>> this is dw news live from berlin. a powerful earthquake strikes central italy leaving more than 100 dead and many others missing. emergency crews are working to rescue people trapped in the rubble. one town is reported to have been completely flattened. also coming up, and other escalation in syria's war as turkey sends in tanks. turkish forces have crossed into

northern syria to eject islamic state fighters and are targeting kurdish forces telling them to retreat or face the consequences. i'm terry margin. good to have you with us. scenes of devastation in central italy after a strong earthquake hit the region overnight. the official death toll is 120 and is expected to rise. that epicenter was just south of georgia. the villages in the southeast were particularly hard hit. rescue workers are on site, aching people out of collapsed buildings. reporter: the view from the air shows the extent of the destruction caused by the quake. this is what is left of the

centuries old town northeast of rome. it was one of three municipalities all but destroyed when the 6.2 magnitude quake struck in the bill of the night. most residents were sleeping in their beds. she was eventually rescued, but her daughter did not survive the collapse. rescue workers continue to race against time to free those trapped beneath the rubble. every life saved leaves exhausted emergency workers and relieved friends. this 65-year-old man spent hours waiting to be pulled free. he was met by his distraught sister. despite moments of happiness like this, the death toll continues to rise.

>> we won't leave anyone alone. no family, no beans palavi, no district. let's get to work because the coming hours, we can get to work, tearing from the ruins human lives and restoring those so badly hit. reporter: among those who survived, the overwhelming emotion is shock. the parish priest close to tears tried to look to the future. >> i don't know what to say. we are living through this immense tragedy. we are simple way hoping there will be the smallest number of victims possible and we will have the courage to move on. the region affected is mountainous and with many roads destroyed, even more inaccessible. that may mean some of these communities may never be rebuilt.

those who lost their loved ones and homes will find those choice but to rebuild their lives. terry: our reporter is in the quake zone and joins us from italy. what have you seen there? reporter: rescue e workers are still desperate to find survivors and those trapped under the rubble. they took out a man who was 57 years old and they are still looking for survival -- survivors. firefighters are following, digging with their bare hands and rescue workers tell me it is still possibible to find them because after those quakes, people have managed to survive a day or two after thehe wreckage occurs, but there are no

streetlights and there are no lights in the houses. everything is pitched dark and only some spotlights from the rescue teams. terry: there's no electricity and you describe workers working with their bare hands to dig people out of the rubble. this quake struck in a mountainous area. roads have been destroyed. how do difficult is it for rescue teams to get to the quake zone. reporter: the remote villages are hardest hit and only one or two roads, some roads are locked my landslides and all the people coming to the towns or who are fleeing the towns, people are managing to get out because they have no home and they need

shelter. the police are trying to regulate traffic but it is difficult to bring heavy machinery here because the road is just gone. there's no road to reach amatrice from the side. we felt aftershocks one hour or two hours ago and rescue workers have to leave the area because it is too dangerous to go through the rubble and it's a very complicated situation. terry: italy is prone to earthquakes. another struck in 2009, i believe. what is the government in rome doing to cope with it? reporter: the prime minister was here in amatrice and promised to help with money and all of the solidarity from italy, but the

state is not quick to resolve these problems. it is all about the lax living laws in italy and the rules are not followed. there are many buildings from medieval times which are not earthquake proof and even the new buildings are not earthquake proof. it is a systemic problem, i would say. terry: thank you so much. to syria now where turkish forces have crossed into the north of the country, aiming to clear the area of so-called islamic state fighters and prevent serious -- event syrian kurds from taking over more territory. kurdish tanks have moved in and the u.s. is the -- is providing air support.

the syrian government has called the operation a flagrant violation of it sovereignty. reporter: turkish tanks moving into syria against one of the last strongholds of the so-called islamic state. turkey's special forces were supported by fighter jets from the international alliance and the turkish president told visiting u.s. vice president that the lightning strike into syria was successful. >> the members of the free syrian army and local residents managed to liberatate that entie province. reporter: the turkish president has made it clear that the so-called islamic state is not turkey fosse only target. they see syrian kurds as dangerous because of their links to militant waging an insurgency. ice president joe biden was in ankara to support the government

and reiterate that they must return to the east side of the euphrates river. mr. biden: let me make it absolutely clear to those who are part of the syrian forces that participated that they must move back across the river. they cannot, will not and under no circumstances get american support if they do not keep that commitment. reporter: turkey saysys it will keep forces, watching so-called islamic state and another it leaves is an enemy in the syrian kurds. terry: dorian jones is covering this story from the stumble. what can you tell us about the scope of this offensive? guest: the first objective of ththe turks has been successfsfl

with syrian rebels taking the town center and engaged in mopping up operations. islamimic state didid not put uy fight at all and decided to just cucut and runun. the key question is the second part of turkey's operation, to give up recent territorial gains they have made in the last few weweeks. that i is unclear. we had the u.s. vice president supporting dememand that syrian kurds retreat, but we have had a strong statement warning the turks if they wanant to say -- f they wantoto stay, t they will face t the same date they have ininflicted on islamicic state.. terry: there is a conflict between turkey and islamic state , but what about the conflict as a whole, sending ground troops is a big step.

what could it mean for the broader conflict? guest: it does risk complicating things because turkey hahathe largest armymy in the regionon d they've made an n step into the conflict. damascusus has wastedd concerns, but moscocow and even w washingn willll be watching to see what r turkrkey's ulultimate goals ande they prepared to stay there? there are rumors they are creating a safe haven zone which would indicate a more permanent presesence, an area a that could cover 70 or 8080 kilometers. that is someththing they hahaven dedemanding a long time but t he had little supportrt from its allies. turkey could now be going ahead on its own on this. terry: this offensive is happening while vice president joe biden is visiting turkey. isis there any significance to e timing here?

guest: it all c comes as s relas between u.s. and turkey are at rock bottom. have felt a lack of solidarity during t the failed coup attempt and this latest eventt with turey entering syria underlies how important it is to have a good relationship and that's the message i think biden is trying to give, saying we are a strong ally and we needed to work together. terry: thank you so much. germany has received more than a million migrants over the past year. chancellor angela merkel invited them here telling the german people we can do this. the migrants are process to determine who will be allowed to stay as refugees and who will be sent back as economic migrants. one year on, dw spoke to a man about to be deported. we asked him what he would say to the chancellor if he got the chance.

terry: you are watching dw news. still to come, the unofficial and uncocontrolled vigilante groups patrolling the borders of

some european countries. their mission, to repel invaders. that means migrants. a disturbibing trend or just citizens doing their duty? that and more coming up in just one minute. and we will have the latest business news. >> the dw newscenter -- hehere , this cover it -- video a and audio, pododcast and language courses in ththe dw mediaia cenr at media center. dw.com.

>> with each passing day of the coconflict in syria, more and me children fear theieir future may be fading away. with every clalaroom damaged or deststroyed, with every chihild witnessing the horroror of war, every family fleeing the violence, we cannot risk losing an entire generation of children to death and despair because they are the future of syria. terry: welcome back. you are with dw news. our top story, emergency crews in central italy are working to rest people trapped in the rubble after a strong earthquake struck overnight. authorities say at least 120 large are dead and hundreds more are missing. many mountain villages have and badly damaged. a year ago, i wave of migrants, most escaping the syrian

conflict made their way into europe. several countries erected there your system the flow but in some countries, there is a feeling their borders are not being popularly -- properly controlled and it has led to the emergence of vigilante groups. our correspondent met one of them in bulgaria. reporter: these people are part of a vigilante group trainining enablele gary and o orest. theieir mission, to intercept refugees across into the country from turkey. this 57-year-old was a soldier in the bulgarian armed forces sitting in the headquarters, he says most migrants are the enemy and need to be pushed back out of the country. >> it is well-known that thousands of i.s. fighters have traveled into european c countrs pretending to be refugees.

no less than 30% of the refugees are actually i.s. fighters. 10% are prepared for suicide attacks. then there are other fighters who are sent to europe with many women and children. they will collapse the social welfare system. reporter: claims of horror stories becoming reality have led thousands of bulgarians to join vigilante groups. they are made up of police and military officers but also teachers and students. accocording to this professor of local science, it has become a mass phenomenon. >> they have the support of the population. the majority of ontarians back these groups.

according to one survey, 84% of those asked said they did. that's a significant figure. around 30 kilometers on the bulgaria and turkey's border, divided into small teams, they hunt for people who h have crosd illegally and intimidate them. those who do not voluntarily go back to turkey are handed over to the vigilantes. for most members of the g group, the refugees are invaders. >> they want to set our land on fire. a want to destroy us. this is their vision. they want to make more. reporter: bulgaria is not unique in having unofficial paramilitary unit. hungry, the czech republic and finland have similar groups. resistance to o those seekingg asylumum in growing steadily

across europe for -- across europe. terry: afghan security forces are trying to quell an attack at a university. university officials say security forces were quick to arrive on the scene for top hundreds of students were in the school at the time of the attack. some managed to escape while many are trapped inside the compound. those trapped inside took to social media to call for help. witnesses have reported gunfire and expsions. business now and fanny is here to tell us about some unique ways of paying your bills. fannie: crypto currencies like bitcoin -- they have not attracted much it tension from rick and mortar banks until now. and international banking alliance aiming to set up their own digital currency -- the project is headed up by deutsche

bank and ubs. the new currency is called utility settlement coin and is designed to make transactions between banks cheaper and faster. they claim it's a way to clamp down on fraud. new system could be in place in two years. let's get our new york moneyman to bring us up. it seems like a cashless future is on the horizon. guest: i still have a few bucks in my pocket, but i have more money on my bank account and my credit card. if we look at what the banks try to achieve here, it's more about the settlement of securities trading. what they try to do is automate those settlements and it costs a lot of time and money for we are talking aliens of dollars each

year and if we use the regional economies to try to automate that and save money, this approach is not necessarily meaning that we are nearing the cashless future sooner. fannie: there is concern it may give us 40's more control over us. how do you see that? guest: i would say it's too late. we are pretty transparent and if you were to receive your paycheck not on your bank account or check or even your employer will have the information in a technical, in an electronic system, that's the word i was looking for. we are pretty transparent and

those developments are just another step in that direction, but is too late. we are transparent already. fannie: thank you for the up eight from wall street. and to a different story now, the volcanoes and teaches of beautiful hawaii. there are plenty of reasons to visit the american island and one highlighted coming with dolphins. some even claim that there are therapeutic and if it's that regulators say it is cool and they want to ban it. reporter: they are known to be among the most intelligence pcs. they are friendly and kind, so much so that they don't seem to mind close encounters with strangers. tourists from all over the world come to hawaii for a dolphin adventure. few seem to realize that their experience takes a toll on the gentle mammals. the national marine fisheries service says the nocturnal

demurred dolphins are being deprprived of rest d during the. >> it's s like us -- if we don't get enough rest, we can have health outcomes and get increasingly sick and can't function as well as we could with a good night sleep. the same with dolphins. over time, their health may be impacted. reporter: regulators want to ban swimming with dolphins, but that would spell the end of an important sector in the hawaiian tourist industry. every one carries around 80 tourists paying $250 each. its revenue the island needs. tourism is the largest industry here, accounting for 175,000 jobs and almost 20% of hawaii's gdp. tour operators are worried. >> i think there's room for some regulation and i think me and other operators would be open to that but i don't think it's something we need to stop doing. i think it is a good thing and

the humans can really benefit from being out there with dolphins. reporter: be that as it may, the economist -- the economy has to work for both tourists and dolphins. a final decision is expected early in 2017. fannie: in the u.s., volkswagen has agreed to hold talks overcompensation claims following the emissions scandal. they have managed to end a dispute with two suppliers that has led to a production halted some plants and sources say the parties signed an agreement to cooperate for another six years. vw says production will resume next monday. one week after the biggest heirship took to the skies, the

airship has made a crash landing north of london. it wasas damaged afterer hittina mast during a test flight, making a hard landing. the ship is filled with helium and is designed to carry extra heavy load. it uses less fuel than normal plane and can stay aloft for days. that is your business update for now. back to you. terry: we will keep it up in the air -- it seems we are not alone. the european southern observatory in europe has announced the discovery of an earthlike planet orbiting the star nearest to our son. it has been named proximity and the planet is in a zone compatible with the presence of good water, meaning it could support life. it is just for light years away, so it is almost in earth's back yard.

before we go, a reminder for top stories we are following -- emergency crews in central itaty are working to rescue people trapped in the rubble after a strong earthquake struck overnight. authorities say 120 people are dead and hundreds more are missing. many mountain village have -- mountain villages have been badly damaged. you are dw news coming to you live from berlin. we have more in our in-depth round up of today's news. don't forget you can find more of our stories online at dw.com. thank you for watching. stay with us.

>> it is 9:00 p.m. in the french capital, i'm catherine nicholson with your headlines in paris. to recover italy survivors after a powerful earthquake. known to have been killed. a key syrian town repeatedly recaptured from the islamic state group after a joint turkishn by the military, syrian anti-regime forces and american fighter planes. and it's an act of economic war 4.