>> this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, the battle for aleppo all what over, and the humanitarian crisis is starkly clear. civilians and rebel fighters are due to withdraw from last pockets of resistance. the u.n. tonight saying that syria and russia must answer for alleged atrocities and aleppo.. also coming up, , 18 years in prison for the captain of a

migrant ship that sank, killing at least 700 people. only 28 survived when his overcrowded vessel went down. a court in italy finds him guilty of multiple counts of manslaughter. and donald trump nominates the ceo of exxon mobil to be the next u.s. secretary of state. oil and diplomacy. rex tillerson is a friend of vladimir putin, and his nomination heightens concerns about conflict of interest between the president-elect and the president of russia. brent: i am brent goff. good to have you with us. rebels in aleppo have agreed on a deal to withdraw from the city and evacuate the people the civilians trapped inside. that is after the syrian military always crushed

resistance there in the last 48 hours. residents are now fleeing in their thousands as government forces retake control of the last pockets of formerly held areas by the rebels. the military offensive in the city is all but over, having left east aleppo in total rooms. -- ruins. reporter: these could be scenes from the devastated cities of europe during world war ii. but this is today, and this is aleppo. official evacuations hadn't even started yet when these images were filmed. an all too brief breath of calm in the storm of violence that has wracked to the city for weeks. the evacuation order applies to civilians and rebel fighters. thousands have already fledd their homes. >> in this situation, stitill vy babad. a woman -- [indiscernible] everyone in aleppo city iss

depependent on russia and dertment to o protect thehem frm being killed or captured. reporter: east aleppo was a major urban stronghold for rebel fighters, and now seems to be slipping out of their grasp. the humann toll of this battle has s been simply catastrophic. >> people are being killed and injured every day. people are fleeing in chaotic and catastrophic conditions, leaving everything behind, taking huge risks to seek safety. reporter: whether the evacuation deal will hold or not, people continue to flee. they have no other option. eastern aleppo is falling, and who knows what the future will hold? brent: i am joined by a

journalist in neighboring turkey who is covering the story on aleppo. good evening to you. can you tell us, what do you know? how you heard that have you heard anything more about this deal -- have you heard anything about this deal to agree to let people in eastern aleppo leave the city? >> at 5:00 a.m., evacuation will occur then pay that will be early tomorrow morningng. we heaear that the buses have already arrived in aleppo to begin evacuation, like i said, and 5:00 a.m. there is hugee hesitation with many civilians i've spoken with. they seem really scared about what might happen once they get on those buses on the way to a live -- on the way to idlib in the western side of aleppo. there is a couple neighborhoods left in eastern aleppo still under control of the rebels, at least three.

there is a bit of confusion over the numbers, between 50,000 and 80,000. what we know is that these buses should be evacuating at least 50,000 civilians and fighters who are lightly armed. brent: we also know it is basically impossible for reporters to get into eastern aleppo to tell us what is going on. what about you? you have been talking to some people in aleppo. do you know what happened to them? >> t that has been o our main ie for many months now with eastern aleppo. we werere relying heavily on lol journalists inside eastern aleppo and teachers and nurses and doctors giving us daily information on what is happening. although until last night, i was in -- up until last night, i was in full communication with these doctors and nurses. midnight local time, we lost all

kinds of contact. phon lines were off, internet connection was cut. and we did manage to get back in touch with -- i got in touch with vendors and a teacher just a few hours ago, -- understand the teacher just a few hours ago, and they were getting rid of their phones. they feared that the areas they were in were being captured by the regime and they could see any communication between them and outside them especially with journalists. it is dangerous for them as well. thankfully, some people have come back on the internet and are communicating with us. it is a real danger for quite a few people. brent: yeah, dangerous situation indeed. thank you very much. an italian court has sentenced to the captain of a migrant boat that capsized to 18 years in prison. mohammed ali malek was the

skipper of a ship that sank last >> his accomplice, mahmoud bikhit, got five years. the court fofound them personaly couple for killing -- culpable for killing some 700 people. the men's lawyers had argued that their clients were just refugees themselves, and planned to appeal the verdict. the prosecutor thinks justice was served. "the judgment establishehes a precedent and incense an important memessage traffickers- and it sends an important message to traffickers who would inflict such mistreatment and

suffering." this incident is the deadliest single event on the mediterranean involving refugees. the migrants had sent a distress signal which caught the attention of a nearby freighter. as it approacached, the passengs rushed t to e side, whicich caud e vevessel to tipp o over. this is an all too common reaction w with refugees despere to be rescued. there were only 28 survivors. yet many continued to make this perilous journey across the mediterranean. more than 170,000 this year alone, according to the international organization for migration. so far, thousands have died trying. brent: they survived kidnapping, rape, and slavery at the hands of so-called islamic state. now 2 young yazidi women have received the eu's top award for human rights. they were honored at a ceremony

in strasburg today after months of torture. they stick their captors and fled to germany. since then, they've campaign on behalf of hundreds of women and children who are being held by i.s. in the united states, u.s. president-elect donald trump has announced the selection of rex tillerson for secretary of state. america's incoming top diplomat is, like trump, a businessman. tillerson is ceo of oil giant exxon mobil. his name was leaked over the weekend to u.s. media as trump's probable choice. he is a controversial figure because of his close ties, as you may just seen, with russian president vladimir putin. the trump cabinet is fast taking shape, believe it or not. let's look at the standouts so far, a mixture of powerbrokers and military brass. the treasury department, stephen

m-- steven mnuchin, goldman sachs insider. he left goldman sachs when he was 40. at the labor department, we have andrew puzder, a burger chain chief exec, an outspoken critic of workplace regulations and obamacare could he wants to cap the federal minimum wage at nine dollars and hour. then comes the generals. at the fence, marine corps general james madison -- at defense, marine corps general james mattis. he retired in 2013 so congress would have to pass special legislation to confirm him. national security adviser general like flynn is -- general michael flynn is the nominee. he is from the u.s. army come also retired. he was sacked by obama from defense intelligence agency over his leadership style. his son recently promoted a fake news story claiming that

democratic operatives were running a child born ring out of a washington pizza restaurant. and from the department of homeland security, we have john kelly, former u.s. senate military activities in the -- former u.s. head of military activities in latin america including the controversial detention facility guantanamo bay. those are the big names so far. let's bring in our correspondent from washington to talk about what we are seeing now as the cabinet comes together. let's start, i guess with mr. tillerson. how is the nomination being received there were you are in washington? reporter: there are bipartisan concerns because as you mentioned, this is another person who has no experience in the political world, and as we experienced over the last months, donald trump is very eruptive. he loves to tweet things which

are very controversial. many people in washington hoped were s some people in his cabint with more experience to calm him down. on the other hand, the decision gets some applause by those people who think that washington really has to change, and they are hoping for outsiders to drain the swamp, as donald trump puts it. you really get 2 opinions. brent: we have heard some people today talk about petro-diplomacy from tillerson in that he's the ceo of a multinational corporation. it means he has some type of diplomatic experience. can we predict what sort of foreign policy changes we could see under secretary of state tillerson? reporter: it is really hard to tell at this very point because he hardly talked about that. only once in 2014 or so, he really spoke out against sanctions, which all big business people normally do.

so far, one could say the foreign policy of exxon was to work closely together with countries would support the production of oil and gas. we will see if he changes that. we really do not know about his personal agenda. brent: any secretary of state, any new secretary of state, will have to deal with situations such as syria, crimea, palestine. what is his approach liquidity, considering what is going on in aleppo tonight -- likely to be, considering what is going on in aleppo tonight? reporter: he is tight with russia. he got a special friendship award from putin himself. this will be a big topic in this presidency, and i think the rerelationship t to russia wilil really warm up. russia is applaudiding this choe of tillerson. that might be major changes in syria as well as the united states. might work much more closely with russia and maybe even with bashar al-assad. these are things we will watch

closely. this is the one thing we know, the ties to russia will be much closer under this presidency than under president obama. brent: our washington correspondent on the story for us tonight. thank you very much. i want you to take a good look at this picture. another millionaire has arrived at trump tower today. kanye west. but the rapper doesn't appear to be up for a post in the cabinet, at least for now. the flamboyant hip-hop star said he would have voted for trump if he had voted at all. it raises speculation about who will perform at the united nations. west, by the way, says he plans to run for president in 2020. did you get that, mr. trump? you are watching "dw news." still to come, fired from her job, this turkish academic spencer days getting arrested,

preferably every day. we will have the full story. that and business news on the other side of a 60-second right. stay where you are.

brent: welcome back. you are with "dw news," live from berlin. civilians and rebel fighters are escaping east aleppo along safe routes agrgreed to by government forces. syria's ally russia says the military offensive in the city will be over in a matter of hours. the united nations has warned of atrocities being committed against civilians in the city. and rex tillerson has been

selected to lead the u.s. state department by president a lot donald trump. the new top diplomat nominee is the ceo of oil and gas giant exxon mobil. the choice has raised bipartisan concerns over his close ties to russian president vladimir putin. business news now. a long anticipated merger shaping up. >> that is right, brent. bayer is getting closer to its takeover of monsanto. a large majority of shareholders of u.s. company have given their thumbs up to the $66 billion deal. monsanto management had already agreed to the takeover in september, following months of negotiations. environmentalists call it a marriage made in hell b becausef monsanto's long history of promoting genetically modified crops. ththe merger needs t the green t from more than 30 antitrust authorities worldwide. competing with the united states

and china in the digital marketplace -- for european companies, that is quite a challenge. in europe, companies are separated by line which is an different legal requirements, and there are other issues. first, there is data use. some eu countries fiercely protect user data, while some are relatively open to sharing anonymous information. next, uneven tax loss mean a company has to change and adapt to different rules in different countries. that is a costly and time-consuming process. finally, bureaucracy. if you have a stack of paperwork in a foreign language tying up your time and resources, it is difficult to focus on expanding your comedy. that is why starting a startup and extending it to other countries is difficult. germany and france want to address the issue. they kicked off a joint initiative at a digital summit in berlin. reporter: digital cooperation in

europe has been an astronomical success, at least if you look at airbus's martian rover. back on earth, the right is a bit rougher for the european high-tech industry. europe is in danger of falling behind. these 2 are well aware of the risks and challenges. today's franco-german conference on the digital economy was convened to discuss ways to regain the initiative. "the world will continue to industrialize. the question is, will be be e -- will we be part of that? i believe our r chances are goo, better than others." experts say national markets are too small and laws vary too much across europe. this makes it hard to compete globally, and a single eu regular tory structure is needed. "we want to see more coordination, common strategy,

one that is supported by the politicians. no one is going to wait for us. in the coming month and we cannot afford to carry on with the small-scale decision-making processes. time is short." the two ministers evidently agree. they call for a european investment fund of a billion euros to help to spend on startups. one says europe needs to invest more in digital infrastructure, even if it means taking on new debt to do so. second best from he says, is not good enough -- second-best, he says, is not good enough. >> for more insight on the story, daniel winter. if we look at all the obstacles come in different languages, legislation, paperwork, which is the most apparent and difficult one for startups? daniel: the one with the highest fees. the problem is, you cannot take any of them in isolation because

they all needed doing. if you move your business from berlin to madrid or paris to rome, you have to fit in with the bureaucratic situation. it is more difficult for smaller companies, especially when it comes to things like the language barrier, because they cannot necessarily just hire a bunch of local employees that you cannot take any of these factors in isolation. >> why are these issues addressed now? daniel: basically, low growth in europe is a problem now. down the line it will lead to lower employment. you will have problems with low consumer confidence, this kind of thing. you need to address the situations now, and there is a problem in europe that the tools are not harmonized compared to places like america or china, where they can basically start a business and make billions with your company inside the internal market before even considering going overseas. that is it the situation in new york -- that is not the situation in europe.

>> germany and france are talking about setting up a billion-dollar fund. daniel: it is timely. i'm sorry, but it is absolutely timely. when you look at the biggest silicon valley firms, they are worth hundreds of billions of euros. you need investment in other places -- states like france and germany to invest in a digital infrastructure. increasing the speed of your internet connection, or whatever it takes with education, to make sure that wages go down and investments to the companies themselves are more effective. >> let's take a look at the future. france is electing a new president next year. there will be a new cabinet. what does that mean for the chances of this joint initiative for the future? daniel: it does depend on which person is elected president it is whoever is best to invest in digitalization and france. the problem that france faces is strict labor laws. startups cannot be a flexibly.

francois hollande had huge difficulty changing that and i cannot and should that whoever the next -- can imagine whatever the next president is, that will not change anytime soon. >> what other reasons to be optimistic about digitalization in europe? daniel: young people, the future managers who will be tech savvy and change things. there is a bright future for digitalization in europe. >> daniel winter, thank you for your insight. brent: to turkey now, where president erdogan has fired or suspended 100,000 state employees since the summer's failed coup attempt. our next story follows one elector who wants her job -- one lecturer who wants her job back, so she protests every daand every day gets arrested. reporter: this is her routine

for weeks, every day, rain or shine. the literature teacher heads down to the shopping boulevard to the statue for the universal calculation of human rights -- declaration of human rights. >> the government took advantage of the state of emergencies to dismiss or suspend tens of thousands of state employees. and we are not supposed to fight back? we want our jobs back. we are calling on all state employees to show solidarity with us. reporter: the protest barely lasted two minutes. she and her fellow dems bidders are hustled into a waiting police -- fellow demonstrators

are hustled into a waiting police van. five hours later, they are released. they had to have a hospital certified they hadn't been mistreated. they are relieved to be out, but also very angry. >> all they care about is that we don't sit down in the street. as soon as they have got us off the streets, they don't care about us anymore. then we are just an annoyance, as far as they are concerned. reporter: the next morning at the human rights monument in an kara, things appear quite. she eyes the square from a nearby café. >> they are already here. reporter: riot police have also taken up positions. they are worried that her resistance will catch on. what's more, she makes her sign saying "i was dismissed, i want my job back." she has been arrested over 30

times so far. at 1:30, she and her fellow protester head over to the statue. they know full well the police will not give them any more than two minutes. some passersby spontaneously joined them. reporter: then the police move in. reporter: most of the bystanders watched silently as she is hauled through the progress rim mall. only a single woman gives vent to her rage. >> you've taken respectable teachers and let pedophiles go

free. may allah punish you. this government must be toppled. aren't you ashamed of what you are doing to these teachers? reporter: by evening, she is out again. this courageous woman is taking on the turkish state. tomorrow, at 1:30, she plans to be back again in front of the human rights monument in ankara. brent: here e a remindeder of e top story we a are following for you. civilians and d rebel fighters e leaving east aleppo along safe routes agreed upon by government forces. syria's ally russia says the offensive in the city -- [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its visit ncicap.org]

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>> welcome back, you're watching ."ve from paris on "france 24 our top stories. the country's ambassador to the u.n. says all military action has ended so the syrian regime is back in control. it comes after urgent calls to leave the besieged city. donald trump appoints an oil executive to be secretary of state. >> tillotson has close links to the russian president. gambia's electoral commission is on lockdown as the country's president refuses to accept his election defeat.