this is g.w. news live from berlin as world powers because hundreds die in syria's consistent guta a un security council ceasefire boat is delayed again until later today this as deadly syrian government is trying to pound the rebel held area near damascus also coming up. u.s. president donald trump announces a high seas crack down on shipping companies linked to north korea billing these sanctions as the heaviest ever will get the latest from seoul. and judging is now

underway at the berlin film festival we'll take a look at the films in the running for the golden and silver bear award. edith q money welcome to the program we begin in syria where the government is escalating attacks on the opposition held suburbs of damascus known as eastern ghouta for the sixth day running intense shelling has killed almost five hundred people including many children now the u.n. security council has been unable to agree on a cease fire resolution in syria and has delayed a vote until later today the temporary ceasefire would allow much needed humanitarian aid to reach trapped civilians but serious key ally russia is blocking that resolution it says it wants guarantees that rebel fighters in east and go to will respect a halt to the fighting now will get expert analysis in a moment but first this report. these crackling bright

lights have all the hallmarks of a firework display. but they were designed to devastate not to celebrate. activists say they are proof that the syrian government is firing indiscriminate cluster bombs in built up residential areas. the syrian civil defense group known as the white helmets posted this footage to a social media website they say it shows their members rescuing children from guta a rebel held district outside damascus after six straight days of regime bombing. others less lucky grieve their lost ones were lots more but when i knew he would go . i told his grandmother he would go. he didn't want to continue living in terror. i wish it had been me who was killed instead

of my son yeah i wish it had been me who was killed so i wouldn't have to grieve for you my son or the would know some have lost hope. others cling to it the work of first responders here made even harder by treacherous conditions and a lack of medical supplies. as death rains down from above world powers are still arguing about how to stop it. the un security council has been trying to agree on a thirty day humanitarian ceasefire but last minute amendments by russia forced a vote to be postponed to saturday. sweden's un ambassador voiced his exasperated. i'm trying to facilitate and meaningful outcome of this security council so i can only protect what we're trying to do and that is to have a recession adopted yesterday now we have not achieved i find that extremely

frustrating given what we are faced with on the ground. hopes are that agreement on a cease fire would finally allow sorely needed a live reach and medical evacuations. well i'm now joined by middle east analyst khalid yakov a wife who also worked as a correspondent in damascus for many years thanks for joining us so what guarantees is russia looking for that's what this saying they need in order to pass this resolution russia's tactic is. to for the situation to be finished on the ground for for the forces on the forces are like two to russia or mainly the forces of. iranian backed militia which is a very important factor military acted on the ground to achieve their military good which is finish off the sun the opposition in hutto for a minority alawite regime backed by russia remember this is

a school that is conditioned zone championed by mosco itself and now it is helping or even bombing get itself to smithereens and getting the experience of civilians so this is just diplomacy for russia to appear as a diplomatic player on they would stage wind in fact it is i think elated and soon the civilian population so say russia doesn't get what it is that they really want can anything be done at all to change the situation well of course we have seen that actually two weeks ago two weeks ago the not the states so that russian backed forces were encroaching on its allies in syria which is it dirty straightforward so they bombed them and they killed maybe from one hundred to three hundred russian mercenaries they have no problem when the u.s. for example has its vital interests threatened in syria to act militarily but obviously the flood of civilians of soon this of billions. in the face of this i

will lead the onslaught of how do we let the regime is not of concern to the west it's not vital interest i mean this is not the first time we're seeing an attempt at cease fire are we seeing the diplomatic solutions are out of the window they're not going to work of course the products and solutions will not work only russia has to realize this. moment but our obama told bashar assad look if you used chemical weapons our bomb you and he did not so diplomacy has to be matched by force if you want if you want peace prepare for war and this is non existant on the so-called powers which are so-called concerned about the human thirty in situations peaking of the humanitarian situation we've seen the pictures from the report just now how during events unfolding there what's the hope for the civilians on the ground i'm afraid there has been various u.n. resolutions calling on you and aid to proceed to areas and these are merely besieged remember seized by that is you him and iran is a big player in this multi militias backed by iran financed by europe and directed

by iran from thought on this meeting in the seizures and in the killing of sin the civilians and they are the shia the shia militia is huge responsibility and they are backed by your own yahoo khalid always thank you so much for joining us and for that very strong dose of reality oh u.s. president donald trump has announced a new round of economic sanctions on north korea washington is taking aim at shipping companies from nine countries accused of illegal trading with pyongyang the measures are intended to force north korea to end its nuclear and missile programs in a speech to the conservative political action conference trump said the new measures were the toughest yet. we imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before the it was the ago

and frankly hopefully something positive can happen we will see but hopefully something positive can happen but that just was announced and i want to let you know we have imposed the heaviest sanctions ever imposed so for more on this we're now joined by reuters correspondent john smith who is in seoul and just thanks for joining us so we've just heard president donald trump this save these are the toughest sanctions yet but how do they differ from past ones is latest sanctions take quite a targeted approach to some of the ships companies and other entities that the united states says is extending it a lifeline to north korea last year china which is a major ally of north korea historically drastically cut too much which oil supply and other ties to north korea which has led north korea to seek other ways to try to get some of that much needed fuel and western intelligence agencies have

repeatedly said that one of those major ways are these ships that are making risky ship to ship transfers in the ocean and those are what is targeted in these latest sanctions all right so we know the significance of targeting countries with shipping it to north korea but on friday north korea was named as a top source of money laundering and terrorist financing by the g seven financial action task force so if this is true does it bend mean that sanctions on pyongyang to date haven't been effective. that is one of the major criticisms of what we haven't seen so far obviously is the government in north korea to give up its nuclear program which is ostensibly the aim of these sanctions proponents of even greater sanctions also say that some of these new sanctions amount to little more than a per beale whack a mole game targeting individual ships when sanctions should really be going after some of these international financial networks that are still connected to the

government there josh we're seeing the u.s. try to further isolate pyongyang economically but north and south korea do appear to be seeking some form of common ground we saw this the winter olympics is going to complicate how washington then deals with kenya it does certainly set the tone now as we come to the end of the winter olympics in south korea which the government here had been hoping would lead to some kind of broader diplomatic breakthrough over the nuclear program obviously the hard part now is making that transition from sports to actual politics and this latest move by the united states makes it clear how difficult that transition will be josh smith joining us from seoul thank you thank you judges at the berlin film festival is still deliberating but it's a gala ceremony later today they will have decided who gets the golden and the silver bell was for this he is best films nineteen pictures are in the running of

the stakes are high last year's winner has been nominated for a best foreign language film osca here's a look at some of the movies that have made a splash the see you. i. the stars on the red carpet have been at the heart of the berlin ali for ten days. but now all eyes are on these six experts the international jury around president tun tech they only have a few hours left now to decide who gets the bears. this film from the philippines has the nod from many critics season of the devil is a tale of torture and of the marcos dictatorship it's four hours long it's in black and white and it's a musical some it's art for others a provocation. everyone seems to be talking about this man actor france rogoff ski of his in two films which are in the running for an award he

might win a silver badge for best actor for his performance in a film based on anna sega's novel transit a story about flight from the nazis. a prize for the hardest film to watch would surely go to the makers of retire a film about the mass murder by a right wing extremist on the norwegian island of the same name. survivors of the massacre were at the press conference and said why they have found the film so important. actually to show what right. can be this is a curious form and as. this. film fans at the berlin ali also put in an award winning performance they bought hundreds of thousands of tickets cementing the berlin ali's reputation as the largest film festival in the world that's open to the public.

one of the great darby's in the bundesliga takes place on saturday with play men hosting north and rivals hamburg but the days when these sides were fighting for the title are long gone by men are hovering just above the drop zone and hamburg a second last darby is about just one thing survival. the darbies against braman are always special for hamburg but their precarious position in the table makes this game even more exciting. is not just the position in the table you never want to lose a darby this is the way we're going to approach this game. hamburg haven't won in ten matches. last weekend's two one defeat to labor coos and was the latest setback i lost against braman would see them lose even more ground

in the relegation battle i know just how important this game is i used to as we see this is a great chance to set things straight a bit. and get back on track and you've got to. put braman are also well aware that a win over a direct rival of the bottom of the table would give them a huge boost in the fight for survival they're expecting a real battle. we'll have really hard tackles and a high intensity game every player will run to the max on both sides but i'm definitely not expecting an unfair match for. saturday's dobby is a crunch game for both sides if lose they can expect a strong reaction from their friends i was. and here's a reminder of the top story we're following for you the u.n. security council has postponed a vote on a ceasefire in syria until later today this is the syrian government continues its

bombardment of the opposition held suburbs of damascus known as eastern ghouta hundreds have been killed in the last six days including many children. that's on you this hour we'll be back at the top of the hour with most of you stay tuned thanks for watching. pavel for information. the pentagon's stress d.w. blog facebook and twitter up to date and in touch. him .