be allat gassed trunk port city managed by frog bought. this is news live from berlin turkey faces off with russia the syrian army's push to capture the country's last rebel stronghold triggers an international standoff and prompts hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee also on the program china says the coronavirus epidemic may have peaked the number of new cases drops for a 2nd day but the world health organization urges caution. plus could this man

become the next head of germany's conservative party and the next chancellor british mertz throws his hat in the ring the woman angela merkel had selected as her successor says she is no longer in the running. i'm told me all laddie well welcome to the program. the latest advance by syrian government troops into the rebel held it live province has fractured relations between the key international players in the conflict the past 10 days have seen deadly clashes between turkish soldiers supporting syrian rebels and forces of the syrian regime which is backed by russia turkey's president. has hit out at syria and its russian allies promising to retaliate if his troops are attacked. you know

all the country's humanitarian crisis continues to grow. the roads out of sarmad province in the last 2 months more people have fled the fighting here than it any other time in the syria conflict many are braving the harsh winter conditions simply to get tight. it's really sad to see people here enduring snow and most of them are children what are we going to do we've got nothing left we're sleeping under all of trees. it's a terrible saw each. other this road is completely cut off because it's packed full of cars. and people have no idea where they're going. this is what they are leaving behind violence has flared in it late in recent weeks and strain ties between 2 of the main international players in the region russia and turkey. has sent more troops to the area and has warned it will strike syrian

regime forces if its soldiers come under attack to clear their home or anyone targeting turkey should know that they will pay the price for this not only have the sought of the attack but everywhere. hundreds of thousands of people have left in recent weeks but not everyone can get cites those still stuck in a face an anxious wait and a worsening humanitarian crisis. we spoke to. he's a teacher. a village in the countryside west of aleppo we asked him about life in a region that has been ravaged by war. in fact these days people are facing one of the most difficult situations you know maybe in the last 9 years because now all people are fleeing from the us and countryside and lead to north to the borders of

jerky and in fact just. outside my home a long line of cars maybe 10 kilometer line of cars are just leaving and fleeing a don't know they don't know where to go and all people in fact they are mentally ill psychologically ill and physically ill in fact even i do member just now that it's 2 days my daughter's birthday nevertheless who cares we can't i can't help i can't make a party for hair i mean this is just how people think they can't think anything just where to go what to do and they don't have answers like me in fact it's your region is getting so closer to the borders of turkey and people don't know what do you if they've led now so what's the next step i mean they think they are fleeing from death to death this is in fact the whole situation these days in fact i wanted to send a message for the hold that this is maybe the last step to take to do it to take it

to take an action for this people i don't want anyone to tell the next generation that we didn't know we didn't hear we didn't see it because yeah the last period the last 9 years had been very horrible 14 people by the coming in might might be the worst. let's take a look at some other stories making news around the world. italy's senate has cleared the way for former interior minister much yourself we need to be tried on charges of holding migrants migrants hostage he says he was defending italy's border when he refused to allow rescue migrants to disembark from a ship for several days last. police in northern ireland have charge a man with murdering the journalist i'm lucky she was killed last april during a riot in london derry the dissident republican group new ira later said it shot mckee by accident the 52 year old man charged is one of 4 suspects arrested on

tuesday. dutch police say 2 letter bombs that exploded early wednesday or part of an extortion plot one went off in the mail room of the dutch bank a.b.n. amro in amsterdam the other exploded in the offices of the japanese company ricoh in the city of karate no injuries were reported in either case. pope francis has rejected a proposal to allow married men in the amazon to become catholic priests amazon bishops have called for an exception to the celibacy rule to make up for an acute lack of priests in remote rainforest regions a conservative catholics a bitterly opposed to the move from. now to the most positive outlook since the coronavirus scare began china is suggesting the virus outbreak has reached its peak health officials there have reported $797.00 more deaths and more than 2000 new infections but they say these are the lowest figures since january and they suggest

the epidemic could be over by april of the walled health organization says this apparent slowdown in the epidemic should be viewed with extreme caution in the outbreak could still go in any direction. meanwhile a growing number of people in china have begun to express anger at the government's handling of the situation authorities have moved to silence criticism censors have scrubbed social media posts and at least 2 outspoken citizens trying to expose the reality of what they're seeing have disappeared raising fears for their safety. these are images the chinese government doesn't want you to see a medical center and we han the epicenter of the coronavirus are break under stress short on supplies overwhelmed with patients the video is from. a lawyer who made the risky choice to become a citizen journalist and defy government efforts to control information in front of

me is the virus and behind me is the legal and administrative power of china as long as i live in the city you know i will continue to report i only report what i see what i hear. you i'm not even scared of death you think i'm afraid of the communist party. trainers gone he disappeared last week and has not responded to messages so far authorities would only say he has called under control on the sea international say he's been forcibly quarantined. and he's not the only one to pay the price for defying state authority the blogger been took this video from a hospital in. it seems to show body bags victims of the virus then he received a menacing knock on his door. wouldn't you want to know. what do you. do you think you'll be you know what do you want. you do you know this is i don't

know what you like this is the other night that. you would you go by. e-mail. firing had been posting videos daily proof that he was free those upload stopped on monday and he's been on reachable by phone fueling speculation over the rest. of the virus in december authorities accused him and several others of severely disturbing the social order he's dead one of the more than 1000 people in china to succumb to corona virus so far mourning and i have marked his passing online and off in defiance of the state's threats pressure is mounting on chinese authorities to come clean on what's happening in on and that includes wanting to know what's happened to people like to intro and find bin. and the u.s. presidential hopeful has won the democratic primary in the state of new hampshire

the u.s. senator who describes himself as a democratic socialist won with about 26 percent of the vote he says he now has the momentum as the democratic party decides on a candidate to challenge president trump in november's election moderates and sister contest is far from over. it's the 1st clear win in the democratic party's nomination fight and new hampshire chose very month senator bernie sanders. and let me say it's annoying that this victory here is the beginning of the end for donald trump. sanders betov a strong challenge from p.p. to jade she triumphed in iowa caucus he congratulated sanders and called for unity . so many of you turned out die hard democrats independents

unwilling to stay on the sidewalk on the sidelines and even some newly former republicans and we can't defeat the most divisive president in modern american history by tearing down anybody who doesn't agree with us 100 percent of the time. president try to twitter to slam the democratic candidates describing sanders as crazy berni and mocking prestigious star name in this primary amy club a try was a surprise 3rd place with elizabeth warren and forward and former vice president joe biden instead he is adamant that the race for the nomination has barely started so i. reject her for the 1st 2 of the states. all right come from us the opening bell. not the closing bell. the fights and dollars from the president is just big. was. the.

earth victories behind those popular vote in iowa were in the big 3 are tonight we're growing through the hour we're going to south carolina we're going to win those series was the democratic contest is shaping up to be a battle between berni sanders and p.p. to change you security by 4 decades and clashing political ideologies but united in one shared goal. president. here in germany of a conservative politician reportedly plans to run for the leadership of chancellor angela merkel's christian democrats the c.d.u. he was widely expected to enter the race for the position of party chief in 2018 months narrowly lost the race for the leadership and a great crime karen barr on monday she stunned the country by announcing she is stepping down. for treatments and angler merkel have rarely seen eye to eye if he became party leader might merkel rethink her current plan to remain

chancellor until next year we put that question to d. w.'s chief political correspondent melinda crane. that could well happen and it's not only her plan of course she is at the head of a government whose official term goes until 2021 and she has said she would stay out that term but the fact is that these 2. and they have a long history there and status john lennon once complained that the worst thing about being in the beatles was not being able to have a pint and the phil and paul mccartney return that in 2018 to play a surprised good. friend. coming up next is news africa with christine you can keep up with all the latest news and information around the clock on our website it's d.w. dot com i'm told me all logical thanks for joining us.

coach of british. joining us from africa. or link to exceptional stories and discussions. of easy town while website debutantes much pick up join us on facebook at g.w. for.