this is news live from berlin the catalan parliament reopens following december's the snap elections separatist parties took the majority of that vote with the independence movement once again getting momentum could lawmakers defy madrid and put an exiled leader carlos bustamante back in power we'll go live to barcelona also coming up it's about ten courts that lead to austria in a controversial coalition with the far right now he is looking to find common ground with german chancellor angela merkel on a visit to berlin. as

a britain prepares to get out close neighbor ireland is very much in. the irish prime minister lays out his vision as the bloc debates its future. i'm so me so much gandhi good to have you with us catalonia newly elected parliament house convened in barcelona for the first time since december's regional election yellow ribbons marked the empty seats of the former president carlos bustamante and other separatist figures who remains in self-imposed exile in belgium three others are in jail facing charges of rebellion and sedition last night thousands of catalan independence supporters marched in barcelona calling for their release separatist parties won the election and should have the necessary votes to nominate a separatist president. we can talk to journalists even burgeon he joins us for

more on the story from barcelona hi stephen there is as we said a separatist majority in parliament but he isn't self-imposed exile in belgium could he still be reelected a regional leader. this is because it's so unprecedented is very unclear what we've got so far today as we have actually managed to elect a speaker of parliament to the committee now that they would normally then. vote for or put forward the names of candidates to be voted on but i think they're not going to do that today and they're going until another ten days basically till the end of a month to do that and pushed him on seems to think that he's going to find some way of appearing in parliament so that he can be supported on the other hand as ponty says that it is legal for him to be supported by video link. as i say this is never happened before so that there are really any precedents and it isn't

really clear what the legality of it is favored as you've been speaking we've been looking at pictures of that parliamentary session taking place today in catalonia as people are casting their ballots there what is the state of catalonia as pro independence movement now do you think we can see expect to see more confrontations with madrid. well if pollution motors become president yes but the general mood among his parsley and his coalition partners a republican or is that the confrontational unilateral line has brought nothing but grief and hardship of all maybe in brussels but many of his colleagues are in prison and how into some months the catalunya has suffered economically. and it's quite clear that you know if they carry on with a unilateral law then the spanish government is not going to in any way change soon and there will be more confrontation and more jail so that there is

a sort of understanding that what's needed now is dialogue and something basically to cool it thing down such as a long discussion about amending the constitution whereas bush among as insisting there that the republican was declared in october and he's the president of the republicans well the spanish government has come under criticism for its hard line stance is there any chance that madrid might change its direction. i think at the moment which are just wants to see some stability or an apartment installed which will almost certainly be a pro independence because there's no there there are people who can make up numbers for a coalition beyond that i think the smart thing would be to agree to discussions about changing the spanish constitution and so this could take the heat out of everything and throw things for months or even years journalists even burgeon reporting in barcelona they've got to talk to you thank you.

now a hong kong court has sentenced pro-democracy activist joshua wong to three months in jail one was found guilty of contempt of court relating to his role in the two thousand and fourteen pro-democracy umbrella movement street demonstrations calling for the direct election of hong kong's chief executive it's the second time he's been imprisoned over the rallies he pleaded guilty to defying in order to leave a protest camp will serve a sentence consecutively to another he received for his actions at a separate protest at home in austria he governs in a coalition with a far right party today sebastian cortes austria's new chancellor is in berlin for talks with anglo-american his anti immigration euro skeptic stance clashes with the german chancellor has been a vocal critic of michael's open door policy but the two will try to found find a common ground on the protection of borders ahead of his trip to berlin quite

stressed that germany is an important partner for australia so. we can bring in political correspondent michelle or cooper she is there outside the chancellor's office covering this story for us jaime seiler as we just said of course has been critical of merkel's open to refugee policy the tone has gotten pretty harsh in the past do you think this meeting will help smooth things over. well both leaders certainly have an opportunity to talk you although. pretty much miles apart on the very issue of migration particularly when it comes down to the whole quota system and solidarity within the e.u. something that's of us in quotes is on record as describing as something that has failed already now we just have this military honors going on behind me and as we hear there's national anthems everybody there is aware that both leaders are somewhat out of tune not just on that but also on the whole issue of further integrations of us and courts want to see as little. from brussels possible you

want a maximum level of actually freedom to to really take key decisions and that really is quite a contrast to what we've seen in the blueprint for a potential grand coalition here which has a whole big chapter on basically renewal renewal of germany's commitment to europe and a pledge to bring those countries that want to much closer together together with france and migration policy sebastian cortes was instrumental in closing the balkan with that's the path that many refugees took to eastern europe now he's being considered as a mediator with eastern european countries that are refusing to take in any more asylum seekers is he the right man for the job. well let's put it this way you potentially could if you wanted to but why would he want to he's now in government with the f.b.i. which is together in the same parliament you group in the european parliament as penn's far right party of france the former us you know. these are very different

approaches on that key issue so if anything could be drifting further towards the so-called visit route states over on kind of policy and he has also put on record saying that the country should decide themselves who they take and so really this is yes a communication bridge towards those states that simply don't want to go one step further even to the minimum that has already been defined within the european union and really america is not that terribly much of a partner this very crucial moment in time when we face in the great uncertainty here in germany right now whether she will be able to put together a new government and actually pull through with those policies that she still stands for. political correspondent michelle it could be a chance there's office there in berlin thank you very much.

now to some other stories making news around the world former s.s. guard oscar corning has filed a request for mercy with german authorities a recent court ruling said that ninety six year old corning who is known as the book keeper of auschwitz had to serve a four year sentence as an accessory to murder he has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions. steve bannon the former chief strategist of u.s. president donald trump has refused to answer questions about the election campaigns allege and ties to russia then and was testifying before a congressional committee reports say he has also been subpoenaed to talk to a grand jury investigating the russian allegations. officials in california have described the thirteen siblings freed from prison like conditions in their home as friendly and co-operative they're receiving medical care and counseling police found the family after being alerted by a seventeen year old girl who had escaped the house the parents face charges of torture and child endangerment

a meteor lit up the sky over parts of the american midwest and canada yesterday evening the images you're seeing here were recorded in michigan officials say the meteor exploded about seventy kilometers north of detroit and caused a two point zero magnitude tremor. now bringing europe closer to europeans that's what the e.u. parliament is hoping for in a series of debates with countries leaders on the future of the bloc first up to present his ideas was the irish prime minister leo for a car he said today that europe was at a crossroads with the rise of populism and skepticism and with gregg's that looming cold on the e.u. to ensure britain honors all its pledges on the future of northern ireland in our history. max hoffman has been following the story for us he joins us from strasburg hi max. has been laying out essential his vision for europe what more did he have to say. you know sometimes it's hard in the european union not to lose

yourself in all the details there's so much going on so many different realities it's very bureaucratic so really to see the value of the european union sometimes you need to take take a step back and look at the whole construction and that's exactly what the overall prime minister of ireland tried to do he said look in the global context we are a union of small countries because if you look at the lists with the largest cities the largest countries virtually none of them are european and that's how he tried to explain the value of the european union why it is so important to be together to really punch above its weight and then he also stressed something that for many european countries isn't that important anymore or at least it's not at the forefront of what people are thinking about in those countries anymore and that is the peace value that the european union has of course most of the conflicts in europe are far in the past and that's a good thing but not all of them and in ireland one of those conflict zones is very close the conflict between northern ireland and ireland and this is how you

explained the value of the european union when it comes to peace between northern ireland and ireland. today there is a peace bridge crossing the river foyle bringing together the divided communities in john's native city of derry in northern ireland a great ship the european union helped to build. defriended hard to imagine the good friday agreement being made with as i shared membership of the european union and it's single market and in our land we are now having to contemplate our future but that foundation which underpinned it and made it possible. so this is a very tangible thing this is a very tangible example of why in the eyes of the irish prime minister it's extremely important to continue supporting the european union even if it is at a crossroads at the moment so varadkar very much a proponent of the value of

a european partnership this at a time when britain is leaving the european young union what do you have to say about brags that. well again here a very specific role for the irish prime minister because the only hard border you have between the united kingdom that wants to lead the european union and the european union is between again northern ireland and ireland and yet this is of course a region where the cultural ties the economic ties are very very close where you have a whole lot of relatives that just across the border so what the irish prime minister really wants to avoid at all costs is the reintroduction of a hard border in fact that was one of the crucial elements of the agreement that was struck so far between the u.k. and the european union now the prime minister of the u.k. theresa may promise there will be no hard border so in theory everything's fine but what barack said again and touched upon in practice it's pretty unclear how this is supposed to work not having a hard border there and he said there will be no back slipping on that no

backtracking on that we really need to stick to that not only for economic reasons but especially for political reasons and also for the sake of peace and that's just very briefly if you can what else can we expect from this debate are today. it's really a well you know home game for right here because most at least most european parliamentarians are on this side here so you don't know you'll have a lot of conflict in this debate but it's something that's supposed to bring the general idea of the european union and the value of the european union back to the forefront that's the idea of this whole series of debates and it was a very highly symbolic. start of the series with the irish prime minister today. max thank you. and a reminder now of our top stories at this hour catalonia has newly elected parliament is meeting for the first time since december's regional elections yellow

ribbons marked the places of separatist lawmakers in jail or forced. remains self-imposed exile in belgium. in freefall monaco have the numbers for you coming right up. to. the people of the. information they provide the names they want to express d.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch follow us. state by state. colorful.