this is d. w. news coming to you live from berlin performing for peace some of south korea's best known bands play a rare concert in pyongyang the north korean leader kim jong un tells the state media that he was deeply moved by the experience so what does it mean for diplomacy also coming up in syria rebel fighters were forty two three to a deal to give up a key stronghold near damascus the plight of civilians trapped there means unclear . and overtures to a trade war in response to u.s.

president troops punitive terrorists china imposes let me use all the u.s. products of. following terry martin thanks for joining us north korean leader kim jong un says his heart swelled after attending a rare concert in pyongyang by musicians from south korea it's the first such performance in more than a decade and some say a sign of improving ties between the two countries also coincides with the start of annual military drills between the u.s. and south korea. sized careers k. pop girl bands red velvet and girls' generation among others played the kind of music that has been taboo in the north. that's north korean leader kim jong un was

in the audience in the capital pyongyang and feeling the groove. over one hundred size korean musical artists came to perform in north korea for the first time in thirteen years things got really interesting at a theater in pyongyang when size korean performers sang about reunification. i hope that we can look at each other and feel deeply in our hearts that we are one . meanwhile assize korean taekwondo team gave its first performance in pyongyang since two thousand and two. on the political stage south korea's leader in is scheduled to meet with his north korean counterpart on april 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 un. has also scaled back exercises

between the u.s. and the south korean military. sunday's concert was held under the title spring is coming. that's many koreans both in the size and the north hope this means peace is on its way. reports coming in from syria suggests that rebel fighters there have agreed to leave the last stronghold in eastern guta for regime forces say they've reached a deal with the largest rebel group army of islam to pull out of the territory but some members of the group deny their surrender is imminent fighters from another smaller rebel group however are leaving hundreds of people have been killed in fighting in eastern guta in recent weeks. the road to eastern ghouta passes by ruined buildings and the band and lifeless villages. on the roadside corpses rebels that nobody has stopped to bury displaying victory signs assad soldiers

approach the center of east and go to the offensive has lasted more than a month with russian warplanes carrying out crucial air strikes. and. the rebel terror is finally over the syrian army has been able to free eastern gota we thank our president. and put a sort of. the last rebels out 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 the last remaining strongholds. and the children were taking prisoner by the rebels for four weeks and held as hostages. oh i see in the end my son was ready to kill my daughter and me so they couldn't violate a semi more. the foot only

a couple. they beat them with rifle butts and stomped on them with their heavy boots. i have been 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 card 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 out 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 arm and grip. correspondent is following developments in eastern from beirut in neighboring lebanon and she joins us from there bring us up to date on these rebel evacuations from eastern guta how close is the regime to regaining full control of the region around damascus. well the regime is pretty close the offensive of the regime began in one thousand february and since then hundreds of thousands of people have already evacuated he says he some who thought was a century dominated by three rebel groups durkee back. was controlling how to stop the war ready evacuated file up and around mom's back up out of one point and the

abu bakar way to jobar which is five next to the old city of damascus and other areas and i gesture this now which is the dominant group in dumas the largest town of eastern ghouta they have apparently come to a deal according to his blood and according to. state media that they would soon begin evacuations to those still there is a certain silence from josh in the slum and they have officially only admitted that the wounded would be allowed to leave and they haven't said anything whether the fighters would be leading or not though that evacuation is expected to begin this is certain surprise element it is a gesture a slump continues to maintain the reason is that they want to stick with a new mom but the locals the civilians are saying they'd like to be. if assad's troops do regain control of all the areas there around damascus in the coming days how much will this strengthen the syrian regime. significantly i mean this is the

biggest victory for assad regime after december two thousand and sixteen which is when the regime regained aleppo the financial center the heart of many sick after that this is the biggest victory for about our last hour and the surprising thing for many you develop groups in opposition activists and those who have sort of from the outside supported the uprising not the revolution has been the assad regime has used the same tactics which is siege and air warfare and then a ground offensive and the same sort of factors have been used in goods as they did in aleppo and there was really no preparation in a sense from the international community to support the rebels law so this is huge for him once do mastic know what there would be a tiny pocket and there are one in hama and it delivered to rubbles that he would then be focusing his attention on. the bombing campaign in eastern has been devastating what spin the cost of this victory for the syrian regime

what's been the cost for civilians. what about fifteen hundred people who have been killed in the east and with our fence there but the civil war in itself is in the east and. heart of severest population has been deployed displaced by six million are internally displaced by five million plus are living in other countries like lebanon turkey germany and many of them also illegal at least where i am at levanon so many displaced these people of god knows when they would be able to really go back home because the regime does not really have a coherent plan as to how they want to build the international community doesn't really seem to be on the scene being just a hollywood rebirth the whole country that's been sort of formed and charles thank you so much rains up to date that was correspondent and charles bora speaking to us from beirut lebanon. trade relations between the u.s. and china continue to deteriorate after president slapped punitive levies on

chinese products beijing has announced tariffs of up to twenty five percent on u.s. goods the tariffs which cover one hundred twenty eight u.s. imports including frozen pork and wine take effect today beijing said the move is intended to safeguard china's interests and balance lawsuits. these american avocados are destined for the chinese market but they might not sell so well anymore now that china has imposed tariffs on fruit heat wine steel pipes and scores of other imports from the usa the rates of fifteen percent on one hundred and twenty items and twenty five percent on eight others. the chinese government says that people support its move though some in china regret the ensuing rise in prices. it's definitely going to have an impact many fruits that kids love only grow in foreign countries we don't have them in china that is

a direct impact. it's absolutely right to impose tariffs because i've seen the news about the us crapping trade deals with us it's right to fight back. the new tariffs that china's initial response to the u.s. move to slap tariffs on steel alley many month other imports worth some sixty billion dollars a year china by contrast is raising tariffs on about three billion dollars worth of u.s. imports. beijing says it will never submit if the u.s. launches a trade war and says that tariff increases are in line with world trade organization rules to protect its interests still the scale of china's new tariffs is modest the move looks more like a warning shot than a major counterattack the u.s. is china's largest single market a full blown trade war is the last thing china would want. now is take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today

a defunct chinese space station as reentered the earth's atmosphere years after scientist last contact with it. one was launched in two thousand and eleven and served as china's first space station stronger say it mostly disintegrated upon re-entry but some debris appears to have landed in the south pacific ocean. in costa rica the central s. carlos. has decisively won the presidential election with nearly all the votes counted the electoral commission announced that casey has taken almost two thirds of the vote a defeated he defeated a conservative evangelical preacher who opposed same sex marriage. huge protests erupted in. indian controlled kashmir after at least thirteen suspected militants were killed in fighting with indian security forces tens of thousands of demonstrators marched demanding an end to indian rule some protesters tried to reach the sites of gun battles to help trapped rebels escape. and for

some sports now in bonus league of frankfurt travel to brave in search of three points that could push them into the champions league spots but it was never going to be an easy job were unbeaten at home since october while talks at lost their last three games away from home and evenly matched dool was in store. raymond's florian co-found has been working to emulate the kind of success nico kovacs has had in frankfurt unlike the former croatia international though cosell builds his team around to check. the most a lady with a pinpoint cross does not tell use of it's. one nil to brain in the twenty eight minutes high quality goal in a high tempo game. in the second half frankfurt struck back with some style as well . kevin prince go insane with a snappy back heel assist from the b.o.h.

. three minutes later the eagles nearly soared into the only job which threw on the republican who pulled a crucial kick see how crucial this crucial use of it is cross deflected high into the air by dabdoub around. and into the net i look this way that's he tried and failed to control the ball perhaps dazzled by the sun. frame and walked off to one winners the trend under cofield just keeps going up. third from bottom mines are desperate to avoid relegation from the bonus league but they played out a scoreless draw with a glove that appears to have given up on playing european football next season following a quiet opening half the second period had more to her when the hosts briefly thought they had taken only through alex on the hot the last few minutes all the visitors almost break through but the game ended mill now. you're

watching the news coming to you live from berlin we have more news at the top of the next hour sumi will be with you then meanwhile you get all the latest news and information around the clock at our website w dot com thanks will. the whole d w one out of. four in soak is global insights the news out for local heroes could. be a double made for minds.