the daily news live from berlin the tide of misery continues in syria as thousands of people stream out of the problem hall damascus suburbs of eastern ghouta this as syrian government forces intensify artillery bombardment of the area with the support of russian airstrikes also coming up. early voting gets underway in russia's presidential election with a win for president putin looking likely can he get the voters to turn out in the numbers that he wants.

a magic white house and welcome to the program thousands of people are fleeing the rubble held the mask a suburb of eastern ghouta for the third day in a row backed by russian airstrikes syrian government forces have intensified artillery bombardment of the area russia's military says some three thousand people are leaving hourly the humanitarian corridor monitored by russian troops more than thirteen hundred civilians have been killed and thousands more wounded and weeks of relentless fighting. the tide of human misery leaving the rebel held eastern suburbs of the capital damascus reached flood proportions on saturday as russian bombers gave air support to syrian government forces on the ground russia's military said some three thousand people an hour were leaving nearly forty five thousand in the last three days meanwhile syrian and russian forces have stepped up

their offensive on the rebel enclave the russians are determined to turn a humanitarian disaster into a public relations victory remission. we have information that militant units are ready to lay down their arms and leave eastern ghouta but they are awaiting commands from their western sponsors we call on all forces that have influence over the bandit units to encourage them to leave the area to avoid unnecessary loss of life it. also said he believed the united states was preparing for cruise missile strikes in the mediterranean the persian gulf and the red sea meanwhile in syria's north turkish led forces are attacking could ish rebels in the town of a free in more than two hundred thousand civilians have fled their homes in the last three days according to the kurdish red crescent which also said that turkish bombers had destroyed the city's only hospital. lab near band village and berg is

a journalist speaking to us tonight from airball in northern iraq and he recently returned from syria. a lot of civilians from africa have fled where are they heading. they're actually they're fleeing to syrian government healthcare or. small towns close to. cyrano observatory there's like around fifty thousand civilians that's left there but there's also that it's also inside city and. and assad's forces as we know are advancing they're backed by russian airstrikes could this potentially be the final stages of the fighting in the area and what does it mean for the people who remain trapped there while the force is going to around sixty seven percent now. so i doubt there will be much change because the international community will not intervene in either the u.s.

or europe so it was like to. be over this month or maybe next month so for this food is they don't have a chance to escape so eager to go to the most or they stay there are most likely about what some point will be over and what hope is there for a ceasefire you just mentioned the reaction from the international community we know that the u.n. security council called weeks ago for a cease fire but if syrian and russian forces feel that they're advancing and at the end is near what hope is there for a cease fire or cessation of hostilities while the u.n. security council called for a thirty day cease fire the need of turkey or russia they're listening to it so the attacks on. there are continuing and the cease fire has not implemented on the think so there are two days ago. two specially called for again calling for a u.n. cease fire to be implemented by till now both both actors both russians are going

to end up listening to this u.s. resolution that american village in bergen airball thank you very much now to some of the other stories making news around the world greek authorities have been searching the energy and sea for survivors of a migrant boat that capsized of these sixteen people are confirmed dead three people managed to swim to land and raise the alarm they've been taken to the greek island of samples along with the bodies of those who died. russia has informed you kazan basser that twenty three british diplomats have a week to leave the country the move is in response to a similar move by the british government earlier this week british prime minister cerys m a has accused moscow of poisoning a former russian double agent and his daughter on british soil. holes have opened in russia's presidential election in the country's far eastern regions although the dispute with the u.k. has threatened to overshadow the vote internationally it's unlikely to have any

effect on the outcome president vladimir putin is expected to win another six year term but the kremlin is concerned about the possibility of a low voter turnout. well one could say it's the end of an election campaign that hardly happened no one expects any surprises on sunday when up to one hundred nine million registered voters go to the polls. every one of us cares about the destiny of our russian fatherland. that's why i'm asking you to cast your ballot on sunday just. make use of your right to make a choice about the future of our beloved russia i see. worried that people choosing to stay away from the polls could weaken the legitimacy of his presidency the kremlin would like to see a voter turnout of seventy percent with seventy percent of the ballots cast or putting. a lower voter turnout could strengthen the position of kremlin critic

alexina even though he's not allowed to run in this election he could claim a moral victory from a low turnout. we're calling on people not to vote this procedure is no election it's only a race between putin and the candidates he's personally selected. since a victory for putin is all but a foregone conclusion some russians say they don't see any need to cast their ballots you know i'm not photo of the decisions already been made by inverting by all means and with pleasure. i don't think it's really necessary to for those. in the end pop music and glitzy ads may not be enough to persuade everyone to go to the polls. to talk more about how the actual election will go i'm joined by our correspondent reread giver

shadow europe it's good to see you we just saw some commotion of video there but what exactly is the government doing to motivate russians to head to the polling stations. well different things have been done to motivate russians to go tomorrow to the polls famous russian singers call to their compatriots to vote russian cosmonauts from the space program television local authorities organize some prize draws where people could have a smart phone on another nice electric devise also there was an unspeakable homophobic and x. in a four b. commercial on state television its message was if people in russia don't go to the polls and don't vote for their rights president for the so-called right president then dark skinned soldiers would serve in the russian army and gays would infiltrate into private apartments as if that would be a big threat to russia ok so some scare tactics there but what does a low voter turnout mean for president putin. well look at people in russia are

traditionally very reluctant to vote is a belief in democracy generally and in democracy democratic elections particularly is low it's not like in the west that you go to the polls to vote for your favorites the overwhelming majority of russians think the election isn't decided by the people but by those up there which means by the authorities so many of them who like putin don't necessarily go to the polls to elect him that means even if the participation want to be that huge there are nevertheless millions of russians who like putin the question is rather why they do it and here comes again and again the popular myth of stability that he has created however this myth is a very careful and maintained on the state television so that the opposition has little chance to criticize putin and to show to people of huge number of problems in his country ok and observers are pointing to a clear victory for president putin another term for him what should what are some

of the things that we should be looking for now post vote. well that about putin will certainly win this election election you are right the question is what is the position is going to do with putin's victory except to the communists we haven't heard of any big protests or thought actually we have an extremely cold winter this year and even with this we continue face minus twenty degrees here in moscow you have to be extremely angry to hang around all the streets for hours to express your political attitude we'll see d.w. correspondent you're a shadow thank you a new documentary has premiered this week in belgium portraying one family's journey into their traumatic past ninety one year old han re is a holocaust survivor his son is a renowned cartoonist who's depicted his father's life in a graphic novel you met with mr kitsch got ahead of the film's premier. you know.

i'm one of the last holocaust survivors in belgium it's been there's only three or four of us left you know the fia. everyone else was burnt. to death and. only kiszko was fourteen when he was taken by the gestapo he survived more than three years imprisoned in eleven different concentration camps. and accounted for i mean he's still my whole family died by to my mother my father and for both of my sisters they're all gassed and burned i see my study one family members who were in concentration camps i'm the only one who survived and returned to belgium. at nineteen kiszko was liberated having no family left he started a new life in brussels and married he and his wife had four children but they never

spoke a word of the holocaust. that's on me says the children never dad now he's a well known cartoonist and their relationship with his father is the main theme of his graphic novel second generation published in two thousand and twelve the amos the what is that the nazi atrocities a never forgotten. on a ten year p. . and i guess the idea is you're going to read you should be with you in this and then you and i get. in the thing. he gets up on the floor. and if. you were you believe and i'm lucky not just to have. survived but i've built up

a big big family with many children and grandchildren around fifty all together. and that's coming my nose and hitler. life is a cartoon as the title of the documentary about kishka and his family up to his i'm a human is what kept the now ninety one year old alive she's a horas of the holocaust. to sports now are french writer joe hands are coke claimed pole position in the opening race of the moto g.p. season in qatar the riders set a blistering pace to smash the lap record which had stood for over a decade reigning world champion mark marquez couldn't match that performance though and so you'll start sunday's race from second and you car the rider daniel up a true all round off the front row and third. while

st patrick's day arlene's national holiday and the day when millions of people around the world whether they're irish or not celebrate with food parades street parties and of course plenty of green and the u.s. city of chicago is no exception thousands of revelers along the banks of the chicago river were treated to a spectacular spectacular event as city authorities die the water's a bright green the color of the emerald isle it's estimated some seventy million people around the world will raise a glass to mark the day and we here at the w. say to everyone celebrating sancia. and don't forget we haven't forgotten actually the bundesliga all of saturday's goals from germany's top flight are coming up right after the break with chris harrington what byron fans have something to cheer about as they watch shall cut take on wolfsburg because a royal blues loss could help the varians as they seek to wrap up the bundesliga title this weekend. stay tuned for all that and more with the

bundesliga show coming up in just a few moments and not be quite often i'll be back with more news at the top of the hour thanks for watching. the race for immortality has begun. leading neuroscientists are researching ways to replicate the human brain. androids are taking over physical labor. to human brain used to sanford.