this is deja news coming to you live from berlin syrian troops retake is to the kuta the russian military says the syrian government is not in full control of the former rebel stronghold near damascus that includes the site of an alleged poison gas bombing the u.s. has threatened a military response in syria for that attack also coming up the number of executions carried out last year around the wild failure compared to the year before that's according to a new amnesty international report on capital punishment. and

a last ditch push in italy today to form a new government after last month's inconclusive election our reporter went to rome to ask politicians why it's so hard to find agreement. that shima russia's military says the syrian government has taken complete control of eastern huta the last rebel stronghold near the capital damascus and that includes the town of dumas the site of the suspected chemical weapons attack at the we can the u.s. president donald trump threatened missile strikes in response but not as ministration says all options on the table. a rare moment of celebration for syrians at least government supporters they took to the

streets of duma after rebels who had controlled the city left yet the victorious military action included a suspected poison gas attack the attack for which u.s. president donald trump has vowed retaliation but the white house later appeared to roll back on his threat to launch missiles. the president has not laid out a timetable and still leaving a number of other options on the table and we're still considering a number of those and a final decision on that front hasn't been made. that's in contrast to the president's earlier incendiary tweets including russia vows to shoot down missiles fired at syria get ready russia because they will be coming you should be partners with a gas killing an animal who kills his people and enjoys it u.s. warships left port on wednesday to move within striking range of syria. russia said it's keeping a close eye on the fleet and the kremlin hit out a trump's handling of the situation. we do not participate in twitter diplomacy

we support a serious approach we still believe that it is important not to take any steps that may harm the already fragile situation in syria we are also still convinced that the excuse regarding the use of chemical weapons in duma is made up and cannot be used as an argument for military action russia has moved fast to establish itself in duma this amateur video purportedly shows russian police investigating near the site of the alleged chemical attack moscow says it and the regime are ready to allow a probe but only one which shouldn't assign blame. chorus financial virus monitoring the story from beirut and joins me from there until russia fears the town of duma is fully in the hands of the syrian government and the russian military police are ensuring law and order is maintained there what are you hearing from the ground.

but what i'm hearing from the ground from people who are still in dumas that russian forces are still outside the city they're not inside and the evacuations are still going on nonetheless it's it's a matter of time because syrian flag is flying in certain places in goma and there are rebels did ask for the russian forces to be on the ground and not the regime forces because in a weird to us the russians more than the regime because they fear the regime soldiers will incarcerate them or execute them on the spot having said that this is highly significant of course from a military perspective and we talk about it in a bit but also from the perspective of the chemical attack which is allegedly taken place last week and with the russian balls on the ground the fear is that the chances of an independent investigation now are are pretty dim because the russians have already been to the site of the chemical attack and the united states and others fear that they would have cleaned out if there was any evidence of this attack so that is that is a pretty significant thing that o.p.c.

w which is the organization for prevention of chemical warfare has been asked by the regime and the russians to go but it cannot be in any blame on any party and that's what the united states and others want and that it should be able to say not only was chemical attack inducted but by whom that is of course the key question now we're hearing reports of rebels are leaving the area if they are ready are they going and when if i'm going to fall and as you indicate it is likely to if there's going to be a game changer for syria. well in it it absolutely is a game changer to come to the second part of your question first because if it is as russians see a completely under regime control and it's quite believable then barring a pocket and harm are one in daraa and the live rubble us which are on severe starkey border protection what's on the ground the regime pretty much has all of syria's standard ga in its hold excluding the kurdish areas but then the regime has

a very different understanding with the kurds so this of course is a game changer we now need to wait and see if the dollar from cat is out of threats that he says he will does that then again my become another game changer and we'd have to wait and see what sort of implications would that have for the regimes tenure there now quickly our talk about where the levels are there going to gerard loosen of are some of them are also going to live but these are mostly civilians and activists the rebels of gestural islam the dominant group and they are going to they don't see eye to eye with nisar which is a government group and it looks of live i beg your pardon so they're going to try robin's right on to border in beirut thank you very much for that update. so we've done a trump threatening military action in syria what is the german government's position on this bit of buy at the german government's new coordinator for transatlantic cooperation an advisor to chance to american on u.s. and german relations had this to say. first of all the united states remain the

most important partner of germany and europe as a whole on the other side of the atlantic out of international in the global scale that is the one fact on the other hand we see in the past a development that concerns us that brings a change to how we communicated across the years the land to kick ass compared to form a time so we were facing new challenges we see that europe and germany have to take over more responsibility by the self to care about or know about their own security issues. but having said that the current situation that we're facing. my hope is that before any musar strike after the gas attacks in duma which for me are a fact and can be answered that there will be diplomatic talks also including the words security council the fact is as well that some in two main barbarian act as

we have seen the killing of a lot of people including women and children and do month syria needs an answer the assad regime as well as russia who are the protective of power there they have to understand this. that was peter by the german government scored a native for trans atlantic cooperation let me now bring you up to date with some other stories making news around the world and shira has begun three days of mourning after a military plane crash that killed two hundred fifty seven people the russian bridge transporter went down shortly after takeoff on wednesday killing mostly soldiers and their family members the accident is the worst aviation disaster in algeria's history apologies have ordered an investigation. yemen's army says it's recaptured a key city from iran back who rebels the army said it had completely liberated the city of the which lies on

a yemen's border with saudi arabia the saudis are major backers of the yemeni government in its civil war with the who thies or. sirens have sounded across the country came to a standstill for holocaust remembrance day plans to binyamin netanyahu attended a ceremony to remember the six million jews murdered by nazi germany during the second world war for the ceremonies would also be held at the site of the schmidt's death camp in poland later today. the human rights group amnesty international says the number of reported disher executions around the world fell during two thousand and seventeen but the group warns that the true number of people put to death is not known some countries treat execution numbers as a state secret china for example but many others carry out executions in full view of the public. iran responsible for carrying out its more than half of the world's

known executions last year that's according to amnesty international's latest figures in dozens of those cases that meant public execution in iran drug trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. at least five people were executed in iran for acts committed when they were still under eighteen . just four countries responsible for eighty four percent of all recorded executions last year iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but the country suspected of being the world's leading executioner is china. it's thought to have put thousands to death last year more than the rest of the world put together because data on the death penalty there is a state secrets exactly how many is a matter of speculation. but not counting china twenty

seven thousand so the total number of executions worldwide fall by four percent from the previous year. i'm misty international says that reaffirms a global trend towards a pollution of the death penalty last year a further two countries guinea and mongolia join the one hundred four who have now abolished capital punishment for a second year in a row the us did not feature among the top five global execution is slipping from positions seven to eight this is due in part to ongoing legal challenges of the use of lethal injection but as litigation in several states progress is that because the executions resume. for more on the general trends of the death penalty in executions one by i'm joined now by lucy graham she is the amnesty deputy director of global issues welcome you see let me start with china your report says it remains the world's leading executioner cincinatti official figures on what i or

estimates based. the estimates are based on information that we get from people within china i think is important and precise absolutely chime it is one of the disturbing trends that we have seen this year but we've also tried to show that there is some hope that we are witnessing the end of the death penalty so for example if you look at sub-saharan africa this year death sentences and down substantially we now have twenty countries that are abolitionists and hoping various legal developments both in twenty seventy and that we're seeing in twenty eighteen that show that the world is moving towards the end of the death penalty in terms of what that means for people on death row and been then for example which became appalachian it in twenty sixteen there were fourteen men that were left in limbo one death row and just a couple of months ago it was announced that that death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment so in general we are trying to show that in twenty seventeen there was there was

a movement towards abolition of the death penalty and hope in that region particular but the organization of course is still of a concerned about areas where the death penalty remains or is on the increase for example in drug related crimes. yes there are various disturbing trends in twenty seventeen and the drugs related crime is one of them so for example we saw fifteen countries using the death penalty for drug related offenses and for countries at least executed people for drug related offenses that is a great concern to us and i think one of the things to emphasize also is there isn't any evidence that the use of the death penalty deters crime so remains one of the regions that executes and sentences people to death for drug related crime but on average the number of drugs. in that region is no smaller than global averages including in countries that don't have the death penalty and what about the u.s.

although it was the only country of the americas to carry out. last year the numbers remain lower than in previous says is the tide turning there or are there technical issues like with the use of the lethal injection. i think there are absolutely some technical issues but in general i think the usa is also showing the global move towards a solution there are a lot of people working on the ground in the us to all its relation of the death penalty and it's one of the areas that shows that we can start fighting for the action we still see leaders such as president trying to making statements suggesting that the death as he would be an effective deterrent for the drug crime and that's why people on the ground and government and prosecution level need to keep on pushing against the death penalty one example that we've seen in twenty seventeen a really shows how local efforts can push that change is in guinea which became the twentieth abolitionist country in the sub-saharan african region and amnesty

activists that continually pushed for the abolition of the death penalty from twenty fifteen onwards and last year any became the twentieth abolitionists country in sub-saharan africa which is a great advance for the region and one of the reasons why we have highlighted sub-saharan africa as a beacon of hope in twenty seventeen and briefly you see which other countries are stepping back from the death penalty and what's fueling this trend i think it's difficult to push for any to point at any one particular issue obviously local activism is a really big deal but i also think that there is a recognition that the death penalty doesn't deter crime as i said the statistics do not show that drug related crime for example in regions that continue to use the death penalty is any less than global averages so i think in general there is this there is this feeling that the death penalty isn't a suitable response to crime if if you take for example the fact that someone will

be in prison if they've been found guilty of the serious crime there's no reason for the state to them put them to death because they're not currently posing a threat to anyone in society. mr grimm amnesty deputy director of global issues thank you very much for talking to you thank you. news coming up ahead it really makes another attempt to end the country's political deadlock and move its fractious parties to what's forming a government. but first joins me and the escalating tension between russia and the u.s. over syria is also having an impact on edge traffic that's right many airlines are on high alert following u.s. president donald trump's threats of missile strikes against syria several carriers have started rerouting flights as a result of the potential stripes among them after fronts the allen has motive

fired its ideals for destinations close to syria. including flights to beirut in tel aviv meanwhile german flag carrier says it has been avoiding flying over the middle east over the eastern mediterranean rather for some time as a precautionary measure and as. well tensions mount around serious talks in china have suffered of the don't from stress let's bring in danielle cope with standing by at the frankfurt stock exchange danny what's the mood with investors that. investors are still very reluctant and nervous not just in asia where all the major indices were and the red but also here in europe in general during the last weeks i guess we can even say amman's the market was very volatile and with every geopolitical decision or announcement we usually see the shares here on the trading floor dropping after last night when it was announced by the spokeswoman of donald trump that so far at least that's the official version there are no concrete plans

for an air strike on syria investors have calmed down a little bit again this was happening after they were not very nervous with his tweets also saying that the relations with russia have never been as bad not even during the cold war so far during the trading day we have not seen big losses were even at some time here in the plus. v.w. is getting a new c.e.o. but that's not all it looks like the supervisory board is moving its regular session from tomorrow to today why the hurry suddenly what are you hearing yeah exactly this was the schedule originally for two more now we're hurtling hurrying that this will be taking place at five pm this afternoon that could last for many hours investors will be waiting for the answers how a possible new company could look like the new appointment of had to bet these as a c.e.o. seems to be a done deal he is not not just going to be the c.e.o.

but will also keep his position as brand chief and most likely the company will be going through the biggest reform since a long time it seems that the company could be split up into different groups or divisions one group could be volkswagen see it and scold us for the big car brands the other sport cars and the other one called mercial vehicles and we're learning that the commercial vehicle division could even become a public listing pump possibly here at the frankfurt stock exchange. in frankfurt thank you very much for this update. german retailer media almost almost missed the boat in going digital so the electronics chain is now trying to get ahead of the competition so-called retail tech cluster of small tech startups it hopes they will steer the company of the right direction to comes to high tech advertising solutions of the future. it looks like something from a comic but this is advanced technology anyone approaching the electronics store

appears on a huge screen and then receives a speech bubble there surrounded by carefully positioned advertising. this is just one of twelve different effects developed by the startup trunks as it's now testing some of them in berlin. in front of the screen for a while they start to have fun and that gives the retailer and the advertiser far more time for promotion. then if all goes according to plan they go in and shop and hopefully buy more than just the advertised products the electronics giant media star turn has more than one thousand stores worldwide most of them in europe but unlike many international chains it relied too long on brick and mortar retail then came the realisation that startups usually react more quickly to change the knowledge corporations and bring in new ideas from younger generations now the

electronics dealer has a retail tech hub where it provides office space advice and support for innovative pilot projects. definitely slow off the mark when it comes to digital ization we didn't get going with our online shop until two thousand and eleven but now we're very clear we want to play an active role in the future of trade. ten startups have been given the opportunity to develop ideas for the digitalisation of shopping. one of them is we view an online video review platform . and we want to learn something new we go to youtube and watch some videos but we can't do that when it comes to shopping instead we have to read a thousand lines of text which is no fun at all and some of the reviews are fake and so we thought it must be possible to use videos for shopping to we view of as

real use as a platform for video project reviews if someone buys a product based on the review the reviewer gets the small commission we views founders think their idea has huge potential twenty five billion videos a watched each day on the three biggest platforms. but what do consumers think of the digital innovations some at least seem skeptical. back to politics now but with this story the business world is also following very closely that's right now the formation of new government in italy now there isn't another attempt being made and it's a danger for me of government and inconclusive election last month so much in support for far right an anti establishment parties but they're refusing to work together if there is no breakthrough the country may have to resort to fresh elections. contentious politics in rome are as old as the piazza navona build nearly two thousand years ago the visual splendor of

this popular square gives no hint of italy's latest political crisis. more than a month after the country's parliament elections there's still no new government. behind me in. the presidential palace or currently the leaders of the three strongest parties are negotiating over italy's future but the search for a new government has rarely been more difficult there are deep political divisions between all the different actors. but. the first time senator with a populist five star movement is keen on bridging that it was divisions with five star topping the vote at over thirty percent gone is ready to head a government but there's no coalition partner in sight. our leader. can only make offers to the other parties but he cannot answer or

decide for them as. i think the party took the democratic. party should both justify why they don't want to sit down with us and help resolve italy's crisis. a coalition with the right wing populist legal party seemed likely after the election both party leaders are euro skeptics who want to clamp down on migration. but their relations have gone cold. politicians like john mark. are candid about their frustration. europeans i think the leader of the five star party does not understand politics very well when he. says he's willing to go either with us or with the democratic party it's clear he has no idea what our party stands for. this is like going to

a football match and supporting both teams before me. the center left party to democratic or or democratic party was the elections because loser that's why one of its leaders under. is for one remaining in the opposition he has no intention of helping form a new intelligent government. about the result. worried about the future of this government. only. program. to take and in the south of the nation they receive a lot of votes they have the responsibility to put on the table a government that a majority for the future of the country. italy is facing a long political deadlock which could ultimately result in new elections that

however scenario that none of the parties want at least that they can currently agree on. and not a bad night for an italian club in football or as you look at another remarkable night of football in the quarterfinals of the champions league the big drama came in spain where italy's eventis managed to come back from three goals done to tie the aggregate score against riad madrid extra time was on the cars until the spaniards were awarded a controversial stoppage time penalty even diskeeper john before i was sent off for his foul mouth protests christianity and i'll do a stepped up and made no mistake from the spot sending riyad through four three on aggregate. let's have a listen to a very very disappointed before and after his dreams of ending his career on a major high wire dashed. question i could have said anything to the referee and he should have had the sensibility to forgive me. because what he did is to commit

a crime against sportsmanship. and that's why i said the words i had to say money cost between the. i feel his pain a reminder the dog stories that we're following for you indeed you just moments ago the u.s. president donald trump tweeted never said when an attack on syria would take place could be very soon or not so soon at all this off of trial public comments by trump setting expectations that a missile strike on syria could be imminent in response to a suspected poison gas attack. you're watching the news coming to live from london and much more on our website as did every dot com and i'll see you in a half an hour before were to about i.

if this is a parliament building and that is the president. then we must be in. the tiny independent republic was created by us has. here everyone has the right to be happy. the moment.

you haven't paid your brain to get. your child just received a bad grade. moskos monitoring its citizens with a government up. and a hundred and sixty thousand surveillance cameras. is russia is using the small things convenient to control its people. in sixty minutes. belonging to one official estimates more than one point two million venezuelans live in colombia neatly and illegally. i'd return to. visit friends i don't think i'd ever go back there to live you know where i live there again i don't know so i'm not sure. witness global news that matters. made some minds think you're smart t.v.

smart or the d w four small. what you want when you want to. hope to do extraordinary. and to decide what's on sunday morning. dot com smart t.v. . i want to welcome to another edition of the show i'm your host meghan li from villas in the sun to playing on air drums we have a mixed bag on the show today here's a look at what's coming up.