our mentor the better it's up to us to make a difference let's check. the political parliament magazine. on d w. this is the only news line from berlin a worrying message for the german chancellor a new poll shows most voters don't want a nother coalition of anglo-american conservatives and her old social democrat partners and that's just ahead of talks between the parties also coming up michael

wolff bombshell book fire and fury gets an early release later today well that's despite attempts by president trump's lawyers to block its publication the book paints an unflattering behind the scenes portrait of the trump administration and a deep freeze the east coast of the united states is in the grip of a massive winter storm fresh snow since the mercury plummeting to record lows. thank you very much for your company. germany is still waiting for a new government more than three months after elections and according to a new poll that weight is weighing on the public mood a new survey by posters in protest dimapur make grim reading for chancellor angela merkel it shows only forty five percent of germans want a repeat of a coalition with the social democrats this is just as the two sides prepare for

talks. i'm the america desperately needs to deliver more than one hundred days after the federal elections she still has no government the last coalition talks fell apart and new polls showed germans have no stomach for her next proposed solution another grand coalition. only five percent view a new grand coalition as very good and forty percent as good thirty four percent view a grand coalition as less good and eighteen percent view it as bad. 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 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 the f.t.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. all

right i'm joined now by our political correspondent kit brief for some analysis of these findings a grim reading for the chancellor what does it mean for the upcoming talks well these talks on sunday were clearly the social democrats as well as the conservatives of both going into those talks knowing that fifty two percent of germans are in fact against exactly what it is the discussing so clearly whatever comes out of these talks has to be a good deal if that even reaches actual coalition negotiations what happens if they don't reach a good deal if these talks fail what are the options are to the left for chance on going miracle or muckle them really has two options that is the choice of a minority government something which he's repeatedly said that she's against that would be quite a grueling process for merkel is she'd have to find a new majority for every piece of legislation and then at the same time you also have the choice of a snap election and that would have to be called by the german president frank. and

of course there's the wherry for both of the leading parties that a new election could see them new seats in parliament and also there's the concern that the day here obviously we remember. parliament for the first time after september's election that they could actually game all seats and of course there's also a cost a huge cost in fact attached to running yet another campaign right and of course i'm going marigold retains a lot of support still with her base and wave to her party but could you see them turning on her if her approval ratings keep plummeting this way well it's unlikely that we're going to see a rebel again at the moment obviously a we've sold before between the two conservative policies of the last couple of years there's been quite a lot of tension especially when it came to knuckles handling of the influx of refugees but at the same time they also know especially in the seedy humor conservatives they know that at the moment they don't have if you like a successor to merkel and that's going to be

a big issue regardless of what happens with these coalition talks over the next few years for the conservatives aren't so it seems like the chancellor is here to stay for the forseeable future ok kate brady political correspondent thank you so much. all right next hour we're going to head to the korean peninsula because north and south korea have agreed to hold their first formal talks in more than two years the discussions that for tuesday will pave the way for north korean athletes to attend the upcoming winter olympics in south korea the announcement came hours after the u.s. agreed to delay joint military exercises with south korea after the olympic games the meeting is expected to be held on january ninth in the demilitarized zone it has been the site of past talks are at and we can go straight to seoul now to workers senior correspondent josh smith just josh what can we expect from this meeting on tuesday so first on the agenda.

participation of north korea athletes and you know coming winter olympics it's something that the south korean government has been seeking for some months now because they are very keen obviously for the conflict not to overshadow the upcoming games and they seen they have seen north korea's participation as key to making sure that this goes off well both sides however i've also said that they're open to discussing other issues that may affect tensions on the korean peninsula she of course among those who made the. north's nuclear weapons program which has come under increasing international condemnation but which north korean government has said is a reality that they are not going to negotiate over if the north korean team is at the winter olympic games in chiang how far with they go into fusing tensions.

well many observers. say that it's important to remember that their participation in the games there won't likely solve any problems on its own. however many people even the most cynical observers now say that you know this may provide some kind of opening that could lead to more talks down the road if for example the north is not testing more weapons between now and then and if the south koreans and the united states refrain from some of these controversial military drills on the peninsula there and many are hoping that this may be to just the kind of opening that could lead to further talks and negotiations down the road right now critics say that the north star really sent a abrupt push to improve ties may be

a tactic to divide so and washington do you think they're trying to drive a wedge between these two allies that is something that many people have expressed worry over it so worried that it has been increased somewhat given some of the comments from u.s. president donald trump who in the past has cast doubts on the relationship between south korea and the united states that being said. top military leaders here and others have said that it's very important for all sides at this point to. retain a united front as they begin to think oh sheesh and with north korea where it is senior correspondent josh smith in seoul thank you. well now to some of the other stories making news around the world. former peruvian president alberto fujimori has been discharged from the hospital a week after receiving a part of the current president president kaczynski while the pardon from the

seventy nine year old has led to nationwide protests he was convicted for human rights abuses. scientists in australia say a major outbreak of a coral eating starfish has been damaging the country's great barrier reef researchers discovered the predator crown of thorns starfish in plague proportions at the reef southern edge last month the government's has begun culling the spiky marine animals. in egypt a sight seeing hot air balloon carrying foreign tourists has crashed into the southern city of looks or at least one person has died and seven other people are injured officials say strong winds forced the balloon off its course above the city's temples and tombs. now a new tell all book that exposes the growing pains of donald trump's presidency will be released later today that's despite efforts by trump's lawyers to block the

book going on sale in the first place the president has also ripped into the work of its author michael wolff after extracts from his work betrayed a white house steeped in intrigue and betrayal. it's all but certain to be a bestseller just days into the new year the spork betraying the us president as a net unprepared for office as throwing the white house into a frenzy some of the harshest commentary in the book has come from steve bannon a right wing firebrand and donald trump's form a strategy chief ban and has attacked a donald trump jr for a twenty sixteen meeting with a group of russians in the book by michael wolff bannon is quoted as saying even if you thought that this was not treasonous or run patriotic or bad and i happen to think it's all of that you should have called the f.b.i. immediately to which the president hit back steve benen has nothing to do with me or my presidency when he was fired he not only lost his job he lost his mind.

it's a spectacular fall out between the two former allies bana was the one who helped carve out trump's nationalist agenda that helped him win the oval office despite the furor over his quotes bannan told the president a great man on his right to go ashore. in the present state is a great man you know i supporting day to day out. about the patrol has in wright's trunk. anywhere he has the van drove right by me a great man to last night you know obviously changes to pretty quick thank you all very much. thank you i don't talk. to. the white house is trying to cost down on the books accuracy again this book is mistake after mistake after mistake as for the bombshell book the publishers have brought forward its release to friday despite cease and desist threats from donald trump's lawyers

. are a lot a lot of people it's safe to say will be lining up today to get their hands on this explosive book and here to discuss the possible fallout is boris foreman the professor of political science at bard college right here in berlin thank you for spending time with us so much for seize and desist yeah i mean. the debate is ongoing it's the deep rift between the ultra right faction in. the republican party and the establishment something we've seen before but it's certainly a clash trump hasn't been able to stop michael from publishing the book right now let's talk about steve bannon because we're going to talk about this apparent schism that is being put out there in the public some of his backers have since said that there are they don't want to support him anymore do you see that being a fall a fall out as a consequence of what he said what he told michael wolff sure some of the some of

the supporters of said bennett is a strategic thinker but this is going to for some of the things he said to michael wolff apparently. have been so outrageous for some of the supporters of balance that they have now pulled out most notably the mercer family that has backed him before so it seems that his coalition his power coalition is also crumbling so do you feel that his political future is now done with or is it too early to tell i mean bennett doesn't really have a political. future if you want to be specific about it because he's no longer part of the white house he is working for breitbart but the question is if you will be still working for breitbart two months from now what does it say about his influence because he has been able as a firebrand direct president trump or at least limit what president trump does or doesn't do do you see that diminishing at all that's a group that's i think the most important point because steve benen is one thing his influence on the on the president has been very important at the beginning of

the first year of the administration but what's important now is that he represents a movement within the republican party he has picked up some of the momentum of the tea party he was able to mobilize it for the election and to trump depends on it for reelection or for the congressional elections which are just up and i think it's going to have some impact let's talk about the democrats the opposition party we haven't heard anything from them since these revelations that were made do you think they'll be able to seize on this moment they have some momentum they've been having some momentum for the last one or two months with alabama going to the democrats for the first time in twenty five years the democrats are looking forward to the congressional elections because in the last twenty midterm elections in u.s. history eighteen of them always went to the opposing party to the non-presidential party so i think the democrats our strategy is to keep back and see the g.o.p. implode right now let's talk about the book's author michael wolff extraordinary

access that fire on the fly on the wall accounts it is extraordinary how do you gain that type of access well he had he had ties to bannon at the time and to trump you met him once he was working in washington d.c. he had very close access to some of these. political staff in the inner circle and it's it's a rare account because we know from trump that depends on the. or you know loyal circle loyal in the inner circle it's hard to get in there this is why. the book by wolf is such a spectacle but there are some allegations that it's too gossipy and we can't really tell you know fact from maybe you know fiction how credible is this account is it well sourced well i think that's one of the problems with the trump administration as such which is that we are distracted from one spectacle to the other and what's going to be important is if this story is going to be overshadowed

in a week by another story or in two weeks or if it's still going to have an impact in two months time so this is something we we don't really know. what we know when we think back to the book by michael wolff is that he apparently has backed up his sources by by taping many of the talks and discussions he's had their recordings of these that's at least as we hear there are some rumors about this so we're in the midst of it and we have to see how the story unfolds how it plays out and now the infighting that has been perpetrate how does it match some of the accounts that have come out from legacy media that have been reporting on the trumpet ministration well i think what we've seen is a lot of chaos some people have said trump's governing strategy is management by chaos that's one thing but what we've also seen from the start is a very strong tension between what is the ultra right india administration or the representation of the ultra right and the establishment and that's a tension that was represented in brains priebus and steve benen who were supposed

to be divided and conquered that was part of the strategy by trump both are no no longer part of the white house and i think we're seeing the consequences of this know right well thank you so much course former professor of political science at bard college right here in berlin thank you spend time with us thank you. it's only been seven years since the deepwater horizon disaster the explosion of the b.p. oil platform killed eleven workers and the eight hundred million liters of oil spilled into the gulf of mexico cost and our mental havoc the region is still trying to cope with today however u.s. president donald trump feels that energy independence is a priority now his administration plans to open nearly all u.s. coastlines to offshore oil and gas drilling. the five year plan calls for forty seven new offshore leases opening waters that have been off limits for decades

including areas off the california and florida coasts is a move that the u.s. interior department says is in the nation's interest but it is a clear difference between interview we've made. and under president we're going to have the strongest energy. and become the strongest interview supercar we've certainly yet it's a do that the proposal follows last week's announcement of plans to roll back or even repeal safety regulations adopted under the obama administration environmental groups have vowed to oppose the move and are organizing protests offshore drilling is is inherently dirty it's an awful lot of work there will be an oil spill such as was the case off the coast of santa barbara in two thousand and fifteen where hundred thousand gallons of oil spilled into the ocean killing fish marine mammals and other wildlife. and you can go as far back as two thousand and ten to the b.p. departed horizon spill which spilled millions of barrels into the gulf of mexico

the plan has already drawn heavy criticism from several coastal states among them the carolinas and california also in florida where memories of the deepwater horizon spill remain fresh the two thousand and ten oil platform explosion claimed the lives of eleven oil workers and devastated the gulf coast. and staying in the united states it's been a very happy near new year for wall street the dow jones industrial average has surged past the twenty five thousand points for the first time in history thursday's new milestone comes on the back of a rapid rise for the blue chip index boosted in part by an overhaul of u.s. taxes which substantially cuts the corporate tax rate now u.s. president on trump was quick to claim responsibility for the new record and already has his sights set on yet another. we did in fact break twenty five thousand very

substantially break it very easily. so i guess i do numbers there he says it but what they what it means is every time you see that number go up on wall street it means jobs i mean success well let's put this into perspective and have a look at the dow jones industrial average over the last decade after the financial crisis u.s. markets hit a low of about six thousand six hundred points in march of two thousand and nine just weeks after barack obama had been elected to the white house since then the market has seen a steady rise the longest bull market in wall street history in fact not the dow had almost tripled in value by the end of twenty sixteen when donald trump on the election has continued to rise since then for three and we'll cross over to our. correspondent in frankfurt then you're cool that's his name and he's right there then you'll tell us what people in frankfurt saying has donald

trump been crucial to keep that upswing going at the markets. well and this is here at the trading floor chris of are actually smiling about this latest comment made by a donald trump saying that he is maybe a little bit too self-confident because of course you know we're seeing this rally right now at the wall street also with new records for example at the foot sea today in london but we have seen this rally happening on wall street already for about ten years now and by that time of course donald trump was still in office so many off this booze mania of what was happening what is happening right now on wall street is also of course because a former president such as obama and also. george w. bush for example thank you daniel but don't move we'll come back to you in a second. because we have this news coming out twenty seventeen saw the largest

year to year growth in retail sales here in germany in more than twenty years that's according to early numbers by the german government which estimates that the sector grew nearly five percent according from the year before that's the eighth straight year of retail growth in germany were employment is at record levels now let's go back to dan there cope and frank for daniel what are investors making of these figures. well investors are very much appreciating those numbers and we have seen because of those numbers but also because of the rally that we have seen on wall street really a new boost here at the blue chip index stocks already yesterday at the dax close with about a plus off a one percent it's now also i with about one percent so those numbers are good much better than news that we are for example getting right now from the united kingdom where all are the auto industry is sharing that their sales numbers were dropping

so markets are benefiting we are also thinking that this is going to continue throughout the day investors are thinking that this is going to be a very promising day for them we will monitor very closely about two thirty pm german local time we'll get more news also about the job market in the united states so investors will be watching also this very closely and we will as well then you're coping frankfurt thank you so much. and expect to lay a record cold snap and you know yes yes yes the u.s. east coast is in the grip of a deep freeze and that's after a massive winter storm brought fresh snow hurricane force winds and flooding to several regions elsewhere it was a rare opportunity to see snow and ice in locations normally known for their sunshine. sunny getaways transformed into winter wonderland water fountains morphed into ice sculptures as an up and normal coats not pitch the sides

something too hot and bargained for. doing the snow yeah yeah she likes the snow so but we didn't bring our snow suit because we thought. we saw did lizards in the states of florida. they're ready to green and the hornets have fallen to the trees there and i mean. the record lows have frozen a guana stiff this pair partly survived and later walked off their chills. but the effects of this monster storm grow more extreme the farther north you go. in philadelphia the city's famous steaks were turned into slopes. and a playground for the off road adventure those. bonds the dangerous conditions put many in harm's way one woman was killed when her costs led

into a rail crossing. twenty centimeters of snow was dumped on new york city shutting schools and grounding studies into flights. leaving the parks to fill up with families and to feel less. ok now reminder of the top stories that we're following for you right now. in a new survey german voters have expressed their this may at the drawn out negotiations to form a new government less than half support a new coalition between ugly americans conservatives and the social democrats and only fifty three percent want marco to continue as chancellor. plus the white house has dismissed a new book about the trump presidency as long as the publication will be released today the book includes explosive remarks from former chief strategist steve ban it . you're watching news from. iraq the news continues at the top of

the hour and don't forget you can always get the latest headlines and information around the clock at d.w. dot com and now we want to leave you with some impressions from the world famous ice sculpture festival and harbin china injury. we're going to the the to. sixth .

floor. culture. a hair. superman. super food costs. a lot of stuff like on the stove lead

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