this is g.w. news live from berlin tonight two nations one flag a step towards deescalation as north and south korea agree to march under the same banner and next month's winter olympics they'll also be sending a joint women's ice hockey team if the international olympic committee approved also coming out a meeting of chancellors but was there a meeting of the hmong. sebastian courts in germany. an unlikely political pair trying to find common ground on the divisive issue of migration did they succeed.

i'm bringing office good to have you with us tonight the two koreas are taking a step that many people hope will lead it down the path of reconciliation in the demilitarized zone that separates north and south korea representatives met today and agreed to march under one flag at the opening ceremony of next month's winter olympics they also agreed to send a joint women's ice hockey team to the tournament if the international olympic committee approved it's a small step towards lessening tensions but it won't be the first time that the two koreas have marched together at the two thousand and three world university games they entered the stadium under the so-called korean unification flag since two thousand they also marched together at three a limbic game. lots of talk about here and get to it i'm joined here to my far

right by honda's most laurie curry ria expert from bruins for university and right next door here to me to my right our sports correspondent alina i talking to both of you welcome clients i want to start with you and we've been talking about this now ever since the news came out but i'll ask you again why is north korea's leader using the winter olympics as an opportunity to reduce tensions or to at least have it appear that way well the most important reason for that is that north korea recently was very much isolated future dissensions and other provocations and even north korea needs the direct communication channel for implementing its foreign policy and talking to south korea's the first step and talking to the u.s. which is the ultimate aim of that the ultimate aim and they were talk though about the sports part of it this is the first time that we've seen the two koreas use

sports to bridged divisions right yes and what makes this so unique in particular is the fact that this is the first time we'll be seeing a unified korean olympic team and i've been stressing this day entire day the emphasis here is on and then picks because in the past these two the two koreas have joined forces when it comes to international sporting events was tied for example in one thousand nine hundred one in japan at the at the world table tennis championships and the women actually ended up winning that tournaments and that same year they also join sent a joint soccer team to the future youth championships and portugal and if you guys want to guess how far they went there what i know i have no idea ok as far as the quarterfinals so it just shows you that if these two unite the talent pool is even bigger and make quite the sporting all right so there's more there is sports here and it's not just symbolism one is the me ask you what's been the reaction in south korea to this is a been all positive well city. to the international community basically the people

are very positive about the recent developments but except the conservative opposition who tries increasingly to criticize the negotiations and the participation of the north korean athletes because they are saying this only promotes the propaganda of the north and for example carrying the unification flag you just mentioned would rather be trade the south korean people because they're not carrying the south korean flag which is of course ridiculous but it shows that the how they try to undermine this reproach and well i mean and in terms of symbolism and in terms of what it looks like to the outside world it looks like a win for the north doesn't it surely yeah but the the opposition things differently they a little bit in angry about the last presidential elections and this all plays a role in this and let me let me ask you about this joint women's ice hockey team do you think the r.u.c. will approve this i mean it has to be proved right if the i.o.c.

if they follow their own and then picks their own values their own ideas you would think that they would approve it because they're the very same people that encourage peace that encourage creating a better understanding despite our differences are they really big on bringing people together but let's be clear about one thing that why this is the first family that we do see a joint korean team this is not the first time that we see the two koreas that they'll be marching site by site and an opening ceremony that has happened before it happened in sydney for the first time in two thousand and four years later in athens and at the winter games and inter and ok. we know that kim jong un wants to use this the olympics to isolate the united states and he would like for the united states to be the ultimate loser in this if you're thinking of him as a rational actor is he going to get what he wants rather say. isolating the u.s.

but engaging the u.s. and as i said earlier it's about going via south korea to the u.s. because talking to the u.s. directly was and still is very difficult without losing face but now north korea can say we went to the olympics we are full peace and that now without losing face they can and you think it is thinking that this is a way this is a channel to communicate with the u.s. without it appearing that we're picking up the phone yes that's exactly the strategy capable see we got another month will see how this pans out but interesting analysis from both of you on his words there from berlin's from university and lima talking from our sports desk to both of you thank you and other news tonight we're going to go now to ethiopia where thousands gathered outside. to cheer opposition leader mir ever good enough as he was released from jail today he is one of several hundred prisoners to walk free as part of the

government's pledge to quote widen the democratic space the move comes after months of anti-government protests. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has lashed out at the u.s. in an emotional speech in cairo he described donald trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel as sinful and he said that washington had disqualified itself from the role of peace broker people in mitrovica in northern kosovo have been paying their respects to all over event of the church and known attackers gunning 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 as the independence of its former province. or german chancellor angela merkel and all story is new chancellor is a busty and chords met in berlin for talks today the meeting was under close

scrutiny for any signs of discord between the two leaders no chords heads up a controversial coalition with austrians far right and he's been a vocal critic of merkel's migration policy the two leaders are hoping to find common ground on improving the protection of europe's borders. the youngest government leader in europe meets the longest serving one and it's not just age that divides these two it's austrian foreign minister sebastien courts sharply criticized on the limb ackles refugee policy now however even the german chancellor favors setting a limit on migration quit says that he sees other e.u. countries moving in austria's direction adopting positions he was criticized for two years ago you know how men and you put up with us in austria we made a disproportionate contribution we have the second highest number of asylum seekers relative to our population after sweden so i believe no one can accuse us of not

showing solidarity on the contrary but if we want to solve the migration issue that it won't succeed via distribution but instead with aid on location and that still inadequately functioning e.u. external border protection that we urgently need. machall stressed that it's not human traffickers who should decide who comes to europe. it's welcome cloud us it's totally declared that we want to reduce illegal migration and strengthen europe's external borders. but also strengthen the partnership with the countries of origin of that in turn means that we must find out new ways of working together with those countries that can when it comes to questions of resettlement or offers of cooperation and annoyances and then the fin differences remain vienna feels there's been excessive focus on the use of quotas for purposes of distributing refugees entitled to remain in the e.u.

austria in the past has sympathised with eastern european countries that refused to abide by such quotas. merkel feels that's wrong. you know evil john ch the new austrian government has on its actions and that's what i've told the chancellor one side only if that's what counts c h the tone of the two leaders debate may have been less harsh than in the past but relations between the two neighbors remain complicated. arliss pull in our chief political correspondent linda crane she's been following this visit force today good evening to you melinda is so what sort of atmosphere are we seeing here between merkel and chords i mean as this first meeting how smooth the rough edges over. both were definitely trying to downplay the differences mr court said before he even set foot in germany that he views anglo

american as a very experienced leader in germany as a very important partner and he also said look neighboring countries are always going to have their differences but in fact it looks to me like the rest of the e.u. is moving in austria's direction and the chancellor for her part said that she believes there is a good basis for the two to work together and that she sees far more agreement than she does divisions and yet the fact is there were some visible discrepancies between their positions both on asylum policies and refugees and also on the e.u. where mr kurtz thinks that the brussels should be a great deal more frugal and there should be a lot more powers devolved to nation states where is the chance which said she could imagine the eurozone investing more money and invent and indebted southern countries so quite a bit of room to move together on those parts yeah i mean it's always nice to have a little bit of work to do if they want to you know have the meeting of the minds

the divisions between berlin and vienna are they going strong as they have been in the past if we look at the whole picture. well the key issue here really is immigration and the policy towards refugees and there mr kurtz is criticism of the chancellor's policies had been quite harsh that was not in evidence today that two were saying that they agree on things like better protection for austria's borders or on the need to come to good resettlement agreements with their countries of origin from which many migrants are departing and they also said that we need to better development policy to make sure that the numbers of people who want to come to europe decrease but the fact is there was significant disagreement on the idea that for those refugees who do when admission to european union who have a right to stay that there should be further quotas for their resettlement

throughout e.u. member countries and they are the chancellor said that she absolutely sees that as an obligation that countries need to abide by whereas the chancellor of austria said that he thinks that area is over exaggerated so definitely quite a bit of potential for disagreement there and that's why the chancellor was so clear in telling her austrian counterpart we're going to be watching what you do social rather an indirect warning from jensen strong words here our chief political correspondent and agreed on the story for us tonight here in berlin linda thank you . well now to the spanish region of catalonia its new parliament held its opening session today lawmakers from pro independence parties using their slim majority to elect a left wing separatist one hundred tory. now that's a signal that the chamber is nicely to continue its push for independence from spain yellow ribbons mark the in d.c. former catalan president karl is poised to mom and other separatist figures which

tomorrow remains in self-imposed exile in belgium three others are in prison facing charges of rebellion and sedition in sports news i want to catch up with some of the results from round two of the australian open and mellberg men's number one seed rafael nidal lives through to the next round following a straight sets win but the day's biggest story came in the women's singles fifteen year old marta cost york one her second round match in straight sets so that makes her the youngest player to reach the third round of a grand slam tournament in over twenty years meanwhile it was a bad day for german number one you're only a girl who is out of the tournament after losing to elise courtenay in straight sets. all right we will be back at the top of the hour with more news followed by the day i think you can join us then you will see using.

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