this is the news coming to you live from berlin the german chancellor describes the killings of civilians in syria as a massacre in an address to parliament on the american accuses the syrian government of killing its own people and calls for an end to the bloodshed in the east an enclave close to damascus. and it's decision day for diesel cars and still important rule on whether to allow back to the major cities

a move that could have huge implications for the country's powerful industry. and unwelcome by them without cheema german chancellor angela merkel has delivered her first major policy speech to parliament since the general election she touched on a range of issues ahead of an e.u. summit tomorrow she spoke of the need for europe to have a stronger voice including in the ongoing conflict in syria during an address she condemned the syrian government's bombing campaign off a rebel held on klav outside the capital damascus here's what she had to say what we see want to know. the horrifying events come in syria this is the fight of one regime not against terrorists but against its own

population. killing children destroying hospitals all these constitute a massacre which needs to be condemned we say no to this but at the same time it requires us to play a larger role in this making sure we can end such a massacre weir's europeans need to strong for that. and that was chancellor merkel speaking to the german parliament of the dire situation in syria of the bundestag is you to debate the crisis later today hundreds of civilians have been killed in syria's eastern guta a rebel enclave that pro-government forces have been relentlessly shelling and bombing for days the region has been under siege for years the u.n. security council is due to vote on a humanitarian ceasefire for syria later today joining me now from our parliamentary studios is stefan leavis is a member of the winds talk to the left party and

a member of the parliament foreign relations committee welcome to you mr the mr chancellor merkel has taken a very strong line on syria describing what's happening in eastern guta as a massacre what's your response to a statement. i think she was totally right in blaming the assad regime and the russian and ukrainian supporters for this terrible situation but she forgot to mention another part of this war our nato partners turkey is in waiting syria and fighting need to allies recorders. and i think this is a thing she totally forgot to mention and do you think the e.u. should take a more proactive role in and deal with the crisis in syria coming about to a negotiated settlement. in fact we didn't have. before as was the year two thousand and fifteen where in geneva all the major powers and the small regional powers came to the agreement that syria should be

a secular state there should be elections but they didn't mention minutes to implement there was a settlement they don't like to see what your concerns about turkey's involvement in the situation in syria. first of all it is against international law you cannot invade into another country if you are not invited or if the united nations security council didn't make a decision about this this is the first problem and the second problem is in nato partner turkey is threatening another nato partners the united states of america and i asked the government to evoke article four of the nato treaty there you can read it should meet if there are problems with each other and i think they should do it but then the turkey's a military operation that you're talking about is actually in the offing and not in eastern goodale which is close to damascus what is the link between the two. we

have a lot of conflicts in this country this is a terrible situation and hundreds of thousands of people are dying years or have to flee the country and there is one part this is. this is a terrible massacre and i would agree and this question to america but the but she should not forget the other conflicts they are. looking at the pictures which are coming out of eastern good are they are very distressing do you think this could be a turning point in the syrian conflict has been going on for years that it would actually propel the international community to take more significant action. to be honest i'm very pessimistic it is not the first time that we see such terrible pictures remember this is your asian and i left who are in different other places in the country i would be very happy if the international community would decide that they all have an interest in a peaceful syria but i'm very pessimistic. stephanie was a member of the understand for the left party and

a member of the parliament foreign relations committee thank you for sharing your perspective with us on the. thank you. let's now take a look at some of the stories making news around the world donald trump's is arming teachers could progress school shootings like the one that left seventeen people dead in florida last week the u.s. president was speaking at an emotionally charged meeting of the white house attending attended by about forty students teachers and family members who were affected by the massacre on february fourteenth. baucus and supreme court has banned former prime minister nawaz sharif from his position as head of the ruling party sharif was barred from holding public office of a corruption allegations last july the decision has created political turmoil ahead of senator elections and could end city's career in politics. and this international is named the philippines president as one of the worst performing leaders and human rights for the second they are running the n.g.o.s says the

widespread killing of alleged drug offenders in roderigo detaches war on drugs may constitute crimes against humanity. congolese refugees in rwanda say soldiers shot at them and booted at least two people this as around two thousand refugees try to march out of their camp in protest at a cottage in food russian rations some seventeen thousand people live in the cab. the big names of britain's music industry took to the stage at wednesday's night's bridge awards in london. and grapple tolzien with the other big winners are among the winners in this year's edition taking two trophies each including best female and male solos ed sheeran took to build the success of water which goes into the sea as bestselling british artist.

the. move home. other five included best international group for the fighter. and of course do i got the best female singer that in today a germany's highest administer of court is set to hand down a landmark ruling that could lead to a ban on diesel cars in major cities the case was started by an environmental group which says its southern german city of strict guard has not done enough to limit the. by design emissions dozens of german cities have recorded annual levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions above your threshold in the last month toxic air pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths every year the court's decision would dramatically hit the value of diesel cars on germany's roods. reporter chrysippus fingered is in strict got and sent us this report. it's the

busiest time of day at this family run bakery and. dozens of customers throughout the city are waiting for their morning deliveries. like many small businesses in germany it's invested in diesel powered delivery vehicles which are cheaper to run due to years of tax breaks for diesel a ban on day use would hit the company hard eyes of industry. if a ban on diesel powered vehicles covers the whole city then we have a problem in principle we'd have to shut down. remember we can't deliver our products by public transport so we'd have nowhere to go. next under all this. design of blames the sheer volume of traffic in german cities and has some of the country's worst it's in a city absorbs over four hundred thousand commuters every day this busy stretch of road in central stuttgart is called the nec a troll crossing and it's become something of a household name in germany that's because with an average of almost seventy

thousand vehicles passing through in both directions every single day it's now one of the country's absolute hotspots for air pollution. last year the monitoring station at the nec atoll crossing measured an average of seventy three micrograms with nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter that's almost double the legal limit which is why activists are calling for tough measures. a lot of people here suffer from respiratory diseases old people in particular and. people move out of the set. very risky and if they can afford to and that's why we urgently need a diesel ban here it was have an immediate effects. to counties keen to avoid diesel bans so it's introduced traffic reduction schemes and public awareness campaigns encouraging people to cycle to work or use public transport policy makers are also progressively reducing the cost of public

transport. and the city is also hosting this pioneering project using a wall of morse to suck car pollution out of the atmosphere the walls about one hundred meters long three meters high whether it works though isn't fully clear yet . germany's powerful carmakers are also firmly against driving bans but in the wake of the emissions cheating scandal that tightlipped at the moment. and some on the sorry joining me from up on a monday studios is kirsten human she's an s.p.d. member of parliament and also a member of the country's transportation committee welcome to you mr ma the court ruling comes against a backdrop of strong environmental concerns some seventy cities in germany have nitrogen oxide levels above you safe it's precious is this not an issue that the government should be addressing. yes but first of all in germany we have the principle of the supposed autonomy this will mean the government the federal

government can't say the cities what they had to do or not but the government can and we have done in the past years we can make programmes for example force financial support for the cities to buy electric buses or to buy for for example the guy in your film that he may buy an electrical small lorry or something else that we had done in the past but now we knew it wasn't enough obviously thought enough so how much responsibility should a germany's powerful car industry take especially in the wake of all these diesel emissions cheating scandals we've had. i think if the car industry uses all the possibilities for clean cost the progress on clean air in our cities would be much higher but our industry in the past they need the gaps the european law has

to produce which are cheaper but not ask clean as a mate so now they have the responsibility and our opinion that support all the consumers was old cars but they aren't old euro five or euro six cost they are about four years old five years old and so the under three have supported consume us for technical support that these four five year old cost half the same technique like the modern diesel cars so an oil pinion the diesel ban is possible that we stop it and the government is often accused of being too close to the car industry here in germany where does this leave the consumers who will protect their interests. we have a federal ministry especially for consumer rights and then the past we try to

change our law in america we have a totally different system of law the consumers have much more right than in europe not only in germany it's not a german problem it is u p n y problem we try to change our law to give the consumers more rights but the last government has no time to put this law on the on the parliament but the new government decided to make these changes of law the first things they will do write a question do on an s.t.d. member of parliament and also member of the country strong petition committee thank you for talking to d.w. thank you. and we'll have more on that sorting the potential diesel ban in business you know that's with physician coming up shortly also we're looking at the implications of such a bad and the financial fallout meanwhile don't forget you can always get news on the go you can always go to at some groovy play all from the apple store that'll

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