pashto and your prospects for returning our web special to the refugee journey like germany and the prospects for those returning. to join the discussion on g.w. dot com and on facebook. prospects for returning. to double major. this is the w. news live from berlin u.s. president donald trump backtracked on comments he made about russian election meddling trump has now said he supports u.s. intelligence assessments that russia trying to influence last year's presidential

election his comments come a day after he announced he believed russian president vladimir putin when he said that russia did not meddle also coming up. spanish prime minister mariano rajoy visits barcelona for the first time since opposing direct rule we'll find out what it means. plus a first for the arab world the news of a dog the opens its doors to the public the billion dollar project promises to act as a bridge between east and west through the medium of art. on michelle henery welcome to the program president donald trump has arrived in milla to attend the ozzie and group summit trump was welcomed at the airport by government officials it's the last like of the president's asia tour the summit and shams arrived. have sparked protests in the philippine capitol police use right

shields and water to disperse demonstrators angry about a range of issues from globalization to america's influence on the country's politics. we're joined now by correspondent on the santos in manila ana trump has just arrived there how will he be welcomed. in short he is not welcome here in the philippines that is the message of the protesters with their promised that they would stage protests demonstrations that would have the visit of president try and they are delivering on that promise early this week we already started seeing these protests and just today there was a report of. twenty protesters who were injured in a in a protest leading up to the u.s. embassy as was reported water cannons were used by the riot police and twenty were

injured and one protester has been arrested trump is going to take part in the ozzie and summit with which in a leader's what can we expect from that. well first of all there's a little bit of a wave of uncertainty with donald trump's visit because first of all you know comparing to his predecessor president barack obama had a clear foreign policy which was a pivot to south east asia now president trying doesn't have such a clear cut foreign policy when it comes to southeast asia most of his policies can be summed up as america first and what does that mean for this region so there's a number of implications one is if. the future is not a good wine already for the. i'm sorry. if there is no law. and i'm sorry it was a finisher of response. so if the region is no longer going to be

a priority for the us it could spare a little bit more wiggle room for china to continue its military. secondly there is also this protectionist feeling right and this resistance to globalization what's that going to need for this region that is that has a lot of economic models that are dependent on exports on a song doesn't the philippines thank you very much. now trumps this it is being overshadowed by comments he made on saturday and the known he was there as part of his mammoth asia tour he initially said he believed russia's president vladimir putin when he insisted moscow did not meddle in the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election trump has now backtracked on those earlier remarks. a brass band and a military guard said the same for another carefully choreographed encounter on

donald trump's diplomatic tour in hanoi med it's been a maze counterpart. but the meeting with of a shattered by the president's tweets trump bragged against north korean leader kim jong un and slammed quite high isn't food for criticizing his meeting with vladimir putin yesterday. trump had been mocked up to saying he delayed the russian president when he denied meddling in the u.s. election today he clarified those remarks and signaled a potential end to his feud with the intelligence community i believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in the election as to whether i believe it or not with our agencies especially as currently constituted with their leadership i believe in our intel agencies our intelligence agencies i've worked with them very strongly in my not baby and they rekindled. he was asked if he could be friends with kim jong un i think anything's a possibility. strange things happen in life that might be

a strange thing to happen but it's certainly a possibility if that did happen it would be a good thing for i can tell you for north korea but it would also be good for lots of other places that it would be good for the world this is the most ambitious trip to asia by u.s. president in decades but so far it's not who don't know trump has met but rather what he has said that is again dominated the headlines. spanish prime minister mariano rajoy is visiting catalonia today for the first time since madrid dismissed the regional government it comes on the back of massive protests on saturday hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to call for the release of political leaders jailed for backing the region split from spain the protest organizers also hope to keep up the momentum for independence as the spanish government aims to quash it. i know a familiar sight in barcelona huge crowds of independent supporters on the streets

of the capital on capital there demanding the release of jailed separatist leaders and former catalan ministers. we have ten political prisoners in catalonia among them a vice president and the majority of our ministers there are also representatives from civil society we want to tell the world we want freedom for our prisoners and freedom for catalonia that they continue. after catalonia has referendum madrid dismissed the region's government former ministers and separatist leaders were taken into custody on charges of sedition others fat to belgium including former catalan president karl has pushed him over madrid has issued a european arrest warrant that could see him extradited to spain he says madrid is wrong to prosecute him and his former ministers. you know to be treated like a criminal like a drug trafficker like a pedophile like a serial killer i think this is abuse this isn't politics this is using the courts

to do politics. has called on the european union to intervene. well the some of the it is very disappointing to see that the european union that we're all part of they can respond to situations of poland and hungary but cannot respond to the situation in couple or near the stop or summit of the world. the situation came to a head on october the first as catalans went back to vote in what madrid called an illegal referendum they were met with scenes like these. yet many catalans were outraged madrid's heavy handed approach may well have boosted support for independence. but the question why is whether that support has waned and whether separatists will triumph in catalan elections next month. for more i'm joined by d.w. correspondent michael alton hannah and valencia michael ware who is in barcelona

for a party meeting ahead of elections in december what is this meeting all about. rather than a meeting it's the kick of two the pre-election can paint for the party to topple are the conservative party of mariano rajoy. has spoken in front of his supporters in a sealed off location rather than in a public place and he has launched a vigorous attack against the independence the pro independence leaders and also against the entire pro independence movement and catalonia he has defended each and every decision that he has taken so far some of them unprecedented in spanish history he has taken over of the power in catalonia sacked ministers and hundreds of officials so all his hard line chorus as some might see it is

something that he has defended once again today and this is what his supporters of his produce party to a popular wanted to hear and michael as you said he defended all of his hard line actions but hundreds of thousands of people had been in the streets of barcelona for weeks protesting against the spanish government candor who a win over voters there. his speech today his appearance in barcelona for the first time since this conflict started was obviously more directed towards spanish voters in the rest of the country rather than winning votes in catalonia itself the party to a popular his party has very bleak chances to win or to increase its votes in the upcoming snap elections elections that he himself has called for last time they only achieved about eight percent of the votes in catalonia the last polls suggest that they will most likely maintain this level so they are

a very small political force in the region itself whatever marianna a whole year has been saying today he was talking to his voters in the rest of the country michael you're on the ground there in spain what do you make of roy's handling of the crisis in catalonia where we have to see that the region remains deeply divided over the independence debate and the conflict so is also partly the country in spain his handling has been criticized by many observers simply because he's trying to solve a political conflict a political dispute by using the power of the state by handing it over to the you dish or e letting the judges act against politicians now eight of them are behind bars so with handling the situation like this has seen a lot of criticism but today he didn't seem to review or regret anything and he

actually has shown no signs of recon reconsideration whatsoever michael and spain thank you very much you're welcome. lebanon is calling for answers after its prime minister saad resigned unexpectedly he announced he was stepping down during a visit to saudi arabia last week lebanon has now called on the saudi government to explain why he's still there and has not returned home on saturday hariri appeared on state television but the saudi king the lebanese government believes hariri is being held against his will his surprise resignation has plunged lebanon and to a political crisis and made it the new focus of the long running power struggle between saudi arabia and iran. the louvers one of the world's most famous museums and now it has a sister museum in abu dhabi thousands of visitors attended the opening in a spectacular building designed by french architect john nouvelle the building like

the museum itself attempts to combine eastern and western influences it's the first museum of its kind in the arab region here's more. thank you ing in the thirty degree heat we're now name from the somewhat cooler paris is already pulling a crowd in the arab world for the opening of the louvre abu dhabi the five thousand tickets went quickly like the arts many visitors have come from europe the locals seem to like it. we've been waiting for more than ten years so we're very proud to have an institution like this here the europeans took our artifacts and so the arabs are ok with taking the name at least and create also museums and bring part of the art back and also some european art so i think it's actually quite a good thing that. it's precisely what the rich immersive he wants the orient and the rest of the world comes together in arts grand historical qur'an editions vinci's belfair on the air. sculpture fountain of light. the shakes have

left the structure of this rabia louvre true a frenchwoman star architect john nouvelle in time spans one hundred eighty meters i designed that invites in separate station. just looking at this new thinking about how they did this based on like the palm trees the print of the palm trees at so creative like you know it's connecting that culture and modernism together so it's really nice to see that. i'm there celebrating this in their own way as artistic expertise and as name recognition come as a price the emirates has spent around one point five billion euros on the overall project including loan fees for the arts from the original in paris it gives a stronger exposure in terms of cultural associations with with france and with europe i think it's fantastic that the louvre opened a new branch in the middle east it's for

a limited time though the name louvre can only be used for thirty years in six months they want to the opening has been long and ostentatious now it's time to see whether this temple of high art can help bridge the arab and western world's. it looks spectacular from inside and out that's all for now the be sure to tune in for more news at the top of the hour when my colleague it come on and takes over in the meantime you can log on to d.w. dot com for more news updates thank you for watching. by tens of thousands of fans for their mega life sets.