Has been on the slopes the americans race in the womens downhill event hoping to add to her medal collection. Im serious so much content thank you for joining us we start with mounting International Concern about the Syrian Governments latest assault on eastern go to the rebel held area has been under heavy bombardment and independent monitors now say that more than two hundred fifty people have been killed there since sunday now eastern down to is a group of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital damascus now duma is the main town of this enclave and at the moment is completely surrounded by pro assad forces the sieges lasted more than four weeks four years its thought to have trapped up to four hundred thousand residents. Still in the. Carcass of a stone gets these are the lucky ones terrified shaking the stairwell. First responders assure them to safety as an air raid siren underlines the arjan seen as the escape yet. The governments four year long aerial siege of the rebel held in place has intensified in recent days. With hundreds killed and injured and to National Observer see it marks a new epoch of violence. We are witnessing some of the worst fighting of the entire conflict and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure including medical facilities. Wors received reports of attacks on five hospitals in eastern go into and its working to verify these reports and the casualties. Syrian Opposition Leader begged for an International Response saying the atrocities amounted to a war crime this the boy these children had been killed just today it is the will. Because of the of the sea their regime and the other militias. Their forces they are claiming that this artillery wrists the of these are children and that it will fight for years the other the bloodshed is so relentless here unicef and should a blanket statement in response to the un agency for children said words couldnt describe the suffering. Which is left to numbers to tell the story of the devastation but even monitoring groups can barely keep up with the daily death toll here. More on the story now with martin milius from the Aid Organization care in ahmed in short mark and thank you for joining us we saw such horrifying pictures there in that report were hearing also reports that civilians are collapsing from hunger that the medical situation is extremely dire how much has the situation deteriorated in the last few days. We have things. That besiegement in the last few months. Basically this area as you mentioned in the report has already besieged since four years or ever since a number of months you know all the tunnels were closed all the checkpoints were closed so the situation before the military escalation in the last two days was already very dire we have seen the monitors generate soaring weve seen shortage of essential items drugs and medication and now we are witnessing in the last few days military of elation on the ball on that one claims where it should have basically made us many care and how they didnt seize to. Suspend or just because of. That youre eighteen margin what are the most pressing needs on the ground right now. Now its really i mean the first and foremost they need to be a cease fire i mean the u. N. Called yesterday for it and we totally supported there must be a cease fire we have in casualty rates on president the casualty rates in the area have children in. Civilians we see the civilian infrastructure targeted that is outrageous and that must stop immediately and were also concerned that this is just a prelude for a ground offensive. And that would make matters much much worse more of course people on the ground they need they need safety but they also need for medication i need your sister the. Danger to be both i mean lives its just. Life saving intervention thats required right now about first and foremost really a cease fire thats what were hoping for. Just briefly martin if you can you mentioned that organizations Aid Organizations like yours havent been able to access this area in the past few days but in recent months how much access have you had. It has been very limited in the last few months and he stumbles im particularly you know its its a suburb of damascus ive been besieged since four years in the last year it has been extremely difficult for the last convoy that were in the in was in the event for and had enough items for around thirty thousand people and there was around round about four hundred thousand people that are locked into that area so access has been very much limit judge already for a number of months all right martin lilias from the Aid Organization care and aman in jordan thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. Thank you for having us. A saying in syria turkeys president now says his troops have forced the retreat of pro Syrian Government forces from a frame accorded on klav in the far north of the country turkey says it is preparing to lay siege to the city as part of an offensive against Kurdish Militia terrorists there arrival of troops backed by damascus had stoked fears that confrontation with turkey could further complicate serious battle and bitter civil war. Pro Syrian Government forces chant unity slogans after entering the northern on klav of a freen theyve come to help kurdish fighters resist the turkish offensive which began a month ago. We are in the heart of freeing with huge numbers and will stay here until we kick out the ottoman turk occupiers. Turkey says its troops show the area and force the progovernment fighters to retreat president richard type everyone has warned them to stay away. Unfortunately as you know these kinds of terror organizations take the wrong steps with the decisions they make. Of course its impossible for us to allow this they will pay a heavy price. Russias foreign minister is calling for dialogue saying the syrian conflict can only be resolved if all parties respect each others territorial integrity. Im convinced that turkish legal interests with regards to ensuring security can be fulfilled and satisfied through direct dialogue with the Syrian Government she was pretty movies you know look sprightly to. Keep. Ankara says the offensive is aimed at driving out the kurdish word p. G. Militia which it views as terrorists and a threat to turkeys security but the latest fighting raises the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict. Is following all the developments for us from istanbul he joins us for more on the story dorian we now have a situation where you have turkish and Syrian Government forces essentially facing off in a free how serious is this confrontation. Has potential become very serious there is the fear that ultimately. Damascus forces engaged in in a conflict at the moment it seems on course trying to play down the whole situation turkish president is saying that the syrian backed government militia mainly were forced to retreat although pictures on the ground seem to dispute that but i think well be looking to contain this they will see this this this deployment of a few hundred militia forces does not pose a threat to his ongoing operation but if it marks the fundamental change in the more militia will join those Syrian Kurdish fighters then that poses a major threat to turkeys ongoing operation into syria and the prospect of a possible confrontation between ankara and the bus because indeed what does this mean for turkey can it still expect to succeed with the stuff both of now that assads forces have entered. Well i think well be looking to contain this reinforcing of militia we have no official statement from damascus on the situation and that will be key Going Forward if the message says yes we all supporting this deployment then that will mark an escalation and put in question turkeys operation the other key factor is moscow moscow control syrian air space for now moscow is allowing Turkish Forces air forces to continue to carry out air strikes but most who is also a key supporter of the assad regime if moscow ends turkish use of air space in syria then that would be a major blow to turkeys goals in this ongoing operation in syria and just briefly if you can we were just looking at the situation in eastern go to Syrian Government forces especially have now regained control over most of the country could this mean that the civil war could be entering its final phase. Well there could be a possibility and thats why weve seen this intensification and fighting in several areas and possibly the reason why turkey has intervened into syria a rule of thumb in the Syrian Civil War a more real estate you control in syria the more you have a say in the final outcome but not going intensification and jostling for positions for the final settlement could lead to all the countries who are currently backing proxies being sucked into the conflict themselves you have to realize that israel is involved iran so syria turkey and the United States as well as russia the risk is of these countries ultimately being forced directly into this conflict is a big fear and the fear that the current fighting in syria could reach an even higher escalation before it finally resolved itself during jones reporting from istanbul thank you dorian. Now to some other stories making news around the world in bahrain a court has sentenced human rights activist now be over a job to another five years in jail where job had criticized the saudis involvement in the year many civil war on twitter hes already serving a two year sentence for voicing criticism of the bahraini government on t. V. The u. S. State Department Says north korea canceled a planned meeting with Vice President mike pence at the last minute he was supposed to hold talks with government representatives during the Olympic Games in south korea. Reportedly scrapped the idea after pence denounced the norths human rights abuses. Brazils senate has approved a decree that authorizes the army to take command of Police Forces in the state of Rio De Janeiro of the measure comes in a bid to curb violence driven by drug gangs brazils president michel tomar said they have virtually taken over urban rio. To the u. S. Where last weeks mass shooting at a Florida High School has ignited a new push to End Gun Violence seventeen people were killed in the bass occur now the surviving students are leading the movement for change pressuring state lawmakers to pass tighter gun control laws but on tuesday they suffered a setback as politicians rejected a motion to consider a ban on sales of assault style rifles. That students made the long journey to Florida State capitol to confront lawmakers but politicians voted down a motion to even consider a ban on assault rifles before the vote students had been hopeful. Gone thats why were going to tell the president every minute that they were that they were going to hear a city just say they want to be a part of florida we have to get rid of me and we have to you know show them how our boys you know hes going to tell him how everyone was like there are signs that theyre being heard although he campaigned on a progun ticket President Donald Trump announced his support for tighter regulations on gun accessories. Just a few moments ago i saied a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn illegal weapons into machine guns. I expect that these critical regulations will be finalized. Very soon. On wednesday the president is set to host a listening session at the white house with victims of mass shooting violence but many in florida are tired of talk they want action. The students have vowed to continue protesting for gun reform their next stop is in washington d. C. In march youth across the nation are not giving up in the fight for their lives youre watching d. W. News still to come we take a look at the action from day twelve of the Winter Olympics including superstar skier lindsey vonn the american race in the womens downhill trying to act or sizeable medal collection. But first ellen i was here with business in a new twist on corruption claims that the central bank thats right the government in latvia now says its all part of a Smear Campaign that the elections theyre trying to be discredited while they know the Defense Ministry says corruption allegations leveled at the central bank and at the governor of the central bank all part of a massive Information Campaign from outside now in the statement the Ministry Said claims that a muslim save it took bribes in return for keeping a bank in business were intended to erode trust and influence the countrys elections in october. Bill mahers rim shave it says hes a victim of a Smear Campaign hes accusing private latvian banks of trying to get revenge for tougher financial regulations by accusing him of demanding bribes of one hundred thousand euros a month. I have become a target have been all b. S. And well coordinated campaign of some latvian commercial banks to discredit the latvian state. But one day after him ship which was suspended from office the Defense Ministry said the accusations appeared to be a foreign disInformation Campaign in a statement it said there is a high possibility that this is a white Information Operation from outside and its aim is to show left as an untrustworthy ally. To ministry didnt say which country was behind that campaign but theres little doubt it meant russia the Russian Foreign ministry in moscow refused comment but the bribery accusations come from a russian businessman and with elections due later this year fears are mounting that the kremlin could be attempting to sway the outcome the Defense Ministry says that dissin from ation campaign closely resembles others that preceded recent french german and us elections are and we can speak to our financial correspondent clive had a bruise and now who is frank third where the e. C. V. Is headquartered good to see frank but frankfurt conrad in frankfurt now in Defense Ministry is alleging outside involvement its a new thing it see russia tell us more about this. Well berlin well helena he is referring to can we go to the good then the call for a russian businessman who lives in london and who is also the major shareholder of nordic a latvian bag which is involved in legal quarrels with the government in latvia we dont know exactly what those what this conflict is all about but its likely that involves not all because dealings with russian Business People who might try to circumvent the sanctions against russia in any case whats at stake here is really the authority of the supervisors of the Banking System in latvia not only talking about the central bank there the National Central bank but also of course the European Central bank which is the Supra National supervisor of the Banking System in the euro zone all right thanks conrad say with us we want to come back to you in just a moment but first germanys booked a profit for twenty seventeen despite low trading activity profit for the company that operates right that Stock Exchange where six percent on the year to bring in more than eight hundred fifty Million Euros now something the Company Shareholders will be able to profit from our story shippers a chance to raise the dividend by ten euro cents c. Is optimistic about the Stock Exchange rate is outlook for twenty seventeen we know back over to Conrad Conrad youve been listening to the press conference of what they said about their plans for the future. Well the order of i am of the new boss of budget bertha gave out pretty ambitious plans for this year a pretty ambitious growth targets he also said that the hopes to benefit from brics it you know this clearing business that is supposed to be transferred from london to the continent with brics it frankfurt wants to have some of this business but im also said that the recent increase in market volatility is likely to stay and thats good for because Market Participants are likely to hedge more against trade risks and thats something that allows that will allow quite likely. To sell more off its derivatives and last but not least the ones to grow by taking over other businesses and a mergers and acquisitions world was another key word at the press conference investors are buying it the share price is nicely on the up side. Was in first in frankfurt thank you. And as well as crypto currency the petro is just a day old but the country socialist leaders are already claiming a big success and theyve received more than seven hundred Million Dollars worth of bids in a private presale president Nicolas Maduro said the picture would reinforce the countrys independence