w. talk. this is t w news. tonight a call for help saudi women seeking asylum in germany they say they fled abusive home claims they're still not safe here saudi women who are now asylum seekers in germany allege they're still being threatened by their families and in a d.w.i. exclusive they claim the saudi embassy in berlin may be playing a role also coming up. takes a combative tone with the west in his annual state of the nation speech but he also

promises russian's improves living conditions as polls show will fall in his popularity and for the u.k.'s two biggest political parties it is now officially a case of quite sit believing three m.p.'s from britain's ruling conservative party have defected to the newly formed independent group they say that prime minister teresa mayes for handling of rights it is disaster says. it's good to have you with us we begin tonight with the an ending cries for help from saudi women now you may remember the case of the solti teenager who locked herself in an airport hotel room last month to escape her family. was ultimately given asylum in canada but she's not the only woman. you have fled abuse

from this deeply conservative country a number of saudi women have come here to germany to seek asylum but they claim they're being threatened by their families here and they allege that the saudi embassy may be playing a role they fled from saudi arabia to germany here they hope for safety and freedom but these women still live under threat from their families. continue. to have to i thought i was safe that it's like a logical warfare the violence and oppression would be over but i still feel like they could get me. the women offer to talk to us only on condition of anonymity we have changed their names and voices. say shortly after arriving in germany they received threatening messages from their families. before i knew my family knew i was in germany in one city all of that info so they're threatened me with medication can animate that i am sure that through their connections with the saudi

embassy and through the saudi embassies connections and it spies that are everywhere they can get information but i do not know the kind of information and what they know exactly in my heart of no way you talk to me a thin man mokhtar loose. some activists claim that the cases of murder and russia are part of a wider pattern. people are followed we have people breaking into apartments and the families back home always know exactly what is happening these patterns are repeating themselves. and we just ask ourselves does every family do this individually and pay someone here in germany. that would take a huge effort or could someone else be behind us and the suspicion is of course that maybe the saudi embassy is the one starting all this. we spoke to several parties dealing with saudis seeking asylum abroad but they suggested that the saudi

embassy could be directly or indirectly involved trying to get refugees to return we reached out multiple times to the embassy in berlin efforts to contact them over the phone and via e-mail came to nothing. but still the question why would saudi authorities help families trace women who flee abroad. under side radius concentration it's citizens government their mana key the king their absolute obedience in return they tell the men that they can have complete control over their women so when a saudi woman needs her family this article which is will go out of their way to ensure that she has the terms because not doing so means that people themselves may start to question why their own beauty and to the king and why they don't have their own. say turning back is impossible they fear they might be tortured or even killed. or earlier we spoke to them kugel with human rights

watch in amman jordan and we asked him about the reasons that saudi women are seeking asylum here in germany. the truth of the matter is saudi arabia has had a narrative they've employed far far before and the s really stretching back maybe up to ten years about how it's reforming for the positive in terms of women's rights and it has tried to generate a considerable amount of p.r. value and reputation. improvement over that specific talking point however unfortunately saudi arabia has not fixed many of the areas in which women faces dramatic discrimination and guardianship system remains intact women are still required to get a male relatives approval to do many things such as leave the country get a passport get married and so on and so forth and so you know frankly they haven't touched any of the major areas discrimination so it's not it's not altogether surprising that saudi women in some cases try to flee and i think that the fact

that women are fleeing and trying to go abroad really shows how far saudi arabia still has to go on on its women's rights record now is and i'm cool with they're talking with us from human rights watch russian president vladimir putin is talking tough about the united states in a state of the nation address given today aimed at boosting his falling approval ratings putin warned washington against deploying any new missiles here in europe following the u.s. withdrawal you may remember from that i.n.f. treaty he says that moscow will consider any action like that to be a serious threat to. it's one of the most important domestic political events for the russian president in his fifteenth state of the nation address but amir putin promised a raft of measures to improve economic and social conditions for his people above all families should benefit putin promised them tax breaks as well as better child

care. but. thanks to the many years of joint efforts and the successes we have achieved as a result we can now heavily invest in our country. people should already notice how things are getting better. the russians are certainly hoping things will improve incomes have fallen since two thousand and thirteen putin's popularity has cratered there have been protests against pension reforms that raise the retirement age then there's foreign policy putin sees the us withdrawal from the i.n.f. treaty as russia's most crucial issue. russia does not want to be the first to place these missiles in europe. reduced and stationed in europe and the u.s. has not denied doing this. that would intensify the international security situation. once again cast himself as the country's patriarch

appealing for the solidarity of the russian people in difficult political times. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world saudi arabia's crown prince has held talks in delhi with indian leaders following his visit to pakistan saudi officials say mohamed bin soundman hopes to play a diplomatic role indeed escalating the situation between pakistan and india tensions have flared after last week's attack in indian administered kashmir in morocco police have clashed with teachers protesting for higher wages and promotion opportunities police beat teachers with batons when they tried to walk towards the royal palace in the capital. multiple injuries have been reported. british prime minister to resign may is holding talks in brussels with the european commission president john. may have see huge changes yet again to the bright city withdrawal

agreement with the e.u. but e.u. leaders have repeatedly said there will be no renegotiation younger has also said that he does not expect any great fruit at tonight's meeting with to resubmit. well three members of britain's parliament have resigned from the ruling conservative party they are joining the normal newly formed independent group in a joint letter m.p.'s and as heidi allen and sarah wallace blamed prime minister to resign may's handling of the exit for their decision all three campaigns to remain in the european union they are joining eight labor m.p.'s who quit their party to launch the independent group earlier this week prime minister to resign may have said that she is sad and by the decision in a joint news conference the three defectors explained why they are leaving the conservative party take a listen. i can no longer represents a government in a pot if you can't open their eyes to the suffering in jail it's by the most

vulnerable in society what we now see is the party that was once the most trusted on the economy and this is now marching us towards the cliff h. of a new deal for except the right wing the hardline anti e.u. awkward squad that if destroyed every leader for the last forty is now running the conservative party from top to tell you they are the conservative party i want to point now quentin peel in london he is a journalist and he works with the european program at the think tank chatham house he's a familiar face here on the w. when it's good to see you i have to ask you we heard these three impedes talking about of voiding the cliff edge aren't they or rather late to make that decision well i think that there's a very strong tradition of loyalty in the conservative party in britain and it's taken a long time really for them to pluck up courage and actually lead the party that's

a dramatic thing for them to work done under three very busy little articulate members who to reason may will miss a great deal she doesn't have that many with it members of parliament and she certainly doesn't have that many really bryson outspoken women so i think you will be a blue. even if it has taken its use a rather long telling for them to get to the phones well we understand that tonight with these new defectors that the independent group now has more seats in parliament than the d u p which is helping to prop up the reserve may's government so does this political realignment is it going to have real world political implications for the government. well it doesn't change the arithmetic it has all these people overlap but have been voting in favor of

a people's. chamber to actually possibly stop the bridge that process or certainly put any deal to the country and they will carry are clearly being rebels in that way but having said that i think that it really does underline the degree to which both the conservative party and the labor party trust fund least split only a few of brecht's it and actually not just practice i mean you have. requoted to say my plan to be taken over by the herd right he's no longer a policy recognised there is a pretty strong words in the somebody who really is a strong conservative. and we've got a little bit more than thirty days until break is scheduled to take place what can this new independent group what can they really achieve they all say that they want

a second referendum on brecht. well we're going to crunch is there to come up with next scrunches get a clown next to a web series and that has been forced to go back to parliament and table some sort of motion it may not be a meaningful votes on their deal but she start to actually table a version which members of parliament put amendments to and there's going to be a very serious efforts to force to rule out any possibility of having no deal and crashing out of the european union on the twenty ninth of march without the and there's now a pretty good chance that that actually will go through it's a knife edge but as i say this doesn't change the arithmetic because all of these people i think without exception would have voted anyway the tunnel or the to rule

out any danger of their deal but it just makes fertilization both in brussels she'll be see this yet again a week from a minister who kill the liberal party in the house of commons and he may do it challenged others within the conservative party and the labor party to the brave are really trying to force the government to do what part of the wants of rule. quintile joining us tonight from london quite as always we appreciate your insights thank you thank you. or france's president has promised to punish those responsible for defacing a jewish cemetery in the country now tombstones were spray painted with blue and yellow swastikas it's the latest in a string of anti-semitic attacks in france which have probably thousands to join protests across the nation they've been marching under the slogan vets' enough.

france is standing up on tuesday evening thousands demonstrated against anti semitism at the plaster level a publique and across france the socialist had called the protest and most of the political spectrum was present except the far right of the numbers speak for themselves. false friends has to stand you can see what's happening i don't know how it starts and how it ends. on tuesday afternoon president ma calm this it is the quotes and i'm jewish cemetery where on monday night more than eighty graves were desecrated. this is a plea shaken calm promised action. to put in when i am here to express for sort of downward see of entire country we are ashamed to witness this and we determined to stick together during these moments when some among us all wounded. young french jews are also standing up

and are certainly not heeding the israeli minister of immigrations call for them to emigrate to tel aviv my country is france tell me says this play card they're mobilizing and denouncing the recent anti semitic acts. also the past few months have seen a propaganda campaigns and insults usually only seen on social media really exploding in france. on didn't start it but they do bear some responsibility for it . last saturday afternoon and faecal caught a jewish philosopher sixty nine years old was attacked by some men wearing yellow vests they shouted get out filthy zionist and france belongs to us one of the attackers was known to the french authorities as a salafist finkle carter was a supporter of the. the chief editor of the left leaning newspaper and they.

believe he has a clear perspective on the kinds of french anti-semitism that are present in the shield. but. there are two kinds of anti-semitism and france said these the traditional one with roots in the catholic nationalist environment through very and the second and you so much as i'm with islamist roots. or there's a connection between the right extremists and islamism mubarak for me atlanta lenore works for the french and he racism organization s.o.s. i see csma and knows paris the suburbs and schools well he is observed a deep seated anti semitism breakout whenever social tension or unhappiness grows that's what all. these people believe i was a connection between jews and the country's elite who are pulling over strings together. a minority in france but cause for concern not only for french politicians also for french citizens who are mobilizing to show

their disapproval i. well his name is jim risch he is a republican senator and chairman of the senate foreign relations committee he says that venezuela's nicolas maduro is not the president of the country but merely claims to be in an exclusive interview with conflict zones tim sebastian said is being supported by what he calls a gallery of countries nicolas maduro is still in pa said that he's well. he's known as the he claims he even claims to be president venezuela and he is not president of venezuela. and we believe that as time goes on he's his power there is going to continue to fade what little power that he does have left and again the thing we want most is to see this thing resolved we met with the. with the president of colombia had

a lengthy conversation with them i can tell you that there is no daylight between the united states and colombia as to where this is going and how it's going. we we have met with a number of other countries obviously look the people that are the people that are supporting. the girl are the rubes gallery in the world including the iranians. the the russians the north koreans but will for us where you can watch that full interview right here after this news program where you can go to w dot com slash conflict zone you can watch it there on demand. now to a story of waltz and childhood in afghanistan in a country where half the population is under eighteen it's estimated that more than one million children work instead of going to school while some initiatives are trying to break the vicious cycle of child labor and poverty but decades of

violence as well as drought and food insecurity are taking a terrible toll on afghanistan's children. there and i knew my name is ahmed says this child i'm six years old and i work here in the poppy fields where the lotto would go to her and there i work from sunrise and till about ten says this boy sometimes i manage to go to school for a few hours in the afternoon it is that the that. this seed pods are ready to burst it's harvest time the capsules are slashed by hand and the raw opium is collected the work is done by children there are no adults anywhere in sight across the fields. the youngsters earn around one hundred afghanis for an entire day of work the equivalent of just over one year zero. a few hundred metres away is this workshop this young boy can barely hold the heavy hammer in his hand his face is

covered in sweat it's hot and sticky in the dark blacksmith's shop. a village in the province of an ngo har but it could be any other province in afghanistan almost half the country's population is under eighteen and they have to help support their families otherwise they can survive work instead of school and childhood. many children have to work because the parents need the money to support the rest of the family it's easy to condemn child labor but without their earnings many families would slide into even greater misery. weaving carpets this work is done by girls it's estimated that more than one million children in afghanistan have to go out and earn money but the statistics often don't take girls into account because they work at home. for that our medical form i sit here and work i don't know anything else if i actually manage to make it

to school some day i probably won't have any time to do homework. impoverished families children who are forced to work and can't go to school one initiative aimed at breaking this vicious cycle involves giving the children lessons in the afternoons along with a warm meal but many villages are very remote and parents often lack the necessary motivation the careens have three children the eldest is helping with their work the two younger ones are sleeping the mother periodically gets up and gives the younger children the small black pellets raw opium is to keep them asleep so the others can continue their work undisturbed. the mother knows exactly what she's doing and it took a while until she was willing to be filmed as she had minister the opium to her youngest child did that poem work i give it to them a few times a day in the morning i weave carpets then i work as a washer woman then i go to the market and buy vegetables and opium for the

children i have to keep them sedate and to give otherwise i can't get at all done i'm they can hardly stand it's either drugs or work instead of school and right he mccurry me isn't the only mother that gives her children drugs . well we take you now to the expanse of the ant arctic where germany's southern most workplace if you will is celebrating its tenth anniversary today it's part of the world where temperatures can drop to minus fifty degrees celsius and there's no sun for three months of the year but here and a research station that resembles a spaceship on stilts one cook a doctor plus several engineers and technicians live and work together running experiments on the forms and come. into the great white yonder antarctica the world's biggest expanse of ice and the seventh continent in places

the ice is four kilometers think more than two dozen countries are conducting research here at about eighty research stations. germany's knowing meyer three is one of them the antarctic offers a unique environment the world's greatest quantity of fresh waters here frozen solid neumeier three sits atop sixteen hydraulic stilts they keep it from sinking into the snow to be crushed like some of it's for runners. here outside the temperature is minus fifty degrees celsius that doesn't stop the researchers though they measure the sounds of the antarctic ocean and movements in the earth using seismometers. they also collect data on the atmosphere including information on gases that escape into it and contribution to climate change and they observe the weather the whole year round. but

noirs threes days are numbered the ice on which it sits is sliding towards the ocean but until it heads out to sea the station will keep on delving into the secrets of the ice. r.j. the champions league knockout stages hopes were high for a dramatic clash between two great clubs liverpool and byron knew nick it was liverpool hosting by going in the first of a two like match up but in the end defense was the winner. liverpool pressured by in munich from the get go they paid off the english site by creating them one and the better off the chances that liverpool's dominant display lacked the killer attach. a with perhaps the best chance of the game but he couldn't quite get his footing right by unabsorbed on the pressure adopting a more defensive approach it was effective to have a pool where unable to break down by anstey fans with both sides shouting each

other down this one ended in a goal this draw but if the first leg is anything to go by it certainly sets up an exciting return leg in munich. and the other big match of the evening also looked like it would produce lots of goals but despite barcelona's twenty five shots against leone they could not fall in the net the french side also failed to hit the target in the second goal a stroll of the night. and here's a reminder the top stories we're following for you several solti women who have sold asylum here in germany have told the news that they are still being threatened by their families and they are alleging that the soul the embassy here in berlin may be playing a role and russian president vladimir putin has used his annual state of the nation address to making finleyville the threat towards the united states you morning's rush or a washington against employing any new missiles in europe saying that would be considered

a serious threat. to watching the news live from berlin up next conflict zone i'll be back at the top of the hour with more news followed by the day to see a bit. enter

the conflict zone confronting the powerful. this week comfort zone is at the annual security conference in munich. the biggest fear is jim risch chairman of the powerful senate foreign relations committee countdown magick is this transatlantic

divide and how committed is the trumpet ministrations tonight sound. like sofa. dealings. come to the new duramax new two channel. gold mine of story. with exclusive insights. and a must see concerning arts and culture to ensure a. place to be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers. so subscribers and don't miss out. hey listen up. that's what video game music sounded like thirty years ago. today's tracks take the

experience to another level a sense to him talk composer nobuo uematsu. featured in many known games his music is battling to cause problems sounds good for video game music starts february twenty fifth on d w. this week old vic zone is at the end you'll see. curity conference in munich i mean plenty of recriminations and bad blood between europe and washington my guest here is jim risch chairman of the powerful senate foreign relations committee how damaging is this transatlantic divide and how committed is the trumpet ministration tonight oh. my.