this is the w.'s live from berlin the united nations prepares to release its annual human rights report it's likely to refer to what the u.n. chief has called a hell on earth the fierce fight for syria peace are due to a top investigator has already said the government troops and rebels are guilty of human rights abuses by. britain and russia trade accusations and denials as a former russian spy fights for his life after being exposed to a mystery substance. to the latest on the investigation. more white house meeting

up with donald trump's talkback anomic advisor gary cohn resigns over the president's threat to ignore the dangers of a trade war and imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. types to me so let's kind of thank you for joining us the war raging on in syria is again the focus of attention at the united nations today the un's annual human rights report is due out in the next couple of hours in geneva and its tone is likely to be harsh a leading un human rights investigator has already slammed both syrian government forces and rebels for abuses carried out in eastern more than eight hundred civilians have died in recent fighting over the rebel held on place. in eastern guta death at every corner the struggle for survival here is ceaseless. sustained shelling on the city has led to the u.n.

calling this the deadliest week for the syrian town since a cease fire was brokered at the end of last month. that. children have been the worst affected this camera man stops to rescue a severely injured infant the image too graphic to show. the u.n. children's fund says the situation is desperate. the first two months of this year have been especially bloody for children we have received reports of over one thousand should run who were killed and so usefully injured in the horse yeah only since the year began. monday bought some reprieve aid trucks reached the embattled town for the first time since the offensive began. despite the excitement the world food program warns it's far from enough. up to four hundred

thousand people trapped on the inside of these people are living under siege and by that we mean there are serious shortages medical assistance of food food insecurity is very high the u.n. security council will hold urgent talks later today on the failure of the thirty day ceasefire but with no end to the war in sight the people of this town remain in agony. from on the story we can talk to a colleague over ice an analyst on syria syria who joins us here in our studio good morning to you thank you for being with us the u.n. human rights investigator we saw earlier said it's not just the regime to blame in eastern but also the rebels who are the rebels fighting in this region right now they are from eastern who they are delusional and protestors who rose up peacefully initially against the regime of bashar al assad and they were met by brute force and then took up arms to defend themselves they got back later by the art of

fighting a minority a white police she said belongs to a minority a low i said to him and his family and b. i love whites creek and i want cryptocurrency have been in control of syria it's over and resources at the expense of the result of the sunni population for the last forty years so they don't form is the mood of the people at the started they had a bed and they became fighters who is backing them who is providing them with their resources well obviously now with the with the region forty years under siege no one is backing them nobody can beach them and as obama said before he left and they dismiss them as pharmacists doctors and craftsmen who took up on. they're not as significant as obama or russia think it seems the u.n. investigator also pointed to a lot of human rights abuses taking place in eastern huta why are civilians bearing such

a heavy brunt here again because this is the sixth year in the vien for. to preserve and even to extend your ring for the good war it's experienced deeds these are what the regime fools untrustworthy elements so needs some as it was a ploy so i guess that's it for me to go in the night in the eighties and no simply because there are some these who resisted the delineation of the alawite minority needs so this is a very complex sectarian conflict what can the international community do the security council supposed to meet again today i mean the definition of community so-called i don't know there is no cohesive order or a order one word view about this but the international community have known for decades that this is a regime that uses the massacred and the it's just sick there in games so this is not a new situation and the b.b. nothing nothing in this post should be done unless force is used to stop this regime and nobody's willing to do that. with us here in our studios

now some other stories making news around the world the united states has announced more sanctions on north korea this after washington formally concluded that the country used chemical weapons to assassinate behalf brother of leader kim jong un at kuala lumpur airport last year kim young died after a nerve agent was sprayed in his face. to look as a clear to state of emergency after anti muslim violence mobs made up of the majority buddhist population attacked muslim and shops and homes and at least two people have been killed the government has deployed soldiers to riot areas and imposed a curfew. a former russian spy and his daughter are fighting for their lives in the u.k. after an apparent poisoning attempt britain has said it will respond appropriately and robustly to any russian involvement circus trip paul an x. russian intelligence officer who also spied for britain was taken critically ill on

sunday along with his daughter counterterrorism police are racing to identify the unknown substance that left the parent conscious in the southern british city of salzburg. this is a salzburg park where st paul and his daughter yulia were found critically ill on sunday. investigators are now busy trying to determine the nature of the unknown substance the two victims were exposed to. as you are aware we declared a major incident yesterday after a man and woman were taken seriously ill in salzburg on sunday they both remain in a critical condition and all fools and best wishes remain with their families during this difficult time. it was after eating a meal at this local restaurant that a resident found st louis ill on a nearby bench. and then the man starts throwing up it was weird it wasn't like

normally when some phrases. you can see that he was fishing for and what he straight wasn't even it was just this one was just come poor knowledge is wrong. there's been an angry reaction from policymakers with the british foreign minister linking this latest incident to the death of another former russian spies jules all remember who. i can reassure the. american government. russia strongly rejected those comments calling them wild the kremlin has denied any knowledge of the affair and called british allegations groundless it said london should investigate the incident before blaming moscow screwball was

a colonel in russia's military intelligence service he was arrested in russia in two thousand and four and convicted of spying for britain two years later. in twenty ten he was freed as part of a high level spy exchange british counter-terrorism specialists have now taken charge of the investigation but a spokesman said they're keeping an open mind about the nature of the incident let's bring in journalist abigail fryman rouch in london abigail what can you tell us about the condition of circus cripple and his daughter. you know good morning so it's a good script well and you really are fighting for their lives they spent another night in intensive care and they are in a critical condition so this is told the b.b.c. yesterday that they were teaching symptoms not the cause and that's not a good direction to be going in now this is because they've not yet been able to identify the substance that poisons cripple and his daughter what are investigators

concentrating on today. so this morning the home secretary amber route is chairing a meeting of the government's emergency committee cobra meanwhile toxicologists military to search for bridgette porson down which is nestles very well raising its time to try to identify the substance that quiz and sergey scribblings daughter this really is key and however other sources say that other factors all tickets may have been involved in in to syria in the health but meanwhile police also widens an area that they cordoned off around the park and restaurants all very near where the panel sounds like they have stressed there's no risk to the public we saw in a report of the british foreign minister boris johnson addressed lawmakers on this issue can you tell us more about what he had to say. yes he used very strong language and some you know very robust response to what he was hearing and they

also offered a product of the way his suspicions like to eat old house of commons yes a sick individual needs the echoes of the death of alexander litvinenko to in two thousand and six now or that the government was raising reports of the investigation into that and concluded that the difference between me approved by moscow is that i really is very significant and then he continued what you around the judgement was to gauge and i can reassure the house showed evidence emerge that in my statements both responsibility then a massive government response approved quickly i think fast i said the president should boycott the world cup which is taking place in russia this summer he said i think we'll have to the serious conversation about our relationship with russia and also describe the process of mainline and destruction force right journalist abigail simon for us in london thank you for that update you're watching news still to come a preview of elections in sierra leone

a country hit by economic crises in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak we have a special report. but first in the u.s. more fallout in the rift over trump's tariffs helena has more trade war or no trade war see me it seems that the tariff debate seen one white house staffer handed his resignation gary cohn donald trump's leading economic adviser has become the latest high ranking white house employee to quit his post stepping down as the director of the national economic council he has been the leading internal opponent to trump's plans to impose import tariffs on steel it on a minion and he came off the he spent days trying and failing to persuade president trump to change his mind. but the how wall street journal called him an economic policy powerhouse gary cohn was a key architect of trump's tax cut it may have been framed as economic populism but to the former head of investment bank goldman sachs it was common sense but his

boss ignored cohn's had advice on another key issue we were very excited about our tax plan as well we will be imposing tariffs on steel imports and tariffs on aluminum imports. are going to see a lot of good things happen and that was apparently too much for conan who reportedly spent weeks warning the president that protectionist policies would only harm u.s. interests and anger key allies of mine there is literally nothing to be guy and. in the united states at all from imposing i tariff on a stride in steel exports that's so we've made a very strong case and. we're continuing to mike your. attention now turns to who will take cones place at the podium where the president is denying rumors of a shortage of top flight candidates individuals so many people want to come in i have a choice of anybody i could take any position in the white house and i'll have

a choice of the ten top people having to do with that position everybody wants to be there and they love this white house because we have energy like rarely before the other really as gary cohn prepares to leave the white house markets are once again on edge amid fears the president could now be free to launch a full scale trade war. well with me now in the studio director of the john f. kennedy institute three university all good to see over here now colin has resigned does this mean that trump is now free or should we say we'll proceed with these tariffs i don't think gary coleman was in. serious constraint from the beginning. you know there he did what he could do he put himself between his master and bad policy for as long as he could and i suspect really what was decisive was being totally surprised by the announcement last week being left out of the loop but also

defense treasury. and state all were left out of the loop on the announcement making preparations so i think it was time for him to also resign besides which he did not get the plum he wanted he wanted to be the head of the federal reserve to be the successor to janet yellen and this eventuality did not occur it's been said that whatever gains are made for example through the tax reform of which was a proponent will be raised by prices through tariffs is that a fair assessment do you think i think certainly for the vast bulk of the population whose tax cuts will be very small this can totally offset for the top part of that income and wealth distribution who got the lion's share of the cuts they're going to do ok even with a trade war when it come to a trade war you know is this really. one step towards that because i mean there's

been widespread opposition within trumps. to this i mean some people say that he's trying to to wage a war without actually engaging in any one. ok he's also a big fan of the idea he thinks by threatening you can get what you want without having to actually engage the enemy something is very important with trade war it sounds so much like there are drums of war there's an inevitability and people have to work quickly and have preemptive strikes nothing of the sort is the trade restrictions will unfold gradually yes it's a tit there's a. that there will be movements on both sides but this is something that one can postpone to take one's time unfortunately gary coleman would have been someone who would have slowed the americas tits for the europeans for instance tatts the tatts

have briefly cohen was described as an economic powerhouse with him go what does that mean then for the advance of trump's economic policy where may i go this is a huge question some people have called the trumpet ministration caucus to where it's the government by the worst as we see one after the other of top of his top people leaving there's no presumption he's going to be getting better replacements than he had to begin with so from my point of view from policy anything's possible now. for university of thank you very much glad to be. well equity markets are just now opening here in europe so he get some idea of how investors are reacting to the resignation of trump's top economic advisor. the front but stock exchange for us only what's the word that. people are worried it's a worrisome development that's what i was told me just shortly before trading started and if i look at the share prices here they are going down and the car

shares are going down as well they're not tanking with the prospect of a twenty five percent tariff on imports into the united states but surely they're feeling at this after a day yesterday where they recovered oil is going down interesting way enough because of the worry that there will be a trade war and that it will hurt the world economy the asian markets were down and also the dollar is down it's not being seen as something that will strengthen the u.s. economy if. donald trump against all odds managed to create a few jobs in the steel industry you know it will harm the united states and that's being shown in the dollars development of the euro and with respect to that it's making quite a clear step upward as we speak right lee thanks for that and speak again and they took in frank that. voters in sierra leone all going to the polls to select their next president over to see me thanks elena and

sixteen candidates are vying for the top job with four seen as having a realistic chance including front runners from the incumbent all people's congress and the opposition people's party whoever wins will face the tough task of turning around an economy that's been rocked by recent the crises including the devastating two thousand and fourteen did at his age or increased filed this report from cheney home of outgoing president ernest bai koroma. there's certainly choice in these elections a total of sixteen candidates are vying for the presidency. not that that's any comfort for those memories he's frustrated with his government but also says there's no real alternative. and normally when. he is the change. is that you would reach so for

me i don't see. we first met rees four years ago during the outbreak he was working as a volunteer having a red cross burial team. it was a high risk and it placed great stress on his personal life. up to now we had to leave for my family to go. to. the government promised to recognize reese and his colleagues efforts by granting them special payments once the epidemic was over so far though they've received nothing according to the country's auditor general at least fourteen million dollars in aid have simply disappeared an example of corruption corruption is a key theme in the election campaign to. they're so we've never seen they've created a perfect little chrissy with illegals using every ministry in every contract let

me give you an example. it is only in my country that you spend five. road in the middle of the country in the middle of the main city five kilometers yet spending for over twenty million dollars but the ruling party's presidential candidates america mara is more relaxed on the subject. any country in the world. it depends on the money to do of corruption but good to. get is corrupt activities that is corrupt president's. efforts is currently in defiance against. the winds are going to do with. tomorrow was minister for foreign affairs until last year when he was nominated for the presidential race by the country's current leader ernest koroma koroma has ruled for ten years and now has to step down as the governing body a.b.c. is mainly trying to sell its successes in infrastructural projects and yet in the

home base of the party they enjoy a comfortable majority but in other parts of the country people are not so happy about the situation. including desmond reads like many others he believes the election will be won by the main opposition party or even the governing party itself and either way reece is certain he won't get adequate recognition for all his hard work during the in boulder crisis he does have some hope though that one day more funds will be invested in the country's health system instead of being siphoned off through corruption. he said he's a dream krishna sent us that report from eye candy and he joins us from koidu in the north of sierra leone a drink good to see you what is the atmosphere like there are people ready for the vote. well it's a bit early to say that it's very early and checked and the polling stations haven't opened yet but it is indeed a very crucial election for sierra leone is the fourth election after the civil war that ended in two thousand and two and it's the first election after the deadly

ebola outbreak in two thousand and fourteen you might want to recall that more than four thousand people died then year in sierra leone and this brought the economy down completely before it has a double digit growth then afterwards it had a double digit decline year in the corner a reason why i am right now is a very strong mining region this industry collapsed completely during the outbreak and i'm here right now because it's also one of the swing states is one of the states where it is not clear people will go for the opposition party candidates. running hockey but it is a fact that this election are going to be a milestone for the stability of the country and one of the biggest issues that voters are talking. well you've heard of corruption is of course the number one issue here right now especially the up with this in canada it's heavily criticised the government for a leg of response on issues that came up for example with the money that's got missing but there's also a number of infrastructure will protest projects by the government are criticised

there's three hundred million us dollar airport for example in the capital that the government was commissioned china to do and a lot of people say this is going to be a white elephant this is going to be approaching it is has no use for the people so the opposition candidates are obviously quite clear about corruption issues the presidential candidate of the governing party to me he looked as if he's not very interested in fighting the issue you actually makes an impression as if it's not a big deal in the country although he told me that under his watch if he becomes the president he's trying to increase efforts in fighting corruption for example he wants to introduce special anti corruption courts how big of a problem is corruption in. compared to internationally well if you look at the numbers there's a transparency international rating where sierra leone is on position number one hundred thirty out of one hundred eighty countries so this is definitely not a good performance but it's also not the worst in the region but

a lot of people you have the perception that one of the current administration. but worse. reporting from sierra leone for us thank you very much. now four time olympic champion farah is claiming he was racially harassed by security staff at a german airport. the thirty four year old briton though was travelling from munich to ethiopia when the alleged incident took place he filmed the aftermath on instagram showing a security guard pushing him further said in a statement that he felt the incident was racially motivated that he was treated unfairly there's been no comment from munich airport officials.

now to one lawmaker's quest here in germany to push the patriarchy out of the national anthem the tune praises among other things the fatherland but to do a revisions improve on tradition well we took it to the german public for a try. germany's national soccer team players know the words of the national anthem by heart as do the members of the german born does talk. but in the future will they be singing another tune. this is the ministry of family affairs equal opportunities officer christina bowles the moving of the s.p.d. she wants to recreate the at them still or extend make them gender neutral. then it would no longer be for the german fatherland but instead for the german homeland and instead of brotherly with heart in hand courageously with heart and hand.

ok but how would it sound. as though it's just. they haven't. moved. no i don't know why should we change the anthem or the lyrics i wonder and i would not agree with that. and for standing them that i like it the way it is it's traditional that's so this is twenty eight teams it's ok to question these things and start these kinds of debates and i'm totally for it but if you and what about the chancellor of german government spokesman says fundamental is very happy with the anthem as it is. all right thanks for watching t.v. if you are back in about thirty minutes.

she found a startup. she is a building contractor. and she is a leading european politician stories that must be told for they're still not commonplace yet. women is at the top of the sears international women's day on. made in germany next d.w. . a village becomes

a bordello in the spanish community of luxury on camera prostitution is a flourishing trade. sex tourism from neighboring france. the locals are demanding stringent laws against this scorn profession. borderline business for sex for sale. in the forty five minutes on d w. with that women may be lost. but the world is still far from complete gender equality. because the need to movement influence the world why did banks on sexism international women's day twenty years seems the focus this week. to start. a new career presenting. architect of east germany's place to change. the moon if i had my way.

east germany would still be the. master of. what you know about. starting march thirteenth. w. . hello and welcome to made in germany i'm helena humphrey march the eighth is international women's day and our show is going to celebrate some amazing women at the top of their game in business and politics but to succeed women often have to work harder than the male counted.