every news live from berlin looking to connect chancellor to chancellor the bus and quirks lead to australia in a controversial coalition with the far right can be anti immigrant euro skeptic young leader find common ground with anglo american on his visit to berlin. also coming up as britain prepares to get out close neighbor ireland is very much in the e.u. the irish prime minister praises the block as the peacemaker and europe still needs . plus they can lock up his body but not his mind the words of this hong kong

pro-democracy activist after a court jails him for his leading role in the two thousand and fourteen umbrella protests. good to have you with us at home in austria he governs in a coalition with a far right party today's abbas and courts austria's new chancellor is in berlin for talks with america his anti immigration you're a skeptic stance clashes with the german chancellor of course has been a vocal critic of merkel's open door policy but the two will try to find common ground on the protection of the borders ahead of his trip to berlin court stressed that germany is an important partner for austria. let's bring in political correspondent melinda crane she is following of this story for us today now melinda sebastian course as we said has been openly critical of chancellor

merkel's refugee policy and the tone has in the past gotten harsh well today help smooth things over. well as the press conference was just getting underway between the two leaders it's. alright it looks like we're having some trouble hearing melinda there melinda crane are a parliamentary correspondent oh we will try to get her back on the line we apologize for that. for now we're going to move on to some other news some stories making news around the world steve benen the former chief strategist of u.s. president donald trump has refused to answer questions about the election campaigns a legit ties to russia ban and was testifying before a congressional committee reports say he has also been subpoenaed to talk to a grand jury investigating the rush allegations officials in california have

described the thirteen siblings freed from prison like conditions in their home as friendly and co-operative they were seeking 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. people in northern kosovo have been paying their respects to all or evanovich unknown attackers gunned down the moderate to ethnic serbs politician outside his office early on tuesday his murder is likely to increase tensions between kosovo and serbia which does not recognize the independence of its former province. and a former s.s. guard oscar corning has failed in an appeal for clemency a court ruling said that ninety six year old girl who is known as the book keeper of auschwitz has to serve a four year sentence as an accessory to murder in the nazi death camp he has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions.

all right and it looks like we have been able to bring our chief political correspondent melinda crane back on the line mona sorry we were having some trouble hearing you earlier but we were talking about whether sebastien course and i'm glad michael will be able to smooth over the rough tone that they've had in the past. indeed and as i enter the studio the press conference between the two leaders was just getting underway so i didn't get to hear a whole lot about the content of their meeting but certainly there were professions on the part of the chancellor along with a lot of smiles that they had a number of common goals and that they were in agreement on crucial areas and as you mentioned at the top of the program sebastian court said before he left to travel to germany that germany is a very important partner for austria and that he views as a very important and experienced leader on the other hand in st stingingly enough

he did not make this trip to germany the first of his trips abroad in fact he went to france as his first diplomatic visit so that may tell us a bit of something he did also say in advance of this trip that while neighbors often have differences in fact he believes that the rest of the e.u. is moving quote unquote in the right direction while he was instrumental in closing the balkans with that's the path that a lot of migrants took through eastern europe and he's actually being considered as a mediator with the eastern european countries that are refusing to take in any more asylum seekers is he the right man for that job. well certainly he stands in the middle when it comes to migration policy and that's very much what he's referring to when he talks about other countries moving in the right direction as we have been reporting germany's christian democrats and america's party and the social democrats who may or may not enter into formal coalition negotiations soon

to form a new government they have agreed on a basic paper that could be the god line for coalition to go she asians and in this paper they make reference to capping immigration now this is something that the chancellor is conservatives and especially her but very very conservative christian social union partners this is something they have long wanted it definitely represents a concession on the part of the chancellor herself and on the part of the social democrats now austria has been working for some time with that kind of a limit and that's very much what mr cortes means when he talks about other countries moving in the right direction beyond that we were told just now by the chancellor that discussion of what's happening in the balkan not only in terms of migration but the general political situation there which is not viewed as stable that that was a very important topic on which the two countries with the two leaders have just

spoken and on which there was a lot of mutual agreement. is melinda crane a covering the austrian chancellor is the first visit to berlin since taking office melinda thank you. now bringing europe closer to europeans that's what the e.u. parliament is hoping for in a series of debates with the country's leaders on the future of the bloc first up to present its ideas with the irish prime minister. he said today that europe was at a crossroads with the rise of populism and skepticism and with brags that he called on the e.u. to ensure britain honors all of its pledges on the future of northern ireland. max hoffman has been following this story for us he joins us from strasburg imax varadkar 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 tape 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 chance of the league's apple 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 the prime minister of the u.k.'s recently promised 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 mistrust are today . it's really a well you know home game for rutgers here because most at least most european parliamentarians are on the side here so you don't know you will 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 that it was a very highly symbolic. start of the series with the prime minister today did have his next hope on for us in strasbourg max thank you. catalonia as parliament is meeting today in the first step towards forming a new government yellow ribbons marks the empty seats of the former president carlos whose demond other separatist figures put them all remains in self-imposed

exile in belgium three others are in jail facing charges of rebellion and sedition last night thousands of catalan independent supporters marched in barcelona calling for their release separatist parties won the election and should have the necessary votes to nominate a separatist president. cortez sentence pro-democracy activist joshua wong to three months in jail wong was found guilty of contempt of court relating to his role in the two thousand and fourteen pro-democracy on bro movement street demonstrations it is the second time he has been imprisoned over the rallies ahead of the hearing made a brief but defiant statement. then i'll go again but they come on oh i really hope until it is different we need to face a prison sentence and we're still going you know the fight for democracy and i found her right here. how to deal with north korea's weapons programs that was the question of the day as the foreign ministers of twenty nations met in canada

despite signs that pyongyang and seoul found common ground the diplomats warned the international community against easing up pressure and called for new sanctions china and russia lambasted the meeting but for the ministers gathering in canada chunks nuclear program still poses a clear and present danger. allies standing shoulder to shoulder against what they call a growing threat from p.r. nyang the foreign ministers of the twenty powers that supported south korea and the u.s. during the korean war continued their push for a denuclearized korean peninsula during talks in canada neighbor japan called for new sanctions on the north and. north korea continues to a ground its nuclear and missile programs even as we speak and we should not be blinded by north korea's charm offensive in short it is not the time to

ease pressure or to rework north career. the charm offensive comes ahead of next month's olympic games so when p.r. nyang recently agreed on a deal which would see the north take part in the games. the direct talks came in the face of international pressure to only engage once it abandons its nuclear program. while the diplomats in canada said they welcomed dialogue with the north the skepticism remains. and with respect to whether americans should be concerned about a war with north korea i think it's we all need to be very schober and clear eyed about the current situation we have to recognize that that threat is growing and if north korea is not does not choose the path was of engagement discussion to

go shish and then they themselves will trigger an option that option is reported to be a preemptive strike on a weapons site in north korea china and russia did not attend the meeting they accuse the ministers of embracing a cold war mentality. ben facilities up with bases in one minute. beat the germans. and supplies in a straight supply since culture in germany. us american keep losing takes a look at germany it is increasing use of their traditions every day lives and language can just come out of the highlights on assad so i'm. good.