the hopes were set on angela merkel. everybody thought she would be the next strong chancellor, and four month later, you know, she is very fragile. very much criticized for her past politics. there is nobody she has blocked the way for any succession, nobody really obvious who could take on if she had to stop governing. so it is very interesting, and they do not see how even if the coalition was some sort of coalition before, how she could get out of it and become again the most forceful or powerful woman in the world. anchor: what do you say, andrea's? the influential newspaper had a page photo of angela merkel and above it "is she already consigned to history?" andreas: you could they damaged goods or lame-duck or a she is. she is a skillful as a politician that she could prolong this lame-duck period possibly for years. i think she is wise enouough to realize that after 13 years, it is time to allow some potential heirs, successors to rise in her party. no matter what happens in a coalition in a minority government,

in conservative parties will have to go into government if angela merkel is to remain as chancellor merkel has made it clear it's a majority government new elections the chance and future two is riding on the outcome of these talks. covering the talks for us as our political correspondent kate brady who joins us now. kate chancellor merkel has a lot of work ahead of her and these political negotiation talks why do these products are they struggling so much to find common ground between basic issue and that's the two of the three main parties taking part in these talks have very opposing objectives in these talks and is that's especially between the social democrats and the c.s. use that the very insistent party to merkel's c.d.u. conservatives and s.p.d. of course remember they actually said that they wouldn't form another grand coalition with merkel's conservatives and so they really have to work over these during these exploratory talks also convince their own delegates and party members that a grand coalition would be the right move for the s.p. day so they're putting demands on the tab

max: merkel is a conservative, not the neoliberal. it's been a long tradition with the cdu to have their social values. m lookinlooking at macron just as an investment banker does not do him justice. what we are witnessing at the moment are intelligent politicians in europe realizing the way globalization has been conducted in the past, and that the challenges of the future are such that you need to do something to ensure that you have people on board in the european union. otherwise, you will just feed populism. brent: max hoffman and simon young, thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. a brazilian court upheld the conviction of the former president on corruption charges. the three judges confirmed the verdict in increased the sentence from nine to 12 years. supporters rallied ahead of the decision, which could see him barred from running for office again. the disgraced former u.s. gymnastics team dr. larry nassar has been sentenced to up to 175 years in prison. or than 100 women and girls, in

max: merkel iss a conservative, not the neoliberal. it's been a long tradition with the cdu to have their social values. m lookinlooking at macron just as an investment banker does not do him justice. what we are witnessing at the moment are intelligent politicians in europe realizing the way globalization has been conducted in the past, and that the challenges of the future are such that you need to do something to ensure that you have people on board in the european union. otherwise, you will just feed populism. brent: max hoffman and simon young, thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. a brazilian court upheld the conviction of the former president on corruption charges. the three judges confirmed the verdrdict in increaeased thee sentencece from nine to 12 year. supporters rallied ahead of the decision, which could see him barred from running for office again. the disgraced former u.s. gymnastics team dr. larry nassar has been sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.n. or than 100 women and g

news live from berlin could a new coalition government for germany be within reach chancellor angela merkel and her conservatives have been holding talks with the leader of the social democrats the first day has ended on a positive note look at the latest from our correspondent also coming up. parents remembers the victims of the attacks three years ago that horrified the world the killings began when gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical magazine charlie abdo. and four think your skaters from both sides of the korean divide look forward to an unlikely cross border with union at the winter olympics. in atlanta. i'm still henery good to have you with us. the first round of talks to form a new coalition government in germany has ended on a positive note a spokesman for the negotiations said they had been serious concentrated but also open chancellor angela merkel's conservatives are holding the talks with the center left social democrats after previous negotiations with other parties failed germany has been waiting for a new government since the election which took place more than three

news live from berlin could a new coalition government for germany be within reach chancellor angela merkel and her conservatives have been holding talks with the leader of the social democrats the first day has ended on a positive note we'll get the latest from our correspondent also coming up. paris remember some pick the victims of the attacks three years ago that horrified the world the killings began when gunmen stormed the offices of the security of magazine charlie updo. and four figure skaters from both sides of the korean divide look forward to an unlikely cross border reunion at the winter olympics. on michelle henery good to have you with us. the first round of talks to form a new coalition government enjoy many has ended on a positive note a spokesman for the negotiations said they had been serious concentrated but also open chancellor angela merkel's conservatives are holding the talks with the center left social democrats after previous negotiations with other parties failed germany has been waiting for a new government since the election which took place more than three month

but merkel is not so sure. reporter: over the last weeks and months, emmanuel macron has been left waiting. he is eager to push on with grand plans for europe, but his key partner, the german chancellor, has been busy with other things. she has been struggling to form a new government at home. inevitably, those struggles were a major issue when it the 2 leaders face to the press. merkel said she was optimistic she would soon reach a coalition with germany's social democrats. chancellor merkel: i can see substantial a race of agreement, notably regarding our european ambitions, and i am convinced for that we need a stable government. reporter: "our ambitions cannot be realized alone, and i have already said it several times, they needed to be accompanied by german ambitions." and those ambitions are high. added eu summit last month, merkel and macron pledged to draw up her proposals for reforming the eurozone. macron has floated radical ideas -- a single budget, single finance minister for all numbers states. me

news live from berlin could a new coalition government for germany be within reach chancellor angela merkel and her conservatives have been holding talks with the leader of the social democrats the first day has ended on a positive note we'll look at the latest from our correspondent also coming up. paris remember spic the victims of the attacks three years ago that horrified the world the killings began when gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical magazine charlie updo. and four figure skaters from both sides of the korean divide look forward to an unlikely cross border reunion at the winter olympics. i'm michel henery good to have you with us. the first round of talks to form a new coalition government in germany has ended on a positive note a spokesman for the negotiations so they had been serious concentrated but also open chancellor angela merkel's conservatives are holding the talks with the center left social democrats after previous negotiations with other parties failed germany has been waiting for a new government since the election which took place more than three months ago.

but merkel is not so sure. reporter: over the last weeks and m months, emmanueuel macrons been leftt waiting. he is eager to push on with grand plans for europe, but his key partner, the german chancellor, has been busy with other things. she has been struggling to form a new government at home. inevitably, those struggles were a major issue when it the 2 leaders face to the press. merkel said she was optimistic she would soon reach a coalalitn with germany's social democrats. chancellor merkel: i can see substantial a race of agreement, notably regarding our european ambitions, and i am convinced for that we need a stable government. reporter: "our ambitions cannot be realized alone, and i have already said it several times, they needed to be accompanied by german ambitions." and those ambitions are high. added eu summit last month, merkel and macron pledged to draw up her proposals for reforming the eurozone. macrcron has floated radical i s -- a siningle budget, single finanance nister fororll numbers states

so that's the bavarian system party to merkel c.d.u. and since the arrival of success of the far right a.f.c. in germany and their entrance into parliament in september and they've been very keen to take the conservative parliamentary group into a much more conservative direction and they're looking to implement cuts. corporate taxes and actually take a much tougher stance on the refugee policy so there are a lot of issues going to be needed to overcome to be overcome if these exploratory talks have any chance of moving on to order a coalition a go see ations case is this last chance to form a stable government. well it's certainly her last chance to form a government that has a clear majority in the german parliament if these talks fail the us still two other options on the table and one of those is a minority government but this is something that merkel has already ruled out that we quite grueling process for her you have to find a new majority for every piece of legislation and the other option of course would be new elections and th

but also for merkel what's at stake for her for the country you say. well for her is a lot at stake merkel has already tried to form one coalition with the greens and the liberals with didn't work the only remaining option that she has to form a coalition is with the social democrats if today the social democrats vote against that then merkel would be left with very little options one of those options a minority government is something that the certain doesn't favor and she also doesn't favor the idea of a fresh election so for merkel this is certainly a very difficult moment and a moment that she will be watching very carefully today thomas sparrow in bonn thank you very much kurdish why p.g. militia in syria says it was forced back turkish troops trying to enter the northwestern town of a free turkey's military announce it has so far struck one hundred fifty three kurdish militia targets in the region it's part of an offensive and her calls operation all of branch but it threatens to further inflame the nearly seven year old conflict in syria. tekkie

in conservative parties will have to go into government if angela merkel is to remain as chancellor merkel has made it clear it's a majority government new elections the chance and future two is riding on the outcome of these talks. covering the talks for us as our political correspondent kate brady who joins us now in the studio kate. what do we know about how the talks have progressed at the end of the first day it was quite a positive atmosphere at the s.p.d. the social democrats headquarters this evening the general secretary of the s.p.d. said that the talks today had been intense but open and that most of the time today was actually spent talking about the issues on which the three fought is involved in these talks actually agree upon and those more contentious issues will be addressed over the next four days what was particularly interesting was this comment that he made about how all three of the parties involved realized that germany needs a new political style and he said that this was largely due to the result of the german election back in september because remember that the so

at least merkel is able to steer the course of her own party. in a fourth term, she wants to leave another grand coalition. >> there was unanimity from everyone but we have to go to exploratory talks with the spd to build a stable government. >> within her conservative party, people are saying that angela merkel will last another four years at the most. no one discusses this openly, but many are thinking about the time after merkel. intentional successors now have to position themselves. at the same time, merkel pass to plan how she can hand over power without losing it too fast. so what is the next step? there are a lot of unanswered questions. >> what was the first question? oh. and have a great start to the new year. >> whether that turns out to be good or bad, 2018 will certainly not be boring. phil: we all have days like that. i'm sorry, what was the question? president trump has a promise of tax reform that would be a win for companies, but not all companies are fans of it. >> at first, it was seen as a win. some corporations are saying th

the political fate of germany's chancellor angela merkel could be decided this weekend and not by the voters or even her own party but by her potential coalition partners on sunday leader of the social democrats marching scholz will try to convince a special party conference to enter coalition talks with merkel and her conservatives a no vote would mean either a minority government or fresh elections. these three leaders want to join forces and form a government but it's a nervous affair none of them know whether this man will win the backing off his party the social democrats in particular yesterday's youth wing has strong reservations about joining another grand coalition. we reject a renewed grand coalition because we're convinced it wouldn't be right for democracy in germany and we consider it a negligent to let the far right have to become the leading opposition party. and recent days party leader martin shows has been touring the country lobbying for a yes vote on the grand coalition because of their own style of concentrating on winning the majority of the party conference on s

with the social democrats merkel's own sister party the c.s.u. has welcomed one of europe's staunchest anti immigration leaders to its winter convention the hunger area leader viktor orban was in southern bavaria to deliver a key speech to delegates prime minister orbán is a longstanding and vocal critic of angela merkel's refugee policy and today he harshly criticized her stance on the european union refugees and migration. addressing the media outside of the convention orbán portrayed current european migration policy is as suffering from what he calls a democratic deficit. the europeans have a clear opinion one could say the will of the people is clear they don't want to live in fear of terrorism they want security they want our borders to be secure and they want those who have no justification for living in europe to be taken back to where they come from so they can restart their lives there. and for more let's bring in mikhail of course now our correspondent who is covering the c.s.u. party meeting and mckayla we just saw garion prime mini

in the swiss alps today with speeches from the continent's political heavyweights germany's angela merkel spoke earlier in the day but it was france's president emanuel who had the headliner spot now he told the world economic forum that globalization has to ensure prosperity for everyone for all classes in society. let is not be native to declare that is asian in general is going through a major crisis and this global channel is required for sure a collective thought from international organizations states companies civil society. in order to find and implement solutions weigel america meanwhile she made the case for close european ties as well as for more free trade or warning against rising economic nationalism it comes just a day before u.s. president double trouble is due to arrive in davos and it was a welcome break for the chancellor amid all of the political gridlock right here in berlin the german chancellor speech marked her return to the world stage after months of political limbo at home in germany her address focused on europe and its future one of her key messages the world'

further entangling merkel's predicament her popularity has slipped in the meantime. and the longer coalition talks take the worse it gets only fifty three percent support uncle americal staying in office in october it was sixty one percent forty five percent are against her staying in office. germans have the following attitudes about america merkel stands for political stability seventy percent agree best days as chancellor are over sixty seven percent agree and merkel's c.d.u. neglects concerns over refugees according to fifty nine percent. the german government's most important task by far is still the refugee issue even though it's less politically charged than it was a year ago. when asked if families of war refugees should be allowed to join them here in germany forty one percent said yes forty eight percent said no. and if new elections were held this sunday germans would not vote much differently than a month ago the c.d.u. c.s.u. would receive thirty three percent of the vote the s.p.d. twenty one percent the f.t. would get thirteen percent of the vote and t

it doesn't leave mrs merkel in a good place, either, if these talks fail. bear in mind that she led her party to one of its last election results in decades in september. she has failed on one coalition agreement already. if this goes down the pan as well, she is considerably weakened. there is no saying that her party would allow her to lead them into another election. rescuers are using helicopters, search dogs, and thermal imaging equipment to try to find eight people missing in california since the devastating mudslides on tuesday. 17 people are known to have died when a torrent of mud carrying boulders the size of cars smashed through the town of montecito. at least 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed. james cook reports. turn around! the flash—flood's right there, the flash—flood's right there! get out of here, go! this was the moment it began. oh, my god, mom! and then panic. close the door! it was a million miles an hour, in slow motion, if that makes sense. i clicked into survival gear, survival mode. wake dad up! every second, it's just r

best days as chancellor are over sixty seven percent agree and merkel's c.d.u. neglects concerns over refugees according to fifty nine percent. of the german government's most important task by far is still the refugee issue even though it's less politically charged than it was a year ago. when asked if families of war refugees should be allowed to join them here in germany forty one percent said yes forty eight percent said no. and if new elections were held this sunday germans would not vote much differently than a month ago the c.d.u. c.s.u. would receive thirty three percent of the vote the s.p.d. twenty one percent the f.t. would get thirteen percent of the vote and the f.d.p. nine percent the left party would also get nine percent and the green party eleven percent subtle variations only with the conservatives and the left party well the findings of this survey come just as chancellor merkel sister party the c.s.u. has is gathering in bavaria for their annual winter meeting and stefan meyer is a member of the c.s.u. and spokesman for the c.d.u. c.s.u. home

what programme will this new fourth government led by angela merkel have? there is lots of speculation, maybe it will be more european integration, more health spending, it looks like it will probably be quite influenced by what the spd wanted, because merkel has nowhere to go now, this is her last chance. she has listen left a slightly wea ker she has listen left a slightly weakerfigure she has listen left a slightly weaker figure because of this. she has listen left a slightly weakerfigure because of this. she has been awful powerful in the eu for a long time, but this has been a bit of a knock back for her. it has been appalling for her. in fact her party, the cdu and the spd did very badly or relatively badly in the september elections and the spd blamed having been in the grand coalition with the cdu for their poor showing. initially the spd leader said i don't want to do with any more coalitions so he has almost been dragged kicking and screaming into this position. so as ben said, the next thing is to have the detailed coalition arrangements decided,

so that's a very and sister party to merkel c.d.u. and since the arrival of success of the far right a.f.c. in germany and their entrance into parliament in september and they've been very keen to take the conservative parliamentary group into a much more conservative direction and they're looking to implement cuts. on. corporate taxes and actually take a much tougher stance on the refugee policy so there are a lot of issues of going to be needed to overcome to be overcome if these exploratory talks have any chance of moving on to order a coalition a go see ations case is this last chance to form a stable government. well it's certainly her last chance to form a government that has a clear majority in the german parliament if these talks fail the us still two other options on the table and one of those is a minority government but this is something that merkel has already ruled out that we quite grueling process for her you have to find a new majority for every piece of legislation and the other option of course would be new elections

but for chancellor merkel what is at stake for her today. well for her is a lot it's a stake and as i mentioned this vote here will decide where the social democrats enter those formal talks with angela merkel angela merkel had already tried to enter another coalition or at least discuss the possibility of entering another coalition with two minor parties the liberals and the greens those talks collapsed and she was left with the only chance of talking to the social democrats in order to form a stable government in germany if the social democrats here decide to vote against that. would be left without coalition partners she would be either forced to have a coalition of minority government something that she doesn't want all the possibility of fresh elections which could also harm her and her party it essentially could also harm the s.p.d. and that's obviously why the pressure is so high not only for i'm going to michael but also for the conservatives on the social democrats in general to try and form that grand coalition thomas sparrow and d

chancellor merkel: i try to be very careful about this. thee some are working, administration is working more or less. it is hard to say to people that all of that in the future will have to be handled. in china, about a billion people are using those internet platforms their whole life. that is the situation. for countries that come from a development stage that is not quite as high as the one in germany, it seems to be easier for people to leapfrog certain developments. we in germany have two problems. works that matters seem to more or less. people do not see a need, but tomorrow, this will not be sufficient. people are not getting more curious. that is what we have to manage. we have to do in school, the educational sectors. we have to teach young people. you are absolutely right. countries,mber of you have very much of a strategy of artificial intelligence. we have to be more focused, not for the research project here and there, but there is this idea of a franco german research policy on artificial intelligence because it will not be

really when merkel finally steps back, who take over. that kind of process will then it take a leadership role who then comes in to fill the place of merkel behind her that's an interesting think to look >> now, looking at the wider political situation in germany, we've seen the alternative for both to do relatively well, they've got a bit of a showing, 13%. so, that obviously, puts a better pressure on merkel's partners from southern germany to try and stay to the right they're now in the conversations with cpd that wants to pull to the left does the spd have to stand back? or do they say no, this is what matters to voters or things like immigration? >> i think for the cdu, what they're going to try do do, they need to be showing to their banks that they're doing something about immigration. interestingly, it looks like immigration, conversely, this issue that has dominated politics, of the last six months, a year, two years, has dominated these coalition negotiation talks, and it's the elephant in the room the whole time actually may n

chancellor merkel: i sincerely hope it's not going to grow. we are trying to get it under control, but it's a poison. anytime you have untold questions or untold problems, during the euro crisis, there was those living off of prosperity and you have a situation with migration, for example. a great influx of people. if that comes together with unemployment, it is a very poisonous mix where people feel like we have to rely on the aliens and you have to have groups. it is very important to draw the right conclusions. it's the way of the greeks. when you start talking about other nations. you are actually generalizing. muslims are like this, christians are like this -- you have to look at every individual. but as long as you do not respect each and every persons individuality, and have your preconceived notion, that is the very basis of that option. [applause] mr. schwab: ciao. this is perhaps a more personal type of question i would like to ask you. over the last few months, things have been a little bit difficult. you've been involved in difficu

news live from then after months of deadlock is in the german government now inside chancellor angela merkel says she hopes to form a ruling coalition by. this have potential partners the social democrats face a battle as leader martin schultz tries to win over skeptical members. also on the program the african union demands an apology from donald trump expressing its outrage at the u.s. president's alleged use of derogatory comments to describe the continent. and in german soccer the business league is back with the top of the table clash second place shall be hoping to continue their on the run as they face like six tonight. i've. learned welcome my name is christopher spring it thanks for joining us german chancellor angela merkel says she hopes to form a new government by east that is off to her conservatives reached agreement with the social democrats yesterday on launching a formal coalition talks a previous attempt remember to form a coalition with smaller parties failed late last year friday's breakthrough has eased months of political uncertainty here in germany there are however st

congratulating the social democrats on their willingness to try to form a government and chancellor merkel in specific she hasn't been very outspoken on these talks and on forming a government in the past month but she came out immediately with a statement let's listen in to her reaction. in the following to see to use conclusion of exploratory talks last week which cleared the way for formal coalition talks we welcome the news that the social democrats have followed suit at their party conference today. after intensive and sometimes controversial discussions they reached a positive result that means the way is now clear for formal coalition talks. it's important to us in these talks is that germany gets a stable government that is able to tackle the questions and issues of the future and find solutions to them. we will vote on the line of negotiations tomorrow and then quickly enter discussion with the social democrats. a great deal of work lies ahead but despite all internal controversies it should proceed in the sensible climate was a clear and intensive goal that's what has been made p

because i mean this is after all merkel sister party. absolutely this is merkel says you sister party that at one point after the migration crisis started actually accused the german chancellor of breaching german law it's kind of withdrew that and has now closed ranks with the german chancellor as we're about to see that fresh start of talks to head towards the new coalition well viktor orban has always been critical of merkel and this is you certainly enjoyed that meeting today with someone they see as an old friend he has been here before also pre migration since this issue dominated pretty much the discussions both in germany but also europe wide so yes he is an old friend also significant business interests but of course the timing the pictures of them closing ranks here and the praise that viktor orban had for the c.s.u. leader. when in a speech he declared basically that the very a germany was a christian country and should remain so that also of course sends a very clear signal if not a red line towards berlin before all sides si

we take for granted the fact that we have had merkel around since 2005. 12 years! four british prime ministers later and she is still here. the idea that stability... what do i perceive to be the development? there will come a time when people are so fed up with the traditional parties that there will be an emergence of a new party like in france. macron. macron showed it. austria had a similar development. the current powers that be no longer deliver the goods, frankly. as you say, people coast along, and all the traditional sort of activities of daily life are unimpaired, you have a sense that your country is not pulling its weight on the world stage. and something needs to give. but that is divided between west and east. east with afd, the extreme right wing, which is a new problem in germany. well, fascinating, the vote is on sunday. if that goes through it has to go to wider membership. there is a long way to go and we will certainly be talking about that again. thank you. let's move further afield. the head of iran's revolutionary guards, mohammad ali jafari,

a matt herman thanks for joining us german chancellor angela merkel's future hangs in the balance today the country's center left social democrat party as you to hold any key votes on whether to enter coalition talks with merkel's conservatives. democrat leader martin shields is in favor of forming a coalition but he faces strong resistance from within his own party and a no vote could lead to a minority government which merkel has already said she won't lead or it could lead to fresh elections. should they seek to join another coalition government with angle americans conservatives or should their priority be to renew their own party so they can win back support they've lost in recent years that is the tough choice facing this congress of social democrats the s.p.d. leadership are united in arguing in favor of the deal leader martin schultz told delegates that many people are looking to the s.p.d. to represent them against conservative policies the only move in the no name on. the five workers pension is single parents school students in trainees people who are renting their homes thes

we take for granted the fact that we have had merkel around since 2005. 12 years! four british prime ministers later and she is still here. the idea that stability... what do i perceive to be the development? there will come a time when people are so fed up with the traditional parties that there will be an emergence of a new party like in france. macron showed it. austria had a similar development. the current powers that be no longer deliver the goods, frankly. as you say, people coast long, and all of the traditional sort of activities of daily life are not impaired, you have a sense that your country is not pulling its weight on the world stage. but that is divided between west and east. east with afd, the extreme right wing, which is a new problem in germany. fascinating, the vote is on sunday. if that goes through it needs to go to wider membership. there is a long way to go and we will certainly be talking about that again. let's move further afield. the head of iran's revolutionary guards, mohammad ali jafari, declared this week that he can now drive from t

stage in the swiss alps speeches from the continent's heavyweights top the agenda germany's angela merkel spoke earlier in the day but it was france's in. the headlines slot he told the world economic forum globalization has to ensure prosperity for everyone and for all classes in society. that has not been native to diggle that is a nation in general is going through a major crisis and this global challenge requires for sure a collective thought from international organizations states' companies civil society. in order to find and implement solutions and now to the other in europe's power couple angle americal she made the case for closer european ties as well as more free trade are warning against rising economic nationalism came a day before u.s. president all the trouble is due to arrive in dog it was a welcome break for the chancellor amid political gridlock here in berlin. the german chancellor speech marked her return to the world stage after months of political limbo at home in germany her address focused on your appendix feature one of her key messages the world's problems will n

you have been watching german chancellor angela merkel speaking there at the c.d.u. headquarters in berlin where germany is moving one step closer to getting a new government formal coalition talks between the chancellor who we just heard from and the social democrats are finally getting underway at this hour more than four months after germans went to the polls to elect a new government as well as germany's future government also at stake in these talks the political futures of the two party leaders the social democrats only narrowly voted to begin the negotiations at a special conference party conference this past weekend now as p.t. chairman martin schultz is has indicated that he is unlikely to stay on as leader if those talks fail and if they don't fail the s.p.d.m. four hundred forty thousand members will vote on whether to approve it here is what their party leader said going into the talks have less relief on. the negotiations building on the results already achieved in the. different social democratic mode so we don't agree with you know the document i share

government but one young leader among the social democrats considers sharing power with chancellor angela merkel to be something like the kiss of death for his party. we don't want it but we have to do it and that's the endless loop we've been in for so many years and comrades that logic must be broken. or we begin the day with tents and the palestinians today palestinian president mahmoud abbas met with european union foreign ministers in brussels abbas is on a mission seeking more support from europe he has rejected the u.s. as a peace mediator ever since u.s. president donald trump recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel back in december but europe refuses to go that far saying that working with the u.s. is and remains the go a while abbas is in europe u.s. vice president mike pence is in israel the vice president is on his first three day tour of the country to celebrate trump's move on jerusalem today inside the israeli parliament the knesset fence was reminded of just how much disarray and anger trumps policy has fall take a look citizens of israel. israeli arab wall makers interrupt

correspondent: perhaps angela merkel felt she needed it because -- as she went into a second day for exploratory talks with the social dedemocrats. they are looking for a different version of europe's future. >> europe must be one of the main topics no matter what the government looks like. that is why i hope angela merkel and i will be able to reach an agreement to allow germany to once again be the motor of the european union. correspondent: with the failure of november's coalition talks fresh in their minds, the two sides have agreed on strict confidentiality. there are signs of progress, with reports slipping out that agreement has been that on climate, in contact -- income tax and investments. >> the towns here are as always when exploratory talks are taking place. the old rule applies. nothing has been agreed until everything has been agreed. correspondent: the exploratory talks ends on thursday when the two sides decide if there is enough common ground. brent: we're covering the talks. good evening to you. this second day of talks is over . where do we stand? there was a state

i'm still hammering good to have you with us german chancellor angela merkel has been leaving key talks about forming a new coalition government going into the negotiations the talks less that she was optimistic to serve the divs are holding the exploratory talks with the center left social democrats after previous negotiations with other parties failed sticking points this time around are expected to include germany's refugee policies and its approach to european integration. have a listen to what merkel and the social democrat leader martin schultz had to say as the talks got underway. because the c.d.u. is going into these talks with the aim of creating the conditions to form a stable government. that's because we believe that the task ahead for which we have the voters' mandate are enormous in terms of foreign policy challenges european challenges and also in domestic affairs. we all sensed that the challenges for a new federal government however it may be structured lie in that the new year in which we all live must also include a new kind of politics in this sense we will conduct

he is at two o'clock this afternoon closely followed by angela merkel. closely followed by angela merkel. today with the european leaders taking centre stage. taking centre stage. what else is happening later on? happening later on? there are so many other sides discussions and debates. discussions and debates. of an insight, the day of the refugee, they call it. refugee, they call it. challenges pose in terms of resolving them. resolving them. refugees on the scale like we are seeing in bangladesh. seeing in bangladesh. the speakers today we have a mass of men the president of zimbabwe. men the president of zimbabwe. —— emmerson mnangagwa. emmerson mnangagwa. special interview, which i am sure viewers will see on the bbc as well. viewers will see on the bbc as well. brazil, he will give a special address this morning. address this morning. days' time, the us president will be arriving. so it is a really busy day again. i will see you later. we will be back in the business briefing. be back in the business briefing. see you soon. thank you. to tell their personal stories of sexual ab

it has and angela merkel, frankly, is running out of options. in reality, this is one of her last real shots at putting together a new, stable government, the government, the security she promised germany. she's one of the most powerful woman in the world but today, her hands are tied because the ball is very much now in the court of the social democrats. i've just been watching some of the speeches there, a special party day, at the end of which they will vote on whether to go into another coalition, another four years with angela merkel. the party is really passionately, deeply divided. many within it to say, "you know what? four years of government with angela merkel, eight years, actually, has led us to a disastrous election result in september. our showing in the polls is really poor. we have been overshadowed by her, she has stolen our policies, we certainly don't want to work with her again". but there are equally significant numbers within the party who say, "it is our duty to ensure germany has a stable government. it is four yea rs has

that's because the talks with the coalition with smaller parties have already failed now angler merkel went into these discussions saying that her party was ready for compromise if it was in the interests of the german people but martin short's the leader of the s.p.d. has stressed that there has to be change. in the last day of exploratory talks we will make clear above this must be a new start for the european union if we join a government be on the condition that it makes europe strong. well there are some deep divisions between these parties notably over europe and the military but probably the most prickly division is that on the subject of refugees the social democrats would like to bring the families of those who are seeking asylum here in germany to the country well under merkel's party has look to hold the flow of refugees coming to germany the reality is that the social democrats know that anglo merkel is under pressure to form a coalition and they will you can expect be playing hardball over all of these issues now there is a chance that this is meant to be the final day of

further entangling merkel's predicament her popularity has slipped in the meantime. and the longer coalition talks take the worse it gets only fifty three percent support oncle america staying in office in october it was sixty one percent forty five percent are against her staying in office. germans have the following attitudes about anglo america america stands for political stability seventy percent agree best days as chancellor are over sixty seven percent agree and merkel's c.d.u. neglects concerns over refugees according to fifty nine percent. the german government's most important task by far is still the refugee issue even though it's less politically charged than it was a year ago. when asked if families of war refugees should be allowed to join them here in germany forty one percent said yes forty eight percent said no and if new elections were held this sunday germans would not vote much differently than a month ago the c.d.u. c.s.u. would receive thirty three percent of the vote the s.p.d. twenty one percent the f.t. would get thirteen percent of the vote

conservatives has labeled turkey's syrian offensive illegal what the socialist chancellor merkel taking on the conflict the chancellor herself has not said anything publicly about the conflict but her spokesman has spoken of all those and has been very reluctant in fact to condemn what's happening in the oven syria at the moment to condemn this turkish action the government's position is that. it is not clear whether international law is being broken by this offensive and to the whole thing should be seen in the context of developments in syria in in its entirety so the german government is pushing for a peace initiatives in syria to be accelerated and this situation in a free in northern syria to be included in those kinds of negotiations in other words there's a great reluctance on the part of the german government actually to criticize turkey and to condemn what is happening there at the moment as we saw in the report has germany has been a key arms supplier to turkey we saw those tanks other vehicles is that likely to change in light of recent developments. well in the possibility b

have said they support a manual map corns version of having a european budget that something merkel's party doesn't want and then on military while the conservatives would like to see an increase in military spending the s.p.d. don't want that as i mentioned many people are watching. these talks of very closely people seeing this as being the last chance saloon flanger merkel to form a government many people biding their time to see what will happen whether this will result in talks that will be formal folk for coalition or whether germany will face yet another election what is absolutely clear is if the s.t.p. agree that they would like to pursue this formal talks they still then have to persuade their party members to vote in favor of that and that vote will not take place until january twenty first there is still a long way to go to find out whether this coalition will be a coalition for the next few years or whether germany will have to start all over again speaking to us live from berlin salo do bensky thanks charlotte. germany has been closely watching the coalition talks betwee

news live from then after months of deadlock is a new german government now inside chancellor angela merkel says she hopes to forward ruling coalition by east have potential partners the social democrats face a battle with leader martin schultz tries to win over skeptical members also on the program africa demands an apology from donald trump from fifty four african nations expressing their outrage at the u.s. president's alleged use of to rocketry comments to describe that country. and in german soccer shelters start the second half of the bundesliga season in second place fellow to hold on to that spot tonight against like six. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring eight good to have you with us german chancellor angela merkel says she hopes to form a new government by easter after her conservatives reached agreement with the social democrats yesterday on launching formal coalition talks late last year you'll remember a previous attempt to form a coalition with smaller parties failed so friday's breakthrough has eased months of political uncertainty in germany but there are stil

correspondent: perhaps angela merkel felt she needed it because -- as she went into a second day for exploratory talks with the social democrats. they are looking for a different version of europe's future. >> europe must be one of the main topics no matter what the government looks like. that is why i hope angela merkel and i will be able to reach an agreement to allow germany to once again be the motor of the european union. correspondent: with the failure of november's coalition talks fresh in their minds, the two sides have agreed on strict confidentiality. there are signs of progress, with reports slipping out that agreement has been that on climate, in contact -- income tax and investments. >> the towns here are as always when exploratory talks are taking place. the old rule applies. nothing has been agreed until everything has been agreed. correspondent: the exploratory talks ends on thursday when the two sides decide if there is enough common ground. brent: we're covering the talks. good evening to you. this second day of talks is over . where do we stand? there was a stateme

the merkel-trump relationship is a little better than what people might think. obviously, on issue after issue, there are major disagreements. on an interpersonal level, they get along pretty well. there may be fireworks on some issues, but by and large, i would not be looking for that she wants to focus on getting the government set and that is what her focus will be. is interesting. thank you, former u.s. ambassador to germany. of course we are once again waiting for the senate vote on the bill to reopen the government. this is bloomberg. ♪ we use our phones and computers the same way these days. so why do we pay to have a phone connected when we're already paying for internet? shouldn't it all just be one thing? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you can get 5 lines of talk and text included at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. choose by the gig or unlimited. and ask how to get a $150 prepaid card when you buy a new lg x charge. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com retail. u

this is a party of anger merkel's party fears close integration feel fear is that there could be some financial liabilities attached to that having to basically vote for debts of other countries this is been a very long standing issue here in europe but what is the democrat leader put down there as a condition i would expect to be an issue they very much see eye to eye on in the end and that can be resolved so i guess there will be more talk on the detail on the nitty gritty german issues. going on here at the s.p.d. headquarters with a very open and we don't know how long this will last today. if these exploratory talks are successful what happens next what's the roadmap for germany forming a government. well first of all both parties just ships would be debating them and then there is. a party gathering on the twenty first of january of the social democrats a party conference that would have to the green have to give the green light for proper coalition talks to go ahead and once any kind of coalition agreement the kind of marriage agreement of this a marriage of political necessity

find a home free good to have you with us german chancellor angela merkel has been meeting key talks about forming a new coalition government going into the negotiations the chancellor said she was optimistic medical's conservatives are holding the exploratory talks with the center left social democrats off to previous negotiations with all the parties failed sticking points this time this time around are expected to germany's as refugee policies on its approach to european integration have a listen to what america on the social democrat leader martin schultz had to say as those talks got underway. if you can get the news because the c.d.u. is going into these talks with the aim of creating the conditions to form a stable government. that's because we believe that the tasks ahead for which we have the voters mandate are enormous in terms of foreign policy challenges european challenges and also in domestic affairs you know i was one of we all sensed that the challenges for a new federal government however it may be structured lie in that the new year and which we all live must also i