some of the winter night could be strong and disruptive. 60 mph, if not 70 mph. showers to northern ireland down to the borders of scotla nd ireland down to the borders of scotland and the rest of england. the north, as tonight goes on, the skies make clear. temperatures dipping away. not such a problem that the south given the combination of the strong winds and some of those showers. what of sunday? brighter skies from the word go. a frosty start here and increasingly through the day, the brighter skies wind out. apart from some of the western extremities of scotland, england and wales and northern ireland. a lot of sunshine and top temperature, a cold feeling ten or 11. this is bbc world news, the headlines: police have fired tear gas in paris.

the french authorities say 8,000 people have taken part in a fourth weekend of anti—government police in new zealand have confirmed the disappearance of a british backpacker in new zealand is now being treated as a murder investigation. 22—year—old grace millane was last seen in a hotel in auckland a week ago. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has warned the country would be in uncharted territory if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal. six people including five teenagers have been killed and more than 100 injured in a stampede at a nightclub in northern italy. a day after her party selected a new party —— leader, mark urban reports on the rise and fall of angela merkel. angela merkel‘s debut seems about as

farfrom angela merkel‘s debut seems about as far from brave as can angela merkel‘s debut seems about as farfrom brave as can be angela merkel‘s debut seems about as far from brave as can be at that caution continues to be the essence of her approach. and antiheroes, using care and liberation, moving discretely on the political stage. avoiding show and high flowing rhetoric, perfect in many ways for a country where even the word leader cannot be pronounced without touching off dark, historical precedents. the germans don't want it because they are dammed if they do, dammed if they don't. along with a self—consciousness about wielding power is a reluctance to speak its language, to articulate the ideas. her allies would argue that is

unfair, but it confuses the absence of visionary political style with a lack of conviction. she is not so much impressed by id logical positions but make no mistake about it, she is convinced by ideas. the merkel is is coming to a close, she has given —— given up the leadership ofa has given —— given up the leadership of a party and many are sceptical that she can hold onto the reins of the government but she says she wa nts to the government but she says she wants to until 2021. then, what next for germany? the successor would be starting like all the others, france first, poland first, germany first. perhaps growing up in the 1950s and

19605 perhaps growing up in the 1950s and 1960s east germany, she had absorbed enough to reread ideology to last a lifetime. she is still remembered in her hometown where having been as shy, introverted character focusing on science, she only burst onto the blissful scene after the fall of the berlin wall. —— onto the political scene. 0utside her home village, there is a foundation for people with special needs and it is where the future mrs merkel‘s father worked and the family lived. coming here, you get quite an idea about how the young angela would have been goodish and psychologically because she was living in a christian, religious amenity, a charitable foundation within a communist state which

regarded such religious entities as suspicious. therefore, she would have known from the outset that she had to be really careful about what she said in wider society. she puts a lot of score and loyalty. loyalty is very important, and loyalty in the meanest system is very difficult —— different to loyalty to the communist party. she has a very close circle of politician and friends and she's uncorrectable. she saw enough corruption in east germany. when in 1989, the east german system

elapsed, a world of possibilities opened for the ph.d. chemist working ata opened for the ph.d. chemist working at a institute in berlin. she was very interested to use her abilities after 1989 to change the political situation. it was terrible. and how to channel her political impulses? her religious upbringing and innate conservativism led her towards the christian democrats where she began to carve out a career. she was underestimated by the most significant point was that she was young... she was a lady, from the

east, from eastern germany, quite ambitious, but nobody knew about her political convictions, about her ideas. merkel has patiently played the political game for years, realising on her rivals self—absorption, often politicking in her own admission without any real meaning. and then the party into view. and then the party into view. those who knew her came into view. those who knew her when she was minister, in the 1990s, under the former chancellor helmut kth under the former chancellor helmut kohl, they recognised she was a tough politician and anna bish is one that could hide her time, that was important for her. the fact that she could actually out helmut kohl and become leader of the christian democratic union party, i think that this glued a lot of people who thought she was an easy pushover and

wouldn't last long. she has out seen her critics and she has endured, and thatis her critics and she has endured, and that is in a remarkable feat for somebody who was caught up in eastern germany. having won the leadership, germans were inevitably cure is about her private life. she and her husband didn't have children and her husband didn't have children and have always lived modestly. details of their domestic life emerged only occasionally. we were sitting in a restaurant and i was sitting in a restaurant and i was sitting with her husband and she was sitting with her husband and she was sitting at another table and i told her husband, you can't always agree with the political decisions your wife has taken. when she comes home, what are you doing? and before he answered, she told me, it is very easy, he is silent, he doesn't say a word, he prepares a meal. and the scope for getting it wrong would be tested in one drama after another after she became germany's leader in

2005. a method for navigating these crises involved triangulating to the political centre. following solutions most germans would support. her no alternative idea was used to

dominate the centre ground and suck the political life out of coalition partners. she is more in the testing trial and error. this is why she is dangerous for others. she destroyed her enemies not willingly but she took the best ideas from them, she tested the ideas and realised them. and she left her opponents with empty hands. the greek debt crisis proved to be one of her most severe test and one of the most successful. i witnessed one of the most difficult moments of a chancellorship when we had to negotiate the rescue operation for the euro in 2010. germany was in favour of strict condition are to because we believe in solidarity and

reforms. two sides of the same coin. four hours and hours, it was not clear whether at the end of the day, we would achieve the solution. and then she managed to get a good result that was very, very impressive. in saving the euro and decrease's membership of it, merkel moved well to the left of her party, creating big difficulties for the future and spawning a movement that respect bash exquisitely rejected her no alternative proposal. the alternative for germany, it's her no alternative proposal. the alternative for germany, its leader isa alternative for germany, its leader is a christian democrat shunned by the den general secretary. we don't need you any longer. and he said

that conservative voters have no other option than voting cdu and so it makes no sense for the party to be conservative or two form right wing ideas. and in solving the greek crisis, she shows another characteristic, making choices within a tight circle of decision—makers. within a tight circle of decision-makers. she hasn't reached out far enough when it comes to critical decisions. she has made two major decisions which are very uncharacteristic. 0ne major decisions which are very uncharacteristic. one was getting rid of nuclear energy and the second was the issue. there was the minimum of consultation, which i think was a pretty ticked mistake because if you don't communicate these huge decisions, you really don't ring the public on board. it was that issue,

refugees, that would be the... they we re refugees, that would be the... they were made impossible by the speed of events. caught off—guard on television by compelling palestinian teenager, she had appeared wooden, and caring. the issue forced her to ta ke and caring. the issue forced her to take the political plunge, abandoning her customary caution. so it was with a refugee crisis when faced with the necessity of letting in hundreds of thousands of people, she decided to make a political virtue out of it, she embraced the situation using the slogan, we can do this, to try to redefine germany's image in the wider world. she was completely in agreement with the large majority of the germans who wanted to show that they are

nice people. at this time, she was not a scientist, but she was someone who was feeling. it was not the narration or politics she is the champion of. like tony blair and iraq, merkel‘s defining moment involved setting aside her usual caution and care for triangulation of public opinion, making a decision waste on her emotional intuition. angela merkel has always been criticised for not being clear enough. she has a tactic like i try one step, i go back, i try another step in it doesn't work. but for the very first time, with the refugees,

she had quite a clear position. for the very first time, she was so clear and for the very first time she was really criticised. in the chancery, they were working the issue. as hundreds of thousands arrived, she was alarmed to see european partners failing to follow german's lead. europe didn't really work, as a union, it didn't work together. this was really a problem. 0n the one hand, i think that angela merkel wanted to be an example, like to say, germany caused so many disasters for europe so we are the first ones to do another thing now. and whereas its campaigning on the euro had failed to mobilise voters, migration created opportunities for the afd to seize the political ground to the right of merkel. the refugee problem is a problem which you can find in every village, in

every town, you can find in your school when the pupils can no longer speak german. it is much more impressive for the people, this economic discussion about greece bailout was not so much impressive for the people. in former areas of eastern germany and in the south, the afd vote soared in the last election, giving them more than 90 seats in the parliament. merkel clinched victory for a fourth time but she had been damaged. in an attempt to keep the coalition

up in an attempt to keep the coalition up righta in an attempt to keep the coalition up right a little longer, merkel surrendered the party leadership but not the chancellorship. how might longer she will last in that role depends on who gets the partyjob. if you listen to them, between the lines of the germany first, there is little note of germany first. the successof little note of germany first. the successor would you starting like all the others, france first, poland first, germany first. this is, well, i'm pessimistic about it. people expect some time that we say germany first and they want the money, and the french want money, and people

will support a chancellor who says germany first. merkel's very confident and long grip on office has left her party and prepared the succession and even for public disagreements about policy. and whoever succeeds must deal with a vocal afd faction in parliament. as indeed must merkel for as long as she holds on to the leadership of her country. but what was striking during the chancellor's speech was that she just ignores the afd interruptions and catcalls, but of course, they are here now on the opposition benches, and they are an

important fact of political life. she has founded our party, in a way. is it personal? does she despise your party and your politics?” don't think so, i don't think angela merkel despises someone or something, i don't think so. but for the christian democratic party, it is difficult to sit and look at us because a lot of these members of the party, she, angola merkel is the midwife of this party and these people could be part of us and we had mishandled the problem. people could be part of us and we had mishandled the problemm reminds her of herfailure, you say? exactly. exactly. it may too early

to talk of epitaphs but it is equally clear that the merkel is is coming to an end. and with it, germany will lose a leader whose sensitivities were honed in the comet east. this grim complex was at secret police prison. thousands of political detainees walked these corridors between interrogation rooms and their cells. perhaps the strongest thing about growing up in the gdr left her with was that hatred of tyranny, a dislike of dictators, and an innate sympathy for people who had suffered under such regimes. if there is one defining thing about merkel, over the years, it is her commitment to freedom. and this became very strong

over the past couple of years, commitment to freedom, of democracy, of the rule of law, of not taking freedom for granted. i think this was one of her hallmarks. merkel was perfect for the germany of her time, diffident about leadership, careful, pragmatic, and centrist, but chimes are changing. i'd leave she deferred this decision for a long time left everybody in the dark. it was a last moment ago, honestly, and to be master of your own decisions. it was the very last moment. it was a very well chosen moment. but the decision had been made, probably, months ago. how does merkel's party position itself to deal with the afd? as she leads, the christian doidge are riven with tensions. the afd challenge is a relatively new

phenomenon. i still have to be convinced that this is a transition, the success and it is not taken for granted that populist parties will play a major role in germany in the long run but it will do tend on our ability to stick together, to find compromises, and to avoid public conflicts. the assumption is faltering that jeremy bat—macro economic power and rule should make it ready to show that much of the burden, be that on your rose of refugees, the successor will face greater pressure to put national interests first, as the woman from the east slips eventually into retirement. hello once again, a day for dodging

the showers widely. if not longer spells of rain. through the course of the night, we will keep the showers going quite widely across the part the british isles but tomorrow, drier, brighter, but chillier two. the reason for the u nsettled chillier two. the reason for the unsettled nature has been this area of low pressure, especially but not exclusively into western and central parts, and then increasingly i think we will find a range transferring further east, following on behind another raft of showers. they will be rattling along because the winds are likely to increase in the small hours with some dust around the coast pushing towards 70 mph. it is the combination of showers and trees that keeps the temperature up in the south but that is not the case in the north. skies are clear so the

temperatures will fall away. sunday sees a cooler field to the day, widely across the british isles. following on behind the winds no longer behind. a peppering of showers across western areas, a fresher feel to the day. five or six or7 fresher feel to the day. five or six or 7 degrees across northern areas, maybe double fingers are crossed that southern counties of england and wales. the wind less of a feature but with a real nip about it because of the north—westerly wind. sunday into monday, the showers will give up the ghost as the high—pressure troubles in from the ante, the skies will clear again and for northern parts, cold and frosty start, less so perhaps further south. monday at this stage is shaping up to be a decent day, lot

of dry weather, sunshine, crisp start to the day and the cloud feeds in across northern ireland, western scotla nd in across northern ireland, western scotland and maybe western areas generally. the weather front comes in from the atlantic, the best of the sunshine at east but not a warm day away from the various south west and channel islands. a battle develops across the british isles of mild airfrom the develops across the british isles of mild air from the atlantic and something called from the continent. —— something colder from the continent. this is nnc news. the headlines at 5. police fire tear gas on the streets of paris as anti—government protestors clash with officers in a fourth weekend of demonstrations. police in new zealand are to charge a 26—year—old man

with the murder of british backpacker, grace millane — who went missing in auckland last week. sadly the evidence we have gathered to this point of the inquiry have established that this is a homicide. amber rudd becomes the first government minister to publicly discuss an alternative to theresa may's brexit deal. what happened if it is voted down? and anything could happen. there are lots of different things that could happen. most of which they will not wa nt happen. most of which they will not want to happen, so when they