brent: tonight, praise troops as they one of the iraqi campaign to retake mosul ends. to plan and the attempted drive the islamic state out of mosul. kurdish peshmerga fighter say they're captured territory. also coming up, the long wait is over for some of them at least. emotional scenes in nigeria as schoolgirls held captive for militants -- by militants from more than two years are reunited with their families. and an explosion at one of the

world's biggest chemical plants here in germany. two people lose their lives. several others are still missing. ♪ brent: it is good to have you with us. the sun has set one day one of the battle for mosul and the iraqis's say they are pleased with their progress. one military commanders said all is going to plan and he praised the role of the international coalition. iraqi army units, kurdish fighters and militia have -- reporter: iraq's kurdish fighters heaven waiting for this. -- have been waiting for this.

>> soon we will be together in mosul and we will raise the flag of triumph in their no place for the islamic state group among us in among the true iraqi families. we came to rescue you from terrorism. all attempts to delay to free mosul failed -- reporter: it's been two years. iraq forces have already german -- already driven them out. if now they can also sees the terrorist militias last major stronghold in the country, it would be a major success. kurdish fighters gain control of several villages in the first few hours of the operation. >> our morale is high. we were able to repel them when

they were strong and now they are very weak. they are nothing compared to us. peshmerga morale is very high as the fight against a group against humanity. we are the defenders of humanity, human rights and religion. we will like them out. -- wipe them out. reporter: but the u.n. warns the offensive could cross -- could cause the biggest humanitarian crisis of the year. there are fears that i.s. could use residents as human shields. military analysts say this campaign may take some time. brent: joining me here in the studio is an iraqi journalist living here in berlin. he is heading back to iraq very soon. he will be embedded with the iraqi army. it is good to have you on the show. explain to our audience, why is mosul so important, not only for

iraq but also for islamic state? >> it is very important -- mosul is closely border to turkey and syria, it is a huge area. there is 1.5 million inhabitants living there. it is prestigious position for the islamic state. they do not have any big cities like that. mosul, to be honest, this is the jewel to the ground. brent: -- to the crown. brent: is her anyway to predict how long we are talking about? this is not going to happen overnight, is it? >> officials say we are making

progress in the next two weeks. but to be honest, the situation will not be so easy because we still have i.s. ions -- inside the city. they have enough time to prepare. they may tunnels, they produced ied's and so on. besides this, civilians, innocent people, this is really a challenge for iraqi forces and also the iraqi government. how they are going to manage the situation inside the city with a lot of ethnic groups. brent: two years ago, the people of mosul welcomed islamic state. tell us more about the background to this battle. obviously, it is going to competent the outcome.

should we expect the people in mosul to be against i.s.? >> yes and no. a small minority is still believing in that propaganda. but the majority of the people understand what the islamic state looks like and the style of life it should look like. a lot of people try to escape from the city and they could not. they were also, i think some of their going to fight with the iraqi army against i.s. brent: the future of iraq as a modern state depends on the battle of mosul. is that your opinion as well? if mosul falls in states of the islamic state, iraq will also fall? >> i think so. what is the day after deliberation --

if iraqi officials managed to solve all the ethnic problems inside the city i think iraq will have a better chance in the future. brent: an iraqi journalist heading back to iraq very soon. thank you very show and be safey safe in iraq. >> thank you very much. brent: a german journalist embedded with peshmerga forces tweeted this a short while ago, citing or the kurdish generals as saying the goal is to retake nine areas from isis today. he gave us a sense of the asymmetrical warfare that they're up against and he identified suicide bombers in armor -- armored vehicles to the greatest threat to the soldiers. we're also seeing reports of casualties on both sides. a photographer tweeted this

picture a few hours ago describing the scene on the ground. peshmerga are flooding into this field clinic, terrible wounds and fatalities. meanwhile, humanitarian aid is gearing up. they are saying they are ready to provide immediate life-saving foods such as canned food, dry fruit and biscuits to families fleeing mosul. now to syria. the united states says a plan by moscow to halt russian and syrian air on aleppo for eight hours on thursday is "too little too late." earlier russia said it would allow safe passage for civilians . in the latest apartment of aleppo, rescue workers known as the white helmet say at least 11 members of one family including children were killed in an airstrike by a russian jet. more than two years after they

abducted by boko barack -- boko haram, 21 schoolgirls were reunited with their families. the ghouls working kidnapped from their school in the northern town of chibok back in april of 2014. local attention was drawn to the kidnapping through a campaign called #bring back our girls. however, some of the girls have not been freed. almost 200 are still being held. our correspondent has met some of those girls'parents. he joins me now. you met the parents at an event at a women's center. talk to me about the atmosphere. what did these people have to say? >> it was a very emotional moment. it was not only the mothers who

came, there was also the fathers. one of those fathers, i met him one year after the induction of the chibok girls. i remember when i met him in a very nice -- not nice way. he was very down, he was not eating, he was thinking about his daughter all the time. what was very inspiring to me was that he still had this optimism inside him and he still was optimistic for the future. today i saw him again and i saw this beautiful smile on his face because his water is finally back. it was a moment of joy for him, also for me. it was also quite good to hear that his daughter is doing quite well. he mentioned the first time yesterday, today he mentioned it again she is slowly improving. this is also what the nigerian minister for women affairs told me in an interview earlier today. >> they are fine.

they're ok. the first day they arrived they were malnourished and tired. i think they traveled all through the night. but as of saturday, every day they improved. they get better, they look better day by day. from don't cash from intel reports -- >> the 21 girls are getting better and the authorities are figuring out their needs and also what to do with the next spirit -- next. brent: this is very good news for their families, but what about the other girls? when are they going to come home? >> negotiations are ongoing and the nigerian government announced today it is likely that talks will continue to free another 83 girls. but as you said, it is almost 200 girls who are missing. the reason is that there was a leadership crisis amongst the

terrorist group. now there is one fraction that is supporting the so-called islamic state. this is the faction that released the 21 girls and that is also willing to negotiate about the further 83 girls. the other girls are in the hands of the leader of the other faction. you might remember, this is the same guy who shortly after the girls were abducted, proudly announced that he is in his hands and he is going to sell them on the markets. brent: our correspondent with the story of good news for some families in nigeria, reporting from the capital. thank you very much. britain says it plans to resettle a group of about 100 refugee children from the migrant camp in france. they will be reunited with relatives already in the u.k. around 10,000 people are estimated to live in the jungle, as it is called, including many of the children.

reporter: a game of pool or some television. it might seem not -- it might not seem like much but it is the only chance is kids had to away from the tough reality of the jungle. many of them, whose face like -- they face the daily terror of explication and violence. there are some groups of people who do bad things to earn money and they do not care about the life of a person. at night, they will attack your tent and maybe steal everything you have in your tent. he lost touch with his parents during his perilous journey from afghanistan to europe. according to you and estimates he is more than 1200 unaccompanied minors in the

jungle. the french government plans to dismantle the cap any day now and aid groups say many of these kids could be left with nowhere to turn. >> it is true, we get the impression we -- the government has only just woken up about this issue. just days before the dismantling, i think the media's focus on these minors will fuel a sense of urgency to find solutions. reporter: many of the migrant children have relatives in britain and dream of a life there. the u.k. home office says it will accept hundreds of kids before the cap is destroyed. he can only hope he will be one of the lucky ones. you wants to build a life with his uncle and cousins already in britain. >> i want to go to university and study medicine. reporter: for now, they can only wait. no exact date has been set for

the cap closure and they had no guarantee that their dreams of britain will come true. brent: we are to take a short break. when we come back, more news. plus, the latest business headlines. sick around. ♪

♪ brent: welcome back. our top story, iraq and its allies have begun to retake the northern city of mosul. iraqi army units, kurdish fighters and -- two people have lost their lives in an explosion at a chemicals plant on the rhyme river. two more are missing, six had been seriously injured. that is according to basf, which owns the complex. people in the nearby city have

been advised to keep their windows close. reporter: plumes of smoke and fire could be seen for miles. it is still not clear what caused the explosion at the biggest chemical complex in germany owned by basf. what is certain is that the blast occurred in a pipeline connecting a dock in the river to a tank at the plant. around 80 kilometers south of frank for. basf says a dock is a terminal for combustible fluids. as a precaution, the chemicals giant shut down 14 facilities, including two of its esteemed -- the fire service urged residents to stay at home, keeping doors and windows shut. the city said some residents had complained of breathing difficulties. but basf said that was not likely. >> there are no threats to

people living nearby. basf's environmental measuring systems are constantly monitoring the situation. we have not been able to establish any danger. reporter: firefighters had managed to contain the blaze as they continue to work through the night. brent: time to talk business. javier is with us. banks not feeling the love anymore. love don't live here anynore, i think a boy band used to sing that. javier: be one reason to put your money in a bank account is to keep it safe. but the image has en severely damaged. no i worldwide poll seems to confirm that mistrust is finally getting the public opinion worldwide. reporter: gone are the days when banks were seen as venerable and trustworthy institutions.

people worldwide are losing confidence. it served by -- a survey revealed more than half of traders here do not trust their bank. some 200 in germany. all the people polled, just four in 10 people leave their money was safe and a bank. just 43% of customers say they believe their financial data was secure. another major concern was fraud. nevertheless, german banking clients appear optimistic when it comes to their own bank. >> you need to differentiate between the banking industry as a whole, where indeed we have seen the trust falling. on the other hand we have about 50% of customers, as far as germany is concerned, having a lot of trust in their main bank. reporter: but the study says german banking clients are moving away from traditional face-to-face transactions in favor of online services.

only 26% of germans say their banks offer user-friendly services in the internet. any customers polled said they would consider switching to start us who specialize in internet banking. a worrying trend for sector destined -- desperate to win back trust. javier: winning back the trust will be quite difficult. let's discuss this issue with jens jokorte. is this mistrust actually hitting the banks, affecting them? jens: well, what we see overall is that the reputation also hear from american banks is probably still suffering quite a bit after this huge financial crisis that started in the fall of 2008. we just recently have to deal with another big scandal at wells fargo, and that is the third-biggest bank here in the united states when it comes to

assets. but reputation, image, that is one thing. is it really affecting business, that is another story. overall it seems not to be the case. if you look at the rules and regulations, those have been much tougher here in the united states after the financial crisis. most of the public in general tries to believe that the u.s. banks are rather stable. javier: speaking of the o's -- speaking of those u.s. banks, today we saw an array of figures. what are the numbers saying about the u.s. banks? jens: well, overall business seems to be rather good. already on friday because the numbers from wells fargo, jpmorgan, citigroup. all of those reported profit drop, but they managed to beat earnings expectations. on monday we had the numbers of bank of america and they actually increased the profit to almost $5 billion.

we have seen overall is that the banks are suffering with the low interest rate environment. on the other side, we saw more action not in the trading of stocks but in the trading of currencies, of commodities and also with bonds. the brexit is one reason we have more -- a lot -- it does not matter if the trend is going up or down. javier: we will see how that continues. thank you very much. brazil was once the most promising economy in latin america but the country was facing not only a political but also a deep economic crisis. the country's customer shall new president was to revamp the country's finances. he is in germany in the german city -- germany and brazil exchanged 19 billion euros in goods every

year. but there are many challenges of the country that pose an enormous risk to its economic future. reporter: the trade minister is the main cast with restoring confidence in his country. yields to convince german business that economic reforms will put brazil back on track. >> on top of everything else, just two weeks ago we also took the decision to impose caps on public spending. reporter: most analysts view that as a positive first set. a lot of german investors think brazil's current situation offers more opportunities for new ventures on projects. >> they will not manage to improve confidence. but as time goes by, brazil will rehabilitate itself and step up again as a country with good perspectives. reporter: but for now, --

recession, corruption, and rock-bottom prices for the country's commodities and oils are the dominant issues for the government and its people. the much vaunted olympic games did not change that very much, either. even if everything did go off without any major hitches. conference participants agree that brazil when make any significant economic progress before 2018. javier: that is it for business. back to you. brent: we're going to talk about some superstitions. people have all sorts of superstitions, but one german writer believed his favorite football team winning -- hitting a winning streak would mean an award for him, and it turned out to be true. he has just been named the winner of the prestigious german book prize. it is for his novel called

"encounter" and it is all about, what else -- love. reporter: it is the story of a man and a woman, both in their 50's, retired and lonely. they meet each other and suddenly decide to take a trip together to italy. >> it seems as if time has left these two people behind but together they experience something that abruptly catapult them to the here and now. reporter: the travel farther and farther south and suddenly they discover something they no longer expected. love. >> where would we be without a little audacity? everyone would stay inside their shell, it's -- shell, fleeing from life. reporter: but then reality intrudes. bank counter a girl, begging.

is she a refugee? they decide to take her along with them, a dire mistake. they find other dream of a happy life is just an illusion. >> i wanted to tell a tale about what the wider world does with us come about how our private lives and the public world do not go together. reporter: his novel depicts two people who set off on a lighthearted adventure only to be confronted by the reality of their own human limitations. brent: the world's oldest known giant panda has died. the 38-year-old had lived in hong kong since 1999. he was a gift from britain. on her 37th birthday, it was the

longest living giant panda. here's a reminder of the stories we are following for you. iraq and its allies have begun the long awaited events to retake the northern city of mosul from the so-called islamic state. iraqi units, curtis forces and english are moving towards the city. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] &ñxñx

♪ [theme music] ♪ [theme music] ernabel demillo: hi, i'm ernabel demillo, welcome to asian american life. we're coming to you from the queens botanical garden in the heart of flushing, queens, the most ethnically diverse county in the country. the garden is a 39 acre urban oasis celebrating the people, plants and cultures of the diverse borough it serves. be sure to stop by the recently renovated herb garden,