brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, a warning to the world not to forget its responsibility in syria, as thousands begin fleeing ahead of what could be the final battle in syria's civil war. more than 30,000 peoeoe have already fled, but for sosome, escape is not an option. we meet a teenager who has already been displaced by the war to a refugee camp in syria's last rebel stronghold. also coming up, , hungary's vikr orban rejects a european union report accusing him of

undermining democracy. as the european parliament debates stripping his country of its voting rights. and hurricane florence on a collision course with the eastern coast of the u.s. they are bracing for the wrath of a category four storm. and the state of the world economy 10 years after the collapse of lehman brothers. have we learned our lesson? analysts say corporate debt has doubled and risks are growing as the era of cheap money draws to a close. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. tonight, turkey is calling on the world to wake up to what is about to happen in syria. in the u.s. newspaper "the wall street journal," turkish

president recep tayyip erdogan today writes that the entire world stands to pay the price of an assault on syria's idlib province. and he adds that the consequences of inaction will be immense. president erdogagan's warnrning comes as tens of thohousandsf people flee idlib to escape syrian and russian forces preparing to take the final rebel stronghold. the u.n. says that scores of people have already been killed, more than 30,000 displaced in northwest syria last week alone. many fear r the assad government will deploy chemical weapons in an all-out assault. many of the people fleeing the idlib offensive are heading north towards the border with turkey. dw's reporter visited a refugee camp there, where he met a boy he was orphaned when a barrel bomb hit his homome.

daniel: hehe's onlyly 14, but or already knows what suffering is. three years ago, he fled to this refugee camp in northern idldli. disabled, , traumatized,d, and orphaned. here, he found safety. he nowowells food anand drinks frfrom this tent. > i work here d day and nighd manage to earn about a euro a day. it is just enough to survive. daniel: omar's family home was hit by a barrel bomb in his hometown. the blast killed his parents, and left him badly wounded. >> a helicopter bombed our house. people had warned us about the air raids. we were taken to hospital. two weeks later i woke up and had the feeling something was missing. then i felell out of bed a and i could not get back up.

my leg had been amputated. daniel: omar remained in hospital for three months and gradually learned to walk with crutches. his body is covered in scars, and he is wracked with pain. he is blind in one eye. incredibly, his younger sister bushra survived the blast uninjured. they fled to idlib together. she had been a model student, but school stopped after the bombs fefell. > i hope i can go back k to schohool one day, but itit wille difficult. i can't leleave my brorother ale inin a tent. daniel: 800 families live at the camp on the syrian turkish border. among them are hundreds of children. only basic necessities are available here. there's no real education and hardly any medical supplies. hope faded long ago.

it's been replalaced by worryryf what's to come. >> we've noticed the air r raids have started up again.n. there's s a lot of fear in the camp, especially among women and children. everyone is scared. no one knows where to go. we already fled the bombs once, and that was to here. daniel: omar and bushra don't want to flee again. the border to turkey seems impossible. and heading to a part of syria under government control is out ofof the question. >> i don't know wherere to go, t of course i would like to leave syria for better care. daniel: omar dreams of a better life. he hopes he will one day get a prosthetic leg and drugs to ease his pain. but here, such relief is unlikely. brent: germany's government says

it is talking with allies about deploying german forces to syria if the assad regime uses chemical weapons to attack idlib . washington and a berlin have reportedly discussed using german just a drop homs on syria. the german air force is already carrying out refueling and reconnaissance missions over syria and iraq. chchancellor angela merkel''s coalition partners the social democrats say they will not back any german military involvement. my colleague and our political correspondent christopher springate joins us now in berlin. if chemical weapons are used in syria in idlib province, what could possibly justify germany's decision not to participate in any military response? christopher: well, that's a political question. it is up to the politicians to decide what answer to that.

just to bring you up to speed with some options being looked at within the german defense ministry, constant flights are happening already. certainly a viable option. something called battle damage assessment flights, they might be another way the germany can assist its allies if there were to be some form of retaliation against the use of chemical weapons in syria. most controversially, the use of bombing raids, german tornado jets getting involved in bombing raids over syria. having said this, the german government has not taken it is yet as to whether it will take part or not. but it is looking at these options, it is examining fairly seriously the request for help from a major ally. brent: christopher, the

stippling would be a significant -- this appointment would be a significant -- this deployment would be a significant difference. christopher: there's no clear-cut answer as to how germany is going to react. if it comes to the use of chemical weapons in syria, you have very stark divisions, even within the leading coalition. you have very influential voices within chancellor merkel's conservatives saying we cannot leave this kind of war crime unanswered. at the same time, you have the leader of the social democrats, who of course are a partner in a ruling coalition, saying this -- the social democrats will not agree, either in parliament or in government, to germany's participation in the war in syria.

so, very stark divisions. brent: how likely is it that the chancellor will go ahead without the support of the social democrats and say yes to participation in a military operation? christopher: looking at things from the perspective of today, i think it is quite unlikely for chancellor merkel to ride rushod over the very clear opposition from coalition partners. her opposition was formulated in such a categorical way, that of chancellor merkel were to ignore that, it would threaten the survival again of her already fracturous government coalition. brent: christopher, thank you. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world. the united states is marking the 17th anniversary of the september 11 attacks, in which nearly 3000 people lost her lives.

ceremonies were held at the three sites targeted by islamist terrorists, including this one at the world trade center in new york city. the people of ghana are paying their final final respects to former u.n. secretetary general kofi annan. his coffin is lying in state in the capitol. the nobel peace laureate who grew up in ghana will be given a state funeral on saturday. he died in switzerland last month at the age of 80. around one million people have taken to the streets of barcelona to demand independence -- catalonia independence from spain. protesters are also calling for regional separatist leaders to be freed from prison. they are currently awaiting trial for their part in catalonia's failed bid to break away from madrid last year. tonight, hungary's prime minister viktor orban is accusing the european union of trying to blackmail his country over its treatment of migrants. the european parliament is

debating whether or not to sanction hungary for what it calls the erosion of the rule of law. if two thirds of lawmakers agree, they could strip hungary of its voting rights. that would be an unprecedented move here in europe. reporter: the hungarian prime minister took the initiative. he traveled to strasburg to, in his own words, defend hungary. >> i have come here today because you're not going to condemn just the government, but a nation as well. you are going to denounce hungary, that has been a member of the family of christian european nations for a thousand years. reporter: is the entire nation being condemned? the majority of eu politicians do not believe so, including the hungarians. >> we will explain that there is nobody attacking hungary. what happens in the european

parliament is the critic of the politics of the current government. reporter: unlike poland already facing eu sanctions, hungary has so far been spared. she believes this is political. >> viktor orban's political party is a member of the european people's party and they have friends in commission counsel and in parliament. reporter: german conservative leads the european people's party. >> if we say generally that you have to be afraid about muslims and generally attack a religion, then we have invented human rights and not christian rights. reporter: with even his own political allies wavering, hungary's premier viktor orban is awaiting a tense wait for a vote in the european parliament. brent: earlier we spoke with dw correspondent max hofmann and we asked him which way tomorrow's vote is likely to go. max: it really depends.

if the epp, the european people's party, which viktor orban is a member of that party, makes its members stick to a certain party line -- and this line would be against article seven -- it will be hard to get a two thirds majority. we do not expect that to happen, actually. just a reminder, epp is kingmaker here. and we expect this evening that the members of the epp are given free hand to vote any way they want. so, according to their conscience. and if that happens, then viktor orban is in trouble because many members of the epp are very dissatisfied with the path that viktor orban has taken. they feel like he is not representing the values, not only of the european union, , bt especially of the european people's party. so we expect many of those politicians to vote for triggering article seven. so in this case, against hungary. and so that is why our sources

here believe that the two thirds majority wilill actually happenn tomorrow, and that article seven will be triggered on wednesday. no guarantees, but it seems more likely than not. brent: that was dw's max hofmann reporting from the european parliament in strasbourg, france. brazil's workers party has replaced a candidate to take over from the jailed lula da silva. former sao paulo mayor fernando haddad. he now takes the reins from the ex-president who reportedly made the decision from his prison cell. lula hopes a groundswell of support following his incarceration will carry haddad to success. he remains very popular.

reporter: every morning at 9:00 it is the same routine. followers say good morning to da silva. they had been turning up here for the past five months, convinced the former president has been wrongly imprisoned. they say it is all part of a political plan. >> the judiciary and parliament have carried out a coup against brazil. they remove the president from office you have been legitimately elected with 54 million votes. their goal was only to remove her, but also to keep resident lula away from these elections. reporter: the other 20 campers share this conviction. they take turns at the vigil here at camp lula outside the prison where they former president is being held. ironically, it is a threat -- prison lula himself inaugurated.

he probably never thought one day he would end up here in a 15 square meter cell on the fourth floor. lula has many supporters in brazil, but he also has many critics. like in the city a few minutes away from the prison. many here see him as a danger to the country. >> he is popular because he and his party act like populists. it's all based on promises that he never fulfilled when he was a politician. reporter: brazil is deeply divided, politically and socially. it started when the middle class that traditionally supported lula's workers party became increasingly disillusioned with his leadership. >> people who work like i do don't support lula.

he subsidizes families, cooking gas, and whatever else. he is simply buying the poor. reporter: by barring lula from running his presidential candidate, brazil's top electoral court has forces party onto the back foot. still, lula's followers remain optimistic the workers party can still win. >> the surveys show that president lula is capable of transferring votes to someone else. >> we'ls v -- we're voting for lula, even if the picture on the ballot shows fernando haddad. reporter: with elections just weeks away, it looks like brazil's political crisis is not going to end anytime soon. brent: you're watching "dw news." still to come, hurricane florence is speeding towards the east coast of the united states

and authorities are warning it is going to hit the region head on. big headaches for folks there, but first we're going to talk business with ben. it has been 10 years since the collapse of lehman brothers. have we learned our lesson? ben: nothing at all has changed. others are arguing some -- things are looking up. corporate profits are on the rise. wall street is celebrating one record after the next. but growth has been fueled by low interest rates, and they are staying low for the moment. those low interest rates have fronted a lot of companies to go into debt on a massive scale. reporter: tesla is $10 billion in debt. netflix, $8 billion. germany's leading shipping company is $7 billion in the red.

these are just three e examples loloose nding. never beforereave companieses worldwide had such easy access to money as in recent years. according to a study, worldwide corporate debt has increased to $66 trillion, almost double what it was at the start of the financial crisis 10 years ago. money has never been as cheap as since the financial crisis. central banks flooded the markets with trillions to help financial institutions and economies get back on their feet. the u.s. federal reserve looks set to raise his key interest rate again. the european central-bank, on the other hand, is not ready to take that risk. in fact, the ecb is still in crisis mode with its zero interest rate policy. loans still costs virtually nothing. some fear the accumulated corporate debt could trigger the next level financial crisis. all the money that was borrowed

has to be paid back. if interest rates go up, repayment will be more expensive and may have to be counter financed with new debt. if that gets compounded by an economic downturn, many companies could find themselves in a tight spot. ben: over to sophie scimansky. sophie, what is with wall street 10 years on since the lehman brothers collapse? has anything changed, in your opinion? sophie: well, i would say some things have changed. the banks may be a little more stable some experts say, but there are other problems, as we just heard. corporate debt is at a record high, and american corporations are exposed to higher costs if they have to refinance their debt. it might open the -- also keep consumers from taking on too much debt. talking in general about how markets are affected, all in all people behind me in the trading

war do not bother to look back on the straight in crisis. most investors it seems to me are caught up in the moment, and right now stocks are performing really well so they do not look back, and neither too far ahead, as there are warning signs the economy could see a downturn. let me add, floor tradaders lood back today to this day in 2001, back to 9/11. at 9:20 in the morning they observed a minute of silence. ben: i'm glad you mentioned the consumers as well as the corporations, because i bet there are a lot of mortgage holders who will be in for a nasty surprise if those rates suddenly bump up. thank you, sophie. germany's auto associated is leading to bring volkswagen to court. it wants compensation for 2 million owners of diesels that are not as environmentally friendly as the company claimed.

ththe news came one day after te opening of a test -- test case seeking compensation for losses in vw's share price in the days after the scandal broke. during proceedings tuesday, the presiding judge said vw's ceo had dragagged his feet when it cameme to puic p pronouncementn. the carmaker faces a t total bil of only 9 billion -- of over 9 billion euros if it loses the case. tomorrow, pilots and flflight attendants plan a one-day strike. it is latest in a string of walkouts which are affecting tens of thousands of passengers the summer. the airline staff are to many better conditions and higher wages. ryanair has condemned the latest action, saying the walkouts would lead to job cuts in the german market this winter. that sounds like a threat. back to brent, and fresh

tensions between russia and nato. brent: that's exactly right. russia has begun its biggest military exercises since the end of the cold war. hundreds of thousands of russian troops have been joined in eastern siberia by soldiers from china and mongolia. nato says the exercises show that russia preparing for a large-scale conflict.. reporter: military equipment from all over the country deploys for the largest drill since the fall of the soviet union. a demonstration of military strength, the like of which has never been seen before in the russian federation. acaccording to the defefense ministry, 300,000 soldiers are involved. that's a third of the country's troops. 36,000 military vehicles and tanks are e reported to o be tag part, as r russia tries out its latest technology. and for the first time, china's joining the wargames. until now, only very close allies such as belarus have been allowed to participate. a small contingent from mongoloa is also involved.

as the drills got underway, russian president vladimir putin greeted his chinese counterpart xi jinping at the economic forum. the two countries are closer now than at any other time in their history. due to western sanctions, russia is looking to deepen its economic ties with china. no other leader has met putin more oftften than xi. only 3 3000 chinese soldiers are involved in the joint exercise, a tiny minority. but the message this sends is significant. even if russia and china are at odds on some foreign-policy issues such as crimea or eastern ukraine, militarily, at least, they are moving closer together. brent: let's take you to outer space for a look at this. hurricane florence is speeding towards the east coast of the united states. as you can see, it is a big one. currently a category four hurricane, florence is bringing winds of more than 215 kilometers per hour. authorities have warned that it will hit america's atlantic

coast head-on, causing power outages, flooding, and potential loss of life. more than one million people in virginia, north and south carolina have been told to leave for safety. reporter: a foretaste of hurricane florence darkens the skies of the carolina coast. it is expected to make e landfal with torrential rain a and winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour. >> we are planning for devastation. this is not a light storm. this is not a glancing blow. this is a category 4, category five storm. whether you think you are in a safe building, if it is not a fema certified hurricane shelter, i would encourage you to evacuate. reporter: some one million people have now been ordered to evacuate coastal communities. most are taking the advice seriously, protecting property,

emptying supermarkets, and filling their tanks. >> i want to make sure my car is full of gas, but i also want to make sure i have enough for a generator. reporter: florence is growing in strength and is expected to hit land sometime late thursday night. at the same time as carolina's urged people to be prepared as the hurricane approaches, planning for the aftermath has already begun. >> wherever you are in north carolina, get ready for florence now. last night the president granted my request for a federal disaster declaration so that federal funding and resources can come quickly to north carolina. reporter: police have reversed the flow of traffic on some highways so that all major roads lead away frfr the scene. florence, the most severe hurricane to threaten the u.s. mainland this year, will batter the coast with massive waves and storm surges, and also send

heavy rain and damaging wind far inland. brent: here's a reminder of those top stories we're fallingg for you. turkey's president erdogan is warning that the entire world stands to pay the price for an attack on serious idlib province. tens of thousands have fled as russia and syrian forces prepare to take the province. you're watching "dw news." i will be back after a short break 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]

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