this is d.w. news live from berlin russia orders a daily break in the bombing of eastern ghouta in syria they say the aim is to allow civilians to leave but for now the form goes on with more than five hundred feared killed in the last week including many children. and in germany's chancellor angela merkel's conservative say yes to a coalition deal with the social democrats merkel also presents her picks for a new younger and more female cabinet.

i'm sumi so misconduct good to have you with us we start with the latest in syria's civil war russia is calling for a pause in fighting to help civilians get out of eastern ghouta the rebel enclave near damascus has been besieged by government led forces for weeks the russian defense minister said in a statement that there will be a brief ceasefire every day to set up an evacuation route now that comes as new reports suggest chlorine gas was used in an aerial bombardment russia's call those reports a provocation but a monitoring group says people have been treated for breathing difficulties in the rubble whole district near damascus the government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. now for more on this story we have correspondent vladimir vande velde berg who is in the syrian town of call bonnie and journalist alec loon who is in moscow latimer and alec

a good to see you both alec let's start with you vladimir putin as we just said he has ordered a daily a cease fire for eastern gota why now is he caving in to international pressure it looks like that though he says. he discussed the ceasefire at a security council meeting with all the top heads of russia's military and security forces and espionage agencies and he said at that meeting that. the reason they're doing this is because the u.n. resolution passed yesterday calling for a thirty day ceasefire so it looks like he is. down to international pressure a little bit however lehner putin's spokesman said after this was announced that russia still remains very concerned with what it called provocative actions by terrorists in eastern. russia for several days has been saying that damascus and even the russian embassy in damascus are coming under shelling from

groups within eastern gooda groups russia or terrorists alec you mentioned the united nations now the ceasefire is intended to take place from at nine am to two pm every day a local time and the u.n. resolution was for all of syria for thirty days so is this undermining the united nations. it's definitely much more limited then what a lot of people hope for this is as you mentioned nine am to two pm every day a humanitarian cause that's the phrase that russia is using as it's not quite sane ceasefire it's kind of humanitarian pause and it says this will only be for civilians to leave only certain that said russia's defense minister has asked has suggested this humanitarian corridor has also be opened in our town which is near the border with iraq and also route our route one which is near the border

with jordan so suggesting that a similar approach could be used in other areas although that has not been officially announced yet latimer let's come to you now because with news of this cease fire now the syrian government troops have just launched a ground offensive near damascus will they heed this call for a pause in fighting. the syrian government really want to clear out the last rebel block of course of the mosque us so it's very difficult if there is no international pressure on the special also pressure by allies iran and russia it's very unlikely that the syrian government will stop their offensive they have also been charges that the syrian government has used chlorine gas against civilians out how seriously can those charges be taken was very difficult to say because this enclave is completely surrounded by the syrian government so it's very difficult to find proof or discount of attacks but there is this kind of

like accusations be florida that your government as used glory so it's not the first time but is very difficult to prove this kind of allegations we only have the images that have been coming through vladimir now alec of coming to you we heard vydra say it's difficult to know whether syrian government troops will heed this call for a cease fire how much clout to does fighting with putin wield over the assad regime at this point. well earlier i would have said a lot. of this air campaign in syria basically turned around the entire war. to assad's regime however lately that's been coming into doubt especially with the attack february seventh when u.s. airstrikes killed dozens if not hundreds of russian mercenaries in syria. some people interpreted that attack as a way for russia to try and tell it was side that he had better pay more attention to what russia wants in the region because those mercenaries as it has emerged were

trying to take on an oil field that the syrian regime wants in there is or there are a correspondent in moscow and vladimir van valkenburgh in the syrian town called bonnie thank you both for that update. moving on to some other news now and i hear in germany chancellor angela merkel's conservatives have voted in favor of entering a coalition government with the center left social democrats the chancellor as christian democrats approve the coalition with a broad majority the move was expected the social democrats are voting next week an early america announced her picks for the new cabinet most of the candidates are younger and there are more women of a chance are also named in one of her fiercest critics to join her cabinet. dishnet c.d.u. conventions to applaud party leader and chancellor angela merkel after the speech

as long as possible this time the delegates managed to play for little more than four minutes considerably shorter than in recent weeks this reflects the growing dissatisfaction with merkel's policy and the disappointing result at the last national elections and she's aware of that that's the good news and this result is not at all what we were hoping for we all fought hard and we were all disappointed we need to do better the next time. that's your belief my view that this option. but many delegates whether this can be done with a new grand coalition together with the social democrats have reached agreement has been criticized especially by the conservative wing within the christian democrats but merkel defended the agreement as the c.d.u. had managed to make its mark. do you justice displayed so the headlines show that this agreement wants to give the right answers on the most urgent matters and it's drawn the right conclusions from the election results a new start for europe no new momentum for germany and more solidarity within our

society i know it says i'm hurt feelings are. prior to the convention merkel had presented her picks for a potential new cabinet which will include one of her harshest critics the thirty seven year old m.p.g. and spam half of all posts for the c.d.u. will be held by women these decisions helped to silence most of the critical voices . in the work this gives the whole thing today really could be so i'm very satisfied. it's a new team it reflects the c.v. i do it's interesting for people. but still most of the participants today went to two ministers who will no longer be in office interior minister who must be busy and health minister come on through the message to party leader was clear the party may follow but it's not quite convinced. now at some other stories making

news around the world britain's opposition leader german corben has outlined a more flexible approach to immigration after brags that the prime minister theresa may he said his labor party would guarantee permanent residence for european union citizens living in britain and the right to bring their families to join the. british police say at least four people were killed in an explosion in the city of leicester in central england several more were injured in the blast which hit a three story building that housed an apartment and a shop authorities say there was no indication the explosion was linked to terrorism. pro independence demonstrators have clashed with police in barcelona while demonstrating against a visit by spain's king sleeping supporters of catalonia split from spain have criticised the monarch for allegedly failing to pay enough attention to the region and promote political dialogue. and hundreds of people are protesting so one gets a visit by north korean officials the head of the delegation is accused of

orchestrating the sinking of a south korean navy ship in two thousand and ten which killed forty six sailors the north korean delegation was in the country to attend. sunday's the olympic closing ceremony. components like a soccer now and in a major showdown on sunday laver who isn't locked horns with shaka both sides have exceeded expectations in this campaign and this clash was bound to be a good fun. too ambitious teams battling for the champions league laverick who is in coach heiko hair lish looked skeptical at the start of the match he may have suspected the visitors were poised to pounce a long ball and get zero books to other beat panicky artis red sauce. one deal for shaka in the eleventh minute. the austrian made it look easy and served up a perfect finish. laverick goes in needed some time to bounce back leon bailey with a good chance after twenty minutes. both teams went all out leverkusen stomach or

going a bit too far here a second yellow card and the hosts were a man down. after the restart shaka dug in at the back and threatened on the counter-attack band les no preventing bailey envelope from adding to the score but it was only a matter of time after a red sauce followed him below in the box substitute not be able been talib stepped up to the spot to make it two nil am shaka celebrated a win on the road well laverick who is in continued to struggle on their own turf they've lost three home games in the second half of the season. and in sunday's late one to play the game bottom of the table cologne travel to light sake cologne were in dire need of points and they face an uphill battle against a light six side bent on finishing the season second in the table. been turned upside down in this season but the. numbers on

a freezing night. were the order of the day and. he was surprisingly left out. after just five minutes when shown. up at imola littman with a shot against the post and done with the finish. a thought he'd equalize for libya. and late. into the break. like he thought things were over at half time but the visitors came with fire in their bellies. his debut goal for. seventy one minutes. six minutes later. the lead. outstanding work on the right by mark. took advantage. couldn't find

a reply and went wild at the final whistle. as they cut the gap in the relegation playoff spot to seven points. and that was. the consolation. well with northern europe in the grips of subzero winter temperatures you could be forgiven for not wanting to go outside but swimmers in russia. didn't get the memo they embraced freezing temperatures to compete in minus ten degree celsius weather an outdoor close over the weekend people young and old took part and the russians say it is a fun way to stay healthy. a reminder now of the top stories that we're following for you here on d w reports out of syria indicate that chlorine gas was used in an airstrike by russia backed government forces health authorities in eastern say one child has died and several other people are being treated for exposure to the gas

russia has denied a chemical attack and chancellor merkel's conservatives have voted in favor of entering a coalition government with the center left social democrats the move brings merkel a step closer to a fourth term as chancellor the new government still leaves the backing off the social democrats. that's it for now thanks for watching we leave you with some colorful images from chinese new year celebrations in new york enjoy.

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