Germany says it will be part of the International Effort to destroy syria rostock heil of chemical weapons serbias stockpot syrias stockpile of chemical weapons. Theyll be loaded onto an american vessel, and in germany will take the byproducts, and they will be made safe at a German Company near hamburg. Germanys army has a lot of experience disposing of chemical weapons, usually take what ones that date back to the world wars. The German Foreign minister says its time. I dont think anyone should refuse to help if they have the technical capacities, and thats why the government has decided not to duck responsibility and to make a contribution. Steinmeyer is baking on the International Conference on syria taking place later this month. He says its important that serbias neighbors such as iran also be at the negotiating table syrias and neighbors also be at the negotiating table. The main point is organizing access for ngos so the civilian population can at least partly be provided for. U. S. Specialists are currently at work on neutralizing Syrian Chemical Weapons in the mediterranean. Hazardous waste will be sent to disposal plants and then incinerated, and thats what the plants come in. Along with the elimination of syrias chemical weapons, secular opposition groups are reporting progress in their defense against radical islamist militias. Minute members are from abroad many members are from abroad and have been linked to the killing of residents. Many analysts say the prospects of peace are dim, and as the war continues, refugees continue to try to reach safety in jordan. Many of them are children. Shes 12 years old. She likes learning and never imagined she would have to stop going to school. For a year and a half, when we were still in syria, i could not go to school. A grenade blew up in our schoolhouse and direct everything rex wrecked everything. Then we had to stop going. 50,000 children live in this camp in jordan. Only a fifth of them go to school. Many of them work to help feed their families. The children of the civil war have had to grow up quickly. Refugee agencies have no protected play areas, and they offer counseling to those who cannot cope with what they have seen and experienced. She is one of them. She lost two girlfriends in the civil war, and she has found it hard to make new friends here. Many children are aggressive, say the carriers, and some quickly fly into rages or get depressed. The adults are often too exhausted for parenting, and there is a distrust. It often takes cap psychologists a long time to persuade parents to accept help for their kids. In the counseling center, kids learn to be kids again. She often had nightmares during her first months in the cap, but with help from counselors, she has adapted to life in the camp. To add to the stress of what they experienced in syria, the kids coming here have to deal with everything being different than it was at home. In their rooms, their school, their playgrounds. One of the skills we try to teach the kids is adaptability. The psychologists here hope that this generation will someday be able to go home an adjust to life in a new syria. I want to become an artist. I can sing, act in plays, and do gymnastics. She still does not really feel at home in the cap, but at least she can go to school again. And a moment, germanys outgoing defense minister fires a parting shot at it in and france. First, heres some of the other stories making headlines. The president of the Central African republic has flown to neighboring chad for a summit as pressure mounts on him to resign. He is accused of failing to stop bloodshed between muslims and christians thats claimed at least 1000 lives. Up to one Million People have been displaced in months of ironing fighting. Iraq he Officials Say at least 21 people have been killed, dozens wounded in a suicide bombing on a baghdad Army Recruiting posted iraq he iraqi officials. In thailand, thousands of antigovernment protesters have marched to drum up support for a mass rally aimed at forcing a shutdown in the capital, bangkok, next monday. They are calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister, who they say is a puppet of her exiled brother. At least five people have been killed in an explosion at a chemicals plant in central japan. 17 others were injured. Investigators suspect the blast at the Mitsubishi Materials plant was caused by a Chemical Reaction involving hydrogen. That story weve been talking about, germanys outgoing defense minister has lashed out at britain and france over the countries commitment to military deployments. He said berlin did not need any lectures from its partners. Germany has often faced criticism from nato allies for being overcautious and protecting power. That highlighted big german deployments in places like afghanistan and coso though. His unusually outspoken comments provided the backdrop for his successors for a speech in her new role. The Defense Ministry is considered one of the toughest jobs in the cabinet, and her time in the post has already begun with controversy. On thursday, she gave her first keynote speech to soldiers and hanover. The tank troops are being deployed to molly, kosovo, but mostly afghanistan mali, coso, but mostly afghanistan. Afghanistan is a point of how difficult and vital your contribution has become. In northern afghanistan, we have achieved a great number of our goals. Comments aimed perhaps not just that her troops, but also at reassuring germanys international partners. Her partner had scathing words for them at his farewell ceremony on wednesday. In his time at the Defense Ministry, germany was repeatedly accused from shirking from tough measures abroad. He vehemently denied that. Germany does not need lectures from anyone in europe, including france and britain about the type and scale of our international deployments. Germany meets commitments, even if it causes controversy at home. He also made it clear that the German Military needs major reform, another challenge now faced. Some pretty blunt words from the German Defense minister. He is known to be very diplomatic. What is the background to this . He is not only the former German Defense minister, he is also now the surfing interior minister in the new cabinet, so this makes this all the more surprising, his anger over what he feels is unjust criticism seems to have gotten the better of him, but it is also an open secret that he did not want to move from the Defense Ministry to the interior ministry. He wanted to finish the job that he had started, and that is this armed forces reform. He also, of course, took over at a very difficult time when germany was in the firing line of criticism from its nato allies, which was when germany abstained and did not join the libyan mission. They seem to be often differing definitions of what taking up International Responsibility really means. We heard today the German Foreign minister saying that, of course, also includes destroying chemical weapons coming from syria. Very strong words there. What about germanys new defense minister . What has she been saying . She was eager to point out at that sending off ceremony for german soldiers today that it is in Germanys National interests to be seen as a strong and reliable partner for International Stability and security. This certainly was not just address that the soldiers. This was also addressed at a wider audience. There certainly test this certainly will not make her job easier, but she knows she has a lot on her plate. Armed forces reform and also possibly a new debate on using drones. Thanks very much. You are welcome. Chancellor Angela Merkel has accepted an invitation from u. S. President barack obama to go to washington. That invitation and apparent did to mend relations damaged by the nsa spying kindle. The last time merkel was in the u. S. To mee obama was more than two years ago. Ties have been strained over the revelations last year that the nsa eavesdrop on merkels mobile phone. This revelations that the u. S. Was spying on its allies caused widespread anger. The parliament has invited nsa leaker Edward Snowden to testify and a probe into u. S. Surveillance practices. The parliaments Civil LibertiesCommittee Gave almost unanimous practic backing to a proposal to ask snowden to testify by video link from russia, where he has found tipperary asylum. The hearing could take place within weeks if Edward Snowden agrees to it where he has found temporary asylum. The republican partys leading president ial hopeful, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in damage control after revelations that his staff helped orchestrate a massive traffic jam last year. Emails appear to show that his office ordered lane closures on a bridge connecting manhattan to new jersey, allegedly to punish a local mayor who refused to endorse Chris Christies reelection. In a press conference, Chris Christie apologized but said that his staff had lied to him. One of his top aides has been sacked. The former nba basketball star Dennis Rodman is certainly no stranger to controversy, but his latest trip to north korea is continuing to cause a big stir. Rodman says he is there for what he calls basketball diplomacy, but comments he made over and imprisoned u. S. Citizen have raised hackles back home. Meeting the man Dennis Rodman calls his friend for life, north Korean Leader kim jong un. North Korean State Television broadcast these images. Rodmans other gift a basketball match with a team of other players and a musical introduction now going viral on the internet. Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you [applause] equally as bizarre, his outburst on kenneth they. Rodman suggested the imprisoned american tourist guide might have deserved his 15year sentence in north korea. Rodman has since apologized. The u. S. Government has repeatedly distance itself from rodman postulates to north korea and did so again. In terms of Dennis Rodmans activities or comments, i am not going to dignify them further with analysis or commentary on them. Our focus remains on reaching out through our own channels to north korea about our desire to see kenneth they kenneth bay release. The message to rodman lead diplomacy to the diplomats. In United States, an unmanned spaceship has blasted off to deliver cargo to the International Space station, the first of eight missions by a private company which has been contracted by nasa to supply the iss. A rocket carrying the cygnus cargo ship left off in virginia a short time ago. The United States has not had any manned spacecraft of its own since retiring the Shuttle Program in 2011. We will be back welcome back. Tunisias first mac radically elected Prime Minister has stepped down, paving the way for democratic elections next year. He announced his resignation on state tv, breaking the political deadlock in tunisia. The economy has stagnated amidst increasing social unrest, and the constitution could be voted on as early as next week, the third anniversary of the uprising that heralded the arab spring please stand by. A moccasin reporting international, an organization that monitors building and democracy. First off, does this resignation come as a surprise . What do you think is behind it . Not really. It was part of a political deal reached in december. The country was in turmoil and the stalemate between the liberal opposition and the government. The liberal opposition wanted him to resign. He said, we have a democratic mandate. Why should we do so . The agreement was the government would resign once key political reforms have been undertaken, and that was the Reform Commission that happened yesterday and the ongoing adoption of the constitution that is happening these days. Now power is being handed over to an independent counsel led by a technocrat. Does this signal the end of the lyrical islam as a driving force in that country . I would not say that. They will now have time to campaign. In some ways, its not a very bad position for them to be in. We expect to have elections in the course of the year, and that will be the test. What about militant islam . It is considered to be a growing threat. Is it really . Yes, theres a problem in the whole region and a problem in tunisia. Its a very volatile region, and there have been more incidents to try to strike at the image of tunisia and it a destination for tourists, etc. , so that is something to be watched and taken very seriously. Stepping back for a moment, on balance, would you say this is a positive development . Yes, i would say that we have been working in that country for three years very intensively, and again and again, the country has shown when the crisis comes that they can reach compromise, and that is something very positive. I think we would like to see that in more countries of the region. Thanks so much for joining us. You are welcome. Back here in the europe, the European Commission has delayed full implementation of the new european interbank Payment System called sepa. Officials say too many banks are not ready for the official system at this point that was due to be adopted europewide on february 1. The deadline has been put back to august 1. The system is aimed at making payment procedures between banks in europe cheaper and easier, insisting bank account in clearing code numbers will be replaced by new international numbers. All right, time to move on to the markets now. We have been monitoring developments on the dax in frankfurt. We have this report. It has been a kind of is this as usual meeting at the ecb, as economists called it. There have not been any surprises coming from the euro tower. Interest rates remained unchanged on the record low level, and theres the promise coming from ecb president mario draghi again to keep Interest Rates very low, but this promise has not been new. There will be no further measures at the moment that the ecb can take, and theres no danger of higher inflation. This has been no surprise at all. Everything seems to be normal, said the dax went down again, dragged down also by wall street. As we heard, there were some losses on the dax at the end of the day, down 0. 8 , to close at 9421. Similar picture on the euro stoxx 50, with losses not quite so deep there. Trading is still under way in new york, where the dow jones at this moment is trading at 16,417 point down, just under. 3 . The euro a little bit up against the dollar, trading at 1. 3586. A court in california has told the chief executives of Samsung Electronics and apple to sit down and resolve an ongoing dispute about patents. The Electronics Giants have been at legal loggerheads ever since 2011, with each accusing the other of infringing on their intellectual property. Together, the two Companies Account for more than half of the worlds smartphone sales. Europe faces a catastrophe if it does not do something about its declining honeybee population. That is the very stark warning from british researchers who say in a new study that 7 billion more bees are needed to pollinate crops. The existing population cannot keep up with demand because of the increasing trend in growing biofuel crops. The shortage is especially acute in britain, germany, and france. In germany, the decision by the former soccer star to come out as they is fueling a debate that goes well beyond sports from the military to the Catholic Church and to the highest echelons of the is this. Openness about homosexuality is still quite a ways off. For now, the decision to break the taboo in soccer is being hailed by many as an important step and one that could inspire many people to follow his lead. Players are busy preparing for this weekends game, but that is purely a team matter. The discussion of a former players coming out certainly is not. I think it is great he outed himself, and i think he will not be the only one among current players. I had a real respect for him. I would not have had the courage. This will probably be hugely hyped. He may have anticipated this when he revealed in an interview that he is gay. Hes the first German International to do so, and he said he spoke up to help other gay athletes. By talking about it the way i do now, it encourages some others because they see they can still be professional football players. They can play at the highest level and be gay. It is not a contradiction, as approved, and therefore, hopefully, he gives some encouragement to young players. His former teammate hailed his move as an important signal. A former English National player also tweeted congratulations. Even the british Prime Minister expressed his admiration. The player said soccer remained a world of machos, but he hopes that will change. My family and my closest friends to them, it is not important that i talk about my experiences, but it has been more important for those people, because after as for sexuality, those people now have a pronounced opponent. He is no longer battling for the ball on the pitch. Instead, he will be fighting off the field for more tolerance in soccer. He came out in an interview with two journalists. One of them came into our studio earlier to tell us how that the story came about. Well, let me first of all say we are very, very happy about the feedback. Evidently, when he approached me and my colleague, we could not expect such a wonderful outpouring of support for him. He approached us, and i think that is already key to what happened. He was not approached by us. Nobody threatened him, and it was key for this interview that he felt he could trust us. He felt that he actually would find you know, journalists would listen to him and would promise him that we would not publish anything until he felt that he was ready and until he felt that it was the right, also, political moment for publishing this. He did find his moment, and he certainly had an immediate impact, but to what extent do you think rings might now gradually change for gays and lesbians in the sport . You mentioned the lesbian aspect. For them, its not such a big issue anymore. There have been many, many female gay soccer players who have come out already. I think it really is an issue of the male soccer world. Evidently, that is also what thomas concern was. He wanted to speak out to encourage others to take the same decision. If you want to see the full interview, where he talks about coming out, you can find it online at dw. The socalled polar vortex has brought subzero temperatures too much of north america, and it has claimed a new victim. The frozen rivers and waterways have turned the mighty Niagara Falls into a mere trickle of water. The 53meterhigh waterfall on the border of the United States and canada has become a stunning winterland gave winter landscape, complete with an ice bridge. It will not last very long, however. Warm air from the caribbean is set to raise the mercury well above freezing in the coming days. Certainly, if you have been used to air from the north pole and that warm air cannot come soon enough. Regional authorities are telling people not to use water, including not flushing their toilets. We need that warm air. Thank you so much for joining us. More news in just over 30 minutes. Minutes. He began in the french city city begin in a french where thousands of disappointed citizens are looking to make their way beginning to make their way home. They had been looking forward to seeing a man who once awarded a prize on stage to the holocaust denier. But they upheld the ban on the show. Canceled just