this is d.w. news live from berlin rival protests in venezuela opposition supporters clashed with security forces same caracas venting their anger over a nationwide blackout and calling for new elections but government supporters say they're also planning to demonstrate also coming up. germany's two biggest banks could soon become one georgia banks for reportedly agrees to merger talks with rival comet's bank this after both racked up years of losses. and algerian

police arrest nearly two hundred as clashes broke out following huge demonstrations calling for the country's leader to step down but will he listen to their demands. i'm rebecca ritter's welcome to the program opposition protesters have begun confronting security forces in the venezuelan capital capital caracas. the country's self-proclaimed later call for his supporters to take to the streets again to step up pressure on president nicolas maduro and emanuel lections muros also called on his supporters to rally today the power struggle between the two has brought the country to a standstill and that has a huge electricity blackout has paralyzed much of the country. yeah dialysis patients wait outside their wards unable to receive treatment from these pirate

dying machines and in a maternity unit nurses fight to keep babies alive in intensive care. manually. blockades are nothing new in venezuela this latest one began just before thursday evenings rush hour sending commuters on lengthy tricks back home on fates in near total darkness president nicolas maduro officials say it's sabotage. and i think. after all the statements from the north american empire and comments from those who support them here no one can be that naive to believe that this is a random event. it is an attack on the homeland without any doubt it is an attack on venezuela. not according to the country's self declared

president one quite do speaking at an event marking international women's day on friday he launched his own attack on the government's. getting yeah because they have no idea what they are talking about. they are inefficient and corrupt. it cannot be normal that half our hospitals don't have generators and that the other half can barely deal with emergencies and some surgeries without any doubt there is nothing normal about today is there not a living knowing normally you know you. are was gradually being restored across venezuela opiate shakily this latest blackout has been the country's longest yet in some areas lasting well over twenty four hours and people just want to get moving again. and. there is in the capital caracas and he joins me now by phone also what caused the power cut. well there are reports from the electrical company

that a fire broke out and one of the lines of the coulee hydroelectric plant and that might add to a domino effect that affected some but this is not something new or that surprises anybody in venezuela the government has been alerted of the risk of not maintaining an optimal conditions this plant in fact. if in fact it was a u.s. based seven times as the government has said then they have been planning it for years because in two thousand and ten who go java's gave out their years of dollars in concessions to build thermal electric plants and none of those are operational today most of the grid is plugged into forty so if that failed seventy percent of the country is blacked out and this has happened before not a cry for the fed to marja city has been weeks without electricity in the past year and outages like this one have been happening all over the country for years but never of the magnitude we've seen in the last few days where the whole country was

wiped out will will this how will these power cuts i mean embolden demonstrators to take to the straits. well people are very angry and frustrated with garlands and whether they believe or not the allegations of the u.s. have a policy have taken too long to fix many conduct of are still without electricity there have been casualties due to this power outage especially in hospitals where there are many people who have lost. people that were very sick or connected to some kind of electrical apply. so that they're happy if there has been a lot of off electrical appliances personable food items so this is just a confirmation to all people that are supporting one way do i think that every protest he's calling for attracts huge masses and today will not be any different the difference is that the location of the concentration is

a traditional chevy's the area of caracas very close to the government offices and that could bring up from violence or repression if the occasion is not changing the last minute which i predict it might be an hour let's don't forget there's also a promo buddhism of streets in the works today although very little information has been giving out about it. office lanka in the capital caracas thank you very much for that analysis. the board of germany's largest bank has reportedly agreed to merger talks with the second largest the welcome sontag newspapers' says the board bank will discuss a fusion with a traditional rival comments bank the german government has been urging the two banks to merge after years of losses to each bank has also faced scrutiny in the u.s. over a money laundering scandal. joining me to unpack this is stephen busy from our business department state hi thanks for joining me what more do we know about this

. i think the main thing is that there's finally a mandate for these merger talks there's been a lot of talk about this for months going on now as georgia has suffered such serious losses and recently as friday there were sources from commerce bank saying it's absolute nonsense that there's a mandate for talks and now we know there's been one for at least a week back if these reports are correct we know they're still at the very early stages they're small groups and that this has a long way to go before it is approved well there's been a lot of talk about this merger for some time the banks themselves haven't saved cain why now well i think first of all i think it's interesting this is finally was confirmed if these reports are correct on a weekend i might tell you something about what they want to see with the blow or what they expect for a blow on monday but really the answer is that it's coming now because the economy is softening the global economy is softening german exports are going down the german economy is softening and there are concerns that if germany doesn't have an effective bank to support its. german companies during

a weak spot in the economy with both of these banks suffering then they're going to struggle there is a strong preference in the german government to have a strong german national lender deutsche bank is obviously really the focus of this it is the biggest bank here and it carries the name of germany on it and as you mentioned there been a lot of scandal surrounding it's really gone three years of on profitability and despite recent efforts to really shored up that have really gone a long way it's just not happening fast enough and so this. really isn't unexpected for the german government pretty came but there's still a lot of resistance right there's a lot of resistance i mean any merger is going to have to get through first of all german regulators and we can assume that it would get through those if there is preference in the government for it but it's going to have to also get through european regulators we know that on the european side the e.c.b. has really preferred a merger between what you bonk and a european bank they want to see greater consolidation across the e.u. and they believe it has to happen across national lines for the german government there isn't such a strong preference for that of course they want

a german champion this gets into a bigger question of the german government and national governments in the e.u. really want to put their thumbs on the scales saying we need our own banks sport our own businesses and of course then you look at the job losses that could come about through this the business models of both banks are very similar the overlap very nicely which means there's going to be a lot of dead weight to get rid of politically that's going to be very very unpopular so a lot of questions going forward and it's not necessarily guaranteed right as mentioned finally a lot of people say that too bad banks combined does not make one good thing all right well as watching that taught those mood to talk steve beardsley from data we business thank you thank you. and now to some of the other stories making news around the world. militiamen have attacked in a bowl a treatment center in congo for the second time in two wakes one placement is reported to have been killed there are many groups in the region hampering efforts to contain the disease the abode outbreak in the east of the country has killed almost six hundred people. newark airport in the u.s.

state of new jersey was temporarily closed its runways after an emergency landing a port authority spokesman says an aircraft on its way from canada to florida landed at the airport to smoke was seen on the plane now if i was found and flights have now resumed. one hundred sixteen year old economy to not come tanika from japan has achieved her life's dream guinness guinness world records has named her the world's oldest living person and if the titles she said her sights on when she turned one hundred but she still has some catching up to do the oldest person ever was one hundred and twenty two. jared has saying the biggest demonstrations against president of dillard zs beautifully since protests began in the country two weeks ago the eighty two year old has ruled algeria for the past twenty years and is in poor health but he wants to run for a fifth term in upcoming elections the demonstrations were mostly peaceful but

police used tear gas to block the road to the presidential palace and several other areas in the capital state television says almost two hundred people have been arrested. a force of blue helmets and riot gear pushes forward into the streets of algiers the police fired tear gas into the crowds of demonstrators ahead. armored police vehicles plows through the streets as protesters throw stones in defiance of the ruling government. for two weeks running demonstrations have become a common sight on the streets of algeria's capital city but now the movement has grown larger than ever before with tens of thousands of algerians demanding president abdelaziz bouteflika not run for a fifth term many say they've had enough of the current government and their appetite for protest is undiminished. by him saying no to the regime. we need

a better future for our children we did not live the good life but we want our children to live a better life. the president confined to a wheelchair has tried to ease public anger by promising political reform and has also lashed out against the protests saying they have been infiltrated by foreign powers some even doubt that beautifully is still alive political activist rashid neck us staged demonstration and front of the hospital in geneva where the president is reportedly being treated. to be with you here are forty million algerians who want to know where they are german president and those he's going to flee to is because no one has seen him since his last speech in cities on may eighth two thousand and twelve where he declared publicly in front of all of syria he would withdraw from algerian political life he. tried to list himself as a candidate but was barred by the government he was later arrested after demanding

access to the hospital that young people in particular are desperate for change. we want to get rid of. the economy even open or close his eyes anymore what he's half dead and he really has to be for our now. we're really grateful for all he did but it really is time for him to leave and now other kind of. it's to run for president if the president is listening from his hospital bed he shows no sign of honoring these demands. some sports news now in the president of soccer's world governing body fifa has given oceana's. football confederation one last chance to clean up its act the confederation has been embroiled in several collector option scandals which has seen a former president suspended for six years and the vice president getting a three month ban. before president giani in fun tino made it very clear at a press conference that the world soccer body will only tolerate

a clean oceania that after major scandals rocked the soccer confederation there that includes a number of pacific islands as well as new zealand the times of. abusing . food will for personal gain is over. you know then we can then you know tell because by then sure again from what i've heard from other seeing. to the message is definitely passed. because this is really the last opportunity for for oceania the future boss now feels oceania has made the necessary reforms. in the bundesliga soccer last year as laid up shall continue their bad run this time with a four two away loss to braman they coached america to disco desperately needed the three points and his team briefly looked like they could make they could make it

made way through the first half they went one nil ahead with this goal from. an bolo but braman then took charge scoring for goals and to run out comfortable winners this is the third straight loss for shellac and to discos job my well be on the line. you're watching news coming at the top of the hour thanks for watching. play. the split extravagant clinton led them to move clearly know their stuff.