>> hello and welcome. another shot at diplomacy. the u.s. and russia agreed to fresh talks on ending the fighting in syria. those talks cannot come soon enough for the desperate people of aleppo. new airstrikes pound the city as russian forces back up the syrian army offensive. we'll get more on the chances for peace in the country just a moment. also, the number of asylum seekers arriving in germany drops to one quarter of last year's levels. religion says that is good news after months of criticism and the spike in support for anti-immigrant parties. and eight begins to arrive in

haiti believe after -- a week after hurricane matthew. the wind and rain are gone for now there is a new danger -- an outbreak of cholera. ♪ >> good to have you with a spirit u.s. secretary of state john kerry is to meet his russian counterpart on saturday for fresh talks on ending the conflict in syria. carrie will then hold talks with his european partners on sunday. this fresh diplomatic effort comes amid international condemnation of the latest russian airstrikes on the northeastern city of aleppo. activists and rescue workers say dozens of people have died in recent bombing spirit this come as they continue to search for survivors. this young boy was pulled alive from the rubble late tuesday night.

at least 25 people have been killed in the attacks so far. we have been getting more on all this -- earlier talks of breaking down and i am i asked him where this change of heart is coming from. >> i would be surprised if there is any real change of heart. i think the calculations here are fairly transparent at this point. secretary kerry he has no other way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis that to try to browbeat or otherwise persuade russia into showing a modicum of decency and morality because it is russian planes and syrian government planes and forces that are doing the tragic bombing spirit by contrast, mr. putin, i think they have every

intention of continuing military operations will they want to seem reasonable. they want to seem reasonable so that the world will not paint them as the main culprits in this war so that someday nato and the european union will relax the pressure and the sanctions over the you caring -- over the ukraine crisis. they are going through some fear to give the impression of making a serious effort at a piece process. but russia has no intention of slowing down the military operations unless it gets to a point where they are not necessary. i'm afraid i'm very cynical about where this process stance. christopher: you obviously do not believe the talks on saturday are going to go anywhere. >> there is those the possibility to get a day when you can do an airlift or a convoy of supplies into the most afflicted and beleaguered parts of aleppo. there is those the chance that

we will alleviate the true worst case of mass starvation for a population and complete lack of medical care. in that sense, the talks are probably better than nothing, as long as we do not think of these as having a serious prospect of ending the war. therefore we need to continue to think very hard as a western alliance as to how to get more leverage in this campaign and rethink our basic military strategies. because whatever happens saturday, it will not affect the fundamental trajectory of the war, which is still going very bad. christopher: how can the west gain more leverage in this diplomatic struggle with moscow? what needs to happen for the deadlock to be resolved? >> in the broadest of terms, i think there are two main things. on the clinical side we need to get over the idea that we are going to decisively defeat or replace president assad with a

new power-sharing government of national unity. i think we need to lower our standards to where we can have a confederation with assad still in charge with parts of the country and you would have some kind of negotiated settlement with autonomous regions for the kurds and suni muslims and maybe mixed populations. with a peacekeeping force of international peacekeepers ultimately to help deploy it was this eventuality becomes possible, maybe in one year or two, to help reinforce the piece. that is the political strategy would need. militarily, we need more leverage. more weaponry, or training. we need to grow their ranks, health every group better. that will require more western special operations forces on the ground. we're going to have to step that up. then you bring in the concepts of safe havens and no-fly zones.

but you do not begin with those. you work towards those. once you have begun to increase the power and strength of the moderate forces on the ground. christopher: many thanks for that. michael o'hanlon from the brookings institution in washington. despite the ongoing violence in syria, new figures released today show a sharp drop in the number of asylum seekers coming to germany. 210,000 people have arrived this year, that is less than a quarter of the number came last year. german voters haven't punishing the chancellor for decision last year to open the country's borders refugees. government ministers are now selling this drop in numbers as a major success. reporter: the refugee crisis is over. that is the message the german interior minister is trying to get across when he said the turning point has been reached. 213,000 refugees have come to germany this year.

in 2015, it was around 890,000. >> in the course of 2016, the number of refugees coming to germany has successfully been reduced. control and order has successfully been brought into these processes. reporter: a year ago come up to 50,000 people were still heading for germany every week, fleeing war and hunger. then in september 2015, these images of angela merkel with refugees were broadcast around the world. many people in germany believe such imagers just images were seen as an invitation -- images were seen as an invitation. the number of refugees steadily climbed during 2015. the war in syria got more brutal. more and more people in afghanistan chose to flee. although this was known to germany's government. even so, the country was not

prepared to cope with the number of new arrivals. they still feel because it causes today. >> by september 30 this year, about 660,000 people applied for asylum in germany. this number can be explained by the processing of those who arrived in 2015 but had not yet put in their asylum applications. reporter: one big problem remains. the duration of the application process. due to a large backlog of cases, it could take months before refugees will even be able to file their applications. christopher: just over 200,000 asylum-seekers arriving in germany so far this year, but what about the many refugees still stranded in greece and elsewhere? earlier i asked archie correspondent in or lien could claim the worst of the migration crisis is over. >> there are two aspects of the

so-called turnaround. the first one is yes, there has been a turnaround in the processing of refugee claims. that is important because they had been massive bureaucratic ineptitude in the initial phases of this huge influx. many thousands of young unaccompanied refugees went missing, some refugees registered under double names. enormous delays the processing of applications. all of that fed fears on the part of germans that perhaps the government was not in a position to track who is really entitled to asylum and perhaps also to track security risks. as far as it goes, yes, the processing improvement is certainly a turnaround and good news. but of course the next task at hand is integration of the refugees. that is a long-term process and a major challenge. is there a turnaround, a definitive turnaround in the

size of the migration flow to germany and to europe? that is far too uncertain. it depends on relations with turkey. turkey has been key in getting the numbers of refugees down. it depends on the situation in libya. in some form of governance be reinstated there or will refugees continue to flow through that country in a state of chaos? then it depends also on the conflict in syria. lastly, on the weather. as long as there is cool weather, we will probably see the numbers remain low. but if any of those areas i mentioned should remain chaotic or become even more so, then certainly we could see the numbers increase again. christopher: melinda crane talking to me earlier. the issue of migration was also high on the agenda in a meeting between german chancellor angela merkel and the president of chad .

merkel telling me later she wants to increase political cooperation with african nations. the german chancellor is keen to stem the flow of migrants to europe. she just wrapped up a three-day tour to africa. the president of chad called on the international community to fight the brute causes of migration. -- the foot causes of migration. >> immigration issue is important. the international community should put forth a plan to ensure that the use of africa have a reason to stay. -- the youth of africa have a reason to stay. christopher: lawyers for the main suspect in the paris terror attacks say they are no longer prepared to defend him. he was arrested in brussels in march. he has so far refused to answer uestions. his lawyer say that is to

otest his solitary confinement and also the 24 hour video surveillance of his cell. he will be appointed new legal representation at the time of his trial. journey to haiti, where aid -- turning to 80, -- food, water and building supplies arriving to the worst parts -- most affected parts of the country today. they are in desperate need for eight after hurricane matthew destroyed homes lastly. concerns are growing about the surge in the number of cases of cholera. we linked up earlier with the world health organization spokesperson who is in haiti. i asked him first on the countries cholera outbreak. >> cholera right now is only our second line of emergency. the first is the immediate need

of food, water, and sanitation. especially the safe water, p or water. -- pure water. which then of course leads to possible rise in cholera. when people do not have access to safe water, or any water, they would drink whatever they can find. this is a desperate situation. we need to tackle this together with our partners. christopher: do you know how many cases at the moment of cholera there are in haiti? >> last report is flickering because we have not reached all areas yet. some of the areas are very remote. we have some reports of 300 cases, which came up immediately. this is that a time when the whole country lies between 700 and 800.

300 cases in only one area is a high rate. the problem with cholera is that many people do not have symptoms. these are the ones that do not know they are affected. early detection of cases and treatment is the next big step. christopher: hurricane matthew also pounded the east coast of the united states last week, killing at least 35. the heavy rain it brought has seen reserves -- rivers rise to record levels in the state of near -- the state of north carolina. they are warning of extremely dangerous conditions in the days to come. many communities in north carolina are already underwater. the situation could become much worse if swollen rivers burst their banks. they have told people in low-lying areas to evacuate.

we're going to take a quick break but plenty more to come. do stay with us. ♪

♪ christopher: good to have you with us. our top stories of the moment -- the u.s. and russia have agreed to fresh talks on ending the syria conflict. the move comes amid international outrage over russia's latest airstrikes on aleppo. several european nations calling for russia to be tried for war crimes before the international criminal court. the german government has welcomed new figures showing a drop in the number of asylum-seekers. 210,000 have arrived in germany compared to almost 900,000 last year.

shia muslims have been celebrating a holy day across countries like iraq and afghanistan. it is a major day in their holy calendar because it marks a key moment in islamic history -- the killing of the profit mohammed's grandson. it is at the heart of a dispute that continues to divide them across the middle east. reporter: this is one of the key moments in the shia religious counter. -- calendar. entering the building, they call out his name. many press forward to touch his tomb, a gesture of mourning. hussein was the grandson of the prophet mohammed in many saw him as the rightful successor to the

spiritual and temporal leadership of muslims. but he was killed here by forces loyal. more than 1300 years ago. the legacy of hussein's killing was heavily today. it was a key factor -- weighs heavily today. it highlights how that split fuels conflict. they staged a huge rally in beirut. some of those present said hussein's sacrifice was a model, helping them in their own more personal loss. >> my brother was martyred in syria. he died fighting. it is important to join the war in syria because it is a fight to defend islam and the prophet did -- reporter: some 1500 hezbollah fighters have been killed in syria. the movements later rally

support for the war. >> we will continue to bear our great responsibilities of jihad there. your sons are there and your men, your brothers, your husbands. they are defending their existence. reporter: it means many things to many people. two more scenes that highlight that. in india, muslims with banners quoting mahatma gandhi. with a very different message from hezbollah. >> all those years ago, hussein stood up and show that war should not be answered with war but with peace. reporter: and in afghanistan, a shiite father mourning his son. he died celebrating at a mosque, gunned down by a militant. christopher: time to join daniel

winter with the latest business news, starting with a lastgasp attempt to stop a transatlantic radio. daniel: the free trade deal, but it is coming at a great political costs. the trade deal between the eu and canada is to be signed by the end of the month. the german public has been listed for us in his criticism. they're calling on the court to stop the deal dead in its tracks. reporter: the eu and canada intent to ratify it in two weeks time, during to because additional court as a last-ditch attempt to prevent the deal going ahead. objectors criticized that the agreement with enter before germany's national parliament has had a chance to decide. they say the signing has to be stopped because some parts would be irreversible once implemented.

>> i want a provisional application to be stopped, nothing more. that is the most important detail to make because then the democratic process can get underway. so far, everything has been not transparent and democracy needs transparency. reporter: but for german economics ministers, ceta is vital to the country's economy. >> it is especially good because we are finally creating rules for globalization. rules for protection of labor standards, projections of global standards. you will not find these things in ceta. reporter: on thursday, the court will announce its decision on the signing. they told the parties that jury

height -- very high judicial hurdles must be cleared before an injunction can be cleared. daniel: deutsche bank managed to put a little of its u.s. legal legacy behind it. they agreed to pay a $9.5 million penalty to settle civil charges. they failed to -- they settled the case without admitting or denying the charges. the case revolves around conflicts of interest at its research department. the sec said deutsche had even encouraged its research analyst to communicate nonpublic information with publishers and its own traders. let's talk to our new york correspondent. jens, this is a tiny fine compared to the billions that have been fined recently. did this even register on wall street's radar?

jens: i mean, it is not pretty but it is also not a biggie, and it hardly moved the needle here. but it is all about timing and communication. the claims are that deutsche bank, the research analyst in some cases actually shared research information with a certain amount of clients but not with the general public. those research reeves -- reports connect a movie market, and in one case there are claims that one analyst actually told officially to buy a stock and internally say it might have been better to downgrade. as i said, it is not really pretty, but it did not really cause a lot of turmoil here on wall street. daniel: the latest federal reserve meeting's minutes have just released.

anything juicy in there that we can glean about when the next rate rise might be? jens: well, i mean what we learned is that it obviously was a close call to leave interest rates closed for now. it became more likely would -- we will see an interest rate increase in their december meeting. but still that does not mean a guarantee, even if bets are that the likelihood of an interest rate increase in december stands at about 70%. but still, we will have the elections. we will have so many more economic data. still a lot can happen. either way, the heartless -- the markets hardly moved. the guessing game still goes on shortly before christmas. daniel: more uncertainty ahead. jens, thank you for that. who should bear the cost of a tumbling currency?

the biggest supermarket in the u.k. has pulled dozens of progress -- products over shells overpricing. that is because the pound has continued to tumble. imported goods are getting more expensive. now premised or theresa may says parliament will not get the vote on any deal over brexit with the eu. reporter: some call for a soft brexit but some wanted hard. they want all eu connection severed abruptly. some just want brexit to go away. there are strong opinions on both sides and the prime minister is being forced to take them all into account. the westminster debate was anything but constructive. when theresa may pointed this out, she was left out. -- laughed out. but may was firm. parliament will get to debate brexit but there'll be no formal

vote to accept or reject its terms. >> but we are going to do is be ambitious in our negotiations, to negotiate the breath -- best deal for the british people. that will include access to trade within the european market. but the vote of the british people said we should control the move of people from the eu into the u.k.. reporter: according to the london times, the government has issued an internal warning that brexit will cost the economy dearly. daniel: speaking of which, it is time for me to exit. christopher. christopher: don't go too far. a quick reminder of our top stories. the u.s. and russia have agreed to fresh talks on ending the syrian conflict. the move comes amid international outrage at russia's latest airstrikes on aleppo. several european nations calling

for russia to be tried for war crimes for the international criminal court. the german government has welcomed newd a drop in the number of asylum-seekers. 210,000 have arrived in germany this year compared to almost 900,000 last year. you're watching "dw news" live from berlin. i will be back after a short break with the day. let the analysis for you. to stay with us. ♪

seoul. capital of south korea. one community in the center of this city is drawing widespread attention. seongmisan maeul is mad