this is g.w. newsline. he was president of the southern border with mexico telling the country yet again why he wants a border wall and why democrats are the problem but they have been taken over by a beautiful people don't care that they don't care if that human trafficking is wrong they don't care about any. of that what this guy really thinks that in texas the president trying to make his point with the show and tell of weapons

and drugs. from mexican gangs also u.s. secretary of state slams the obama administration's middle east policies in cairo he accused trump's predecessor of being naive and timid in the face of the arab spring uprising. and europe hit by winter weather. southern germany and austria experiencing the heaviest snowfall in two decades at least seventeen people have died. communities cut off in the worst hit it's. good to have you with us president has arrived at the border with mexico continuing his campaign to get money to fund a border wall there now he and the us. as congress which is now partly controlled

by the democrats are in a standoff over more than five billion dollars that trump wants for that project the faceoff has led to a partial government shutdown but at the border in texas trunk was among friends people who live there have experience of migrants arriving from mexico and who support his efforts although some protesters also made their presence felt earlier trump accuse the democrats some not caring about the crime that he says migrants are bringing into the u.s. . or that. are joining us from macallan texas at the border with mexico is g.w.s. all xander phenomena always under good evening to you you your ad approaches there earlier today talk to us about who was there and what they were talking about are they for the against this wall or do they say. most of the protests they were against a wall because they told me that they think that it's not needed here they feel

safe in their communities and they actually would like president trying to see that he also told me that they think that the border wall is not going to be affected but as you can see behind me there are also some supporters who gathered here to welcome the president because as they say they think. we need they need to tighten security here and they are happy that the president as they say is trying very hard to keep them safe. just a short while ago the u.s. president he held a press conference it was like a show and tell the if you will of contraband that's been confiscated at the border is is that convincing people who live there at the border who know what the reality is there on the ground. i don't think that it's going to convince anyone who opposed the border many people here told me rob are upset at the

president for instilling fear upon their communities for using heartbreaking stories to argue for a border wall stories about people who were killed by migrants who crossed the border illegally so many people here many protests are very upset about that correspondent alexander phenomenon at the us mexico border in mcallen texas tonight i was under thank you. u.s. secretary of state. delivered a rebuke to the obama administration's of mideast policies from peter was touring capitals in the middle east to brief allies after president obama trump announced that he is pulling u.s. troops out of syria while speaking today at the american university in cairo. accused trump's predecessor of being naive and timid when confronted with the challenges posed by the arab spring uprisings which shook the middle east political

order beginning back in twenty eleven and said that obama's policies had diminished america's role in the region and harmed its longtime ally. all right i'm joined now at the big table by barry he is with the german institute for international and security affairs you know it's good to see you again so we've got this major middle east policy speech delivered today by mr on peo what did you make of it well mr pump aoe already obviously wants to do two things he wants to reassure allies in the region the states that he would call the moderate states israel egypt saudi arabia and some others that the united states is there to stay although it is withdrawing troops troops from syria and secondly he wants to build this alliance for a single purpose that is to exert measure maximum pressure as he said several months ago on iran in his speech today pompei was emphatic that the u.s.

is not retreating from the middle east but he at the same time he said that the syria withdrawal is still going to happen so it is contradicting each other it is contradicting of course but the united states is present in other countries in the region it is present in turkey in iraq in jordan all over the gulf so the united states is there and he and states in the region now know that they are there to stay and possibly that to stay in order to confront iran. i think that this speech was was kind of frightening because there is something looming on the horizon and that is at least a military complaint by the israelis in syria you know speaking of iran mr taylor he had a lot to say about iran today none of it was good take a listen let's turn to iran. the president has reversed our willful blindness to

the danger of the regime and withdrew from the failed nuclear deal with its false promises. the u.s. reimpose sanctions should never have been lifted when parked on a new pressure campaign to cut off the revenues the regime uses to spread terror and destruction throughout the world. in syria the united states will use diplomacy and work with our partners to expel every last iranian and work through the un love process to bring peace and stability to the long suffering syrian people. so you've got mr trump there saying that the u.s. is going to drive iran completely out of syria despite the u.s. troop withdrawal and he's also saying that he wants to end iranian influence in lebanon how realistic is this this is only going to happen. as a result of a major war and do you think that he is he is he prepping the world for for a military conflict i don't know it's very hard to interpret what is going on in

the trunk administration remember when john bolton and mike compare got their jobs in april american media speculated about called it a war cabinet these are the most politicians that you can find in washington concerning iran and i am positive that we will see major military action by the israelis in syria in the coming years and perhaps the united states will join then after this speech i wouldn't rule a larger military action against iran in the coming two years out well let's hope this time. you're wrong. as always we appreciate your insights thank you. well the german chancellor angela merkel has praised greece for the improvement in its finances just months after the country emerged from its final debt bailout and during a visit to athens to meet her greek counterpart alexis see for us. that the debt

negotiations were tough times greeks widely blamed her for the austerity that they have lived through in recent years. the german chancellor's visit means a great deal for greece and for prime minister tsipras to spite their differences ties between the two have improved significantly especially since miracle's last visit to head home i'm very glad to be here today after all the ups and downs over the last few years of i believe that what we achieved exemplifies the european spirit. that despite having different political beliefs despite very different problems we always strive to find a common solution to america's previous visit to greece and twenty fourteen was overshadowed by a wave of angry protests back then as an opposition leader sippers railed against the austerity measures imposed on greece and supported by berlin but after becoming

prime minister sippers dropped his fears and he bailout stands and ended up implementing the reforms demanded by greece's creditors and although merkel was widely blamed in greece for the years of austerity her image among greeks has also improved with the outside mrs merkel has her priorities first her country then europe and after that world peace. i wish her a happy new year and good health a gift that could help to put. america in tsipras are also expected to discuss the name change deal with neighboring macedonia which berlin supports under the agreement the former yugoslav republic will be renamed north macedonia in return greece will support the country joining nato and eventually the e.u. but many greeks are against the deal including tsipras coalition partners. over. the sparkle in the region for americans visit isreal the deal with macedonia gets

ratified by parliament. who in short remains valid even if the opposition takes power things. it's a little. conservative opposition leader close mates of tank is is leading the resistance to the macedonia deal in the greek parliament super's hopes that miracle might be able to influence the conservatives position because of his coalition breaks down tsipras may soon find himself facing a vote of confidence. but well across europe the heaviest snowfall in two decades is bringing daily life in alpine regions to a grinding halt at least sixteen people are reported to have died from weather related causes in the past week austria has been especially hard hit forecasters warning that there will be more snow and in some places avalanche warnings are there hot yes. it is

a beautiful sight but the snow laden slopes also spell danger many mountainsides in austria so heavy with snow that the army is preparing for sort of avalanches with controlled explosions in the past twenty four hours at a snowed nonstop. most of the enforcing them and it makes sense to set off these explosions that's a common strategy to defuse the situation but the areas with the highest threat level there are above two thousand two hundred meters you cannot set off explosions there because you can't get there and when a team called in the valleys the battle against the snow continues hotels are complaining about cancellations the austrian chamber of commerce is expecting business to drop by fifty percent in the affected areas one hotel owner who is grateful just to be alive. he was finally lifted from his mountain shadow on wednesday he had been snowed in since christmas day. on

monday actually i thought if i was trapped the feeling was very depressing and it's exhausting to shovel snow all day lows in germany a state of emergency has been declared in parts of the very. the need to be in the worst affected areas the snow on the roofs weighs up to four hundred kilos when he is in that snow he must urgently barrel them from those roofs they need to be. experts fear that up to me to a fresh snow will fall in austria before the weekend. meaning the chaos in the northern alps is set to continue. when he wus all me in s. if it is in the austrian town of auld else zay he described the scene for us from there one thing the snow has done to this small austrian village of say is to make it even smaller a lot of the roads have become just narrow passages between mounds of snow and some of the houses half buried look half the size they actually are the people have had

to cozy together as well and that's because half the village over here has been evacuated eighty to one hundred people have had to leave their homes that is because of the danger of avalanche occurring any time authorities have raised the level to the highest alert level and they're trying to get everybody out of this area even the mayor has had to evacuate his home we spoke to him earlier and he said that he hasn't seen snow like this for at least twelve years but he says that the people here are used a lot of snow and they're trying to get on with their daily lives and you've seen them really come together to make this happen and that's are i mean in essence they're braving the elements forced or police in spain have arrested twenty eight professional tennis players following a match fixing investigation linked to an armenian criminal gang the names of players are thought to be from the lower tiers of tennis but one of them took part in last year's u.s. open footage from the e.u. zero poll police agency showed the raids including searches of

a number of houses in spain where one hundred sixty seven thousand euros in cash along with credit cards and a shotgun were failing eighty three people in total are being helped. you're watching the w. news live from berlin more news coming up at the top of the hour the c. of it. germany state by state. the most colorful. clearest. the most traditional. find it'll at any time. check in with a web special. take a tour of germany state by state on d w dot com.