[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this is dw news live from berlin. a victory for syrian government forces and aleppo seems imminent. forces have taken the old city. and now, western powers and rebel groups are calling for a cease-fire. will it work in a? the prime minister steps down after losing the constitutional referendum. we will find out what happens next.

and the day of infamy remembered. commemorations mark japan's attack on the naval base in pearl harbor. the day that brought america into world war ii 75 years ago. i'm brent goff, good to have you with us. the syrian forces are claiming another victory in the battle for aleppo. backed by russian air cover, troops seized control of the old city today. western powers and rebel groups are calling now for an immediate five day cease-fire to allow civilians to evacuate the city. tonight, in the german city of hamburg, talking about the next phase for aleppo.

>> the russian armies explosives experts move in and are looking for unexploded bombs and homemade explosives. in an area that just a short time ago was under opposition control. we are going to hand these explosives on for examination, the soldier explains so that people know what these terrorists, as he calls them, are capable of. civilians will be able to leave the conflict zone. these show the area under rebel control trying to get to areas controlled by the syrian government. lacks the syrian government had opened escape corridor doors, says this woman, just pulled out

by the syrian army. but the rebels didn't want to let us go. at lunchtime, we just left. >> the opposition's defeat now looks to be insight. even opposition activists can see if eastern aleppo can be taken back within days. brent: italy's prime minister has announced his resignation. it comes three days after he lost a referendum to change the constitution. he offered his resignation straight after that vote, but agreed late on sunday -- on monday, rather, to stay on until parliament had approved it in till next year. they are scheduled to meet with party leaders. my colleague has been covering the story for us.

>> he has resigned. it has been going on and on and he's still, in office because the capacity of sort of caretaker. what will happen now is that he proposes to form a government of national unity. they talked to all big political parties and said, can you somehow get together? do you agree to do this yet felt -- to do this? at the moment, the country can't move. they can't even vote because there is no legal electoral law.

brent: it was u.s. president franklin roosevelt told congress and the world that december 7, 19 order one, was a day that would live in infamy. today, 70 five years later, the japanese attack is still very much alive in the collective memory of america. commemorations have been taking place during the -- at the u.s. naval base in pearl harbor in the state of hawaii. thousands gathered for the ceremony. among them, 350 world war ii veterans and their families. near the navy base is a memorial to the uss arizona, commemorating the victims of the pearl harbor attack. it was japanese planes,, causing

flights -- kamikaze flights. they were some of the first during this japanese attack. the u.s. had basically stayed out of world war ii. that all changed when pearl harbor was attacked. they try to clear his name. i am happy to welcome to the show robin swan and anthony summers.

they are setting the record straight. why did it take so long for the truth to come out? how hard was it for you to do that? >> by way of coincidence, we finished our work on the 9/11 attacks. we found ourselves working on the case that is the closest thing in american history to the closest parallel causing enormous damage. so we delved into it, knew nothing about it, studied the entire story of pro-harbor and

very soon founder selves focusing on the army general in hawaii. brent: what drew you to this story? talk about the grandchildren. >> they give us their complete cooperation but they took an honest and honorable attitude which was that we would have to investigate all the strands of the story and, in their words, let the chips fall where they may. they believe the admiral was wrongly accused of dereliction of duty. they felt the only thing that would help him or the only honorable way to treat the story was to get the truth out.

we have expanded far beyond that and found countless new documents in british, german, american, and dutch archives that tell a fascinating story. ones at which admiral kimmel was involved. >> they believe admiral kimmel. the great names of the pacific in world war ii, admiral that felt it was long to have them publicly disgraced. they how -- called on the

president back then in the year 2000 to restore them to their original ranks in command. there is hope in the family that president obama will do it before leaving office in january. brent: your book touches on a lot of conspiracy theories that have been present in american history ever sense. why do you think conspiracy theories are so intertwined. >> americans have a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that we face in their me -- an enemy that could outwit us. in the case of pro-harbor, there was a grotesque failure to connect the dots. we lacked the imagination to understand what the enemy, the japanese, were capable of.

instead of trying to figure out what they would do, we need to think of what they can do. what are they capable of? brent: why would we need another book about pearl harbor 75 years later? it shows us exactly why. this has to be polished sometimes. if 75 years later, we are working on getting the past correct. >> there was systemic failure in u.s. intelligence.

things that would be really important. not only were they not shared. and they will start to get things right. >> when you look at the body of work, it is fascinating. you have written about marilyn monroe, 9/11. what about donald trump. psychologists say that donald's personality makes richard nixon look like a pretty nice guy. do you sense a history that is about to be made that needs to be written about in the near future?

>> we don't know what they are going to be doing next. certainly, the personality and presidency of donald trump will be one worth dissecting and watching. we should all continue to hope that there are people that will turn their hands to that task. >> look for the book on trump's first hundred days. brent: a matter of honor, pearl harbor the trail. we thank you for taking the time to be on the show. other stories making headlines around the world. at least 97 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a powerful earthquake hit indonesia's province on the island of sumatra.

rescuers are digging through the rubble and searching for survivors. it struck at dawn as many in the muslim region were preparing for morning prayers. a passenger plane has crashed. it was en route for the northern city to the capital islamabad. it crashed shortly after takeoff. they reported engine problems before losing contact. you are dw news live from berlin. time magazine names donald trump person of the year. not a universally popular choice among twitter users. we will show you what we mean. making money from the sick. it british walked dogs -- british watchdogs slap a fine on pfizer.

and we will be back with more world news on the other side of a 62nd break -- 60-second break.

brent: welcome back. our top stories. d syrian government is claimin seized control of the reb held city. western powers and rebel groups are calling for an immediate five day cease-fire to allow for civilian evacuations. the attire announces his resignation three days after a referendum on constitutional change.

the u.s. has been commemorating the so-called day of infamy when japan's attack on the naval base of pearl harbor brought america into world war ii. in the united states, time magazine has named president-elect donald trump its person of the year. the accolade has been awarded since 1927 and goes to the person who has had the greatest influence, for better, or for worse, on the year's events. hillary clinton was runner-up again. they interviewed the real estate magnate turned president-elect and asked him about his election victory. mr. trump: it is a very humbling experience, i can tell you. it is a very large country and it is an even more powerful country than the numbers.

if you look at china and india and others with more people. when you look at what we do in this country, it's the most incredible place on earth. brent: that was donald trump there, talking about his election victory and being named time magazine's person of the year. the choice, of course, is controversial. especially in social media. people taking to twitter to tell the world what they think. they suggest doubles warns. they want to clarify that person of the year is not a popularity contest.

the american activist wrote that it is amusing how conservatives in my timeline bash the mainstream media until trump gets time person of the year and then they gloat about it. trump is a huge fan of the publication as demonstrated in this tweet from 2013 in which he says, time magazine, the list of 100 most influential people is a joke and a stunt of a magazine that will likely soon be dead. he called it a bad list. got to be careful who you say is a bad list, nowadays. >> we continue with trump, thank

you very much. the president-elect has pledged to crack down on the prices of drugs. shares and pharmaceutical companies are down. the soaring cost of medicine is an issue on both sides of the atlantic. british regulators imposed a massive fine on u.s. drugs giant pfizer for ramping up epilepsy. crack smack in 2012, pfizer increased by 2600%. >> they made it clear that they will not tolerate this abuse by companies with market power. in it is for the nhs to decide.

>> pfizer pulled off the price hike by selling distribution rights to another company. it promptly de-branded the drug, enabling it between britain's health service. lawyers say the fine could trigger claims for compensation from customers that are overcharged. pfizer says it will appeal the ruling. >> the european commission has almost half a billion euros. >> several banks cooperated to manipulate a benchmark interest rate.

>> they try to submit. of course, depending on that, they have received money calculated on the basis and have an interest of a high rate. on days when a trader needed to pay, he would want to have a low rate. >> such arrangements are illegal and have a direct impact on consumers. if the rates are manipulated, you could end up paying back more. >> it sends a clear message.

the financial market needs to be competitive. grexit brings to an end one of the biggest ever financial investigations. for other banks involved in rate manipulation chose to settle the case. >> people in ghana are busy electing a new president. they face a serious challenge. they are promising to get the economy back on track. it was one of africa's fastest growing countries. >> it comes on the back of it dramatic economic slowdown. the country reeling from precious metals and cocoa. the economy was growing firmly

at a rate of over 14%. but by 2015, it had fallen sharply to 3.7%. it should pick up again next national debt has soared to 70%. half of the country is out of work and forced to recount out a living anyway they can. the government has responded with infrastructure program such as this flyover. so that there will be a change. currently, my child is in the secondary school. it is also a drawback.

it signed up to an almost one billion dollar bailout program at the international monetary fund. >> in the u.k. for the first time last week according to just-released data from the country's entertainment retailers association. they spent about 2.8 million euros compared to 2.4 million euros for digital album downloads that had been struggling. the global vinyl records market is forecast to grow more than 55% in the next five years. from music to sports. brent: a group of teenagers are finding an escape in a constant

threat of war. the cycling group offering locals new experiences and bringing a degree of normality to their lives. >> these teenagers have grown up in couple almost entirely under a cloud of conflict. but amid the suicide bombings and drone strikes, they are finding solace in their bikes. the first freestyle cycling club is aiming to keep teenagers away from drugs, violence, and petty crime. but they face hurdles. the biggest challenge that we face is security. we are not confident about our safety when we go out for exercise whether it is inside the city or in a public area. the group learns their tricks from social media. practicing in a concrete football compound. it is also a chance to break down barriers in the

conservative muslim nation. people keep harassing us. they say girls cycling is a bad thing but our goal is to make sure that sport is part of women's lives. people should accept this freedom and must accept the rise women deserve in society. with further funding, a future for afghanistan. brent: after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day.

cambodia is considered very chinese friendly. with its chinese population reportedly exceeding 1 million.