this is the news live from berlin looking to connect chancellor to chancellor sebastian cortes leaves austria and a controversial coalition with the far right can be an anti immigrant euro skeptic young leader find common ground with angela merkel on his visit to berlin also coming up catalonia as parliament reopens gearing up for more confrontation with spanish authorities could lawmakers of five hundred once again and vote exiled leader carlos boucher mom back into power we'll go live to barcelona. the irish prime minister praises the european union as the peacemaker europe still me ireland

is very much in the e.u. as close neighbor britain prepares to get out. plus could hockey diplomacy end the standoff between the two korea they've agreed to field a joint ice hockey team at the winter olympics next month but despite talks other world powers want to keep up the pressure on the north. and he's one of millions of chinese rarely seen in public we look at efforts to empower the mentally disabled in china rather than hide them away. i'm going to thank you for joining us at home in austria he governs in a coalition with a far right party today court's austria's new chancellor is in berlin for talks with america his anti immigration euro sky. stance clashes with the german

chancellor's views cts has been a vocal critic of michael's open door policy but the two want to find common ground on the protection of the use borders and it was trip to berlin quite stressed that germany is an important partner for austria. the pair held a press conference a little while ago let's listen to what america had to say about the new austrian government. you know we will judge the new austrian government by its actions that's what i've also told the chancellor. i think that's what counts. and i am confident that we can cooperate on a new policy. to close if you just get on this in a new. home in dallas and we will be watching everything else closely and i will personally be taking a closer look than i would usually do. let's bring in these political correspondent linda crane for more on the story hi melinda we heard the chancellor there saying well we will be watching closely in the past the tone between these two countries

specifically over the migration question has become harsh has this meeting help smooth things over well the tone today certainly wasn't harsh but as you saw there the chancellor's words were measured she did go on to say that she sees a good basis for working together with austria and that she does not see that many divisions between the two and the austrian chancellor said before he left on his trip speaking to a major german newspaper that neighbors will always have some differences but that in fact he sees the rest of the european union moving toward austria's position nonetheless in the statements that were made at today's press conference certainly there were some differences evident both on migration policy and also on policy in regard to the european union. well mr cortes reiterated his argument that austria has borne what he says a disproportionate burden when it comes to migration policy well let's listen to

what he said a little while ago. we have contributed a disproportionately high share we have taken in the second highest number of asylum seekers after sweden per capita i don't think anyone can accuse us of not showing solidarity on the contrary. so melinda listening to that are these divisions as strong as they have been in the past. the two leaders were doing their best to indicate that they do find common ground on a number of issues for example on the need to better protect europe's borders on the need for resettlement of those who are not entitled to remain for example with by better agreements with the countries that those those migrants have left and then also on the question of economic development to ensure that flows of would be migrants decrease but the chance that made it very clear that she feels that

nonetheless for those refugees who do come to europe who have a right to stay that there need to be workable policies to redistribute them austria in the past has supported the position of some eastern european countries who have said that they will not follow those quotas and in this case the austrian chancellor said that in fact he does believe that there is too much attention paid to the quota issue so that's exactly the kind of issue that the chancellor means to watch in future to see how things develop on the other hand when the austrian chancellor says that he thinks other european countries are moving in austria's direction he is looking at the agreement that germany's two leading parties made with each other last week as a prelude to possible negotiations on a grand coalition between the two because that agreement does in fact establish something like an aspirational upper limit for the number of refugees that germany will take in future and that is exactly what the austrian government did last year

so on that point he's correct all right some common ground there after all melinda crane our political correspondent covering the meeting of the two chancellors here in berlin thank you melinda. now in barcelona catalonia as new parliament has been holding its opening session lawmakers from pro independence parties use their slim majority to elect roger torrent as a signal that the chamber will likely continue with push for independence from spain yellow ribbons mark the empty seats of the former president carlos christabel and other separatist figures first of all remains in self-imposed exile in belgium three others are in jail facing charges of rebellion and sedition journalist stephen bergen is standing by in barcelona with more on the story hi stephen tell us what's been happening today in parliament. well we managed to get through the first a church was electing a speaker of the house normally

a pretty routine but nothing to change modes there is there was. a committee which means the next day the poetry business can go forward and nerds electing a leader this is going to be less straightforward and the only candidate moment is goes which involves the rescue service and so poser in brussels and if he returns will be arrested and put in pretty close and. he wants to be made president viral video link is not clear whether this is legal the catholic vote only. knows who's the most parties we don't care what he or anyway basically we've got ten days . in order to sort itself out and i suspect is going to go to

war. stephen we mentioned that the choice of speaker is perhaps a signal that this chamber will continue with push for independence so can we then expect more confrontation with madrid. well the deal only possible coalition of makes up the numbers as a pro event of the coalition there's no way that any other groups would care to give her time to make up the numbers. the general feeling among independents parties is to pull back from confrontation of mutual interests and. you know it has been very damaging or has altered certain people being jailed and possibly several more. and economic damage to the region as a whole so the general feeling is you know we found a way to party fost no interest pull back and you know negotiate and sew up

however the messages coming from constitutional are quite different because bush also says that he is the president of the republicans to clear up the hurt and there's no going back thievin burgeon reporting from barcelona thievin thank you. let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world steve bannon the former chief strategist of u.s. president donald trump has refused to answer questions about the election campaigns a legit 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 and i describe the thirteen siblings freed from prison by conditions in their home as friendly and quarter we're told 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. people in northern kosovo have been paying their

respects to all of or even in the event of it unknown attackers gunned down the moderate 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. of the former s.s. guard oscar cloning has failed in an appeal for clemency a court ruling said that ninety six year old girl and it was known as the book keeper of cats to serve a four year sentence as an accessory to murder in the nazi death camps he has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions. right ben fizzling this year with business and ben coming up on a big one year mark a very one year mark to celebrate for some and to reflect for others u.s. president donald trump is approaching his one year anniversary in the white house his motto america first so what effect is that had on the u.s. economy let's crunch the numbers starting with wall street and the dow jones the

world's most important stock index it's made up of thirty stocks from the biggest and most influential u.s. companies over the past twelve months the dow jones index has risen by nearly thirty percent there's been one record after the next the u.s. unemployment rate has the climb from five point one. percent to three point one percent over the past year and puts the us economy of what's defined as full employment the jobless rate of four percent or less but economists say that donald trump had little to do with it with a strong economy the unemployment rate has been sinking for years the dollar is also fallen against the euro year ago the exchange rate was ninety four euro cents to the dollar now it's just a shade over eighty euro cents now is that because the euro is strong or is the dollar fading after all the u.s. economy seems to be doing just fine let's pull in laurence kotlikoff he's a professor of economics at the university of boston so things are looking

fantastic can you give me your analysis of whether or not trump's presidency has had anything to do with that well i think you know i mean. you know they get onto the bandwagon and business leaders i think now or. you know domestic about the future i don't think it's any specific housekeepers say that trump has engaged in because the increase in a star is far beyond. what. you were going to get out of the tax cuts on the business side and any regulation changes is just i think you're a general climate in optimism. you know the economy really if you think about what happened in two thousand and eight everybody got very upset about lehman brothers going under that they investment banking it was you know the end of

a series of other failures and then there were more to come but if you think about it lehman brothers is going to india and did not collapse and its employees were not kill so the real economy didn't change but the entire economy got very pessimistic and nervous and they immediately as employers started laying off workers five hundred thousand at a time in the u.s. or month so that's what we have we have a record nation. we're not in behavior here everybody gets on the same bandwagon and so it's not that surprising that we have periods of. great optimism and the economy thrives when we get to form point in the stock market booms but then they can be followed by busts we see not a start so i think this is just one of those episodes what do you think this has styria ironhide it is going to give around for long if we going to suddenly see

a crash or is that hysteria and hype going to just slowly fade away well you know it's it's very hard because it's psychology here and you're trying to as an economist your own really. understand collective of psychology but you know our models in economics of of this kind of psychological reactions to. the economy in. elective behavior here is that. small events can trigger big changes in beliefs so everybody has starts we start getting it's of news about be at times are about things not looking as good as people hopes. then they'll add up and at some point when it's a little. hair on the camel's back we'll flip the camera is our expression and in english so i think that's what happened with women brothers you had

a series of failures their senses are horgan fannie mae and freddie macin and and then we were brothers was the last straw well lawrence putting the psychology to one side for the moment is their long term value to trump policy. well i give his tax reform and like a b. it really wasn't what economists would have they were but it will help investment and the us will probably get our output to go up about five percent our wages go up of four or five percent wages over time will go up by about five percent but it's not going up by twenty percent we're not talking about. an absolute sea change in the economic performance of the country so you know i think it was a decent reform and better than most many times were saying is i think they were motivated by want political views on the both sides are harmless on the left

and the right you know i have ours kotlikoff professor of economics at the university of boston thank you very much for your insight five thank you. transatlantic ties to bringing europe closer to europeans now that's what the e.u. parliament is certainly 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 barak carr he said today that europe was at a crossroads with the rise of populism and skepticism and with bragg's that looming he called on the e.u. to ensure britain honors all its pledges on the future of northern ireland in our history did it because max hoffman has been following this story for us he joins us from strasburg by max rod carr 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 it take a step back and look at the whole construction and that's exactly what the 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 with 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 the prime minister of the u.k. to resume a 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 and are today. it's really well you know home game for rocker here because most at least most european parliamentarians are on his 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. hoffman for us in strasburg max thank you and as max just mentioned the northern ireland border question has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks in gregg's

that negotiations let's bring in london a correspondent for more on that aspect. does london feel like negotiators are any closer to solving this problem. well there is deep on saturday about northern ireland many times i've been speaking to people there and they clearly will want to know what their future is they have not voted themselves breaks and they really did not want this and yet to reason may has basically promised all things to all people she has promised that there will not be a hard border between the north and the south which is essential for the cross border services that are existing for all the trade that's existing and also has promised during the it would have between northern ireland and the mainland of the u.k. which is very essential essential for the many people from the protestant community will feel very closely aligned to the u.k. so we have different loyalties on the island and it's really something that many

people fear is going to haunt the u.k. prime minister and everybody who's negotiating a about bricks and who's going to hold them it could haunt them later meanwhile the british parliament to set a vote on bragg's that again today what's going to be decided there. well it's a so-called withdrawal bill which is a very technical goal in one sense that it explains how each will be transferred into british law and yet there are many worries regarding this for example many in the labor party feel that all the regulation that safeguards workers' rights that that could be basically not being transformed into u.k. law not to its full extent and so there's been many discussions about it also people were trying to amend the bill there were rebels from the conservative party who voted with labor on saturn amendments so it's been something that's really highly contested so many worries but also for others it's it's

a chance to break free and it's it's their chance to gain independence from brussels and we have been talking to one of the so-called great city is one of the leading ladies of the bric city is now a government minister as well of a numbers and we're going to show you this piece now. the e.u. is worried about the strength of britain's position and as a result they are probably more defensive then they need to be. my name is sue elephant and i'm a conservative member of the u.k. parliament. that means opportunity freedom. and restoring democracy to the british. we're right in the middle of the e.u. withdrawal bill that's

a piece of legislation which is essential for britain's position on the day that we leave the european union. i feel very encouraged by the progress that's being made so we're still very much at the beginning but time is running out and we don't have that much time really. i don't think negotiations are supposed to be friends. i was a lawyer for ten years and yes you might very much like the person you're negotiating with but you know at the end of the day you're going to be serving the interests of your client and the client here is the british people so you don't you know you're not necessarily going to. agree on everything and be nice to each other thank you i am grateful to him for giving away the prime minister has said very clearly we want you to stay i mean value your commitment what part of it doesn't he understand. i have a constituency which is on the coast and i meet with fishermen because they're.

fish for bass and they have been almost ruined actually by inappropriate policies from juta the common fisheries policy which is the european union creation and i think there's a great. opportunity to a re and vigor eight hour fishing and agriculture in britain. yes i think a free trade agreement with the e.u. is eminently possible and i think that that would be a great great benefit to british workers and companies and european workers and companies but if they were a bit more collaborative and supportive we might have made

a bit more progress by now. so we're going to talk to a pretty confident brags that back are there but the government also facing a lot of opposition from remain or is it just lost a vote on braggs in a month ago do opponents believe that they can do the same again today no it's expected today that the so-called rebels are going to vote with the government this time and they have said now it's up to the lords the house of lords to tweak the bill and to scrutinise it there is quite interestingly there is fear amongst the brics city as for example jacob reese morgan other leading brick city in the u.k. parliament has warned the house of lords to temper with the bill he said the they're not legitimate and that could could really not be done they couldn't thwart the will of the people as is what he meant so there is still this fear that somehow breaks it might not happen and it could be influenced so that the the game and the

future of the u.k. as far as it comes to the e.u. is still open somehow the door is not quite closed that vote in a british parliament set to take place today for us reporting us from london berger thank you very much. you're watching news still to come on our program could a hockey diplomacy end the standoff between the two koreas they have agreed to field a joint ice hockey team at the winter olympics next month but other world powers want to keep up the pressure on the north to rein in its nuclear program. empowering china the disabled look at new programs to help the mentally challenged find jobs and independence. and your face as a classic work of art google's arts and culture op goes viral we'll take a look at what the hype is all about. you're watching news dot.

com for all the latest news and information around the clock we'll be back in just two minutes time. winds camera traction for a start of our show led to a mind mountain sled. where the human arms about the french are playing the numbers from friends or drama the fabulous mountains of songs to roll off her spare time she was sent to. the emotional turmoil in cleveland ohio so long to dublin. germany. the

most colorful. the liveliest. the most traditional. any time. check in with a web special. take a tour of germany. d.w. dar com. are you up to speed on the latest technology. no. maybe time for an upgrade this becoming part of the future. become a cyborg me by cutting my safeword so i've agreed to the new sounds new organ and of design my perception of reality implants that make every day life easier. i use my you can see on a daily basis that optimize the human body and connect people more effectively.

i hope to this would make us more ethical persons what would life be like as a cyborg. folks who at the end of the day these technologies can be used against us what do you think will happen society does this human race really need to upgrade i think it's only the beginning of this cyborgs human machines starting february first on t.w. . book i'm back you're watching news our top stories austria's new chance was about ten which has met germany's chancellor merkel here in berlin he said austria supported the policy of migrants she did seem not so sure that she would be keeping a close eye on austria actually catalonia is newly elected parliament is meeting for the first time since december first snap regional elections yellow ribbons marked the places of separatist lawmakers in jail or enforced absence ex leader carlos pushed him out remains in a self-imposed exile in belgium. how to deal with north korea's weapons

program that was the question of the day as the foreign ministers of twenty nations met in canada despite signs that jiang yang and sola found common ground the diplomats warned the international community against easing up pressure and called for new sanctions the foreign ministers clearly felt that pyongyang nuclear program still posed a serious danger. allies standing shoulder to shoulder against what they call a growing threat from pianka. 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. north korea continues to advance its nuclear 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 pressure or to rework notes career. charm offensive comes ahead of next month's olympic games so limpy on yang 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 engaged once it abandons its nuclear program while the diplomats in canada said they welcomed dialogue with the north the skepticism remains. with respect to whether americans should be concerned about a war with north korea i think it's we all need to be very sober 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 pathway of engagement discussion the goetia asian 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 the cues the ministers of embracing a cold war mentality. while the international community wants to keep up the pressure on north korea talks between the north and south have been fruitful their delegations have met in the demilitarized zone and agreed to march under one flag at the opening ceremony of next month's winter olympic games and chang the two nations also great to send a joint women's hockey team if the international olympic committee approves despite the progress though reactions in south korea have been mixed. delegations from north and south korea met for the third time in ten days a sign of progress but on tuesday their plans for

a joint women's ice hockey team got a somewhat frosty reception from south korea's coach sara marie adding somebody in north korean or south korea having somebody ends up post the olympics it's a little bit dangerous on just written history because the girls of been together for so long. it's not just a sporting dilemma the political implications split opinion among south koreans. real product you would have thought i am worried about how the international community will react if we were to set the north korean proposal for the olympics get there so i personally hope that we will not agree to it i'm not going to go that that i think. i'm going to stop which it is can improve our image as the international community has been worried by the tensions that have had to go to meeting them to talk about sports first provides a good platform for talks on politics and other issues that is going to come into.

that sentiment is echoed by experts who feel the olympic cooperation may pave the way for comprehensive peace talks now gone the sheer cliff building trust between the two koreas can make for six party talks possible. i believe this might also have a positive influence on the denuclearization of the korean peninsula and sets a foundation for peaceful talks which are beneficial for south korea. whether or not they join forces on the ice the talks have already provided a tentative thaw in the strained relations between the two koreas i honk honk or to sentence pro-democracy activist joshua wang to three months in jail one was found guilty of contempt of court relating to his role in it two thousand and fourteen pro-democracy umbrella movement street demonstrations it is a second time he's been imprisoned over the release he pleaded guilty to defying an order to leave a protest camp. beckel of our body but they come out of our mind we'll have to do

it is different we need to face a prison sentence and presto going you know the fight for democracy and a future right here. so a pro-democracy activist joshua long saying his movement will continue its fight but how likely is that given that the umbrella movement's leaders are all tied up in court cases we asked hong kong correspondent for our station here earlier today you know we eat cheese pong of strategy. and most of these young people surely see disobedience and passive resistance to hold them being sent to jail ease consistent reach where they expect the almost accept this as a price to be to get the message across but obviously it is a struggle at the moment there is another notion of casey's implying the pro-democracy leaders and activists but for example. for the coming out

by election they have people in reserve and they will have announced that they will use that number three the younger of next cho. speaking to us earlier from hong kong now they've been cold china invisible millions of people with disabilities are rarely seen in public and the country is only just beginning to think about the infrastructure needs of the estimated eighty five million who are physically or mentally challenged but now new initiatives are helping the disable to venture out into the communities find jobs and leave more independent lives. at first glance it looks like any other young man in the chinese countryside a few hundred kilometers from the capital beijing he likes cars his mobile phone and playing with the dogs on the farm. when his family chose his name twenty years ago they wanted him to grow up to become something special means outstanding when

he was about a year old his mother had a feeling something wasn't right although. we went to the hospital because we were concerned that he was not like other children. he had not started walking he was far behind in his development and when the doctor told us the truth it was a great shock we were devastated. it turned out that he has cerebral palsy a disorder caused by brain damage that usually happens before during a baby's birth the twenty year old is unable to speak properly but today life is a bit better for the family after the parents applied for permission to have a second child despite china's strict one child policy or sororities made an exception because of disability in china a child is seen as a type of insurance so that parents are cared for when they're old they knew that

their firstborn wouldn't be able to do this. the grandparents used to ask us what will happen when we are old and have no one else then who will be there for us with a second child there is someone who can take care of us and later in life. depends on his father's help they drive to the local brickworks where the son is allowed to work but only together with his father he earns just under thirteen euro zone day today there's not much going on there's been a lot of rain in the last few days and the machines would sink too deep into the mud on other days can drive the finished bricks to where the concrete is put to harden up he's got used to the work and he's accepted by his colleagues. who are we all know each other from the village everybody is nice to us we like each other

and also spend time together after work together. the family wants to manage on its own and doesn't want to be pitied when the son attended a special school they felt awkward because room and board were free according to official figures there are more than eighty five million people with disabilities in china but there are rarely seen in every day life this is slowly changing at least in bigger cities like here at the trendy zara cafe in beijing a young woman with a disability was given support to secure a job and some independence well i was born mentally disabled and with a slight physical impairment. well there are some of the i like to work here very much. i can talk to lots of people and above all i can earn money. i want to save for later and of course for my parents for your

every month someone from the disabled advocacy group wrong i wrongly stops by for a visit the group helped get her job at the cafe and checks in regularly with her wrong i wrong began the project four years ago and sixteen companies are now involved the owner of the cafe was one of the first to join though it required a bit of patience at first. when she was new she was very nervous. it was a new environment a new work it wasn't at all easy for. the customers treated her quite normally and and even spoke english sometimes. when tea or this regime and that way lie is now coping well with these types of challenges changing g. of the advocacy group believes people like way lie a pioneers and the leaders of china's official disability associations are also starting to agree that integrating people with disabilities is better than locking them away in a home. well. we do have

a sense already that things are changing. for now it is important that we can extend our pilot projects from beijing to other provinces. such as headway and. here in her bay province casual as family has finally come to accept that getting some help can be a good thing the parents have applied for disability id card for their son. this will enable him to benefit from the new subsidies introduced by the chinese government nationwide. and he has a dream for the future too. he wants to drive a car some day. it's barely in fashion week and if i were head of vogue and had to pick out the next big

color for the next season i'd have to say green don't expect everyone to be walking around in these the trend is definitely towards environmentally friendly fashion and sustainability even if some of it looks like garbage. you won't see many cat watches like this one by design. at this year's berlin fashion week. instead groups of designers are joining together to present collections that focus on a specific theme like the stain ability. this vision exists hot certainly reducing waste is key the waste created by the fashion industry shouldn't be wasted. it's a resource and you just have to be clever about how to use it at all but. so is wearing our waste going to be the next big thing. maybe if these handbags made of kind of the leads are anything to go by. i hope wrote that it's about getting a waste and getting in this way so it's not going to be another way so it's

biodegradable these may look like traditional chinese dresses but they're made out of recycled plastic. i wanted so it's trying to come by the theater technique official material and combine a traditional technique to get there. the young designers here are relatively unknown but they hope to spark a trend. if. it works if we want to get the new generation on board we want them to absorb all these trends at school university in their first start up. so when they make the move to a big company they can take these ideas with them or introduce new production methods and make their ideas a reality if you don't often carving. wearable ways to speak at the berlin fashion week and the organizers here hope one day be part of a global fashion movement. now i just love getting on my bike and tearing off

through the city whizzing past traffic jams avoiding public transport and setting my own pace but now digital technology is taking the headache out of commuting thanks to slot mobility. hamburg's light rail network is a good way to get to work during rush hour and at some stations there are new options for the last like of your trip. they have these cars and over there there are bikes to all the sharing services are great it makes it easy to get where you're going along with links to private car sharing services there's an app that shows you all the other options. we want to create a platform that does more than display transit options it should let me complete the entire process from leasing to registering and paying. hamburg wants to be a pioneer and smart mobility and intelligent traffic light system is synchronized so that buses won't have to stop at red lights. because the traffic

control center software shows how to keep the rest of the traffic flowing soon the system will also tell motorists whether to speed up or slow down to hit the next green light. our focus is communication between traffic lights and cars the green wave concept will be replaced by a system that tells me how fast to drive so that i won't be forced to stop at a red light. in a big city millions of people are on the move every day. at the hamburg hafen city university researchers are developing digital models that can help architects and city planners streamline urban mobility. one set of tools for example lets planners take residential transit patterns into account when deciding where to build this smart planning table is already helping hamburg

improve the ct nation of its construction sites. group. very pleased think we've had some astonishing results the program is very intuitive similar to a smartphone or tablet anyone can use it it's no problem and it's helped us a lot in terms of court nation. political it's years. now any city department that's planning some construction work can see what else is scheduled nearby. that way they can keep some streets and construction so that traffic will still flow from. these may all be small improvements but they add up to a city that's on the move. and u.s. has got everyone excited to see me that's right then i'm sure some of our viewers made many of our viewers have heard about this a google app with the rather unassuming name arts and culture is taking the u.s. by storm thanks to a new feature it imagines your selfies to famous paintings and the results are

providing up plenty of fodder for a conversation online social media editor calling us once here with us carl i saw you walking around the newsroom earlier testing this out i haven't had it with it yet and they're such hype around the so how does it work so this is basically like finding your your art doppelganger you take a selfie you upload it and it compares your face with paintings from hundreds of museums around the world and this new selfie feature like you mentioned it's it's really going viral and take a look we had to try it out for ourselves as you mention and here's how it works so you open the app on your phone scroll down to this selfie feature it's a little bit hidden you're going to see my face because i tried it out snap the picture and you can see the app kind of analyzing my facial features and it comes up with the matches from various paintings here the results take a look i don't know if some of them are ok i mean it's finding that beard look the mustache. but i took this one yesterday so i mean i think this one is really cool

somehow it's. matched this face. with a self-portrait by vincent van gogh that this is now the top free app in the entire u.s. on the on the apple app store feature the only available actually in the united states we had used a v.p.n. to change our location on the moon google google tells us the feature is an experiment it won't say if it will be rolling it out in other countries any time soon so a lot of people have been saying you've been posting and the results online on social media what have been some of your favorites yeah i mean a lot of people kind of sharing their fun matches even celebrities getting into this and we were going to show you a few here this is from us hollywood actress kate hudson i think is actually a good match but she points out that the painting is called portrait of a boy. regular people are also sharing their photos this woman tweeted her imagine she says yes thanks google you're always there to make me feel good about. me before the show we did it with you as well you haven't seen the results yet i'm

nervous here they are let's see what you think this is your top match and i'm on our what if i have to i think is actually a man i know this one this is like a second that a little better little bit closer the closer it's not always a exact match i would say well there is some criticism of the at this was fun as it is yes people of color they're saying that you know the selection of art within this app means that there just isn't a lot of variety it's very limited for people that are white and this is actually something we saw from someone posting on instagram who really brings across that point this african-american man says the app matched him and you can see several of his friends as well with the exact same piece of art so whether it's the selection or the apps algorithm out of something's going wrong people are complaining about that others worried that you what is google doing with all this facial data that they're collecting from the selfies that are being uploaded google says it's not storing the photos it's not using the data for anything but this fun feature but there is a lot of thought and worry now just in general about data privacy but either way i

think kind of a fun little thing here really going crazy in the u.s. right now i'm sure the hype is going to continue all right our social media editor carl that's been karl thank you for bringing us that up. now one of the biggest interior design fairs in the world is currently underway in cologne the i am features all the latest trends with twelve hundred exhibitors from over fifty countries here's a look at some of the trends seen at the fair. trends and interior design come and go but one tendency that's been very popular for some time is a yearning for comfort for making one's home an oasis of peace and calm a shelter from the world as we armed and imo we get the impression that people have on the one hand an anonymous digital world outside the great world and on the other hand they have a refuge which is the individualized personalized home that polarizes things

a bit with the result that we see a lot of very comfortable furniture warm colors and fabrics that are very pleasing to the touch like velvet or very soft leather or a gun stands by his lead. also in demand are tailor made solutions for living spaces. these are move this trade fair mirrors people's need for individualization even personalization everybody's just as you can configure your smartphone or your car you can also configure your furniture to fit your own individual style. in the brain. of course there's no escaping digital technology and it's also increasingly being used to achieve even greater levels of individualisation there's the shower you can program to be precisely the way you want it and there are solutions ended increasing personal safety. and all of a lot of their systems for detecting falls in the home or for monitoring vital statistics there and making life

a simple as possible and allowing people to live independently in their own four walls for a long time. of course lighting is perhaps the easiest and most effective way of creating an individual atmosphere in your home. some of the examples on display at imm seem more like art installations than realistic lighting solutions but pushing boundaries is often what makes good design. and a lot to look at there what set out. you. well there's a lot i mean the big thing about it is the small living thing we saw a lot shallower that it did look sort of tend to get it to you can have an energizing shower or a relaxing shower i think with my generation that's also cold river and. the rug good sides to small living it has to be said it's very useful for older people who can't get a very useful perhaps for people with disabilities but for younger people i worry

about people becoming sort of kuhn didn't know where they live and not going out i mean you know there are a fridge is where when you run a of been known as the fridge will reorder but nona's from the supermarket into the visual joke i mean it goes into the soup ok has talked to people and by some banal as you know i mean today this very day we have just that in britain to reason appointed a minister of i said. no minister of loneliness to tackle social isolation i mean how sad is that our time for it is really and i do worry about as i say it can help it can be a great help and i think it can be a hindrance as ok so you have your reservations about the smart living up occasions but how about all the color that's now being introduced i mean look at the color being introduced into interior yeah and we saw in the report really like that you

are talking to a person who grew up in the sixty's and seventy's and yes i did have your length and i did have flowers in it at one point to one that's pretty hard to imagine but yes our voice and all this tendency for black and grey and the word i really hate anthracite now look at this that this is this is going back to the sixty's although you know that chair i wouldn't just have a drink but there are there is a lot of color being shown in color and a lot of warm fabrics as well. more than in recent years and. it will be bright and colorful in the future and i think we're going to need that especially here in northern europe where we're you know it's rather dark at the moment i just had jest a moscow had six minutes of last. so they need that color in their apartment probably not doing much better here in berlin robin the thank you for bringing us the latest on the i am that's going on in cologne a more in a website get to be dot com slash culture all right robin merrill thank you very

much. you're watching news krista first bring it will be right here at the news desk in just a few minutes stay with us. for . the book. the book. the book.

my small camera traction the best josh the bomb and mom to smooth the baby mama french aboard trauma above five dollars moms insert sounds to roll call for spring time for the subprime debacle d.w. moved. into an official estimates more than one point

two million venezuelans live in colombia. so. why return to. visit friends it's not i don't think i'd ever go back there to live you know when i lived there again i don't know so i'm not sure. the living witness the global news that matters. made for mines. climate change. waist length. isn't it time for good news eco africa people and projects that are changing our environment for the better it's up to us to make a difference let's inspire each other. to let the firemen magazine. long d.w. . by bite you the countdown is on for britain's withdrawal from the european

union but the specs of. the people dealing with it. what are politicians doing about it. our reporters are seeking answers in the year ahead of this fiscal. road to bridge that today in our series. on the d.w.p. simply. dropping bombs on civilians. more troops the situation escalates there is no longer in the for scruples. ruthless calculation military leaders work ok the extent of the massive. technological her skirts the complications of massacres him back to her during february third on t w.

this is the w. news live from berlin to chancellor is hoping to connect all streamers sebastian cortes meeting in germany's angela merkel in a bid to find common ground on an issue that has divided them so far migration did they succeed we'll get more from our political correspondent in just a second and. also coming up catalonia as parliament reopens gearing.