brent: dw news, live from berlin. tonight the most powerful man in soccer kick out of the game for eight years. >> i will be back. thank you. brent: a feifa court finds sepp blatter and michel platini guilty of ethics violations. the men say they will not go

without a fight. also coming up, afghan forces struggling to hold a province against the taliban. they worry the province could fall to the insurgants -- insurgents. rethinking the equation of power. sunday's election gave no party the mandate to govern. no a crash course in sharing has begun -- now a crash course in sharing has begun. i am brent, it is good to have you with us. at first he sounds like the terminator. once you have blinked in disbelief you realize this is a man whose career has just been terminated. sepp blatter, the mightiest man in world soccer, was ordered by

his own organization today to get out. he had michel platini -- he and michel platini have been banned from soccer for each years, for receiving payments that the court stopped just short of calling bribery. here is more. >> the decision was just an hour old when sepp blatter went on the defensive. a short time later michel platini released a statement saying the ruling was a complete farce. sepp blatter had a different choice of words anin his conference. >> i am now suspended eight

years. i am now suspended eight years. i will fight great i will fight for me and for fifa. suspended eight years. for what? >> they said it was a conflict of interest, and disloyalty to fifa. >> the verdict was to be expected, but the verdict is harsh. for a mere eight-year-old, an eight-year ban is harsh, but not a life ban. >> he wants to use every legal loophole possible and bring their cases to the swedish courts. >> i have a lot of support within the community, and they share with me that what has happened today is not the correct way. i will be back. thank you. >> this hammer blow is difficult

to see how he or michel platini have a future in soccer. brent: our mark meadows joins us from the sports desk to talk about this. in that coun one soundbite, he i have been suspended eight years three times. it is like he is waking up from a nightmare and not wanting this to become his reality. >> he recently said he was in the hospital, and had in your life and death experience. we do not know if that is tied to the plaster on his face. we had report he had a mole removed. this is not just an internal fifa thing. you have dozens of officials that have been charged, some have admitted wrongdoing. he does not see how serious this is. brent: is there no one close to

them saying, listen, the law of diminishing returns has set in, just leave quietly, you will just ruin the game more? >> the reason they are still fighting, if they think they have been gotten on a technicality. it is like al capone, who got caught on tax evasion, not everything going on. this came nine years after the work that he supposedly did for sepp blatter, but actually think that if they go to the courts of arbitration, they might come down on their side and get the ban reduced. but you have to say that their soccer careers are over. brent: the word on the street, if you are paid nine years later for service that you did,

millions of dollars, they would say there is something not kosher, not clean. but these men think this is normal. >> he can say i expected the money to be paid, and it was not paid. how will i in the wrong? -- am i in the wrong? when did you want me to do? i wasn't going to criticize them openly, i was trying to become a major member. michel platini might have a better chance than sepp blatter, but the end of the day their careers are over. brent: what do you think about the future of football itself? >> we have the election in february. michel platini cannot stand, even if the court of arbitration for sport came down on his side. and for that to happen before february just will not happen. you have prince aly oi of jordan who could stand, but he is not popular in asia.

brent: is there anyone who can bridge all the continents and unite fifa? >> not really. despite all this controversy sepp blatter was still popular in south america, africa, asia, he is given the world cups . we have one who is a swiss functionary who have never played the ranks, like sepp blatter. brent: so in world soccer, a total disarray right now. >> it is. you also have the greatest name in soccer standing for reelection. he is completely outside the fifa world. he might be the . man. brent: always great to talk to you. the thank you.

now we wanted you to afghanistan where six soldiers are dead after a suicide bomb attack. the attack was carried out near the bagram airbase. the taliban claimed responsibly on twitter, but this represents the number dead. this comes a week after suicide bombers targeted a spanish embassy guesthouse and another military installation. we want to go to our reporter in kabul. the security situation seems to be deteriorating by the week. why is that? >> different factors at play. one of them is the withdrawal of foreign troops from afghanistan, which really happened late last

year. no international combat troops, their division has ended. the afghan security forces have internal challenges facing them. there is a lot of corruption, attrition rate, and a political crisis in kabul. there's a lot of provincial powerbrokers, and an army of pew lease units in the provinces -- police units in the provinces who do not feel they are getting enough support to fight the taliban. brent: attrition in the military. that makes the question, can afghan forces hold out anywhere in the country if the taliban decide they are going to push their limits to win territory? >> i do not think there in the position to take major cities and hold them. -- they are in the position to

take major cities and hold them, kabul for example. afghan security forces, even though they are suffering casualties, they are still fighting as opposed to the security forces in iraq and libya that fell apart when things got really rough. but they are facing serious challenges and they will have to pick up the fight over the coming years. we are seeing the beginning of the afghan forces taking responsibility. brent: on the story for us in klabul. thank you very much. back here in europe and spain, it is the day after the country's historic election. political parties are they will not share, share the power. that is what voters have ordered them to do, getting no single party and off to govern alone. the main left-wing parties, including the anti-austerity

parties have ruled out a majority. >> anti-austerity came in third. they celebrated a huge victory. the party leader left no doubt about where they are headed. >> it is very clear. sovereignty is the main war for us. to organize our political system. never again, never again, spain a periphery of germany. >> the voters punished the prime minister and their policies. they stayed in the majority, but will have to find a coalition partner. >> i will form a government. spain' needs a solid

government. >> and unlikely task since they have refused to work with him. the socialist party lost a lot of ground, but it may have more chances as governing, if it joins forces with put amos and other leftist parties. another newcomer is the pro-business liberal party. it wants to be part of the new cabinet. this election season and to the two-party system -- sees and end to the two-party system. many wants change. it remains to se be seen what that change entails. but many options are back on the table after these weeks of negotiations. brent: when nigerian president mohammed of took office, he promised to end the fighting

against boko haram within the year. fighting has ended, but has it stamped out terrorism altogether? >> boko haram has killed nearly 7000 people in attacks across nigeria, even making the capital. but that was also blessed to be over by the end of this month. that is what nigerian's new government promised earlier this but speaking to dw, the prime minister of information for the thomas in perspective -- put the pledge in perspective. >> the lone wolf bombing. these will not end overnight. >> they have managed to take back much of the territory that was under the control of boko

haram. but hundreds of thousands of nigerians are still too afraid to return home. political analysts have always doubted a deadline could be set for defeating the terror group. >> for a huge insurgency like this, the presidential should group should not have given such a definite deadline. as for the timing, they did not know the exact strength of the insurgents. >> for many nigerians there is a constant worry of suicide bombings. boko haram often seeks to exploit the violence in its propaganda videos. the minister of information says they need more support from western countries. >> we're talking about the american people who do not know what we need. we need more information, better training, and of course we need

resources. it is really expensive to sustain this war. >> security experts say counterterrorism operations have to include better regional operation. those driven out of their strongholds in nigeria are thought to have fled to other west african countries. brent: we will take a break, more news and the latest business headlines when we come back. stick around.

brent: welcome back. you're here with dw news live from berlin. here are the top stories. sepp blatter has vowed to fight the van handed down to him and michel platini by football governing body. they received eight here suspensions from all football related activities after the ethics committee found them

guilty of abusing their positions and breaching the organizations code of ethics. as afghan government troops struggle to hold helmand province, the region's deputy governor has pleaded for military aid on facebook. elsewhere in the country, soldiers were killed in a telegram suicide attack. -- taliban suicide attack. iraqi security forces working to take ramadi . final preparations are underway. i.s. took control of the strategic capital of the province a year ago. ramadi is only about 100 kilometers from baghdad.

our terrorism analyst joined me at the table. is the international alliance against islamic state beginning to bear fruit? >> the american airstrikes are bearing fruit. the organization i.s. has been weekend in recent months. the problem is that the americans lack allies on the ground. they will have problems retaking the city in the coming weeks. brent: a homegrown military on the ground remains the problem. before we continue we want to find out more about how islamic state gained control of ramadi. >> the so-called islamic state seized control of ramadi last may. the battle for the strategic city cost the lives of hundreds of iraqi security forces and civilians. thousands of survivors fled.

having lost the city, iraqi troops try to cut off i.s. supply routes. but eventually, they had to pull back, due to ramadi's proximity to the capital of baghdad. since november, the iraqi forces have regained control of nearby towns in a bid to keep ramadi surrounded. the i.s. is preventing remaining civilians from leaving and intends to use them as human shields. brent: we see all of that and put it into the equation. we are back to that question about the iraqi military. does it have what it takes to dislodge islamic state from a ramadi? >> i think it does. there are not so many isis fighters in the city. about a couple hundred. there are thousands of iraqi security troops. they are shiites. ramadi is a sunni city.

they would be like an occupying power to the population of the city. brent: just how strong would you say islamic state is militarily? >> their forces are stretched thin. there are about 30,000 fighters in syria and iraq. no more than 1000 or 2000 are stationed in every major city in this territory. the organization has been weekend, but it is still there. it controls greater cities like ramadi. brent: the airstrikes have been hitting the transport of oil in islamic state, and that has been hurting the military. thank you for coming and giving us your analysis. we appreciate it. it is time to switch gears now. global oil prices have been on a slump for weeks and continue to drop. a new low reached on monday. kristof is here with that. >> brent crude, a global

benchmark hit $36 a barrel on monday. that is the lowest in 11 years. major producers are refusing to dialback supply in an effort to squeeze the fledgling u.s. oil industry on the market. the number of u.s. fracking riggs has increased. -- rigs has increased. the demand of larger consumers like china is putting a downward pressure on these oil prices. to spain, sunday's general elections have kept the country in political limbo. the conservatives lost the absolute majority and coalition building is likely to be difficult. the upcoming negotiations are being closely watched by politicians and economists inside and outside the country. spain is among the heavyweights in the eurozone. the reaction of financial markets to the uncertainty was clear. >> spanish shares fell sharply

in and yields on government bonds rose at the start of the week. the splinter both weighed on investor sentiment. it is unclear if spain's political parties will be a to form a viable coalition, and economic reforms will continue. >> markets fear the kind of uncertainty shown n the election results. it is unclear which coalitions will be formed. left-wing parties may join forces, and that is unsettling. >> spain is the euro zone's fourth largest economy, so traders in frankfurt are keeping a close eye on events in madrid. >> the elections are important. there were big four parties instead of two -- be four parties instead of two. ties will be weekend. >> it will take time for the

reforms to impact the labor market. despite the ongoing recovery, spain's jobless rate remained above 20%. analysts warn that if madrid puts the brakes on reforms the unemployment rate is likely to remain high. >> the european union has extended its economic sanctions against russia over the conflict in ukraine until the end of july. brussels says it will lift the sanctions when moscow fully implements the minsk agreements. pro-russian separatists still control border crossings with ukraine. the decision showed that the eu did not want improved relations. the sanctions along with a falling oil prices have weighed on the russian economy which contracted by 4% in the third quarter compared to earlier in the year. the problems between ukraine and russia started when kiev moved closer to the eu, seemingly turning its back on moscow. now another russian neighbor is

improving ties with brussels. kazakhstan and brussels have signed a cooperation agreement. they cover a number of areas, including trade, economy, and human rights. >> the earth here is full of valuable raw materials, needed for industrial production. along with oil exports, rare earths are an important source of revenue for kazakhstan. they signed a rare earths agreement worth billions. he is seeking closer ties to the european union, and has been in power for a quarter of a century. comple kazakhstan , the world's ninth largest nation seeks good relations with

russia and eastern european countries and the western european countries on the other side. this year the central asian country became a member of the world trade organization. kazakhstan i agree to lower subsidies for -- agreed to lower subsidies for products, and trade intensified as part of its strategic partnership with europe. that puts kazakhstan on a collision course with russia. they worry that it would weaken ties with that country. >> we continue with sports news. brent: thank you. looking to get back on track after suffering free losses in a row in all competitions. a game packed with action and goals on sunday. >> he was hoping for an easy

game as they looks to bounce back, but they had a dreadful start at home. first, they gave them the lead after 28 minutes. and then, a midfielder was red carded for violent conduct. the wholhome team came back, and made sure to go into the half one all. they made it two all after the break to set a thrilling finale. oscar grant the win four minutes from time. a remarkable result, given they had been down to 10 men for some time. now up to fourth.

brent: two astronauts have wrapped up a spacewalk outside the international space station in preparation for wednesday's rendezvous with a russian supply caps off. scott kelly and tim were scheduled to spend three hours repairing a rail car, which is jammed in place. they were able to move the car back to its storage location, freeing the move for the supply mission. this is dw news, live from berlin. we will see you again at the top of the hour. ♪

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liveill come back to from paris. and michel platini both fired from soccer for a years after being found guilty of ethics violations. in two most powerful figures fifa sports say they will fight the van. a struggle to form a stable government. a historic election broke the traditional two-party government in spain. at