>> welcome to the journal coming to you live from dw here in berlin. thanks for joining us. >> troops and separatist launched offensive on the eaves of peace -- on the eve of peace talks in minsk. anwar ibrahim jail for five years after losing his final appeal against a conviction for sodomy. and once a contender for french president, dominique strauss-kahn takes the stand for on charges of aggravated camping -- pimping. welcome to the show. tensions are high and talks are

aimed at the escalating the ukraine crisis. the german foreign minister saying he hopes there will be no explosion of violence in the hours before the wednesday meeting. next the leaders of russia, ukraine, and germany will be in that city to hammer out what they hope will be the details of a lasting cease-fire for eastern ukraine. just ahead of the talks, both separatists and government troops launch new offensive to gain territory. ukraine's president has called the minsk talks the last chance for a true cease-fire. >> separatist challenge the ukraine headquarters. a second salvo struck arrested until area more than 50 kilometers from the front line. >> the noise was just terrible. i looked up and thought it was a plane firing.

the shelling lasted probably about 10 minutes. >> the clashes have raised doubts as to whether the warring sides can agree to a cease-fire in the belarusian capital of minsk on wednesday. hundreds of russian soldiers have begun military exercises on the peninsula of crimea while ukrainian troops have launched the counteroffensive around the strategic port of marriott poll. -- mariupol. >> i don't have parents. i am from an orphanage. i saw on television how other people's parents were killed. it made me so sad, so i decided to come here and help. >> chilling scenes like this are likely to get much worse unless leaders reach a peace deal in minsk. >> for more on the minsk talks to end the fighting, but let's bring in our security analyst

from the german institute for international security affairs p he joins us now on the set. welcome to the show. we have seen the cease-fire talks before in minsk. what needs to be different this time to get a cease-fire to hold? >> we need a clear timetable for implementation of the agreement. second, a clear role of international services from the eu are the united nations. on top of that, we can speculate about certain political measures which might be effective. for instance, institutional relations between the european union it may be a deliberate step of the ukrainian government not to approach, and a variety of other political steps which might be included. >> one stakeholder is not going to be sitting at the table, that is the separatists.

why are they going to pull back when they are gaining territory and want to gain even more? >> that's one of the biggest problems, the ambiguous role of the russian government. on the one hand, it is a clear interstate conflict between russia and the ukraine but it is hiding behind an intrastate conflict between ukrainian government and the pro-russian separatists. i think it reflects the international community having realized that were talking to the russians and not so much the pro-russian rebels are we >> on the ukrainian side, kiev is running short of cash and morale is said to be very low. how can it keep maintaining an offensive position and a strong posture in the east under those conditions? >> i think that is key here. i would not use the words offensive position, because it's not about invading russia and regaining territory. from a political point of view,

i think we should be satisfied with some kind of military balance tween the pro-russian rebels and the ukrainian government. >> we all wish for a good outcome of these talks, but what are the consequences if they fail? >> first on thursday the european council of the government's in -- of the government in brussels, and they will increase actions or at least talk about it, and finally the u.s. will step in more than in the last couple of months. >> so it's not just the talks on wednesday, we might see some movement on thursday. thanks so much for joining us on the set. in other news, there is clarity as to the fate of a young american aid worker taken by the ins in syria. >> to 26-year-old was held hostage by islamic state for almost 18 months.

she was in the country to help ease the plight of refugees. >> kayla was seized one day after she arrived in syria. she has just visited a hospital in the city of aleppo run by the ngo doctors without borders. she wrote a letter while in captivity and managed to smuggle it out to her family. in it, she said she had not been mistreated. >> i have been shown in darkness light and have learned that even in prison, one can be free. i'm grateful. i have come to see that there is good in every situation. sometimes we just have to look for it. i know you want me to remain strong. that's exactly what i'm doing. >> the white house says they cannot determine how kayla mueller died, but that her family has received information considered credible. islamic state claims jordanian missiles targeted the building in syria where she was held.

>> niger is set to join the battle against boko haram extremists. country's parliament has voted unanimously to deploy troops to nigeria. >> they have carried out several cross-border attacks. on monday was the third attack in four days in niger. >> military units from chad patrol the border between niger and nigeria as part of a joint offensive due to an increase in cross-border attacks by both boko haram. niger's parliament has now voted to send soldiers into nigeria. almost all lawmakers backed a motion for 750 troops to join original intervention force. >> we need an adequate response to defend our country, to defend our people. boko haram has become a monster.

it is necessary to organize ourselves to combat this threat. >> it refers to nigeria and neighboring states chad, cameroon, and niger. they have agreed to send a joint force to nigeria. boko haram is defiant in a new video message. one of the group's leaders express his scorn for the regional force saying all the countries of the world cannot beat boko haram, which he says will spread globally, and not just in africa. the new military offensive aims to turn the tide against local ron in the coming week -- against boko haram. >> the ruling marks the end of a drawnout legal process which started in 2008 when anwar

ibrahim was accused of having sexual relations with a male aide. >> the long serving politicians that he is the victim of a political conspiracy, a view shared by many observers at home and abroad. >> a convoy carrying anwar ibrahim delivers him to the prison that will be his home for the next five years. the popular opposition leader had been seen as a threat to malaysia's prime minister. now he is behind bars. police try to disperse hundreds of anwar supporters from outside the courthouse after the verdict was announced. they vowed to continue fighting the ruling coalition which has been in power since 1957. >> we will meet and announce [indiscernible] >> this is the second time anwar will spend time in prison on

charges of sodomy, an act that is still a crime in ultraconservative malaysia. he fiercely denies the charges and says they are politically motivated. the conviction strips him of his seat in parliament and disqualified him from contesting malaysia's next general election which must take place before 2018. his wife was shocked by the verdict. she said her husband would not give up. >> at think he has the strength to carry on and continue. he has been very strong and i think whatever has happened has strengthened him more. >> human rights organizations are calling the verdict the travesty of justice and accuse malaysia's government of silencing its critics. >> the former head of the international monetary fund resigned in disgrace following rape charges and has made his first appearance in a french court in another case, this time charged with aggravated pimping.

dominique strauss-kahn is asserting his innocence, but he had to run a gauntlet of angry feminine protesters who denounced him and cursed him as a sexual predator. >> tim and activists had a special greeting for dominique strauss-kahn's arrival at the courthouse in leon, but the protest was only short lived. strauss constanze qs of aggravated pimping in what is known in france as the carlton affair. he allegedly participated in sex parties with prostitutes run out of the luxury carlton hotel between 2009-2011 area the 65-year-old denies the charges. he told the court he did know that the women were being paid. >> the challenge is to see if mr. strauss con will have convincing answers for the court . whether he thought these young ladies were merely guests or

knew they were prostitutes. >> during these three days of questioning, we will see if his answers are credible or not. >> for many, his pleas of innocence ring false especially because it's not the first time he's been involved in a sex scandal. his career as the head of the imf and an expected run for the french presidency ended in 2011 after a chambermaid from a new york hotel press charges against him for sexual assault. strauss con was arrested and it was settled in civil proceedings. this time the punishment could be even more severe. if convicted, he could face 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1.5 million euros. >> our correspondent is covering that trial and sent us this summary of the days events. >> we saw dominique strauss-kahn today in this courtroom as a man

who is fighting for the shreds of his existence. not talking about his political career, but just his existence as the man dominique strauss-kahn who was one of the powerful men in france. he started the day out rather businesslike, defending himself, saying he never knew that the women who were present at the sex parties in paris were paid prostitutes, and that is a legal point the whole trial turns about. later in the day he was under cross examination and you talked about his sexual life. he said he didn't really like prostitutes. he rather enjoyed women who like what they are doing or came to him freely. finally, the day after that descendent really into laughter come because some of those women came into the witness stand and talked in detail about what happened during those parties. the presiding judge tried to cut off one of the women and said

this may be enough, and she said to him, but, your honor i left out all the hard bits. the trial erupted into laughter. >> to india now where a major setback for the prime minister has happened. a new anticorruption party has stormed to victory in delhi state elections. party 167 out of 70 seats leaving the bjp would just three seats. it marks an astonishing comeback for the leader who resigned after only 49 days as chief minister of delhi last year. he has promised to press ahead with his anticorruption legislation. were going to a short break. when we come back, the latest from berlin's international film festival. our correspondent joins us live from the red carpet. don't go away, we will be back in just 60 seconds.

>> welcome back to the program. the german finance minister says negotiations with greece over its debt will end. if the government does not extend the current bailout program at the end of the month. this dire warning comes just hours ahead of a confidence vote in the greek parliament over the anti-austerity coalition governments policies. telling national tv that the greek government might seek funding from other countries if negotiations with current creditors fail. this comes as the euro zone finance ministers meet on wednesday to discuss greece's bailout conditions. >> with the latest, our correspondent joins us via skype . first off, what is behind tonight's confidence vote, coming up in just a couple of hours?

how strongest support for the prime minister and his collision course with creditors? >> this is a procedural vote and it is expected short of any great surprise that the prime minister will get that confidence vote from parliament. he has a coalition government that gives him a comfortable majority in his 300 seat parliament. the significance of it however is that he will be taking this fresh mandate, this fresh confidence vote to the negotiating table literally within two days before creditors to say that the policy statements that have just been voted which are effectively a breach of the fiscal austerity that greece has been enforcing these past two years that has come to an end and his government doesn't want any part of it, and he wants a new deal. so that is what he will be going to do in brussels, and there is

strong support for him here. at the same time he is setting himself up for a strong collision with his creditors. >> he certainly is. he might want a new deal, as you mentioned. he might have a new mandate, but the german finance minister is already rejecting any new plans to change the bailout. >> there is a lot of pot string positioning and a lot of tough talk coming. i have been speaking to a lot of officials here who are telling me there is a lot of backdoor kind of negotiations. there are lines of communications between athens, brussels, and various other european capitals and we understand that the european commission president has made a proposal to try to mediate this crisis between greece and its creditors. there is a lot of negotiation behind the scenes happening is

the weather greece can sign up t it and also the creditors can soften their stance to reach some kind of agreement. what is definite, we understand is that there will be no definitive agreement tomorrow. it will be a first presentation by the finance minister for his new proposal on how he plans to keep greece financially afloat for the next couple of months. but we expect a decision coming down on monday. >> looking ahead to that timetable, our correspondent joining us from athens. the price of oil is set to rise, but will not recover the high prices seen over the past couple of years, according to the international energy report that was just published. >> the iea says we crisis could undermine that in the long term. standard & poor's has lowered its outlook from -- for saudi

arabia from stable to negative. quick sorry about that technical error. we seem to have lost sound there. two french families have been awarded nearly 2 million euros in damages. their daughters were accidentally switched at birth 20 years ago. >> both girls had been treated in the same incubator as infants and they were returned to the wrong parents. even though they discovered the error 10 years ago neither family ever wanted to swap the girls back. >> they are like two peas in a pod, but she is not the biological daughter of the mother she grew up with. she did not look like her father and gossip spread quickly. she did not look like him at all which meant i must've had an

affair and made him except someone else's child. the mix of took place 20 years ago at a private maternity clinic in the south of france. when her baby was brought back, she seemed to have much more hair. >> i didn't question the competence of the health professionals at that time. just the opposite, it is their job. they know what they are talking about. >> but the other mother told the nurse that her baby had less hair, and they told her that the treatment had made her hair fall out. quick she was given to sophie, who was not her birth mother. the clinic had put two babies in the same incubator and given them back to the wrong families. dna tests later revealed the error. the court has now found that the clinic was responsible for the mix up and ordered it to pay damages to both girls and their families. >> were going back to that piece

about the price of oil being set to rise. it's not going to recover the high prices over the past three years, as we mentioned the >> according to an international energy agency report that has just been published. >> no country in the world exports more oil than saudi arabia, and none is more dependent on the natural resource than the middle eastern kingdom. the international monetary fund estimates that oil makes up around 80% of the country's export and almost all of its income. since the summer, prices of crude oil have plummeted hitting saudi arabia especially hard. it has long been clear that the country needs other sources of income and it has been trying investing in its industry, services, and infrastructure. but experts say that the ruling monarchy needs to seize more opportunities to diversify.

standard & poor's decision to lower its outlook for saudi arabia to negative comes just weeks after the death of king abdullah. it is likely to add to the uncertainty facing the kingdom. >> it's time now for the latest on the berlin film festival, under way here in the german capital. correspondent sarah harmon's down at the red carpet. there have been some very big honors for a german directing and producing legend. can you tell us more? >> it is day six and the press corps finally got a look at the highly anticipated feature film called "everything will be fine." it tells the story of a man's grief after he accidentally runs over a small child with his car. it stars james franco, who is quickly becoming ubiquitous this year. this is his third feature film. it also stars rachel mcadams and

a french film star. first, let's get a look at them vendors, man -- vim winders. quick she just gives winning awards. he has been one of the leading lights of german cinema is the early 1970's. his early film, the goalkeeper's fear of the penalty, is a good example of his aisle. long, silent scenes are the directors hallmark. wings of desire attracted international attention. the film is about guardian angels observing the lives of people living within the walls of west berlin. hollywood later picked up the

story and remade it as city of angels. he originally wanted to be an artist, but when he did not get into art school, he upon his saxophone to buy his first camera. -- he uponpawned his saxophone. >> i never sounded as good as john cole train, and others were better at me then painting. then i realize that filmmaking is something else were all that comes together, and that was an awesome moment. >> few directors can attract mass audiences to documentary films, but he did just that with a tribute to a choreographer. the movie was made in 3-d and he became a pioneer of the technology.

they are presenting him with an honorary golden bear and showing 10 of his films, some of them digitally restored. >> it's good to be able to look back instead of just showing something new. some of my old films had not been seen for a long time and had started to deteriorate. >> after such a long career, he could kick back and enjoy retirement, but he has no plans to stop making films. his latest, everything will be fine, is another 3-d project. it's a drama starring james franco in which a little boy dies in accident. the story deals with guilt and forgiveness. the film premieres today at the berlin film festival. >> you are looking at the premiere of that 3-d film, "everything will be fine." what do you think? >> he set himself at the press

conference today after the screening that he wanted to make a film about healing because most films are about wounding. i think on that count he succeeded. but much like the healing process itself, this film is ve slow. to be honest, there were times when i wished i could have pushed fast-forward. >> sarah harmon for us, thanks so much with that from the red carpet. and thank you for joining us here at dw. keep on watching. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> greetings from berlin and welcome to our highlight of the past week. lining up this time with the following stories -- chilling out. we visit the world's first ice hotel in sweden. light and shadow. we check out the haunting

installations of kristin and davy mcguire. atlantic escape. picturesque funchal on madeira is a big tourist draw. and we starts up -- and we start off katzper kowalski is no ordinary photographer. that's because when he clicks the shutter he's dangling somehwere in mid-air -- either in a paraglider or in a gyrocopter. the 37 year-old specializes in aerial photography and the