playing. place. this is d w news live from iran promises harsh retaliation as u.s. air strikes kill a top iranian general the pentagon says the strike at baghdad international airport was to prevent iranian attacks the death of at least come on back a sense out of money dramatically escalates the middle east tensions also coming up australia's prime minister facing a growing criticism over the deadly bushfires and angry residents who've lost their homes say scott morrison should have done more to help victims of the blazes raging

across the country and said questions off to dozens of animals are killed in a devastating devastating soon in germany fortunately some did survive the inferno and the soup has now reopened. i'm getting thanks so much for joining us. iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has warned that harsh retaliation is waiting for the u.s. that's often a u.s. air strike on baghdad airport killed the iranian general cast them in mine and they head of iran's elite qods force how many has also declared 3 days of national mourning to mark the general's death he was considered the architect of terrans

military operations in the middle east the u.s. asked came in the middle of the night later the pentagon tweeted this strike was aimed at deterring future iranian attack plans don't trump usually very active on twitter tweeted only this image. iranian state t.v. confirmed the death of gentle customer. iran's top security body called an urgent meeting for friday. the foreign minister mohammed joe wants to reef tweeted the u.s. act of international terrorism targeting an assassination gentle soul amani is extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation. the u.s. government has accused me of having a key role in fighting in syria and iraq he reported directly to the country's

supreme leader ayatollah khomeini. the deputy commander of the uranian backed militias known as the popular mobilization forces the u.s. has accused the group of being behind the recent attack on the u.s. embassy in baghdad experts say the death of mani could be a turning point in the middle east and potentially drole retaliation from iran and the forces it backs in the region against israel and u.s. interests. and for more on this story i'm joined in the studio by i'm a. journalist. and political analyst. and they have we can start with you can you give us a sense please of just how much potential this as strike has to unleash more. oil in an already extremely volatile region. we do not forget that

many allies in the area in iraq in syria and also. i think iran will try to mobilize that allies to to cause some damage. either remember in. from from. this cause maybe could cause a problem in the diverting goil in the war of the side of that it could also targeting american soldiers in iraq we're talking still more over than 10000 soldiers in iraq base in iraq. the most important fact that iraq. is the death of american civilians in the region. just following the news that american embassies in iraq. call all americans to leave the country too that's why it's shaw's home and the potential of the damage to your brain and could coach

. rachel what do we know about how this u.s. decision was made would president trump have given the go ahead fully aware of the possible consequences well i think trump is a kind of a rogue actor in and of themselves right i mean he always makes decisions sort of last minute unexpectedly unexpectedly but we do know that after this after the strike happened the u.s. has said that this was aimed at deterring future iranian attacks and it was a decisive defensive action carried out at the decision of the u.s. president so this is something that president was briefed on he was aware of and obviously the consequences of this strike of this killing were discussed behind the scenes the question is is the u.s. really prepared for what the iranian response might be right ok we'll talk about the implications of customs that money's death more in a moment 1st let's take a closer look at his significance as commander of the elite force of

iran's revolutionary guard. money was iran's top general he was also its most recognizable and popular military commander supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei once called him a living marcher of the revolution silliman he joined iran's revolutionary guard after the iranian revolution in 1979 he saw action in the you're on iraq or. in 1908 he became commander of the could force that conducts iran's clandestine and foreign military operations the us considered him a terrorist and blamed his could force for the deaths of hundreds of american soldiers so the money was especially active in iranian operations against rebel groups in syria against the so-called islamic state and supporting shiite militias in iraq over the years after a number of scrapes with death including an airplane crash in 2006 on

a bombing in damascus in 2012 he was 62 years old when an american missile killed him in baghdad. a man do we know what this top iranian general was doing in neighboring iraq while. he was the main figure as we know that he's gathering all the troops or militia fighting against americans troops back to through 2006 and 7 he was the main figure also to train the iraqi proxy iranian proxy still to defense also the beginning of 2014 that's why some iraqis sympathizing with him up to the. guy for the good will in the end of the day he was it is possible for many casualties within them are constructs in iraq and also by by the question of the syria he was the main figure that give

a backup for the regime in damascus and he was also integrating figure let us say in the region and he's the face of iranian revolution outside iran and he was let's say a figure of nationalism outside iranian borders rachel sort of money had been in the. u.s. before but they had never pulled the trigger why now. so this this killing comes after a few actions from the iranians earlier this year they shot down a u.s. drone attack the saudi oil fields but more recently there was attack where a u.s. contractor was killed and then the age of the u.s. embassy in baghdad by iranian backed hezbollah and so i think at some point the u.s. decided that there needs to be some sort of some sort of payback for those actions and this is also following

a twitter back and forth between between trump and how many over the last couple of days so the question again is really what comes next what was big talk to me about the reaction that there's been in the u.s. to his killing politically and also from the public so the reaction has been pretty split down republican and democratic lines right so you have some republican senators like ben sasse lindsey graham tom cotton marco rubio all saying he had it coming it's about time and then you have democratic senators like chris murphy for example. saying that the question is you know not only what happens next but what does this mean for the united states what's the reaction going to be in the united states we're not prepared for an iranian response so the question is really how is the u.s. public going to respond to this. maybe not well you know a war weary country. a minute can we talk about iran. reaction is

iran now compelled to take action i mean he was offered a role one of the very highest ranking officials in. a while will try again though i think many you bring you know social striving to put a plan above the reaction where the whole the whole big i think the action reaction would be iranian will be fast enough as we think because we are talking about the top leader in the broad. that if they iranian leave it. without any reaction they will lose a kind of credibility in the area. from the from the past when the iranians determined they want to find a solution of the conflict inside iraq for their interest i think they try to attacking they are going to try to attacking some troops in iraq where they are think that they are responsible for that action in international

area. airports but just back to russia i think if we are following brett mcgurk with his last week i think this is the guy long experience in the area and he knows very well how the thinks work in the middle east and he was not very quite sure that that was the right action from trump i think he understands their reaction will be very devastating for the americans interests in the region all right devastating reaction thanks so much for your analysis a man. an iraqi journalist based here and and at rachel his i political analyst thanks so much. all right let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world. people in the indonesian capital jakarta have begun returning to their homes off to severe flooding tens of thousands to evacuate at least were killed others still missing on

soon the rains and rising rivers swamped thousands of homes and castle for electricity over a wide area. police in one of sirens have rescued a 3 day old baby girl being held hostage inside an ambulance media reports say the standoff began after the father assaulted the baby's mother and then hid in the vehicle they say the baby is in good health in the hospital. now australia's prime minister scott morrison is facing growing criticism over his handling of the deadly bushfires ravaging the country angry residents say he should be doing more to help people burned out of their homes the navy is still evacuating hundreds stranded on the beaches around the town as thousands more a fleeing by road. a new sign that the state a follower to is the new normal this australian mcbride mimics emergency sirens

a sound that's no as ubiquitous as to smoke filled air in the bushfire zone australia's prime minister scott morrison has been visiting the affected area which now encompasses most of the country's 2 southeastern states while there morrison was on the receiving and off hefty criticism only one issue my body was already on your i laid out. in 2 incidents caught on camera a firefighter and a local resident refused to shake hands with morrison of the year and the 2nd thing to be given on the head but many people have also said they are just looking for their needs and very. small god help them because. people are also angry that the prime minister has downplayed the role of climate change in causing the bush fires morrison has brushed off the criticism saying he's not

taking it personally like this isn't. any one individual certainly not maybe you or anyone else we all have to do the job that we have to do we are going to keep focused on doing that your people are angry understand it people have suffered great loss people are hurting people that's what happens in natural disasters meanwhile distrait in navy continues to evacuate people trapped in the coastal town of moloch by a boat to a larger ship on friday over 1000 people of were transported from there to melbourne those on their way out clearly relieved. that i actually have held it together pretty well till yesterday when i heard they could be coming back and that's when i. had my break dan and i felt better after and now we're here in which. on the car in we're going home and saying our families. the fires is set to worsen again this weekend was authorities warning that the window

for getting out of the threatened areas is closing quickly. to latin america now a the year of heavy unrest could lie ahead in 2019 a wave of protests broke out across the continent by the end of the year many work or occurring simultaneously let's take a look at some of the countries affected venice whaler remains in the grip of a political and economic crisis a year ago opposition leader. claimed the president say from nicolas maduro who's accused of election fraud and dictatorial rule despite massive anti-government protests and more than 50 countries backing go during has to power in chile and colombia protesters have demanded better governance and solutions to economic inequality 27 people have died so far in chile's protests the

country is set to vote on a new constitution in april colombians want the government to address violence against social leaders and indigenous people. argentina is in a deep recession and able to pay its foreign debt of more than $100000000000.00 and in neighboring bolivia people are set to vote in new elections later this year that's off the leftist president evo morales was pushed from power in november rumors of electoral fraud had sparked protests against him now hyper inflation is one of venice way in his biggest problems despite 6 increases in the minimum wage workers are still taking home only the equivalent of a few u.s. dollars every month. it's supposed to give venezuelans more purchasing power the latest hike in the minimum wage means workers will receive $150000.00 in cash they

also get another $150000.00 in food stamps each month sounds like a lot to me but what can you actually buy with it. viz 3 bottles of water and 2 bread rolls cost more than a quarter of the monthly wage what the $70.00. 300000 is not enough to buy anything with but when you factor in transportation food bills and recreational activities you just don't have enough. and that's about a. good look at that particular beef cost $60000.00 bodies and a bus ticket now costs 2000 and everything is way too expensive and the minimum wage is not enough. when i don't have guns about an hour. i went shopping in caracas to put the new minimum wage to the test myself i bought some groceries 417-0000 believer days that's more than the minimum wage for just

a few items but i still have most of the food stamps left so i bought some onions. from 3 national. and cheese. i bought 18 eggs 440000 body bags and there was just enough left to buy a drink. if i'm frugal i can make these groceries last for me for a month but for a family it's not very much and i'm not including a lot of protein in these groceries nor personal hygiene products and for an overall monthly salary it's not enough to cover public transport or public services like water electricity gas and telephone services so for a family it's not very much. all right still about this and more i'm joined by alexander marquez alaska's from the fire and he has a tape that thanks for joining us. such difficult circumstances venezuelans and yet the power struggle between president nicolas maduro and the opposite opposition

leader one just keeps going on how long can a do or cling to power well mother has shown quite a lot of resilience and this is has begun this resilience has reason is the alliance with the military because around 2016 he sees to be like a democratic president and it's tried to eliminate the power of the parliament so this has only been part possible because he has a close alliance with the military and his government has been fully repressed the most regions against him and has murdered hundreds of france tasters or has still thousands of them so i think he can remain in power as long as this alliance with the military holds. this year we have a dn the constitution foresees elections for the parliament at the end of the year but there are no signs that these elections will be free and fair so i guess that

perhaps their position will boy quite and this will probably leave muddle in power many many people have left than assuage to escape the poverty and what effect is this having on the country and also how is it affecting the neighboring countries well we have like people leaving the country because of the dire conditions and this actually has i think that's rather stabilizing the situation in the country because you have this mass exodus of young male people that were mainly demonstrating against murder in the streets in 2017 this mass migrations really really accelerated and then they have been stablish in mostly in south american countries and there are send them back remittances to their families so this is kind of stab allies in the comic situation is helping feed an informal dollars. ation that's taking place to help people cope with hyperinflation it is explain its estimated that happy inflation and that around

10000000 percent into that in france in 1000 so actually just migration establishment us for that yet i think it's rather destabilizing neighboring countries which are countries that most of them not used to receiving migrants and this is the largest migration problem that has ever happened in the western hemisphere so it's more or less the similar than the situation in syria and there is no civil war yet in the nasrallah so there are very fragile countries we have seen the situation in colombia a country that has been recovering form its own civil war conflict for the last decades and also you have a country like cruelest receive a 1000000 friends so this is not easy for them to cope with and most of the problem also comes with that some of them are or most of these migrants are rather poor so they are they need a lot of support for from state institutions and this is who she is in these countries are weak so probably in the future they will benefit from this but now

there are disturbing lies in the situation at the size that up level and discontent really across my stuff of latin america and i mike has left us from the irony that the tape alan thank you so much for joining us thank you. now here in germany a zoo hit by a very fast moving fire has now mostly reopened for visitors people have been expressing their grief at the clay fed zoo where dozens of animals including several primates were killed a woman and her 2 adult daughters turned themselves in off of the blaze police say they admit to life and releasing chinese lanterns which are thought to have started the fire the 3 were apparently unaware that lands and are illegal throughout germany. let's cross over to our correspondent rebecca down maia who's at the zoo in safe it rebecca the zoo has opened its doors again to the public this morning how are things going there today. well it started out fairly

slow there were a couple of people who had gathered to lay candles and it's picked up quite significantly lots of families here at lots of kids there was a group of preschoolers who came and laid down the book of drawings that they had me to remember the animals who'd been killed i also spoke with a woman who said that she grew up with this zoo and that she takes her kids here very frequently and that one of her children really enjoyed playing with one of the baby orangutang from behind the glass one of those a ring in times who unfortunately died in the fire on new year's eve so people have obviously been really affected by this the losses have also so christe attention on the chinese lanterns that apparently caused the fire the illegal but that's still easily available can you tell us more about the device at the debate that they generated. absolutely there's been there was already

a debate going on ahead of new year's eve about fireworks and the flammable objects in general in germany and celebrating with those now the paper lanterns the sky lanterns they are banned in the state of north rhine-westphalia where craig is located the people who came forward and said that they purchased those lanterns they did not know those are those those items are banned a lot of the a lot of the online shops where they're sold they don't have warnings they don't contain warnings about possible legal ramifications and that's really sparked a big debate police have also said that it would be extremely difficult as well to police the selling of those sky lanterns so it's sparked a debate about not only their use but also how to regulate this ban all right rebecca down my at the zoo in case it thanks very much. a case in sports news now in liverpool on now unbeaten for 365 days in the english

premier league following a 2 know when the sheffield united last season they finished runners up but won the champions league in june and the club weld cup in december and the current premier league campaign that you can clip side sit top of the table with a 13 point gap 2nd place having drawn just one single game so. this is news and these are our top stories iran is vowing harsh retaliation for a u.s. drone strike at baghdad international airport that killed a top a rainy and general cassim soleimani commanded iran's elite could force which the u.s. and others call a terror group the pentagon described the attack as a quote defensive action to protect u.s. personnel abroad. australian prime minister scott morrison is facing growing criticism over his handling of the country's worst of the wildfires mass

evacuations are underway and mid sea is more hot weather will further spread the blazes. turkey's parliament has agreed to send troops to support libya's un backed government turkish soldiers will head to tripoli to defend the city against forces loyal to warlord. but there are fears their presence could aggravate the conflict. germany's say feds who has now mostly reopened following a devastating blaze that killed dozens of animals including several primates police say a woman and her 2 adult daughters admitted licensing and releasing illegal chinese lanterns which are thought to have started the fire. this is d w news from berlin for more follow us on twitter at news or visit our website at www dot com. you are watching news life from berlin the coming up on d w business the killing of

a talker radian military leader affects markets around the world shares drop in oil prices want to check ins has all the details in our business show. business coming up next don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website about state. i'm an eclipse mckinnon and bell and x. i'm not sure.

eco africa. on the most attract a lot of attention. but don't overlook the little farce there in danger. you do something to protect the. stories from south africa. identifying. creating an urban oasis. 60 minutes. also need to supply you don't need to keep

a day you go on the books and go for the over mention home the 4th time from the most recent without looking them up a little about mr going to the ballets at the last dragon this word has called the home the truth. on. humans love interaction sometimes you don't have a if you're about well provided that's great they're going to replace people in manufacturing they're going to replace doctors and lawyers they're going to replace people in jobs you wouldn't think but if all the work is being done by machines what to give us through the day trying to keep getting better better education and take toward more advanced jobs or do they end up doing other things making art having social interactions with each other are we going to have enough humanity to make it possible for everyone or some people are going to say i want everything and the rest of us have to be poor and die it allows individuals to discover their

humanity they have to learn a new meaning for life and do things to do that's a social revolution that hopefully we can move to slowly. building a bridge with which energy will be brought to europe says and exuberant greek prime minister as he anticipate a tent israeli counterparts sign a deal paving the way for a new i'll be its controversial gas pipeline through the mediterranean also coming out of the games afoot to interpol has issued a red notice of all of the arrest of collars.