christmas time double. this is d.w. news live from berlin a saudi court sentences 5 men to death over the murder of journalist amal kushal she 3 others were given jail terms in connection with the killing of the washington post writer his death on the saudi consulate in istanbul last year shocked the world. also coming up turkey warns of

a looming refugee crisis as tens of thousands of syrians flee attacks in the province turkey's president says any influx of refugees would also have consequences for europe. plus russia inaugurated its 1st direct train to crimea since annex in the territory from ukraine in 2014 it is a big step towards cementing russian control of the territory despite international sanctions. i'm sumi so much going to thank you for joining us a court in saudi arabia has sentenced 5 people to death for the murder of journalist jamal kushal it also handed jail terms to 3 additional suspects in connection with the killing the saudi writer and dissident was never seen again after entering the kingdom's consulate in istanbul last year he was killed and reportedly dismembered inside the building but his remains were never found out she

was a resident of the u.s. at the time and was known for writing critically about the saudi royal family. for more on this story we can speak to ca toby cadman he's an international human rights lawyer who has followed this case closely toby thank you for joining us what do you make of this verdict. well i think it's it's very disappointing i don't think anybody should be altogether surprised as it was very clear that this was going to be a whitewash in the very beginning and i think what's most disappointing is that 2 senior officials who were alleged to have been close to the moment been in some bond and directly involved with the carrying out all to the execution and effectively the cleanup operation there you one of them was charged earned and acquitted and one of them was not even charged so i don't think we can say that

justice has been so. and it is clearly an attempt to. appease or attempt to appease international community that action has been taken we saw the united nations issue a special report to that implicated members of the royal family very high up including the crown prince himself tell me why hasn't there been an international investigation into this case. well obviously the the report is bigger in part by the un special rapporteur has got about had also set tight the challenges involved with accountability at the international level regrettably this is not a matter that the international criminal court has jurisdiction to do would need to know saudi arabia or members and their i.c.c. doesn't deal with individual killings and the international criminal court doesn't have jurisdiction and also the cider thirty's made it quite clear that they would not cooperate with the turkish authorities in an address investigation being cared and would not cooperate with the u.n.

in their own investigation and i think the special rapporteur has highlighted in her report and since then in a number of statements that this is a vacuum all of accountability that there is no international level to do with this i mean there was talk about potentially establishing a special tribe you know as they did with the lebanon case with the cessation of hariri that the un could in fact set up an international tribunal but it hasn't taken those discussions any further forward and so the only real way for the family to to see any justice is through seeking accountability through universal jurisdiction potentially in europe or in the united states to be do you see that happening i mean what does this mean for democracy after his murder at this point do you think that this case is now essentially closed. no it's not close knit and it will of course be the attempts to to ensure that those who are responsible how

our current will there are groups working with the family that are try to to at least start case where the civil criminal in united states and also i'm sure there will be attempts to to bring this before courts in europe certainly the u.k. courts and the german courts have jurisdiction to do with much as such as this and of course that will be what is continuing with the turkish authorities i'm so i think that there will be accountability will the the person who's ultimately responsible and who american intelligence set is ultimately responsible the crown prince that remains to be seen but i don't think it's something that's necessarily going to happen immediately but it's going to take some time all right tony had been an international human rights lawyer joining us thank you very much thank you . syrian government forces backed by russia and other allies are pushing to retake the region the last major bit of rebel held territory in syria and home to 3000000

people tens of thousands are fleeing the violence and they are heading towards turkey turkish president regift have faired want serious they could eventually enter turkey which is already home to nearly $3700000.00 syrians and the largest refugee population in the world everyone has warned there will be consequences for europe if that happens. the desperate search for people buried in the rubble left by another bombing in syria as strikes by russian and syrian forces continued throughout the weekend. they're aiming for al qaeda linked militants while they hit here was a busy market. we were here when the missiles hit and we have nothing to do with this gk we are all civilians here my son was wounded this is a civilian area what can i do. the smoke rises from another drop to bomb on for another family it's time to pack up and leave. is taking his family away

from the violence. we're fleeing again because of the heavy bombardment by the criminal bashar al assad yesterday more than 400 rockets hit these town. nobody and they set off while more family with nowhere to go. joining many many more fleeing the renewed offensive. checky say $80000.00 people are currently heading towards its border with syria and the situation is deteriorating sure. if the violence towards the people of live does not stop this number will rise even more in that case turkey will not carry such a migrant burden on its own the negative impact of the pressure we will be subjected to will be something that all european nations especially greece will also feel. at the moment there's no option for this new wave of displaced people older than join half

a 1000000 of those who fled to the turkish border this year already invited to safety but living conditions the u.n. describes as horrific. let's get around about some of the other stories making headlines around the world china says it will lower import tariffs on more than $800.00 products starting next month including food items like fish and frozen pork that's after what seems to be a thaw in the country's trade battle with washington the 2 sides are reportedly making progress towards a comprehensive trade deal. and at least 8 people in the philippines have died after drinking coconut wine a popular party beverage more than 200 were also being treated in the hospital for symptoms of poisoning the cases were reported in 2 provinces south of manila and officials have temporarily banned sales of the why. russia has officially launched direct passenger train service to the annexed territory of crimea using a route that bypasses mainland ukraine people can now travel from st petersburg

southward toward the crimean city of sevastopol the journey lasts 44 hours and crosses the crimean bridge which moscow is accused of building illegally russian president vladimir putin wrote along a section of the route on monday to inaugurate the railway moscow sees crimea from ukraine in 2014 a move that's drawn international condemnation the new train route is seen as a fresh step to cement russia's grip on the region. let's get the latest on the story our correspondent emily showing a standing by in moscow hi amalie why is this new train service so important to vladimir putin. well sumi as you said the move russians move to annex the crimean peninsula in 2014 was condemned widely by the international community but here in russia it's seen as a patriotic victory and in a way this bridge is kind of a concrete manifestation of that russia russians after all see the crimean

peninsula as there is during the soviet union it was a popular holiday destination and the peninsula is actually gifted by crucial to ukraine in 1954 when it didn't really matter when it was all the soviet union and so people here really celebrated the an accession the illegal an exception of that peninsula in 2014 as a defiant move from bloody emir putin he's very much seen as a symbol of kind of russia standing against the west and defying the west and actually that manic sation led to a huge spike in putin's ratings as well one that he could need at the moment with surveys showing that trust is at a historic low in bloody revolution this whole thing covered by russian media. well the coverage of this opening today has been rather bombastic we saw putin kind

of traveling across the bridge we saw presenters referring to that footage today on t.v. as a historic moment just last year a bloody near putin opened kind of road traffic on the bridge he actually drove across a truck across the bridge now we see him in the in the train he was addressing as well workers today the workers that build that built this bridge in as people here say record time and he was saying that this is a symbol that russia really can do everything and anything at all and we mentioned that people accuse moscow building that bridge illegally i mean how is this being seen internationally. well. this bridge is seen by the u.s. by the e.u. and by ukraine as well as a violation of ukraine's sovereignty of course ukraine sees the bridge as illegal in the sense that people passengers will be entering entering what they see as ukrainian territory via the russian mainland so that's kind of against against

international law and there have been sanctions as well against russia starting in 2014 for the annexation and for russia's involvement in supporting separatists in eastern ukraine as well and to the e.u. has just prolonged those sanctions for another half a year but it seems today from that footage that we've seen and from this opening from this this train journeys that we're seeing this defiance that russia is certainly going to stand its ground when it comes to crimea. really sure when covering the story for us from moscow thank you australian firefighters are now making progress against hundreds of bushfires a cool weather has ended days of record breaking temperatures at least 9 people have died and millions of acres of land have burned since the fires broke out in september many australians accuse the government of not doing enough to address climate change. relief from the

inferno fire crews found this thursday as conditions on monday. the extent of the damage now laid bare authorities say some 200 homes were destroyed by the fires in the last few days alone some people only narrowly managed to escape. others were saved in dairy rescue operations severe drought and extreme heat have made this bushfire season one of the worst on record it sparked renewed criticism that the government is not doing enough to tackle climate change but the prime minister defended his government's climate policy and rejected calls to downsize

australia's lucrative coal industry. was that the climate change has been charged in. the facts and. what you need to do to protect our environment and start ability for the future to protect our economy and the jobs in the law of the strides depend. for these australians the fires have left their futures uncertain though the flames have let up the country is bracing for more devastation as the scorching heat is set to return after christmas. the professional footballers association is calling on the british government to launch an inquiry into racism that comes after chelsea star antonio way to go allegedly faced monkey chants during his team's 2 know when over tottenham on sunday politico was targeted by some spurs fans after he was involved in a clash with us on the mend the referee did stop play during the 2nd half when we

go complained about the abuse at tottenham have promised to take the strongest possible action leaving the is the latest player to face racism in the premier league earlier this month manchester united's fred was targeted by a manchester city fan. coming up next looking for the perfect christmas tree to me follows one family on their annual holiday tradition that's coming up next on reporter thank you for watching. the media attention of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebrate comics on the phone books from 250. barking all of the discovery. expedition boys.