♪ brent: this is "dw news" by from berlin. the battle for alef oh pages on. tens of civilians flee for their lives. residents trapped in the city, the situation is catastrophic. also coming up, u.s. president-elect donald trump announces via twitter he will give up his business interests to run the u.s. oil prices rise as opec oil-producing nations agreed to cut their output starting in

january. ♪ brent: i am brent goff, it is good to have you with us. once again the united nations security council will try to react to the tragedy that is known as aleppo. tens of thousands of civilians are pouring out of eastern aleppo as government forces push to recapture the syrian city. a syrian military source says the government has retaken the district, a claim rejected tonight by rebel fighters. reporter: aleppo is still under heavy fire. syrian fighter planes are bombing eastern parts of the city continuously. on the ground, syrian troops are pushing further into rebel-held areas. the rebels are putting up a tough fight but it is looking increasingly hopeless for them.

they have lost more than one third of their territory in just a few days. now the rebel-held art of the city is being split into -- in two. one area in the south and one in the north controlled by syrian kurds. for civilians, the situation is catastrophic. food and medical supplies are running out and nowhere is safe. tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. >> they opened a road crossing this morning and my family and i came. i brother was shot by terrorists and injured his foot. we have stayed here for four months without food or drink, only bread. whoever does not have food or drink will die of hunger. reporter: reports say some people are being killed by government troops while trying to escape. they are fleeing to the kurdish held neighborhood in the north of the city or into government-held areas. the head of aleppo's local counsel has traveled to france

to call for safety for those trapped there. >> the civilians are calling to the world in the name of humanity, let the civilians we the city, help the civilians are checked the civilians. the call i am making today is for a safe zone, a safe point of passage so that civilians can leave. reporter: france has also been raising the alarm. the foreign minister invited countries backing the opposition for talks in paris next week. also at france's request, the un security council will hold an emergency meeting later wednesday. brent: i'm joined now by simon, a middle east expert at lancaster university. assuming aleppo is about to fall, what is this going to mean for the civil war in syria? simon: i think it is a hugely significant moment within the context of the broader civil war

in syria. aleppo has quickly become perhaps the most symbolic part of this conflict. granted, it is serious second city but much of the -- syria's second city but it is taken on a strategic and symbolic importance. it we do see a level fall in the next couple days, that will be a serious defeat for the rebels. brent: as we saw in that report we have thousands of people who are fleeing, trying to escape the city. how are they getting out without any safe corridors? simon: with great difficulty is the unfortunate answer. we are gearing reports -- hearing reports that there are restrictions on people being let out by those militias within

aleppo. i think that highlights the complexity of the situation. is not just a case of lots of innocent people inside the city. there are also violent extremists who are not necessarily going to let everyone leave. it is a hugely complex situation and it is a humanitarian disaster right now. people are struggling to leave and there are not really any safe spaces for them to go. even if there were, there would not be the trust for people to have to go to them. it is a real mess on the ground. brent: and the un security council -- we have been here before and nothing has happened. why should anything happen tonight? simon: yeah, i fear that is the real depressing thing. we have been here before it number of times and there has just been stalemate after stalemate after stalemate. i guess we can hope that all sides are seeing that the real

existential crisis facing the syrian people -- and the stakes are so high. the international community said never again after rwanda and the balkans, but it is happening again and the international community is just going to sit by and watch. there will be huge problems and huge recriminations. the international community failing once more as syria burns. i think it is the real last chance for the u.n. to maintain any credibility right now with regard to doing something to resolve conflict, which is fundamentally what it has been set up to do. brent: simon, a middle east expert would lancaster university. simon, thank you very much. simon: thank you. brent: u.s. president-elect donald trump has taken to twitter to announce he plans to separate himself from his

business interests. he tweeted to say it would be visually important as president to not have a conflict of interest with his. his businesses, adding that -- his various businesses, adding that legal documents will be crafted taking him out of business. he emphasized the role of president was a far more important task. the epiphany of trump. let's pull in our political correspondent richard walker in washington. just a week ago an interview with "the new york times" donald trump explained that would not be a conflict of interest between the businessman trump and president trump. so, now we have another flip-flop. richard: that is the question, is this really a flip-flop? we need to be as clear as we possibly can about what donald trump said in the interview. often with trump you are dealing

with multiple meanings, sometimes within the space of a few minutes. certainly he did try to downplay the problem and argue he is under no legal op you -- legal obligation to take steps. i am quoting, i would like to try and formalize something to tackle this problem, at least the perceived conflict of interest. it was very vague but i think this is the beginning. if you did not take any steps whatsoever, then it would be an asset that minefield for his presidency. brent: that is what people have been saying. so what will happen to his business empire now? richard: that remains very vague. you quoted from his tweets which is just about all we have to go on so far.

he said he is leaving business operations. what that actually means we'll have to wait and see. but he will not want to sell. we're getting the sense that what is quite likely to happen is his children will be taking over the operation and control of his business. brent: if this family does take over, does this really solve the issue of a possible conflict of interest? it is the closest kin who will be running th shop. richard: absolutely. do many it does not subject problem at all. the business will still be there, his name will be all over it. anyone doing business with that business knows they are doing business effectively with the president of the united states and that could affect their behavior. i think the only thing that he can really do to completely wipe the slate clean would be to sell

the business. hasper them in a blind trust first -- perhaps put it in a blind trust first. but he does not want to do that. the next four years will be full of investigative journalism looking at potential conflicts of interest whether perceived or real. you can expect the allegations to be flying for years to come. brent: we're still waiting for those tax returns to be published as well. richard, thank you very much. time for a check on business news. javier is with us. oil-producing companies are going to move back. javier: they are, but they are promising for the first time since 2008, opec has agreed to limit the oil output. they announced a decision at a news conference in vienna. russia has also agreed to cut production. crude prices jumped about eight and a half percent. -- about 8.5%.

reporter: when the saudi minister arrived in vienna he said he would not be without a deal, and he got one. there will be 1.2 for your million dollar -- saudi arabia, iraq and kuwait would shoulder the bulk of the cuts. iran has been allowed to freeze output at preconception levels. >> -- pre-concession levels. >> the impact of the sanctions on the economy -- reporter: governments feeling the pinch hope the deal will be enough to nudge the price upwards and fill state coffers again. but the success of the deal still depends on non-opec members agreeing to -- russia will reduce its output by

half of that. javier: higher oil prices is bad news for airline industry. lufthansa's pilots keep striking. instead of striking with her copy colleagues they demonstrated against the airline pilots. reporter: ground crew workers took to the streets to demonstrate against their lufthansa colleagues on strike. they are afraid to repeated strikes might end with the and of -- end of their jobs. >> there are not only pilots who are surely doing a good job and getting paid well, many colleagues here at lufthansa that are worried this whole dispute might cost us our jobs.

reporter: representatives of the pilots union dismissed the concerns saying ground personnel have historically had a problem with pilot salaries and that it will be better to discuss the issues amongst themselves. >> it has been like that since the 1960's. there have been ground personnel who have had problems with us burning more money than they do. i do not want to talk down the worries of the ground crew or talk down there worries about lufthansa's future. we share those worries and take them seriously, but it is too bad they had to manifest themselves in this way. reporter: wednesday march the second day of the cockpit union's latest walkout which followed four consecutive days of strikes last week. thified pay offer to pilots and is now offering a wage increase totaling four

point 4% this year and next plus an unspecified one-time payment. lufthansa canceled 890 flights wednesday and said 98,000 passengers had been affected. javier: do the u.s. were donald trump has just selected steven mnuchin as the u.s. treasury secretary in his ministration. while he has no experience in politics he is known in the financial world and even in hollywood. he worked as an investor for goldman sachs for 17 years and founded a company called ratpac dune entertainment which financed hollywood blockbusters. his most difficult task will be the u.s. tax reform. he has said there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class but that there will be a big tax cut for the middle class. this last statement could spark a position of the republican dominated congress. that is all from the business desk.

back to you. brent: we're going to take a short break. coming up, investigations suggest the plane that went down in colombia on monday may have run out of fuel. be right back. ♪

♪ brent: welcome back here with "dw news." tens of thousands of people are fleeing aleppo. government troops are pushing to reclaim territory from rebel forces. the un security council has been holding emergency talks on the fighting. a recording being reviewed by crash investigators chose the plane a crashed in colombia monday night may have run out of fuel. the pilot also reported an electrical failure just before the aircraft went down, which experts say would also point to a fuel shortage.

the plane crashed into the mountains medellin near -- near medellin. brazil's chapecoense football team were among the passengers. reporter: grieving relatives gathered for a service to commemorate the 71 people who died when their plane slammed into a mountainside near medellin, colombia. only six survived. the victims included most of the brazilian football club chapecoense as well as officials and journalists. the mother of the club's goalkeeper is among those still trying to come to terms with their loss. >> my heart is torn to pieces. i am in a lot of pain. i never thought i would go through this. it still has not set in. >> we are all sad. we are all deeply hurt and scared knowing what happened. asking god for strength to keep going forward to get over something difficult.

reporter: a striker for the team without with an injury and did not travel with his team. he was there with fans got together in the stadium to pay their final respects to the team. >> it is very difficult thinking that i might have been there. why wasn't i there? the fact that i was not there, it is very difficult. it is too much to get my head around. reporter: investigations are underway to establish the reason the plane crashed into the side of a mountain. both flight recorders have been recovered but it is likely to be sometime before experts have analyzed the data they contain. brent: the turkish government's crackdown against local opponents in dissidents has led to a sharp rise in the number of asylum applications by turkish

citizens. 4000 asked for protection in germany in the first 10 months of this year, nearly doubled the number for 2015. many of them are kurds. military action against them in turkey has left hundreds dead. dw has met with a kurdish politician who fled to germany. reporter: for months, fear, arrests and oppression have become a part of daily life for many people in turkey. tens of thousands have lost their jobs, been thrown in jail, or perhaps tortured. a month ago, even elected officials of the pro-kurdish party were arrested. he has been denounced as a traitor and a terrorist. from eastern anatolia, he could no longer cope with the abuse, so he fled turkey to germany on

an odyssey taking them through syria and iraq. >> the turkey that i left was like germany was after 1933. reporter: turkish security forces raided his home. they had a questionable war and for his arrest and was accused of being a member of the outlawed party, the pkk. but he maintains his innocence. he only worked for a peaceful party, and a certificate proves it. he hopes his political asylum will be approved. >> i hope germany is governed by the rule of law. reporter: his daily life is difficult. he is sick. but the worst thing is that his wife is not with him. they were unable to leave together. >> yes, of course i want her to come to germany, too. i cannot live alone.

i miss her. the problem is she had to go into hiding and she cannot leave the country. reporter: any haven other than germany was out of the question. he learned german in school and at university. today, he brushes up on the language in his place of refuge. the uncertainty gnaws away at him when he is sure at one thing -- he cannot return to turkey right now. >> turkey is no longer a democracy. as long as kurdish people's rights are not written in the constitution, i can no longer return to that country. reporter: every day, he looks at his mailbox and hopes to finally receive confirmation of having been granted political asylum in germany. brent: here are some of the

other stories making headlines around the world. the prime minister of poland has visited the scene of a collapsed copper mine in southern poland where five miners have now been confirmed dead. rescue teams are continuing to search for three miners still missing since the cave in during a magnitude 4.5 earthquake on tuesday. five survivors have been hospitalized. spanish police have arrested two moroccan nationals suspected of having links to the islamic state. one of the men had been researching how to carry out attacks on civilians. the other had recently tried to join i.s. in syria but was sent back by turkish authorities. tornadoes had torn through parts of the southern united states, killing at least five in alabama and tennessee and injuring more than a dozen more. the storm system also brought destruction to louisiana and mississippi, damaging homes and businesses and downing power

lines and trees. a widening child sexual abuse scandal in british football. more than 20 men who played high-level soccer in their youth have come forward to say they were abused by a coach. at leaast four coaches have been accused, including some work for top-flight clubs. reporter: the story broke when a former player when public by having menaced tossed in the 1980's. police have now charged the perpetrator with eight counts of sexual assault of a boy under 14. barry coached youth teams were several clubs beginning in the 1980's. his crimes were not a secret. he was imprisoned three times since the 1990's and has been banned from football for life.

but the courage of andy woodward, who took his story to the press two weeks ago, has led many more victims to come forward. >> all he wanted to do was be around me and tickle me. he pinned me down a couple times. in a playful manner, not an aggressive manner. and move his bristle on my cheeks. i still remember the feeling now. of him brushing up against me. reporter: new allegations against him are just the beginning. at least four former coaches now stand accused of sexual abuse, some who work at top-flight clubs. premier league chelsea issued a statement on wednesday saying they would help police investigate a man who coached there in the 1970's. brent: gareth southgate has been

named as england's permanent coach in a four-year contract, having impressed as caretaker. that means he is expected to be at the helm for the next world cup. the former under 21 coach has led england in two wins and a draw in world cup qualifying. the 46-year-old -- you know his name -- who lost the job after just two months. hillary clinton has made a surprise appearance and the -- at the unicef snowflake ball in new york city. she presented the audrey hepburn humanitarian award to katy perry. >> the most powerful voice and creative lyrics remind us when you get knocked down, to get back up.

brent: for her charitable work with the organization, the singer was a big supporter of clinton and even campaign for her. the next time you raise a glass of belgian beer, rest assured you are having a cultural experience. they are adding to its intangible cultural heritage list. the belgian beer is known throughout the world for its wide array of colors and tastes. the country's nearly 200 breweries -- it is producing just about every city in belgium and its history stretches back to medieval times. here is a reminder of the top stories. as of thousands of people are fleeing aleppo as government troops push to reclaim territory from rebel forces. the un security council is holding an emergency session to talk about the fight.

you can always get "dw news" on the go. just download our app. they will give you access for news around the world along with push notifications for any breaking news. you can also send us photos and videos. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. stick around for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ ♪ shanghai is one of china's largest economic cities. it's also china's biggest tourist site, attracting more than 300 million domestic and international visitors a year.