this is g w news live from berlin performing for peace sound of south korea's best known dance playing a rare concert in. the north korean leader kim jong un tell state media he was deeply moved by the experience so what does it mean for diplomacy also coming up in syria rebel fighters are reported to have agreed to a deal to give up a key stronghold near damascus but the plight of civilians trapped there remains on clear. an overture to or trade war in response to u.s. president trumps punitive tariffs china imposes love these on u.s.

products. also coming up in life as an immigrant worker in saudi arabia is funny for char reports on how reforms in the kingdom are making life more difficult for some foreign laborers. i'm seeing you so much going there thank you 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 is the first such performance in more than a decade and some say a sign of improving ties between the two countries it also coincided with the start of the annual military drills between the u.s. and south korea. size careers k. pop girl bands red velvet and girls' generation among others played the kind of

music that has been taboo in the 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 a south 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 concept was how the end of the title of spring is coming. but to many koreans both in the size and the north hope this means peace is on its way. and we can talk to highness mostly from the graduate school of east asian studies at the free university here in berlin thanks for joining us in our studio now the north korean regime usually frowns upon western style music but we saw here at k. pop girl band getting a warm welcome what do you make of that well in the first place that might seem to be surprising but when you think about it of course kim jong un has to present himself as being able to make concessions and being able to have

a cooperative discussions so he can only accept it and after all also the north koreans were performing in the south right so this concert also coincided with the first day of the joint military exercises between the u.s. and south korea and these drills are usually seen by north korea as a provocation what kind of reaction do you think we're going to expect here i think we see the reactions that we've seen so far that is low key reactions because commitment made very much clear when the beginning of march a south korean special envoy visited him when he said i will understand if you have to continue with the schedule military exercises and that's a sign of understanding when he now does not react to these military exercises so a sign of understanding what kind of message is north korea sending a very clear message we are seriously interested in having a dialogue a discussion talks in order to relations and for future peace the drills

themselves are more low key than they have been in the past why do you think that is well that's from the other side south korea and the u.s. will want to give the sign od towards north korea we are interested in having a proactive. and constructive talks so we scaled back our military exercises this is a give and take so all signs on both sides are pointing towards a thaw in relations and we're supposed to see a summit in april between the north and the south do you think we're going to see this thaw continue hopefully yes you cannot tell but i mean we have important schedules coming up and now we still have ongoing just a cultural diplomacy until to morrow then we have meeting on a on a working level on april for. high level meeting on april eighteenth very much depends on these meetings whether this very good relations are being continued well the other big player at the table of course is the u.s.

even as this thought continues between the north and the south do you think we're going to see a high level meeting with the u.s. as well well that again depends on how the summit between north and sells on april twenty seventh will go and how in particular the white house will organize itself now with the new hawkish john bolton on board this is now the factor which is very much hard to to to say what's going to be on the white house or at the next big hurdle there how does muslim from the graduate school of east asian studies at the free university here in berlin thank you very much now to some other stories making news around the world militants of the boko haram islamist group of killed at least eighteen people after they attacked a military base in two villages near the nigerian city of my ducati dozens of people were wounded officials that the militants fired mortars the troops on the base and suicide bombers detonated explosives in the village. in coasta rica the

center left. has decisively won the presidential election with nearly all the votes counted the electoral commission announced that casey had taken almost two thirds of the vote he defeated a conservative evangelical preacher who opposed same sex marriage nobel peace prize winner malala yousafzai has left pakistan after making her first visit to the country since being shot in two thousand and twelve use of side rose to prominence after taliban militants tried to kill her for promoting girls' education she said she plans to return permanently after completing her studies in britain. the reports coming in from syria suggest rebel fighters have agreed to leave their last stronghold in eastern guta program forces say they've reached a deal with the largest rebel group army of islam to pull out of this 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 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 thank our president. and the. 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 their children were taking prisoner by the

rebels for four weeks and held as hostages. oh i see that in the end my son was ready to kill my daughter and me so they couldn't violate our say any more. than. they beat them with rifle butts and stomped on them with their heavy boots and a horse can i have been tea then they grabbed my daughter and screamed 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 eastern 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 are 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 arm grip. let's talk to correspondent she's following developments in ghouta from beirut in neighboring lebanon hi anshul good to see you bring us up to date on these rebel of accusations from eastern guta does this mean the syrian regime is now regaining control of the entire region around damascus well it certainly means that though it might take them

a little bit longer than expected because there is the general slum the army of islam which is the main group controlling the muslims to be divided some members say one that we know all the said there is no deal with the government according to the state television two buses with the fighters and their families have actually left and have left for joe robins they're not going to live there will be jobless which is another area in the north of syria so there still is a little bit of confusion because it is the final word from. the dominant vote group but having said that they have admitted to at least this march that the wounded would be evacuated at some point today if we do see a full rebel withdraw from tomorrow what does this mean for the syrian conflict actual does this mean essentially that the assad regime has effectively won. it absolutely does mean that i mean if the moment they get this will be the second

biggest victory for. the assad regime up to a level i wish to begin in december two thousand and sixteen once they are inside tomorrow which is expected to happen soon there will be a tiny pocket in how much on other time pockets and there are and that's where they will focus their attention to where they were already started some sort of bombardment there as well and then if the image of these would be a little bit difficult for the regime to get because the turkish boots on the ground or the regime has vetoed it several times they didn't get all of their territory back to answer your question in short this is a significant victory for assad's regime and in many ways would see is that of a shallowness of along with russia has one so could be a huge turning point i'm sure what about the civilians the fighters who are leaving as you said heading for rebel controlled regions in the north what can they expect there. well let's just really from the frying pan into the fire move there conditions in italy have been pretty horrifying as well even though in girard

turkey says that they are sort of building some sort of infrastructure for the syrians live it's been a pretty sad story in fact the city in one of these in the u.k. syrian observatory for human rights has a short while ago shared with us journalists as important our house the dean of these syrians from would that were trying to get into turkey from live and the reason they want to go to turkey is because it look it's already overpopulated there's not enough for them to survive on and they want to go to turkey because they see they can perhaps build a better life for themselves now on the border there the turkish forces have treated them they've beaten up some of the young boys like the idea this is not a new story this is happened several times on the turkish border with people the syrian refugees want to live in and also in fact happened here in lebanon where i'm at on the lebanese border now turkey does not want any more refugees that's right that's why the turkish forces are stopping the refugees correspondent reporting for us from beirut until thank you very much now

a defunct chinese space station has reentered the earth's atmosphere years after scientists lost contact with the tiangong one was launched in two thousand and eleven and served as china's first space station astronomers say it mostly disintegrated upon re-entry but people were fortunate not to have been hit by the remains of three. astronomers are calling it a lucky escape after orbiting over europe and asia the chiang gong one disintegrated above the remote south pacific far away from human settlements. launched in two thousand the nine eleven the station had marked a giant leap forward in china's space program astronauts on board conducted experiments and practiced space stockings. but the vessel stopped working in two thousand and sixteen since then it had gradually been moving closer and closer to

the earth. western space experts think china had lost control of the station something beijing denies astronomers say the vessel mostly burned top upon re-entry but ditched some scraps of debris to the north of tahiti they say the fears over its course point to an issue that needs urgent attention since. in order to have something like it removed because we are more than a force of private sector lives in orbit. five hundred that means we have serious objects or bigger stars which may later or. i think we have to do. with space junk only likely to increase the question is who does it fall to to regulate the outer reaches of our world. you're watching t w news still to come life as an immigrant in saudi arabia some foreign workers are facing new

hardships because of country the country's ambitious reforms that is funny to chart violence a rare report from the kingdom on the cusp of change. but first monica as the latest chapter in the worsening china u.s. trade relations also weighs on stock markets now us stocks in china certainly kicked off the new week with mild losses amid lingering worries. trade war with the united states on sunday china announced tariffs of up to twenty five percent on one hundred twenty eight u.s. imports including pork and wine the new tariffs kick in to date beijing said that the move was to safeguard china's interests and balance losses caused by new u.s. tariffs. these american avocados are destined for the chinese market but they might not so so well anymore now that china has imposed tariffs on fruit and meat wine steel pipes and scores of other imports from the usa the rates of fifteen

percent on one hundred twenty items and twenty five percent on eight others. the chinese government says the 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 aluminum and 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. for more on the growing trade tension between china and the united states let's cross over to our asia correspondent andrea hang in singapore good to see you andrea so if china doesn't want to enter into a full blown trade war how do you interpret those chinese tariffs on u.s. goods. well monica it's very hot not to think of it as a trade war or as a retaliation is some kind of retaliation against the u.s. however analysts say it can be seen as a much needed supplies on china's putte targeting the three billion dollars in u.s. imports is minute effort compared to the largest scale of things considering the one hundred fifteen point six billion dollars in u.s.

imports altogether to china so this those three billion dollars worth of tariffs is just a warm up place it could be given it could be given that the upcoming sixty billion of new tears that trump intends to put across to china in the near future that being said china has been minimal in its retaliations to the u.s. given the multiple threats at trump has imposed on to china thus far and how i was all of this going down with the chinese business community given that the u.s. is such an important export market for china. well as seen in the video they're split views on in china itself on where this should stand when it comes to these new chairs and its position when it comes to the u.s. at the moment a lot of a lot of traders are looking to two ways either the e.u. market to continue its supply of pok and other products that the u.s.

is in play it was in the tears on and the other is to actually look and look to its domestic markets and perhaps grow those domestic markets as well now the e.u. of course is also under pressure and somehow has to find a way to please both china and the united states if it wants to continue making business with those two sides what are the chinese or asian investors betting on which way will that you go. chinese asian investors at the moment watching this very closely very nervous all around the table days tension abound also their hope there is hope also in that the u.s. will pull back on its terror was a lot of analysts see that these new tariffs are not the one all end all solution for the u.s. in the making of choice trade deficit which is very very white as we all know so there's

a lot of pressure going around. as this is going on the rest of asia is going to watch is very closely until it final decision is me until a particular treat agreement seems to stick all right andrea hang in singapore thank you so much for this and sumi is going to tell us a little bit about saudi arabia and its new reforms harmonically saudi arabia is known as one of the world's most conservative countries but things might be changing there and there's a reason for that oil falling prices have hit the oil rich kingdom very hard now crown prince mohammed bin salman has unveiled an ambitious program of reforms that's known as vision twenty thirty it's aimed at transforming the kingdom's economy now these reforms include diversifying the economy reducing its dependence on oil also creating new jobs and making the country less reliant on foreign workers now saudi arabia also wants to attract more foreign investment into the

country and it has also taken a few steps towards social reform it has made a start in lifting some of the oppressive restrictions on women for example a driving ban for women will finally be removed later this year our reporter funny for char travel to the capital riyadh and to jeddah to look at what this vision for the future really means for the country. riyadh is an international city third of the population comes from abroad many of them manual workers they helped to build the saudi capital but the wall come they once enjoyed starting to think. saudis first know that the saudi government splatted to reduce unemployment among native saudis employers who hire none so days they have to pay higher fees and jobs in shops like this one selling electronics for example would be restricted to saudis only. for a nurse will be banned from at least twelve jobs this music store selling

instruments has already put up a sign for saudis only be looking for a salesperson male. how does ation is a good idea but there are more job opportunities here for saudis than for foreigners. and a lot of saudis return from the u.s. and germany with degrees only to find many jobs already filled by foreigners of their own country should benefit from them as saudi arabia should benefit from saudis. we are in a neighborhood in the south pacific it's a tough area most of the people here are four and are. going to hear this from bangladesh derives a month ago to work in this shop learning how to assemble picture frames yes everything is getting more expensive and the salary isn't enough for everyone is her tits if her to survive for the person's. life or mangled her course was never

an easy sell eurabia just as in many parts of the world affording prices help maybe more difficult and if your prices doubled in a year pushing up prices and recently new taxes and basic goods added an extra it's even more to humans just finished his shift how many hours did you work today i swear were to sixty. no hours that's a lot. maybe it's a lot about an inch or two that for the salary he makes one thousand three hundred saudi ryall a months that's about three hundred fifty u.s. dollars on the way home he tells me he used to have a good life until his father got very sick. you know we lost our almost all of our money in his treatment so i just thought that i should come here to. keep them alive being the eldest in the family he border responsibility he dropped out of engineering studies and came to saudi arabia to earn money to sleep it wasn't as

easy as he expected life is becoming more difficult for. most of the people of other countries a losing their job and even hear of the college leaving so the because you know there are now just and they can't live like that maybe my boss gave me a place to me. all the was on not like that in some people don't have a job sometimes the slaves. don't have time money to buy food just want to hear chooses not to show me the room he lives in the three others he doesn't want to get into trouble and be sent home he wants to stay as long as he can to make money for his family he's just one of millions of foreign workers is saudi arabia they are realizing that the future here belongs to saudis. now the city of pass out in the southeastern corner of germany is set to experience

a first today the world's first museum dedicated to the docs the better known as the sausage dog opens its doors to the public the museum's founder says it's about time that sausage dog fans had a shrine dedicated to the beloved breed. excitement has been growing out of the museum's opening. man's best friend has already been having a sniff around the premises which is filled with some two thousand objects inspired by the sausage dog. museum founder and director is that a proud the varian can hardly believe no one came up with the idea before him. but often the world needs a sausage dog museum to the essence of bavaria you know the dog in the world enjoys the same kind of recognition of popularity here as a sausage dog. some of the pieces on display might be considered kitsch by

most people but probably not for ducks and lovers. one of the more serious exhibits pays tribute to famous sausage dog lovers among them nobel physicist albert einstein and actor leonard nimoy better known as spock from star trek there's even a drawing of the sausage dog sketched by none other than pablo picasso. and of course no museum would be complete without a gift shop visitors searching for the perfect souvenir for themselves or others and purchase a gift box that's sure to bring a smile to any sausage dog lover. is. here watching good of you news will be back at the top the hour. took. place.

in. the boonies a residential area it's. got a real good name in cape town the fact that. mitchell fences are to protect the housing estates and kind of clues to courage for the impudent pieces. without sorry. go ahead for the next g.w. the float. christianity and music. to

just one pop musicians think about religion deeply devout hip hop on a mission from cold. hearted bubble gum told the courts need to be but even contemporary music inspired by the divine public forum. in sixty t.w. . earth a home for saving googling to tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world ideas to protect the climate and boost green energy solutions by global ideas the environment series of global three thousand on d w and on line. we make up over a week watches over half of the under budget we are the seven seven percent.

want to shape the continent's future to. be part of it and join african youngsters have testing share their stories their dreams and their challenges. the seventy seven percent. platform for africa charge. hello and welcome to the latest edition of the environment magazine. coming to you from in. nigeria i mean to bring you new on inspiring stories on environmental issues from all over africa and europe but i'm not alone with me it's my colleague from kenya.