this is deja vu news live from berlin it was one of the world's most repressive countries but now as pakistan says it has changed its ways as the country's president visits germany today we talk with an uzbek journalist who says he was tortured in prison and asks of the country really has turned over a new life also coming up. trying to break the press a deadlock british prime minister treason maybe will present her plan before leaving the european union today but will it be enough to satisfy

a deeply divided parliament. and ending nearly fifty years of unrest muslims in the southern philippines vote in a referendum on the tonic we speak to rebels who have been fighting all their lives . i'm brian thomas thanks so much for joining us the president of pakistan is in berlin for talks that are president chavez meir's a yoyo if wants to boost ties with berlin his trip comes at a time of change in prison. so it really annoys them after nineteen years behind bars yusuf knows him around of is enjoying every moment of his newfound freedom. because the fifty five year old journalist was jailed in the late ninety's for supporting a new position political. prisoner. of is one of hundreds of who had to pay for

their political views with their freedom. but. i was tortured in prison. they always found reasons to punish me and came up with new ways to physically torture us political prisoners. we had to unload hot bricks from railway wagons yes there are the bricks had just come out of the oven and we had to load them into cars if there. is one of the least sixteen so-called political prisoners has been released from prison in the last two years. the main reason i was freed was thanks to our current president. it came down to his political commitment his will to personally stand up and behalf of the prisoners. that the government's human rights envoy has also praised president chef gartner's e.o.f.

he's brought to that his country is opening up he says that thanks to the president finally have an opportunity to defend their rights. not g.'s to the rubbish as to what this we used to receive two hundred complaints a year mostly last year we got nine hundred today we don't have a single political prisoner in our jails because the president personally monitors the situation we have changed as a country the western and. a lot has changed in his biggest town in the last two years and the country is gradually opening up to the outside world but with people still detained on political charges in the country's prisons the rule of law still seems a long way off here in whose biggest. human rights watch says there are still nearly a dozen incarcerated for their political views including priests soldiers and

journalists but unlike the human rights organization the country's government doesn't concede doesn't political prisoners. and yet change is tangible in its biggest on corrupt police are being openly criticised powerful intelligence officials ousted and travel regulations for citizens are being relaxed at reform i hope there will be real reform and concrete results i want is back is done to finally become a true democracy because the. other reforms are also taking place in this biggest unknown not just in human rights. central asia small country seems to want to put an end to eat terry terry and past. so where are these reforms headed to talk about that i'm joined by hugh williams and director of the europe and central asia division of human rights watch thanks for coming in here thanks for having me here what do you make of respect as has been to improve its human rights record is it

a sign the country wants to deepen its relations with europe with the united states it certainly is i mean this is a country with a deeply troubled human rights record for decades has never been free elections the most because on the never been opportunities for people to speak out two years ago as we heard in the report a new president came along the old president died and he seems to be keen to make a difference he recognized i think that to improve economic ties foreign investment they needed to improve the human rights record and he's made some small but significant steps allowing some political prisoners out of prison alone a little bit more media freedom changing a few laws on n.g.o.s and so on it's a step in the right direction but as we've heard it's a deeply authoritarian country still so it's only a small step and much more needs to be done ok. here's here you have the presidents in berlin today how does this all fit in with this visit. well if it's in the sense that president wants to have closer ties with germany it's the most important

partner within the e.u. they held a large business conference last week and they they hope they'll beat some big german companies investing in the country germany has a troubled relationship with the past a decade ago there were even european union sanctions on his back is that because of the human rights record germany was one of the countries which was trying to lift those sanctions most quickly because it had security ties with was pakistan over afghanistan so germany has some homework to do itself but it's going in the right direction it also wants a support system is a yo yo so it's about human rights and it's about economic. and business ties ok so both are mixing in together there what does berlin want out of this as it will be putting pressure on his back to stand on the president to open up more for example to push for free press we saw the journalist released after almost twenty years in prison you know is that going to play a role in these discussions stability is very important in this region we certainly

hope so germany's please with the spec is that partly because it wants to close relationship among countries in within central asia and this pakistan has been saying we want that too but we certainly think germany needs to prioritise human rights free press free movement of people. release of political prisoners more space for civil society those things need to be going hand in hand with all the other elements of security and business ties they need to be saying human rights is high on the agenda if you want further support from germany briefly are you hopeful that while i'm hopeful and hopeful that chancellor merkel president will raise those issues on the germany will be a part know with us pakistan in moving towards a better human rights record you williamson director of the europe and central asia division of human rights watch thanks very much thanks for having me. now for a look at some of the other stories making news today is rules no terry says it has struck a rainy and military targets inside syria the israel defense force is announcing

the operation on twitter pictures from within syria claim to show the country's air defenses repelling the attack it is highly unusual for israel to admit attacking targets inside syria. greek nationalist and patriotic groups have clashed with police in the capital athens tens of thousands took to the series sunday to protest the deal and settling a nearly three decade old named as you with macedonia it would allow greece's northern neighbor to rename itself the republic of north macedonia. sky watchers in the americas and parts of europe got a special treat overnight the only total lunar eclipse this year combined with the years first super moon scattered sunlight turned the moon blood red during the eclipse and earth's shadow completely obscured the moon for about an hour. minister theresa may set to announce her plan before breakfast today to try to keep

britain from crashing out of the e.u. without an agreement on march the twenty ninth now this comes after lawmakers rejected her deal with you last week it's unclear how and if the prime minister can end the stalemate we'll go to our correspondent in london about the options after this report. and the deadlock breck said battle polman is teresa mayes biggest opponent her deal was overwhelmingly rejected by both remain and leave m.p.'s. the nose to the left four hundred and thirty two. and frustration the u.k. is building. unfortunately i think we're a bit we're looking a bit late across right now as a nation because we don't know how to sort out selves out of this problem i think the politicians have caused the confusion because most of the politicians in that building want to remain the two parties are far to consider joining together individuals up within their own needs first and they're not thinking about what the

country. but for burke said to happen may must get a deal approved by bitterly divided lawmakers now she's hoping her so-called plan b. will have more success. so will she try to piece the heartbreak city is within her own party and the which props up her government perhaps by sticking with her deal but addressing their main complaint. the irish back step designed to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. or will she try and win over remainders and go for a softer backs and that could mean backing down on some of her so-called red lines such as staying in the customs union but it's not easy to convince m.p.'s would rather take matters into their own hands and an opposition party who wants to resign made to rule out exiting without a deal referendum parliament has not got the right to hijack the brics

a process because parliament said to the people of this country we will make a we make a contract with you you will make a decision and we will all of it but unless theresa may comes up with a plan they can get through parliament nothing can be ruled out including postponing the march twenty nine bucks a deadline or even another referendum. so what's it looking like let's go longer now neither of us barbara v's or barbara good morning do we know anything about teresa mayes plan b. yes we know a bit and it seems that it happened exactly as we expected last week plan b. is in fact plan a because what reason may if you look at the media here this morning and from the information that emerged over the weekend what's the reason may want to do today is go back to parliament and say listen i will somehow magically remove the backstop or sort of make it so make it's shrink within the

divorce agreement so that in fact then the hardline tory breaks cheers and to do you can happily agree to it that is more or less what she wants to do she did make a move last week for some cross party talks at those because to reason they wouldn't budge on her red light and she didn't even want to help about a customs union was the opposition for instance and so what is left it's only left that she will go back and say let's try again once more with feeling ok let's mind our view is that the backstop is the plan to avoid that hard border with ireland with the republic of ireland barbara what about brussels what would heal leaders be prepared to renegotiate with three samarian they spent about two years doing it already to go shooting. so far so far right and the idea in brussels in the statement of emerging from brussels was no they say the deal is closed we've taken almost two years to negotiate it this is our best offer and now you take it or leave it and lump it behind the scenes of course there might be

a certain willingness for movement but not in that wholesale man of the problem also is that of course what's the reason mays doing here she just couldn't chain uing to run down the clock i mean we are sixty seven days before the official breaks days and breaks a date and she just continues to drag things out in parliament vote next monday then maybe they even be a vote later on after she has talked to brussels again so it drags into several time. becomes shorter and shorter and that seems to be what she wants to do increase the pressure ok barbara we've heard the international trade secretary for britain liam fox saying that remain parliamentarians are trying to hijack what is he talking about. what he means of is of course what happens behind the scenes here that is that part parliamentarians for both sides of the political divide are trying to sort of take the steering wheel on this and there are some initiatives to

rule out no brakes by a vote there an initiative to to ask for a second referendum there are initiatives to discuss other options for a much softer breaks it so we will see how that works out and what we have here in london really is a fierce post because the government and the cabinet which is split at these floor ways and breaks it and on the other hand palm and which is also split which are not all really feels the pressure to come to some sort of agreement and to find some way forward ok barbara vai's will have much more on that power struggle for us in london today thanks very much barbara. it's to the philippines now and muslims in the southern philippines have voted in a referendum that could grab the more autonomy it's the culmination of a peace process aimed at ending decades of separatist violence some two point eight million people in the vault mindanao region are being asked to give back

a plan by muslim separatists and the government to create a new self administered area there our correspondent boss in heart he travelled to the region. has been a muslim rebel for half his life for him like for so many other men in this part of the country not becoming a fighter was never an option. i joined the rebels because of my religion but it's more than that i also saw the injustices and their oppression against my community that's why i decided to join. he and his comrades are part of an armed struggle between muslim insurgents and the philippine army that has marred this part of the country for fifty years. as in many areas of southern mindanao here in the village of two cannot leave how

the majority of the population is muslim in a country that otherwise is almost completely catholic. in the among the main reason for the conflict is oppression we're defending our rights our land we feel that we're being occupied by outsiders nothing is ours they're taking away what's ours and they're not giving it back we always lose out and this is our home and we have nothing. now many here have real hope that could finally change. in a referendum the people of muslim mindanao are voting to ratify a law that would grant them more autonomy. in return the rebels have to give up their fight like these two gentlemen here many in this rebel camp have

been fighters for all their lives often it's the only thing they learned how to do but if the autonomy law gets passed they'll have to take off their uniforms lay down their arms and start a new life as civilians. the deal has been in the making for decades but in the end it took this man to make it happen. internationally president roh trigo do tear it is notorious for his draconian war on drugs and his verbal outbreaks but he has been pushing hard for enhanced tanami for the country's muslim. of the of. to many here in mindanao he's a beacon of hope for. we take him by his word we trust him on television we see how he handles the drug problem in the philippines offenders are either killed or in prison that shows that he really means what he

says. gung football money. but success is not only in the hands of the president the new law for seems that muslim mindanao will be governed by the rebel leadership but feuds between powerful family clans rampant corruption and islamic terrorist groups could undermine the fragile peace deal. a peace many of abdul's comrades have sacrificed their lives for. their i don't want my children to experience what i've been through all i want for them is to get a good education to learn to read and write for fighters like me there is only violence and war i want my children to have a peaceful future. but abdulla is also wary if the agreement fails he says everyone here is ready to go back to war.

let's cross over now to our correspondent boston hardish he's in a city for us which has a large muslim population put together that report as well of course boston good morning to you what it would is the chances that this referendum is going to lead to and autonomy this region for the muslims in mindanao. brian the chances of this referendum turning out positive for this law being ratified through this referendum are in general really really really great what you see behind me here is a bit of a commotion that's been going on in front of one of the polling stations here in court about the city for the last fifteen minutes or so the people around me here are in favor of this autonomy law but they are suspecting this vote to be expecting voter fraud and that goes to show how high the tension is and how high the mistrust and the suspicion is here around this referendum but nonetheless it's

very likely to be accepted because it's only being held in the muslim dominated areas here in southern lebanon now and in western mindanao. and so the question really is brian what not if this is going to be accepted but if what happens after that if the new leadership is going to be able. to to administer this means in well and if they're going to be able to take care of the problems in this region for example corruption for example. extremist groups like i would say off as we've seen in the past right and ok what about the tensions between the catholics and the muslims if if there is autonomy would those tensions i mean we're going to leave corruption everything else on the side for a moment would those tensions be reduced.

there is a chance of. that brian it depends a bit where you look here in qatar of the city there's a sizable christian population and we spoke to some of those christians just the other day and some of them told us that they're afraid that maybe if this autonomy law passes that they might be discriminated against so that they that they might face problems but in most of the other regions where this referendum is being held those are predominantly muslims there aren't many christians there now if this autonomy law is successful and if the livelihood of the muslim population. it gets better and if the muslim population benefits from this autonomy then the gap between the muslim population and the rest of the country will become smaller and that will lead to a decrease or that is what people hope at least to decrease the animosity so that's how these tensions could be reduced if everything goes well but we'll have to wait and see brian boston hard for us and i could have bought a city in the philippines thanks so much for your interview and for your report today boston.

china's growth rate has slipped to its lowest point in almost three decades fueling concerns over a knock on effect on the global economy according to the chinese national bureau of statistics the economic growth rate cooled to six point six percent last year and the latest figures come as the country struggles to boost domestic consumption and to resolve its trade dispute with the u.s. growth in the wall second largest economy has been striving for years but it is the pace that decline is worrying investors a decade ago chinese economic growth was hovering around ten percent in the years since then it's slowed steadily. and dr marcus villa joins me now he's a senior economist and trade specialist at the university of st galland good to have you with us here on day w. was the clue cause of that slowdown it's simply norm or let me in china has been developing very well over the last thirty years as economic theory tells us

developing countries that some point their growth rates will slow and just flatter than twenty thirty two or ten years ago and that's simply normal development normal but we can't ignore the fact that there is the specter all three trade dispute between the united states and china have those tariffs been denting growth a tool for china well experts say that the deed to trade war between the u.s. and china hasn't been really in the two thousand eight hundred figures it's the uncertainty around the dispute between mr trump and the chinese officials which has caused some problems in china but the actual expectations on what will happen we will see that in two thousand and nineteen at latest after march first when we know whether they will find an agreement or not but i'm wondering will that not to pressure on beijing to come up with the goods to result of this trade spat yes of

course i mean the mood for the way how in the global economy business is being done . has changed and china has to accept that and like him or not mr trump has put that very much on the table of the international discussion so we will see whether they will find an agreement but the pressure is on china but it's also on all the other countries because it's it's a win win situation if we go and do global trade so the pressure is on china i mean the government will have to manage this down to a certain extent are they doing anything to achieve that. yes of course they do they have put monetary and fiscal stimulus into the country the force border and there will probably continue to do so the main question the key question is really whether. a country which has been doing free trade and free market economy for the last thirty years aligned with state controlled political system can succeed in continuing to do so i think the jury for the way the chinese government is actually

running and managing its economy is due to be out in the next ten years because we will see lower growth rates in china because the country is developing more and more so it's just normal that these expectations will just be slower i mean that is a fascinating question and as you say we have to bet potentially get used to slow a great from the wild second largest economy but what would that then mean is that potentially the knock on effect and export that nation like germany for example it is actually important i mean take a company such as volkswagen that i think is up to forty percent of its revenues being directly and indirectly depending from from china even siemens involved ten percent of this so it's very important for a country such as germany but since the quality and the way how the chinese economy shall develop in the next ten years will be changing it will open up advantages and challenges for countries such as germany take the electrified and

autonomous car driving systems i mean china and that's the good thing it was a state owned state could. the old country has basically ordered that it has to be changed and there are options and opportunities for all these countries who can do so and china has never been good in inventing new things very good at copying intellectual capital so there are many many options and advantages for countries such as germany with its car industry with the u.s. and other parts of the industry so it's very important but there are a lot of opportunities all right there relatively optimistic view there of doc to mock is there from the university of think alan thank you very much for your piece this morning. and just a reminder now the top story we're following for you british prime minister teresa mayes used to unveil her so-called plan b. to briggs it later she's expected to set out how she plans to end the country's parliament tree deadlock that's often lawmakers rejected her divorce india last week. you're watching news from plenty more coming up here at the top of the hour

of course you can always get the latest news and information around the clock on our web site that is d w dot com i'm home free thanks for your company and we'll see you again very soon. a. lot.

more to. dash of should be changing. the homes from an orange tree. that's all she needs to one. in the remote corner of the philippines she's one of the last to practice an ancient technique. the two ladies. serial killers tangos twosome. by lynch robber gangs. an ugly and an all new prison feature of life in the one nine hundred twenty s.

really the last thing to do most recreate find the most is a monster canal and with the restrained sometimes just body parts something like. violence crime has the german capital in a chokehold the police force came to see a lot of mission it was on a storage company managed up and distributed randomly technical staff such crime scenes at a time is a short haul the nation's business gives. the criminals don't reckon with the. detective superintendent const cannot. be revolutionizes for reams of procedures and establishes an extensive record system laying the foundations for modern codes were just i wouldn't have doubts was doing back then was basically the same as today it was an attack on. good metropolis of crime. starts january twenty ninth on t w. capital of

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