the use of the written word to stand up for women's rights. no woman so don't want to force a future story. for you. this is t w news live from berlin years of fighting in serious peace or in ghouta region may be drawing to a close report say a deal has been reached to evacuate fighters and civilians from eastern good has last rebel held town syrian state media say the first fighters have already begun leaving tomorrow. also coming up. another hint of

a conciliatory gesture on the korean peninsula north korean leader kim jong il unwelcome south korean pop stars to pyongyang as the north and south gear up for a political summit. and pope francis addresses the faithful on easter one of the most important days on the christian calendar he urges an end to the world's conflicts and make a special appeal on behalf of those suffering in syria. i'm irish waiter thanks for joining us opposition fighters have started evacuating the town of duma the last rebel held stronghold in the suburbs of damascus pro assad forces say they've reached an agreement with the largest rebel group to pull out of the territory and sources have told the w's that fighters from a smaller rebel group are also participating in the evacuation fighting in eastern guta. in recent weeks has caused more than sixteen hundred civilian casualties

according to our rights group. correspondent is following the development from beirut in neighboring lebanon and shall start by bringing us up to date on the rubble of accusations from eastern is there now an agreement between the government of the rebel groups in duma well east and kook are essentially has been controlled by three large rebel groups hamas was under the control of turkey back they have already evacuated and want to live like a grandmother was backed by a cop out and they were controlling your bar in one thousand right next to the old city of damascus. struck a deal with the regime and its backers russia have evacuated and some of us who are grandma who were in goma have also evacuated today but the biggest group in dumas which is the largest town in eastern who is josel islam which has these the

beginning the back by saudi arabia they have not yet officially said whether it has been struck between them or the regime yet bought assad's state television some artillery and hizbullah's media center has confirmed to journalists now that in fact a deal has been struck with gesture under which the fighters and their families would be going to gerard willems and not do it and i was also very important to mention that has already led to the wounded people. to leave but they would only be able to leave. if when they do finally give a confirmation that this deal has been struck with them they would only be allowed to leave once the release of prisoners that they have had kept now what does a four rebel pullout from duma mean for the syrian conflict. it's a huge victory for bashar al assad seconds to the one he had gained in december two thousand and sixteen after the regime regained aleppo all the financial center off

syria so this is huge but this was coming in the rebels to the last moment kept hoping for their backers like saudi arabia qatar and america to sort of help them that did not happen it was known that there would be there was a siege it was known that there would be air warfare and there would be bombardment and a ground offensive and then the rebels would have to go back we need to nonetheless nothing was sort of being an actor we don't support them the ceasefire also did not quite work to get advantage because russia and the regime kept wandering about in a few hours even over those thirty days so if this is a huge big leap or assad or knocked out cleared essentially assad would have to just sort of tackle a pocket and how marketing that are and italy which is which has a strong rebel presence but outside of that all of syria sort of comes under control of course excluding the goddess dominated areas but the kurds in the regime have a different understanding. for how for us in beirut monitoring the fast changing

situation for us in syria and eastern good i thank you very much now on to some of the other stories making news around the world anti india demonstrations erupted in india held kashmir after government forces carried out raids into villages looking for rebels at least twelve people including three civilians were killed at least seventy people were also reported wounded. in tel aviv israeli peace activists and members of arab israeli political parties demonstrated against friday's deadly clashes on the gaza border israeli forces killed fifteen palestinians and wounded more than seven hundred during mass protests there israel has rejected calls for an investigation into the violence. in another sign of improving relations between the two koreas pop musicians from the south have given a rare concert in pyongyang north korean leader kim jong un and his wife made a surprise appearance in the audience they applauded the performance the first of

its kind in more than a decade. south korea's k. pop girl bands red velvet and girls' generation and others play the kind of music that has been taboo in the north. but now north korean leader kim jong un was in the audience in the capital pyongyang and feeling the groove. over one hundred south korean musical artists came to perform in north korea for the first time in thirteen years a possible thaw in what has mainly been a chilly relationship between the two koreas things got really interesting at the east killing young grand theater when south korean performers sang about reunification the crowd certainly didn't seem to mind. meanwhile a south korean team on sunday gave its first performance in pyongyang since two thousand and two. on the political stage south korea's leader

moonshee in is scheduled to meet with his north korean counterpart on may twenty seventh to discuss the north's possible denuclearization from the us president donald trump is also planning to meet in the near future with the north's kim jong il and to glucose hugo. trump has also scaled back military exercises between the u.s. and the south korean military. sunday's concert was held under the title spring is coming but many koreans both in the south and north hope this means pieces coming. costa ricans are going to the polls in a runoff election between two presidential candidates social issues have been at the for of the campaign with the two candidates on opposite sides of a debate over legalizing gay marriage sunday's vote looks set to deliver a close result after a polarizing race. costa rican deciding who will govern the country for the

next four years the central american nation of five million people is divided the two presidential candidates could not be more different and the latest polling has them running neck and neck. only a few months ago fabrizio alvarado was an evangelical preacher and singer on t.v. now he's the presidential candidate for the national restoration party he received huge support after he strongly condemned the legalization of same sex marriage. vote out of his party says this show of conservatism breaks a long held silence among costa ricans if they win this election the national restoration party has promised to toughen abortion penalties and eliminate current sex education guards from schools. what we don't like about the current tax proposed by the ministry of education is that they are loaded with gender ideology. sexual education has nothing to do with the promotion of homo sexual

practices you can teach about these topics you can talk about sex but there is no need to promote it and. these moral issues of not only dominated fabricio of our outas campaign but also that of his opponent the candidate of the ruling social democratic citizens action party carlos has served in the cabinet of president luis yet a morsel lease. i think this is a call to attention showing that in the last two or three decades we have left aside other issues like inequality both territorial and gender inequality that have impacted our society. but it is also to take the right path a more egalitarian route with more opportunities for everyone. whoever wins on sunday the new president's biggest challenge will be to bring together a society that sniff of being more divided. here in berlin supporters of x.

catalan regional president carlos pushed them all took to the streets today praised the law is being held in germany on an international arrest warrant and the case has attracted as her national scrutiny. hundreds of supporters of catalan independence from spain marched in berlin they were demanding the release of x regional president carlos put them all who is now in a german prison. he was taken into custody last week while traveling in germany after spain issued a european arrest warrant spain now wants germany to extradite him to more faces a number of charges including rebellion. tomorrow is currently being held at a prison in the town of noise. which is where german politician detailed dame visited him earlier on sunday he's concerned about germany's role in the affair but if the government is honest they should know that it's very clear that if

someone is. treated by his political convention it's not possible to put him out it's not it's for britain and germany to put him. at brandenburg gate in berlin demonstrators made their feelings known about the dispute back in catalonia they support catalonian independence and are also upset that germany has now cooperated with spain. as man who's on first of all spain needs to talk if they don't want to they won't be a solution that's obvious and i hope europe will do something we are europeans as well europe abandoned us and that's very bad. of a phylum via doesn't have a decisive thing is europe i am part of this european team as we all are and there's no democracy in spain since the last conflicts we had. we definitely need a political solution. but in a put it to. german judges have up to sixty days to make

a decision on spain's extradition request the charge of rebellion is not a crime under german law but other charges facing pushed him are like sedition and misuse of public funds. christians around the world have been marking easter sunday the day they believe jesus christ rose from the dead pope francis has led celebrations in the vatican and his traditional easter message he urged the end to the carnage in syria. if the pope's doring trout began to hear his traditional easter message in it pope francis called for peace in a world marked by war and conflict. he voiced hope for the korean peninsula discussed parts of africa affected by hunger and demick conflicts and terrorism and spoke of the wounds of ongoing conflict in the middle east.

today we beg for the fruits of peace for the entire world beginning with the beloved and long suffering land of syria whose people are worn down by a seemingly endless war. in sunny jerusalem hundreds of christians covered in the city's church of the holy settler to mark the recent action of jesus christ. it is belief that he was crucified and buried where the church now stands in his east to address the pontiff called for we come silly ation in the holy land two days after more than a dozen palestinians were killed by israeli troops during protests in gaza but. hate. hate speech because. he also implored politicians all over the world to always respect human dignity and devote themselves to the common good. well it may technically be spring but winter was not about to let go of

northeastern germany without one last blast of snow for easter many people delighted in the unusual april weather others had a chilly or attitude. not a snowman but just no easter bunny people in northern germany trying to make the best of the weather as they enjoy a white easter. the snow cause problems especially for motorists there were hundreds of accidents across northeastern germany many could only walk as buses got stuck in the east the snow trains were also delays or didn't drown a toll that left many travelers struggling to get to their families for the holidays. i want to go to see my children but there's no train the overhead electrical line is damaged i told them and now they're picking me up with a call this popular but soon near the baltic coast was his hoss by the winter weather more than thirty centimeters a fresh snow destroyed the cages at about fifty butts went missing.

this is major damage i've been working here for almost twenty years never before has it been this bad a large number of animals is gone that's disturbing we're responsible for them and now they're gone it's really hard rock those. of us frolicked in the snow like people on this baltic pier and some even celebrated to went to beach party with a warm up on fire. you're watching news from berlin more coming up at the top of the hour. which will bring me. your link to news from africa. your link to exception the stories of discussion from the news visit our website to deputed

coom smart africa join us on facebook. for.