The Berlin InternationalFilm Festival after walking phoenixs here but hes in a foul mood well tell you why coming up. Also coming up there were more medals up for grabs at the Winter Olympics thats including the ice dance competition where canadas graceful couple virtue and moir were vying for another gold well bring you up to date on day levon and junk. And adjuster that reverberates through the sting tommy smiths moment of protest after winning gold at the one nine hundred sixty eight olympics he joins us to discuss the challenges he faced and the enduring problem of racism in sports. Im sumi so misconduct good to have you with us the war in syria is heating up on two fronts the United Nations is warning that the situation in the rubble how donkey. Eastern how to is spiraling out of control now monitors say nearly two hundred people have died there in government airstrikes since sunday but equally worrying is the turkish offensive in Northern SyriaTurkish Forces are preparing to lay siege to the city of a friend putting them in conflict with kurdish and possibly Syrian Forces. An air raid on eastern guta a suburb of the syrian capital damascus. Scores of people have been killed according to the london based syrian observatory for human rights and hundreds have been injured the attackers or Syrian Government forces the suburb which is held by rebel forces has been under siege for more than four years the United Nations say the Syrian Government must stop targeting civilians there which completely deplore the the systematic use of violence against the human the civilian populations and the hospitals and schools. These are violations of humanitarian law and all parties you know the un is calling on all parties to deescalate the violence in syria meanwhile turkey is pressing its offensive against Kurdish Forces in syria in government held Aleppo Syrian kurds demonstrated against the offensive and in support of the mainly Kurdish Militia y p g fighters and now it looks like syrian allied troops may join them. The syrian army and we won the Syrian People and we won. And we have won will. The turkish president. May try to suppress that well he wants to prevent syrian kurds from establishing a stronghold in the offering a region that borders turkey the areas controlled by the kurdish which is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party or p k k which is regarded a terrorist organization. Turkish forces are now closing in on the city of often. The siege of the alfred city center will start rapidly in the coming days. Turkeys offensive has further complicated an already bewildering web of alliances and rivalries and syria that will become even more complex if turkey encounter Syrian Forces aligned with the kurds. We have with us she is the president of the European Center for kurdish studies here in berlin thank you for joining us in our studio today we heard turkeys president everyone saying that hes talked to russia hes talked to iran and hes managed to stop the Syrian Government from its plans to send its own troops into this region Northern Syria into offering who are the real power brokers here well you already mentioned the reason i think this is turkey on the one hand and russia and iran on the other hand though those different sectors have of course different interests in a flea in. The largest interest really is with turkey which wants to get rid of the y. P. G. Which is the syrian militia the p. K. K. Which are currently with a lot of arms which were provided by the United States in the syrian parts of kurdistan so turkey wants to get rid of them this is why i freeness so important for turkey really the United States on the other hand which also one of the poem of course they dont have no specific interest in a free and really i mean their military bases are not in a free. And they are in the us so they will just let everybody do what people really want to do there i think russia which is supporting the Syrian Regime of course but on the other hand if the Syrian Regime takes a friend or not its not of great importance for for russia and iran again of course they also have an alliance with the with the why p. G. But again its not the region which is important for them in the middle of all this is a free and what is going to happen if nobody steps in to help the current. There well i think if the Syrian Regime doesnt get in now i think that turkey will stay there and try to get rich off the p. K. So if you have a look on a friend whos living there we see that we have about three hundred fifty thousand People Living in a free and well yes to billions of of course civilians. And in the will interest interestingly about one hundred thousand of them not kurds but arabs mostly refugees of course so this is the civilian population and then we have the y. P. Gee theyre the most Syrian Military branch of the p. K. K. Which is for several years at ministering the region and many of the currents living there particularly would like to get rid of the y. P. G. Because it doesnt have a good record on human rights but of course they dont want to have turkey in there and they dont want to have the regime in there too but weve seen these very dramatic images earlier from eastern how to if theres a siege by Turkish Forces are we going to see the same thing happen enough actually i dont think so i mean you never know of course but until today turkey didnt go forward as for example the Syrian Regime did and they didnt go forward as for example in aleppo they didnt just bomb everything from a. President of the European Center for kurdish studies thank you for joining us thank you. Now to some other stories making news around the world iran says it has located the wreckage of a plane that crashed into a mountain two days ago with sixty five people on board rescue workers will have to recover bodies from the debris by forty due to the rough terrain records show the plane only recently resumed service after spending six years in storage. In mozambique at least seventeen people have died after they were buried in a landslide of garbage Authorities Say happy wayne caused a mountain of trash to the dump in the capital to collapse on to surrounding houses officials believe more bodies could still be buried under the debris. Parts of new zealand have declared a state of emergency after a powerful storm battered the south island the remnants of cycling have brought flooding and strong winds and some residents have been forced to evacuate their homes and all flights in and out of wellington were canceled. Here in germany the center left social democrats have launched a critical internal vote on whether to enter a Second Coalition with Angela Merkels conservative members of the party have a little over a week to cast their ballots the deal has a deeply divided the rank and file and its a battle thats pitting the Party Establishment against its future leaders. Nothing is more important for the social democrats over the next ten days and these kind of town Hall Meetings the partys grassroot is deeply divided as to whether they should agree to a grand Coalition Deal or not and the face of the rebellion against american Led Coalition is this young man kevin the leader of the party is used to doing hes trying to get members to vote no. And she doesnt in a fight really right there we can explain to the people why no vote to this grand Coalition Deal which i am calling for doesnt only mean a no but also a yes because if were serious and pledge our word it can be a chance to create a different more social democratic policy or to put it to someone in. The face of the internal opposition the social democrats general secretary is rooting for a yes vote its a first face of many tonight the debate civilized but passionate in the middle of the event news breaks for the first time the far right alternative for Germany Party has overtaken the s. P. D. In a National Poll the new numbers are a disaster for the party but the pro Coalition Campaign thinks its best to hold course this but this is the best way to tackle bad poll results to develop good concrete policies which improve peoples everyday lives thats why i want us to vote for this and then quickly get on your government implementing policies i bet the s. P. D. Will also be stronger against their. That is why the partys establishment will tour the country in the next week in support of the Coalition Deal passed referendums have been formalities but this time as the town hall show is the result is far from assured. I have two hearts beating in my chest one us for social democracy on the other hand im a citizen of this country and as a citizen im hoping to have a stable government and this is why i will vote for a grand coalition. Because according to one system early in your agenda just doesnt represent our general. Nation anymore pretty to look Coalition Deal postponed all the important decisions too after twenty twenty five or it took fatal decisions such as the water protection. Division is simmering at the grassroots of germanys oldest poteen and its this kind of opposition that in the end could still prevention many from having a stable government anytime soon. Lets bring in a did of these Political Correspondent simon young hi simon this is essentially the final make or break moment to form a new government for germany what happens if members vote against our working with merkels conservative. Or worse in that case i think theyre the most likely thing is that fresh elections would be held that might take a few months to set up but i do tend to think that most s. P. D. Members will in fact in the end come down in favor of a new grand coalition with Angela Merkels party they may not be keen on it but after the chaos of recent days you know they may just saw aides that they prefer that theres even less athletes light for new elections and all the uncertainty that that would bring for the s. P. D. This is a party that has gained around twenty five thousand new members since the start of the year as its been facing this identity crisis simon who are these new members and how could they affect the outcome going forward. Seamier should tell you one of them is a dog if you can see here of the germanys massillon bilbies paper this morning a dog has applied to join the s p d. A frivolous application there that Party Managers say theyre going to block but it gives you an idea of how this this vote is being taken quite seriously a lot of these new members who joined recently are young people who are any joyce by the s. P. D. Youth Wing Campaign and that message that theyre spreading the whats really needed now is not more of the same but some fresh thinking and the only way they can really win new the party the socialists a. Being in opposition rather than joining with merkel in government simon also in that newspaper that you held that there was an opinion poll that was released today that showed that germanys far right party the alternative for germany now apparently has more voter support than the social democrats how significant is this poll was pretty shocking stuff i mean dont forget the a. F. D. This anti immigrant party has only just got into parliament for the first time there are some doubts being raised about this poll the head of the Polling Company is described as having close links to the but nonetheless its part of the trend of the polling institutes to say the far right is only advance and were seeing that as the months go by. These Political Correspondent simon young thank you simon. All right its time to head down to the Berlin InternationalFilm Festival we have a we have usenet my ass waiter and David Leavitt standing by for us hi both of you what have you been seeing today. Hey sue me the biggest movie on today is the new movie by gus van sant this is the director behind milk and good will hunting and this one is called dont worry he wont get far on foot its about a quadriplegic cartoonist actually it is about John Callahan who is a well known cartoonist in the United States who died in two thousand and ten and it is a fictionalization of his autobiography actually its all about his struggles with alcoholism and about his recovery after he became a quadriplegic and his development into the cartoonist that he became eventually yeah and this is we both thought this was a pretty strong movie a little disjointed the times i really have to say actually jonah hill in a supporting role really stall the show what do you think my absolutely stole the show is im filled with a lot of star power i have to say weve got rooney mara also in a supporting role a few other famous faces pop up but i know you just heard john king phoenix and Joaquin Phoenix was at the press conference he was in a ridiculously foul mood i have to say we were all there willing to to cheer him on because we thought he gave a great performance but he didnt want to answer questions he even turned away from the press at some point so im curious to see what hes going to be doing later on the red carpet behind us here is he is famously media shy even when one of our colleagues stood up to ask him a question about how he prepared for this role because it is such an interesting physical role hes confined to a wheelchair for most of and we asked him how he prepared for this and he just did not want to answer the question he has maybe one sentence. Yanks all right so beware of walk in phoenix in a bad mood i guess. Looking forward to seeing that from both of you. David leavitts at the Berlin InternationalFilm Festival well be talking to both a little bit later in the program. Youre watching the news still to come the Winter Olympics offered plenty of thrills and spills and pyongyang including a golden display for this canadian here in half by we look at the headlines from day eleven. But first could a trade war be in the air between the e. U. And the us than the European Union is certainly preparing for one survey authorities getting ready to slap high tariffs on American Products like whiskey orange juice and motorcycles if donald trump carries out his threat to hit imported steel with punitive measures u. S. Secretary of commerce wilbur ross has suggested the likelihood of putting a twenty four percent tariff on all still imports or introducing a quota china has already promised to retaliate by putting quotas on u. S. Soil and other raipur cultural products and there are reports the e. U. Is ready to implement tabs on target American Products within days or Commerce Department says this is to tackle a global glut in still an alum india over supply things to beijings ambitions to keep Economic Growth high china producing way more than it needs putting steel makers in the u. S. And e. U. Out of business with dumping prices and how washingtons trade sanctions could hurt everyone max often joins us from the e. U. s defective capital brussels max what does brussels have in its arsenal. Well first of all the u. Commission confirmed to d. W. News that they did they have faired to retaliate in some kind of way ever since the g seven last year i dont really know if you remember that when trump now instead he might be in the game for some terrorists here and they have two ways of retaliating the first of all is of course they could slap on and you just mentioned that ben terrorists goods they choose motorcycles whiskey those are among those you mentioned earlier but of course they could also file an official complaint with the World Trade Organization what were hearing is that the European Union will target products from republican states now that sounds like the e. U. Is getting involved in politics you wont get anyone here in brussels to confirm that officially of course if you focus on the products like motorcycles in wisconsin or Harley Davidson at least or whiskey in tennessee in kentucky you can associate those goods with states that can be associated in return with some politicians from the Republican Party or with the majority of Republican Voters i would be very careful with that why