this is d.w. news live from berlin years of fighting in syria's eastern go to region may be drawing to a close syrian state t.v. says a deal has been reached to evacuate fighters and civilians from eastern bhutto's last rebel held town 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 un welcome south korean pop stars to pyongyang as the north and south gear up for a political summit. and an early spring time snowstorm hits northeastern germany

some residents are delighted with the unexpected easter snow but it has wreaked havoc on the region. 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 you that fighters from a smaller rebel group are also participating in the evacuation fighting in eastern in recent weeks has killed hundreds now regime forces are poised to take control at a terrible human cost. the road to eastern ghouta passers by ruined buildings and abandoned lifeless villages. on the roadside corpses rebels that

nobody has stopped to bury displaying victory signs assad soldiers approach the center of eastern go to the offensive has lasted more than a month with russian warplanes carrying out crucial air strikes. and. the rebel terrorist finally over the syrian army has been able to free eastern gota we think our president. and the border suffer from the last rebels are leaving the area the conditions of their withdrawal were negotiated late into the evening many are now trying to get to the city of idlib in the north one of their last remaining strongholds. and her children were taking prisoner by the rebels for four weeks and held as hostages. in the end my son was ready to kill my daughter and me so they couldn't violate our

sending more. but only a couple. they beat them with rifle butts and stomped on them with their heavy boots. i horsed can i live in then they grabbed my daughter and screamed that she was now married to one of the revolutionaries if she refused they would cut off her head and give it to me. said they were monsters so you know. more and more refugees are making their way through the corridor or out of east and go to more than four hundred thousand people were caught in the crossfire essentially held hostage by rival groups with a common goal overthrowing the assad regime. many are now in the custody of the syrian army apparently the lesser of two evils. eastern ghouta now just a collection of ruins a region without people after the recapture of the region moscow and damascus

bursting with self-confidence and washington after announcing it would freeze millions of dollars in reconstruction aid is on the back foot what's left of the dead the homeless and many displaced eight years after the civil war began with a few isolated protests against the assad regime the president has almost finished bringing the country back under his iron grip. 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 which was the first of its kind in more than a decade. south korea's k. pop girl bands red velvet and girls' generation and others played 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 moon j.n. is scheduled to meet with his north korean counterpart on may twenty seventh to discuss the north's possible denuclearization from the u.s. president donald trump is also planning to meet in the near future with the north's kim jong il and to glucose it all. trump has also scaled back military exercises

between the u.s. and the south korean military. sunday's concert was held under the title should bring is coming but many koreans both in the south and north hope this means peace is coming. and now to some of the other stories making news around the world huge protests have erupted in indian controlled kashmir after at least twelve rebels were killed in fighting with indian security forces as tens of thousands of demonstrators marched demanding an end to indian rule some protesters tried to reach the sites of gun battles to help track trouble's escape. in tel aviv israeli peace activists and members of arab israeli political parties demonstrated against friday's deadly clashes at 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.

coaster ricans have been voting a runoff election to choose a new president social issues were at the fore 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. 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. these moral issues of not only dominated fabricio of our outers campaign but also that of his opponent the candidate of the ruling social democratic citizens action party that. has served in the cabinet of president luis yet more solis. 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's never been more divided. well here in berlin supporters of x. catalan regional president carlos push from all took to the streets today have pushed them all is being held in germany on an international arrest warrant and the case has attracted international scrutiny. this is a disease of hundreds of supporters of catalan independence from spain marched in berlin they were demanding the release of x. regional president carlos puts 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 puts them all faces a number of charges including rebellion. huge tomorrow is currently being held at

a prison in the town of noise monster 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. three thousand by his political convention it's not possible to put him out it's not it's 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 months first of all spain needs to talk if they don't want to talk there 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 the doesn't side the decisive thing is europe i am positive 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. being in a put the shadows of german judges have up to sixty days to make a decision on spain's extradition request the charge of re belly in 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 that jesus christ rose from the dead pope francis has led celebrations in the vatican in history titian a easter message he urged an end to the carnage in syria. the pope's doring trout eager to hear his traditional easter message in it pope francis called for peace in

a world marked by war and conflict. he boice tope for the korean peninsula discussed parts of africa affected by hunger and demi 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 covet the city's church of the holy. to mark the research 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.

it. hits the news. 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 in europe but winter was not about a lack 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 a snow easter bunny people in northern germany trying to make the best of the weather as they enjoyed 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 delayed or didn't run at all 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 called them and now they're picking me up with a car. this popular but soon near the baltic coast was hit hard by the winter weather more than thirty centimeters of fresh snow destroyed the cages and about fifty birds 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 to. others frolicked in the snow like people on this baltic pier and some even celebrated who went to beach party with a warm up on fire. they're going to sleep a show with my colleague pablo fully on their asses coming up right after the break with all the big stories from the weekend could it bremen extend their unbeaten run

at home against a frankfurt side gunning for europe find out in just a few minutes. you're watching news from berlin more coming up at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website thanks for watching. take personally i'm doing with the wonderful place to make the game so special. for all. more than football on line. for the news on you tube she said it's the once in.