anchor: this is dw world news from berlin. outrage in istanbul, as they shut down an opposition group just days before a parliamentary election. hundreds of protesters hit the street. the u.s. says it is concerned about democracy in the country. austria's country says they will drop a plan to build a fence on the border with slovenia. tensions are also running high with another neighbor, germany. and cheap credit, but for how long? the u.s. federal reserve keeps the benchmark interest rate at a quarter of 1%.

♪ sarah: i am sarah kelly. welcome to the program. there is outrage in turkey, protesters storming a media outlet just days before the parliamentary elections. the government says it is investigating terror financing and propaganda, but they say it is just a ploy to silence the opposition and censor free speech. reporter: resistance proved to be futile. the turkish government's latest attempts to silence its critics was uncompromising. the istanbul offices of the television station, they were using pepper spray and water cannons to force back angry crowds. supporters of the two tv stations tried to block the entrance to the offices, what

police removed the date -- gate and then forced themselves in. inside, agitator journalist discussed how to react, while those outside discussed what it meant. >> this is a coup against the media, against our existing constitution, and against the enterprise. this is clear. a coup does not happen only by tanks or by generalist. now, we are witnessing a different who -- coup under a different umbrella. reporter: the stations all belong to a group that supports a cleric, and they say his movement is trying to the stabilized turkey, aim charge it

denies. hundreds have gathered outside, and they are fiercely critical of their president. >> i am here because of press censorship and because of the situation we are in today. i am also here in the name of democracy, because of this cruelty against the press. reporter: there is now a tense standoff between the two asides, and police have set up a police cordon around the stations. sarah: we are joined now by our correspondent in istanbul to break all of this down for us, dorian jones. they have been silenced. what does this mean for the election? dorian: there is outrage, and there is concern about the timing. there have already been fears

about whether this is a free election. one party is trying to restore the authority they lost, and they are facing an uphill battle. this is maybe involving a few thousand votes. there has already been a lot of controversy, a lot of independent media seeming key to a sharing the fairness of this election. now, the ruling party and the president has admitted concern, saying they do have a history of free and fair elections, and they say the judiciary is independent, saying the raid is a coincidence. sarah: so a lot of concern in the country. there has also been condemnation from both the eu and the united states. the u.s. says it is concerned about democracy, but are they likely to do anything about this?

dorian: well, i think there will be concerned from washington, but there has been concern about a feeling that the european union is not doing enough. there has been this condemnation or concern coming from the eu commission, and this is much weaker compared to the council of europe. there is the commissioner for human rights saying this is a sign of turkey going on a worrying pass on human rights, but brussels is trying to make a deal with turkey over migrants entering europe, and also issues with human rights, and early this week, the head of the eu commission, jean-claude juncker, said this is not the time to do this with human rights and controls over media, trying to make a deal over refugees. sarah: so, dorian, given all of that, what is the mood in turkey?

are others concerned they may be next? dorian: there are a few in the independent, mainstream media who are concerned, and they are also very frightened for themselves, because earlier this week, a senior member of parliament said after the election, it they will be looking at media. that is seen as not a model -- idle threat. another is under investigation, so there is a great deal of concern, and it could be at risk. sarah: dorian jones in istanbul, thank you. we turn to some other news now, and tensions between germany and austria have flared over the migrant crisis. austria has been accused of dumping migrants on the border. they are struggling to cope with the situation. despite all of this, the austrian chancellor says they

will drop controversial plans to build fences along his countries southern border. reporter: thousands of refugees are waiting at the border. they will be brought by bus to german reception centers. many of them were transferred by the german authorities. the interior minister has criticized them for failing to discuss moves with germany. "yesterday, germany promised we would return to an orderly process. i expect we do this immediately. to achieve these aims, we are in constant contact your quote or are many of refugees trying to cross the border with slovenia. the austrian government believes most of th germany, so they say that the responsibility for these migrants lays with berlin. "let's stick to the facts and not go overboard.

germany was the only country in europe that said last august that normal registration rolls do not count for the syrian refugees. this is what unlocked the huge wave of migration." with no respite inside, many are feeling overwhelmed. authorities and refugees. it was said that the country might build a border fence with slovenia, but now they are backpedaling, saying that austria just wants to have more controls. >> we need prefab buildings. we need border security so we can more easily control what is going on. it is all about control. it is not about putting up wall enclosing off borders. >> and germany is looking at strengthening the border controls. it wants to get a look at who is entering the country and where.

they just called for increased surveillance of the border with austria. sarah: let's bring in hans. a war of words. how serious is the damage between the relations? hans: i think you have to say that everyone is nervous. the weather is bad, and they are finding it more difficult to accommodate the refugees. also because many politicians have the feeling they are losing some of the support from their voters with their a left role base. -- with their electoral base. this is putting the central governments under a lot of pressure. the bavarian conservative politican was putting a lot of pressure on angela merkel. similar things are happening in austria.

so in a lot of ways, the dispute between the two countries is happening on a regional level, not so much on an intergovernmental level. the prime minister is still very well coordinated with angela merkel. btw countries are still basically having the same policies, basically. sarah: ok, that is on the local level, and on the national level, there is talk about border control and fences. can germany build a fence, for example? hans: i think that is unlikely because angela merkel has said no fence or wall is going to stop people from arriving in germany. that is not likely to happen. there has been some speculation that the very, which is a federal state close to austria, might do something on its own, might have some kind of border control on its own, but it really has no legal right to do

that. on the other hand, the central german authorities do want more control over who is coming in, and they are thinking about setting up camps for the refugees so that they can get that control. sarah: hans in berlin, thank you. now, there is a new seat at the negotiating table and talks over the future of syria. iran will join talks after accepting an american invitation to participate. this is the first time that tehran has attended a summit like this with american diplomats present. representatives from a dozen other countries, including russia and turkey, will also be there. the task is a great one, finding an end to the four-year-old syrian conflict. reporter: carried into their graves as he rose in tehran. they were members of the iranian revolutionary guard. they fell in syria in the fight against islamic state.

their burials highlight the fact that iran is already directly engaged in the syrian conflict. it is now also joining negotiations on the country's future. >> we believe the only solution in syria is a political solution. americans and foreign players in syria have no choice but to accept the realities there. mr. assad and the syrian government are ready for talks with insurgents who are committed to a political path. reporter: the iranian deputy foreign minister will travel to vienna on friday. his german counterpart hopes that having all of the relevant partners at the table will bring progress. >> starting a political process is what matters. i think this could pave the way for a political process that takes us further on the path of a solution and that above all

brings us closer to the end of the suffering of the people in syria. reporter: but it is still unclear what role do syrian president, bashar al-assad, should play. he was visited by a french delegation headed by a parliamentarian his message was there could be no political solution without assad. paris wants to have a political change that outlines his resignation in a clear amount of time. the russian line, like iran, always supported keeping assad. with a meeting, vladimir putin reiterated his stance of the kremlin. no one can effectively fight terrorism on their own. sarah: let's bring in our moscow correspondent, yuri. we have seen a flurry of diplomatic action.

what is the significance of this, and is there potentially a breaker expected in the conversation? yuri: while the russian president vladimir putin was meeting, it took about two hours, and they discussed mostly the russian delegation. there is a standing on both sides. part of the european tensions, so a lot of negative outcomes in relations, but syria, they were making some interesting statements in terms of policy,

and they are against some ideological policies. sarah: thank you very much. we will see what all this means for the summit scheduled in vienna on friday. we have to take a short one-minute break. stay with us. ♪

♪ sarah: welcome back. you are with dw news. a reminder of our top tory at this hours. just days before turkey goes to the poll, protesters have raided the offices of a pro-opposition group. some arc using the government of launching a coup against the opposition. now we turn to some business news now, and the u.s. federal reserve has put the big interest rate move off yet again. ben joins us with the very latest. ben: this is exactly what we were expecting, but what we were

waiting is when there would be one, and that could be the end of the year. in the meantime, the that has stuck to the benchmark rate of effectively zero, and they say the u.s. economic activity is still expanding at a moderate pace. moderate is obviously not enough. they have suggested a high in december, and that is the next policy meeting. this is the first time it has talked of the possibility is seven years of record low rates. our financial correspondent joins us now. workers on wall street have been pouring over that statement. what stands out for you? reporter: well, there are really two things in that statement that got the market excited. there is two to phrases, and it is only words, and every word counts here. the first one, i want to quote this, the fed says they will decide whether it will be appropriate to raise the target

range at its next meeting, and that particular phrase "in the next meeting" has never been in the statement before. they have been more general about their timing, and the question is why they put that specifically in the meeting. they obviously want people to think about their next meeting in december. the second thing, there is no mention in that statement anymore of china, the emerging markets, the dollar. factors that the fed just put into the statement in september as factors that they are worried about. ben: so they are looking inward, rather than looking at the rest of the world, which has become so dependent on its decisions. reporter: it sounds certainly like they would focus more on the u.s. economy, but the question is really, is that really, truly what they are thinking? a took this out of their statement "china and the

emerging markets," but that is probably because they got a lot of negative feedback on that. people were shocked that it would find its way into a statement of the federal reserve that is supposed to technically only look at the u.s. economy to find a direction on the interest policy here in the u.s. on the other hand, you have to ask, if they found it important enough, china and the emerging markets, to put it in last month, now that they put it out of the statement, do they not find it important anymore? i highly doubt it. i think they are probably keeping those factors in mind. ben: so we can count on an interest rate hike in december? report: i would say no. even if you read the statement. there was a 9-1 majority against a rate hike, and obviously, they think that the rebound for the u.s. economy is possible, but we would have to see some dramatic change, i think, to see a

majority of nine to one weather away and change here.+ ben: all right, some interesting stuff from new york. and the first loss in 15 years, something has backfired big-time with a third-quarter operating loss of 3.5 billion euros. they have only put aside a fraction of what this could cost, and the bill would include legal fees, the recall, and the damage to its brand. the road ahead looks bumpy. reporter: volkswagen has its eyes on the future at the tokyo motor show, but the glitz of its new models could not break the gloom over its first quarterly loss in 15 years. it also came with a warning. the automaker is forecasting a sharply lower profit. they are fixing both the cars and the company reputation.

>> we will come up with good, technical solutions for the effective diesel engines. we will uncover and disclose the full situation of what happened, and we will make sure that something like this never happens again. reporter: despite the gloomy financials, investors in frankfurt had feared worse. the vw shares took off in wednesday trading. >> we can see in black-and-white that billions in euros haven't put aside to deal with the scandal. what is more important is that the company expects to maintain its sales and profit for 2015 as a whole. that has helped to push the share price up. still, vw stock has plunged 35% since the emissions scandal was uncovered in september, and as vw reveals new models with environmental focus, and the

company is obliged to repair millions in dirty vehicles, and that with legal expenses makes this very expensive for volkswagen and its shareholders alike. ben: warning that consumer confidence in recent months in germany is recently waning, and the job situation is said to worsen. the cause is the refugee crisis. reporter: german consumer confidence is slipping. that is despite record low unemployment and rising salaries. while consumer spending is expected to increase overall this year, people are not feeling too confident about the future of the economy. one issue in particular is weighing on their minds. >> we are seeing a real decline in economic expectations, and, of course, that is due to the refugee crisis, which has been dominating the headlines.

reporter: 34% of those surveyed said they feared unemployment would increase in the next few months he is most believe the refugee crisis would be the main reason for rising joblessness. despite the gloomier outlook among consumers, they say the spending over christmas is unlikely to be affected. months after that will be much more telling. ben: at a piece of news coming in, the way nyad estimating reserves at around 100 billion cubic meters, a massive deposit for shale exploration. he said there is simply a lack of serious investors, and he blames that on a drop in petrol gas, making such a venture less profitable. ok, back to sarah. sarah: it is all about this energy prices, ben. thank you for the update. a crisis over.

there was a landslide victory in the first poll since a civil war of four years ago, and the main opposition candidate has conceded, congratulating the winner, but he said that the results showed the country was still traumatized by the war. report: his victory comes as no surprise. the president took over 80% of the vote. his closest rival securing just 10%. while this time only half of the country's voters showed up to the polls, no incidents were reported. observers say it was a peaceful election, something the president appreciates. "we appreciate the successful conduct of this. i would like to congratulate all of the other candidates for the campaign we have all conducted." the peaceful nature of this election is in itself a victory

for ivory coast. following the last poll in 2010, the country descended into months of unrest when it's president refuse to accept the victory. violent clashes between the two supporters led to the deaths of 3000 people. but today, they are looking forward to a peaceful and stable future under his lead. "we know he can continue what he has so well begun. we would like piece to reign over the country, like before your quote >> we will try to forget the past. all great nations have been through this, so we should accept and forgive and move on." reporter: so for now, it is up to him to deliver on the hopes of the people for ivory coast. sarah: all right, we are going to switch years and go to some

soccer action. a score of last night, and they got the cut last year and were hoping to get one over their bavarian rivals to continue down the road to winning again, but by ren other plans, making it tough for wolfsburg on its own turf. reporter: six minutes later, byron did go. striking from the distance. it would soon get worse. seven defenders failed to shut down the attack. ending their third. 21 player and then another. after 34 minutes. and through green-tinted

glasses. one player did pull one back for wolfsburg in the 90th minute. too little, too late. sarah: ok, that is all we have time for here on dw. i am sarah kelly. we have more news coming up at the top of the hour. just stay with us. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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