on assault rifles before the vote students had been hopeful.

that's why we're going to bring you that they were that they were going to just. park on the floor to be happy. and we have to you know show them how our voice you . know however. there are signs that they're being heard although he campaigned on a pro-gun ticket president donald trump announced his support for tighter regulations on gun accessories and just a few moments ago i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn illegal weapons into machine guns i expect that these critical regulations will be finalized. very soon. on wednesday the president is set to host a listening session at the white house with victims of mass shooting violence but many in florida are tired of talk they want action.

the students have vowed to continue protesting for gun reform their next stop is in washington d.c. in march youth across the nation are not giving up in the fight for their lives. the united nations refugee agency is warning that a humanitarian disaster of quote extraordinary proportions is about to hit the democratic republic of congo violence erupted late last year in the south eastern province of technique up it is estimated that in this area alone more than a fifth of the population that's six hundred thirty thousand people have been displaced. forced to flee their homes forced to seek refuge in camps like this each with a story to tell of the file and that is destroying lives. yet they beheaded people they cut open their stomachs removed their guts and leave them to die that's

how they killing people. john key's a can be is one of the six hundred thirty thousand congolese displaced in ten guinea cup province in the past year he says militias burnt his village to the ground while among women though i had to take all my clothes off and jump into the river but i didn't have a choice i was fleeing for my life. were left behind. the violence witnessed by so many is taking its toll with ongoing conflicts between rival militias the un refugee agency is warning the democratic republic of congo is in crisis the humanitarian disaster extraordinary proportions is about to hit the south eastern part of the democratic republic of the congress the province of tonga newkirk plunges further into violence triggering spiralling displacement and human rights abuses with so many congolese now on the move the d r c has earned the an

enviable title of having the highest number of internally displaced people in africa and with no end to the violence in sight it's hard to imagine what lies ahead for them. ok time to check in now with the berlin film festival yesterday saw a screening of gus van sant latest film don't worry you won't get far on foot it's based on the true story of a cartoonist battling disability and alcoholism it was a highly anticipated film the berlin all about the excitement was it universal. what came phoenix and press conference is apparently not a good mix his media performance wasn't quite up to his acting performance when it came to promoting his new film. doesn't like press conferences at all but was a director like good will hunting is gus van sant he could be forgiven for thinking

the film itself. it tells the story of controversial american cartoonists john callahan exploring his life as a quadriplegic and his long battle with alcoholism. jarred your tells. a story. for. another strong. film stars jack black adam dream aren't you will say see comedy after jonah hill as never before is a hall willing picture of one man's struggle to reinvent himself to tragedy. how did you prepare for this role was it to get that. job. you know you just do like what you have to do you just. try to learn as much about the character as you can remember. phoenix and co you must've done something right the film was critically acclaimed when it premiered at sundance

last month now it's getting a warm reception here in berlin. when he would be of special significance to direct to gus van sant this film was originally the brainchild of his friends the comedic actor robin williams williams first approached months and years ago to dream the betraying the cartoonist but it's never live to see it happen now finally the film is hitting the big screen. the constant crew have until saturday to find out whether they'll be taking home a coveted golden also back. which is have time for a minder of our top story no. international concern is growing about the number of civilian deaths in syria's eastern ghouta airstrikes by pro-government forces on the besieged rebel held on claim has claimed hundreds of lives since the weekend. i could russia be meddling in lafayette of that country's elections held humphrey will have more on the controversy surrounding the lobby in central thanks for that

coming up in one minute. to learn german with w. . anytime anyplace. with or with jo jo and her friends. it is going to be interesting next to the museum which produces useful should go along.