of slavery. our documentary slavery routes starts march 9th d.w. . this is the w. news live from berlin and uncertain political future here in germany as plans for the euro after chancellor machall ballpark the woman tipped to take over from now says she does not want the job her shocking announcement what does on a great trump card and dollars decision mean for her party and for the government also coming up. syrian government troops intensify their offensive in

a province the last stronghold of anti-government rebels supported by turkey which says it will strike back if more of its soldiers are killed plus. one of. them must. see t.v. and the other person completely chopped off my leg. behind the new wave of violence in cameroon and will elections being held there make a difference. i'm brian thomas great to have you with us today plans for who should succeed have fallen apart the woman considered next in line for the job of german chancellor says she will not run now on a current power is stepping aside after members of her christian democrats ignored

her and instead allied themselves with the far right to win a regional elections now that move created political shock waves that show no sign of abating. com gave little notice before informing party leaders of her decision she was long chancellor angela merkel's hand-picked successor now she won't be her party's candidate for chancellor and plans to step down as party chief she says to see to use decision 2 years ago to separate the role of chancellor candidate and party leader was a mistake. let's have this in the unison target that the leadership question is still unresolved to this very day this ific a the issue of who will be the party's candidate for chancellor. these we haven't been able to find a solution despite 2 party conventions and apparently some people don't want to resolve this issue. believes the cd you could pick a new party leader at its convention in december she's planning to stay on as

defense minister her decision was apparently one she took alone. even chancellor merkel didn't find out about con carbon bars plans to step down until monday morning. and i don't quite i respect this decision picked but i must also say i regret that it's come to this although i can imagine that this was not an easy decision for i'm a great crowd in fact you can find this former c.d.u. parliamentary party leader friedrich mouth's is being honored as a potential successor to comp. in 2018 he narrowly lost the party leadership vote to her both amin lush at the state premier of north rhine-westphalia and german health minister jens are also in the running the tumult in the c.d.u. also has their coalition partner the social democrats worried. the city would see

to you can't agree on its future direction and has been without a real leader for a long time. one seen as the future of the c.d.u. . announcing she's stepping back after only one year as party chief her decision means the c.d.u. will likely be busy for months deciding on a new leader. but do germany's conservatives have months to resolve the sudden crisis did obvious political correspondent kate brazier for more on that this morning to you kate where does this all leave the german government and is the governing coalition at risk right now well certainly as we heard there in the report the social democrats the junior coalition partner in the grand coalition and have been voicing their concerns but at least for now it does seem that the government at least is quite stable they are both the social democrats and the cd you are keen to continue on of course elections on jew here the federal elections at least until fall of next year 2021 that said if you look at the bigger picture

germany's political standing particularly in the e.u. is looking much less stable as of course a lot of the e.u. members have been looking towards germany for many many years now for this sign off the visiting and strengthen continuity which. of course it's largely due to this continuation of the macro era that we've seen for for tens of office now almost 4 terms and so that really is in a very precarious position right now and of course moving forward the e.u. is trying to look to strengthen itself as well and so they we could indeed see brussels looking elsewhere maybe even to france to continue as more of a guiding light for the e.u. there would really be a shift wouldn't it and then there's 3 men we saw in a report there vying for the top seed you job they've course want germany to be a stable bastion of the that has been up until now well one of them one of these 3 men succeed. where we've got a long way to go until we have a final result on the leadership but it does seem likely that the next cd you party

leader will be the candidate for the chancellery and at the moment looking at some of the polls that have been going around just in the last couple of days it seems that the person of all the one man out of those 3 with the most support right now is a fresh matts a former rival of them very much keen to finally get what with snatch away from him about a decade ago and he's currently only polling that around 27 percent of german voters and so we still have a long way to go but certainly if someone like matt who is extremely pro-business were indeed to follow over the phil mackall shoes come next year we could certainly see a shift to the right certainly within the conservative c.d.u. but also within german politics as well were he to become chancellor what about the alternative for germany they sparked this crisis and mecklenburg for parma in that

state in the north for the regional elections there of the strongest 2nd strongest party in that state are they benefiting from this crisis right now i think we'll see certainly in the coming weeks and months to what extent they are benefits. thing of course they hailed themselves as somewhat of a hero after managing to get this rather controversial election which is now being revoked in pharyngeal last week they managed to make that happen but when it comes to the polls also it would be interesting to see we have some more state elections regional elections early next year where they look to do well again and if the c.d.u. fails to really get its act together and decide exactly what kind of direction it wants to go in and how conservative it wants to be in the future moving away from this middle ground that machall has taken the conservatives towards in the last kind of 12 years also then if he could certainly look to gain even most of

forces more just illusions supporters than it already has done ok from those elections and thank you very much keep brady for us this morning let's get you a brief now on some of the other stories making news this hour officials in bangladesh say a boat carrying ranger refugees has sunk off the country's southern coast at least 14 people drowned 70 were rescued. many of the estimated 1000000 range of muslims who fled persecution in neighboring mean maher have tried to leave camps in bangladesh on boats headed for malaysia. a fierce storms moving across northern europe has left at least 7 people dead knocked out power hundreds of thousands of homes hurricane force winds and heavy rains disrupted travel on a number of countries the storm is moving eastwards after 1st probably in the british isles and mainland europe. the number of tunes from penguins and parts of western and arctic has fallen by some even percent since 1900 sets according to

scientists studying climate change this comes as a research base and you know or to cover corded it's warmest temperatures ever or the constant. well the 3rd terry says it has killed more than $100.00 syrian military personnel they died in shelling and. retaliation for a syrian attack that left turkish soldiers dead the past week has seen tensions between syria and turkey escalate the syrian armed forces are on the offensive in the province and want to retake the country's last remaining anti-government stronghold where turkish troops are eating the rebels. to keep back against the asset regime ankara says it will repay its own casualties. must be confirmed as soon as possible. to be permanent the assad regime's aggression. president has emphasized that turkey will take the necessary measures

if the regime continues its aggression. to hospital some of the turkish troops injured in a sad latest assault on it lived a sad is trying to recapture the province from rebel forces rebels often by turkey 5 turkish casualties followed 8 others last week all of the hands of sads forces. this is the latest in a series of escalations between turkey and syria turkey wants to defend its border with syria and the said regime wants to regain influence within its own borders the civilian cost of all this has been high in recent weeks nearly 700000 civilians have been displaced. adorn a turkish military convoy enters northern syria joining the effort to halt assad's offensive showing that turkey means what it says about defending its own border. let's get more of the story now from turkey correspondent in istanbul. how

significant is this latest escalation between syria and turkey. well diary clashes between nato member turkey and syrian regime forces have been extremely rare in the nearly 9 year old syrian conflict turkey has militarily intervened in 3 operations so far in syria against the so-called islamic state against kurdish led forces it considers a terrorist threat but it has so far avoided attacking. troops so what we have been seeing there are the latest incidents are some of the most serious confrontations between the 2 countries so far in the past week has trying to reinforce its military posts in it live by sending in hundreds of military vehicles and reportedly thousands of troops all of this in an attempt to stem deadly offensive on and all of that as you can imagine as more instability to an

already talks economics than you you why is so important to both syria and turkey or willing to deadly flooding there. well it is one of the last remaining areas out of bashar al assad's control the last rebel held a bastion there in syria home to about 3000000 people most of them internally displaced assad once to retake all of syria so he definitely needs a turkey's president edwin on the other hand wants to stop assad because if it looks schools turkey faces another large scale influx of refugees hundreds of thousands of people have already fled to areas near the turkish border some say up to a 1000000 are basically waiting there in search for security fleeing outside so

russian backed offensive turks resin everyone has repeatedly said he already hosts for a 1000000 refugees that is something that has proven politically costly for him so he says we caught on tape anymore refugees and then of course look at the humanitarian situation there people are living in makeshift camps it's winter it's freezing cold and some organizations say that nearly whole feel it lives 3000000 civilians are children. so much is stake for both sides were can we expect things to go from there. well that's difficult to say much will probably depend on russia president bashar al assad's most important international a backup present add on has given damascus until the end of the month to retreat to cease fire lines that he agreed on with president putin in 2018 but so far

as such does not seem to be interested in that turkey is holding talks with russia since saturday but these talks of also not yielded any results yet so the question is is russia able or willing to rein in the side so we're going to see the tensions further increase on the freights we'll have an eye on that and keep an eye on that and watch the situation ok yulia for now thanks very much for that from istanbul. to most senior health officials and who better that's the province at the center of china's corona virus outbreak has been fired this news comes as the death toll from the virus tops 1000 with more than 42000 cases confirmed nationwide now as the extended lunar new year holiday comes to an end many chinese are choosing to stay at home or theirs though are getting back to work that despite fears about the virus. back to work in beijing.

with temperature scans and breathing masks despite the heightened precautions facing residents say life must go on. a little i think we can just act like nothing happened my companies prepared some protective gear for us like masks. life goes on anyway how can we stop going outside or stop working simply because of fear of disease we can't do that. always said that those chinese president xi jinping has largely kept a low profile but on monday he visited a treatment and prevention research center and toured a residential neighborhood. let's not shake hands in this special period you should always remain confident we will be able to contain this epidemic eventually. international experts including

a team from the world health organization have arrived to observe and offer help. we welcome experts from countries including the united states to participate in the joint export inspection group we believe that sufficient communication between all sides will produce suitable arrangements for the work of the inspection group in china. who hog the city where the outbreak started officials have mobilized tens of thousands of workers to aid in prevention koren teens are still in effect across much of the city. on. this will the hospital is home to 3 babies born to mothers who had the virus. the mother's condition had worsened 2 days before being admitted to the hospital and that emergency scissoring section was done. outside workers and trucks rode the city spraying disinfectant it's clear that in

on it least the crisis is far from over. for the 1st time in 7 years cameroon has held local and parliamentary elections the opening of the polls had been delayed because of violence and political turmoil in the english speaking northwest and southwest turnout was low armed separatists warn people not to vote in 2017 though separatists unilaterally declared independence and the formation of a new nation zone. now as you're about to see their pursuit of self-determination has devastated the lives of many civilians a warning viewers may find the following port disturbing. clue do you know our karma is recovering in hospital how large it was shot of but. she sees. the men came to our home our night accusing her of defined a ban on education. which include i was glad of make it i was followed was tear up

. a look at this it out through i saw it it was all a dream. they kept hitting me with a machete because. the man started by gradually topping off my ankle who never could one of them was flogging my back with them i said he and the other person completely chopped off my leg i saw my legs separated into his no i never got. the rebellion but under 4 militias is sticking a store on the population. a few kilometers away 42000 hectares of banana robot arm pump lanty should have been abundant. this state all far is a 2nd biggest employer in the country but should pretties want it close thousands

of his workers how fled do to increase our tops many how do mutilated and or the skewed. job while sleeping with a men reader desktop logic you want me there they won't move you may think the separatists said they would have loved to kill us meeting b. but they would rather cut off our fingers in order to send a message to our employer to walk the walk there to get money by cutting they told us they were fighting for us she thought we were working in a government plantation. which funds the government's crackdown against them with immediately they chopped off our fingers move. on this one well as i move. finish sure force pushes off to shut down the entire island for regions on social change all activities are halted and people off the streets sometime last 3 weeks. time are also just to have been accused of killing civilians on

burning down villages this gritty situation is very dire you know with the people of this always on the road between the military and the separatist forces so you are not even sure that you will see the next. and also because of that on certainty it affix businesses most people cannot invest those who have businesses cannot really make a lot of money because for those who are those who are restaurant people who don't go out a lot of people are going to stay out late you know there's general and shown in the. closed in holland discharged from hospital. this single mother of one is taking our very 1st steps knowing her life will never be the same again. and we have much more on the report at our website w dot com. a group of girls from

a remote village in kyrgyzstan have come together to form that central asian countries 1st all female ice hockey team. with no other female teams to play against part has been honing their skills against all melting sand their growth has earned them plenty of respect and support from abroad. this tiny brick house is where the girls change into their hockey equipment before they set foot on the ice . bergs i stayed in as a rest site in the central asian country of kurdistan. but these girls are all about defying stereotypes they have a 1st female nice hockey team in their country and they train on a plot of farmland. i cultivate the land here it's my plot of land i plant potatoes some flows you can grow anything here and some of it's use for agriculture in winter i create an ice rink. the coach converted his

garage to a changing room and the country's diaspora community in switzerland donated the equipment a team started to grow through word of mouth. who gathered in the room i care about sound it never even occurred to me that i would ever play hockey cover some of the it was for my classmate the coaches daughter she suggested i come and try to play hockey 2 cuts according the cuts. the team now has around 15 players changing minds won't be easy but locus us slowly warming up to the country's 1st female ice hockey team. the russian billionaire who's well off has donated the original $892.00 olympic charter to the olympic museum in london whose wealth was the mystery buyer of the 14 page document at all last december and sold for 8000000 euros making it the most expensive sports memorabilia ever sold at

auction. the original charter was penned by the international olympic committee founder pierre de coubertin he outlined a modern version of the games based on the ancient greek original. it's to mexico now and has a drug war which has scarcely slowed in the 1st year of president. has opened a door sturm a little less than 35000 people died in the country last year as a result of the drug war the state of guerrero has been hit especially hard and in some small mountain communities local leaders have responded by forming their own militias which include children as young as 8 years old. guerrero ground 0 of mexico's drug war beauty poverty and violence makes it high altitude in this place. up here impoverished farmers grow poppies to survive that draws in the

katella so they want the crop to produce opium and they've turned the highlands of the state into killing fields the heart of the use of gangs is often trick indigenous communities believe by the pope is an if when so to them they just take their crops and kill them. get more death in a place a decision some much of it today the village is mourning people killed in an ambush it's estimated that tens of thousands of died in guerrero since the drug war began and the cartels and the tourists for the crew tea with which they punish those who defy them. well we got the bank mother had been to watch it. we have many of. them ripped to pieces. some headless think of.

fear has taken over this entire village in the face of the menace of the cocktails locals have taken up. to even trying the villages children to fight alongside the adults because some of the youngsters from this village have also reportedly disappeared. and. i'm not scared anymore if they want to show up they should show up we'll protect our families. i don't lose human rights groups have criticized the use of children as young as ice in the self-defense militias here and in 15 other villages in guerrero but the locals of this village said they won't be laying down their arms at least until they no longer have to fear the cocktails. this is news these are our top stories germany's governing christian democrats are in disarray after their

party leader announced he will be stepping down at an address from current power is the choice of all of macro and was widely expected to run for shelter in the next election. chinese president xi jinping has called for more decisive measures in combating the corona virus outbreak the death toll in china has now passed 1000 more than 40000 cases are reported across the country. the turkish military says it has killed more than $100.00 syrian government troops in the province of idlib that was a retaliation for a syrian strike which left 5 turkish troops dead syrian military forces are on the offensive and the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militia. arlen's nationalist party fein wants a major role in the country's next government the party led by mary lou mcdonald scored his best ever election result the center right yanna fault is not ruling out

a coalition with. the news from berlin for more you can also go to our twitter feed or our web site up next we have business with stephen beardsley i'll be back at the top of the hour i'm brian thomas from the entire team thanks for being here.

kicked off. a devastating. plane and slipped to a new low point against big. time claiming.

the frenzy of gold medal with the team's calling it out for the me in my early in the close and enjoyed a spectacular victory against dog. chico. 60 minutes. w.'s crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech color of prevention and sustainable charcoal production. all of a sow's are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters tune in now. have fun in pyongyang. the capital city of north korea is reinventing itself. but only

a few can enjoy the benefits for those the regime allows. kim jong un introduced an insidious reward system to coerce allegiance to the regime. those who don't make it into the fun metropolis are often cool and tongue 3. have fun in pyongyang starts february 28th on w. chinese businesses are struggling to stay afloat as the corona virus spreads many are now snapping up beijing's cheap credit but will it be enough as the deadly outbreak continues. also on the show will die miller see a 2nd street near falling profits investors are bracing for bad news.