the last world report documentary starts january thirteenth on team w. . bush this is the news live from berlin u.s. president donald trump makes an unannounced visit to iraq trump meets the troops serving in the combat zone for the first time in his nearly two years in office the president said he has no plans to pull u.s. forces out of iraq and america's debate over immigration heats up the death of an eight year old child migrant in the u.s.

detention the second this month sparks questions about the federal authorities handling of minors entering america's southern border. an earthquake triggered by a volcanic eruption on the italian island of sicily has injured scores of people and left many more homeless. i'm carl naslund thanks for joining us u.s. president donald trump has made a surprise visit to american troops serving in iraq it's the first time the president has met with soldiers in a combat zone since he took office nearly two years ago during the visit trump said he had quote no plans at all to remove american forces from iraq saying it could serve as a base for operations in neighboring syria but he defended his decision to order the withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria he's scheduled to visit american troops based in germany on his

way back to washington. our let's bring in now our washington correspondent miles slater what do we know about the president's surprise visit well as you said it was definitely a surprise although this is not the first surprise visit that has been known to be made by presidents in general president bush pulled similar moves as of president obama he was there for a little over three hours spent about twenty minutes talking to the troops and we do know that he also did not meet with any iraqi official any iraqi politicians while he was there but this was intended to be more for domestic consumption than international consumption simply based on the fact that he was only meeting with u.s. troops while he was in the country so not necessarily out of the ordinary thing for u.s. president to do but it is significant that it is president trump's first visit to

a combat zone this is something that he's been widely criticized for both before and during his presidency the fact that he has not visited the u.s. active u.s. troops who are overseas what about the timing here i mean why now this comes during a partial government shutdown so is there any kind of message we can read into this . it is during a partial government shutdown but it's also during the holidays when many of these people who are serving overseas cannot be with their families because they're deployed and military officials will tell you is that seeing their commander in chief at a time like this when they're separated from their families especially during the holidays is a real shot in the arm it's a real more rouse booster and this is really for trump to come there and say hey we still support you i still support you i am with you even as we have as you said this government shutdown as well as this last minute surprise withdraw all of the troops from syria and possibly also from was afghanistan which is something that

has been met with in some quarters a lot of skepticism a lot of derision and in some quarters outright criticism and pushback president trump also expected here in germany to visit u.s. troops so what can we expect from the. i believe it's also going to be his first visit to the ramstein base in germany he's only ever been to germany once before during one of the g. twenty summit in homburg and even though i go america has a grace washington with her presence twice it will be his first visit to germany without meeting with any of the officials there also some rumors that he may visit his father's home out of colorado that hasn't been confirmed so again just sort of a nice visit for the troops to generate some positive headlines during what's been

. a rather tumultuous time for his administration yes a much needed positive headlines there thank you very much. reporting for us in washington. following the death of another migrant child in u.s. custody the second in less than three weeks the u.s. department of homeland security says it's completed new medical checks on nearly all migrant children currently held by the border patrol the eight year old from guatemala was hospitalized twice after falling ill and died in new mexico on monday u.s. immigration officials won't say how many migrant children they're holding the reports suggest it could be more than fourteen thousand. this hospital is where the american dream ended for one little boy on christmas eve. the exact cause of eight year old philippe says death is still unclear. and with a fever and vomiting six days after being detained with his father by u.s. border agents. they have traveled from quite

a modest sum of thousands of central american migrants to make the journey in recent months. to day after philippe died a funeral was held for another child migrant who died in u.s. custody this month jacqueline calvo's also from guatemala she was just seven years old her mother was to greece tricked him to attend the funeral. explained what drove jacqueline's father to take her to the u.s. . to go to some more is the poverty. there are no prospects here. the crops we grow aren't enough to support a family with a man can love a million. six months ago president trump's administration backtracked on its policy of separating children from their parents at the border following a public outcry. now these deaths are raising more questions about the treatment of migrants by u.s.

authorities and fueling shop criticism of the president's stance on immigration i want to make sure that we put the wellbeing and welfare of those kids before we put in the other concern let's make sure that they're ok with the shooter with their families let's make sure they get medical care they pose no threat to this country . but trump is adamant that migrants do pose a danger and must be prevented from entering the u.s. illegally he's locked in a battle with congress over funding for a border war which led to a partial shutdown of the federal government and is showing no sign of backing down . i can't tell you where the government's going to be up and i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall a fence whatever they'd like to call it i'll call it whatever they want the people of this country want border security you know it's not a question of maybe i'd i'd rather not be doing shutdowns while washington squabbles two families are in mourning. and customs officials assigned.

the u.s. customs and border protection commissioner says immigration authorities need more money for medical staff and more support for sheltering vulnerable children like philippe and check clean. now to some of the stories making news around the world russia has criticized an alleged israeli air strike in syria saying it endangered civilian air flights syria said it intercepted missiles on tuesday night independent observers say israel was targeting an arms depot used by iranian forces speaking at a military ceremony is israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu did not mention the alleged airstrike but he said israel would never allow iran to establish a permanent military presence in syria. russian president vladimir putin says russia will begin to deploy a new hypersonic weapon next year this follows final tests of the new intercontinental off on guard system called

a success he says the nuclear capable missile could fly it twenty times the speed of sound and maneuver up and down and they bring it to breach defense systems. opposition supporters in the democratic republic of congo are angered by new election delays authorities say sunday's presidential vote will be postponed until march in three congolese cities known to be opposition strongholds election is intended to pave the way to a democratic transfer of power from president joseph kabila. indonesian authorities are issuing extreme weather warnings in areas where saturday's tsunami killed at least four hundred thirty people heavy rains have caused reverse to burst their banks flooding streets and submerging some villages up to the rooftops here's more from our correspondent on a piece. of all. of these villages thought they were safe after escaping the tsunami that tour into the western coast of java but now they've returned they face

a new problem. around six in the morning when the water began rising. i went out to get some food and when i came back the water was almost chest high i village has never been flooded like this. johnny moved his family because of the risk of another tsunami. why are you leaving behind with white three other children and twenty five other all george it's a title he said but at least he's living with part of the play and therefore the accounting for a break now on this case. tony's wife may several remembers the moment she had to leave. when i heard talk of the second tsunami coming i grabbed my children and ran to my

sister's house people were panicking and fleeing screaming run and run because the wave was coming i couldn't think of anything else the safety of my children was my only priority my youngest children eight and three years old they're in a bit of a shock and have trouble sleeping. so although the tsunami spared this family the flood still threatened their lives. an earthquake triggered by the eruption of mt etna jolted sicily on wednesday the quake measuring four point eight on the richter scale struck north of tanya on the eastern side of the italian island is the largest of italy's three active volcanoes and it is still spewing ashes churches and homes were damaged the worst hit place was in stuff around or at the. in the town of sefer ronald lies at the foot of mount etna at three nineteen in the morning of christmas eve the dumb eco family

was shaken out of bed by the earthquake their home in ruins the couple is desperate to know what will happen next. five never experience anything this horrible it's a miracle that my family survived in the end that's all that much us. cicely has been rattled by earthquakes for two days but none has been as strong as the one that hit early wednesday twenty eight people were injured. the quakes were triggered by the mt etna volcano raising the alarm level for the region local authorities haven't given the all clear yet. at the moment mount etna is still active you know it's rumbling directly at the edge of the crater. we can't predict whether this volcanic movement will shift further into the interior that's why it's hard to say how the local population will be affected.

many people are afraid to stay in their homes even though they've become used to small love eruptions over the years mount etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes the last major eruption was in one nine hundred eighty four. japan has announced it will resume commercial whaling starting next july government officials say japan will all be hunt whales in its own territorial waters despite a drop in demand for whale meat japan is also pulling out of the international whaling commission the decision has been strongly condemned by anti whaling activists. it's a centuries old tradition one that japan is intent on keeping alive. after failing to get the commission's approval to resume commercial whaling japan has announced it is cutting ties with the international conservation body. we will. focus exclusively on the protection of whales would not take concrete steps towards

reaching a common position with. the international whaling commission meeting in september it became clear that it was not possible for states with different views to co-exist and that led to this decision. and those who work in the industry have welcomed the announcement. on the new system japan is a country that relies heavily on its fisheries and uses whales as a way to research limited marine resources so i think the government had no choice but to resume whaling. coming up. it is important to share the research data that shows that the number of whales is not decreasing in order to gain understanding from other countries. who contend. despite complying with the ban for decades japan continued to kill whales in the

name of scientific research a program critics say has been used as a cover for commercial hunting. thirty years after signing a moratorium on the practice tokyo says endangered whales have had time to increase their numbers. japan will limit whaling to its own territorial waters and economic zone but that's unlikely to stop activists from trying to end the practice altogether. you're watching the news live from berlin we have more at the top of the hour and don't forget the latest news around the clock. if you ever have to cover up a murder the best way is to make it look accident. raring to. never read a book like this. list. the streets. earth

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