this is deja vu news live from berlin the german chancellor makes her first trip to greece since alexis tsipras became prime minister in the past many greeks blamed on a makeover for the hardships caused by austerity measures so how do they feel about today also on the agenda as germany paid enough for what it did to greece in the second world war plus president trump visits the u.s. border with mexico to press his case for building the wall because again raised the prospect of using

a merge and superpowers to fund it so is there an emergency we asked our correspondent at the border. and some two months ago this woman the wife of one of norway's wealthiest men vanished without a trace police have now gone public for the very first time since then with some details we'll have the latest on her mysterious disappearance. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for joining us german chancellor all america was holding talks with political leaders in greece today this is the first time akhil has visited athens since twenty fourteen back then she was given a hostile reception with many groups the greeks blaming her for the harsh austerity measures imposed by europe today the mood is different however there are still unresolved issues between the two nations one is war reparations more on that from

our correspondent in a moment first this report. 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 marcos last visit . the head i'm very glad to be here today after all the ups and downs over the last few years of what 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 increases creditors and although merkel was widely blamed in greece for the years of austerity her image among greeks has also improved with the odds 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 that i get back to mexico for. america and sippers 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 that will . respond to the region for americans visit to seoul the deal with macedonia gets ratified by parliament. so in short remains valid even if the opposition

takes power. conservative opposition leader meets of talk is is leading the resistance to the macedonia deal in the greek parliament super's hopes that merkel might be able to influence the conservatives position because of his coalition breaks down tsipras may soon find himself facing a vote of confidence. or just how serious is that one of the questions out there today following the visit as did abuse chief political editor michel a cover joins us now from athens good morning michelle can on the macro help and first off this name dispute over the two macedonia. well she certainly is trying. mapped out here in athens already that she felt that this agreement that would basically ended decades long dispute is good for

both sides and it would help greece as much as it would help the european union in the sense of also stabilizing the boat can return which is in the headlines that terribly much but which remains a constant potential source of instability blight on the european union's doorstep but she also said that she did understand that her influence particularly on the opposition leader its attackers who is from her own political count the conservative camp which will also play a big role in this upcoming european elections she understand that her influence there is limited and she also understands between the lines that her making any policy recommendation traditionally doesn't go down that turkey well in greece ok there's a very big meeting coming up today all america will be meeting with the greek president on what continues to be a very emotional issue on a very divisive issue as well. yes the issue here in

greece is how much in terms of reparations the greek state could potentially still demand from germany for germany that is an issue that is concluded that was part of an agreement that is the basis of german reunification. the same time there's a commission hearing greece that has actually come up with a bill of some two hundred ninety six billion euros that it feels germany's still owes greece now in the light of recent history in the light of this greek rescue package that is something that certainly brings emotions to the boil here in greece at times but there's no press conference expected so if we won't see any public statements that ok michele thanks very much for that for now michelle cover for us in athens. now for a look at some of the other stories making the news this hour heavy snowfall continues to paralyze alpine regions of southern germany austria and the czech

republic at least sixteen people have been killed in weather related incidents the region around the german city of gotcha's scarred as but declared a disaster joe zome. president transformer lawyer michael cohn will testify publicly before congressional committee next month cohn is expected to face questions about his ties to russia and hush money payments arranged on behalf to keep extramarital affair allegations out of the news during the election campaign. we have some breaking news just coming in a court in myanmar has rejected an appeal by two journalists serving seven year prison sentence while loan in. coie so all were sentenced in december of two thousand and seventeen after investigating the massacre of ten or hinge of men during the army's brutal crackdown on the muslim community the two reuters journalists were later sentenced for breaking the official secrets act by

possessing classified documents the pairs the fences argued that they were entrapped in a police sting. aligned with us now from singapore is reuters journalist kevin colicky kevin what's the latest from the court. as you just said we heard today that the appeal court in myanmar has rejected the appeal it's another in justice for well known and cho so for our colleagues for their for their families. there was no evidence at trial that they were guilty of espionage they were recording the reporting that they did it was fair it was accurate the people of myanmar deserve to avid media that informs them of the truth and so this is a another injustice and a very dark day very disappointing for us and very just for the families i'm sure it is for both colleagues and family members but this was an appeal so what's next

for wall and. this is in the news a. potential of this available to the to the supreme court of the appeals court ruling has just come in. there is a potential appeal that's available but the government importantly though the government of myanmar has the has the power to stop this injustice right to do the right thing here the only thing that the it should do and to freedom and and we want we want to see that happen we want to continue to work for their release because until their free myanmar's commitment to a free press and to the rule of law remains in question. who were arrested to course while reporting on the ethnic cleansing in me and maher how difficult is it today to get an accurate assessment of the situation for me on mars range of muslims. well. the facts of the

case are important here they were reporting in the village called intent on the massacre of ten men and boys the government has acknowledged that their reporting was in fact accurate and that the government has taken action against those who were involved in the killing. so. the journalism is not a crime. myanmar deserves a media that can tell the people of myanmar what's happening there. and this ruling this case and the appeals ruling today cast serious doubt over myanmar and so free press and so the rule of law well we certainly wish you and your colleagues wallowing possibly all the best moving forward for now kevin to like you from reuters and singapore thanks very much thank you thank you. it's the united states now where president trump has visited the u.s.

border with mexico to press his case for a wall to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally the president said he was considering bypassing congress in the clearing a national emergency to secure funding for the barrier. alexander phenomena has been at the border and sent us this report from the texas. well true. they backed off and wants him to build the border wall. they don't opponents and supporters of the u.s. president facing each other in mckellen while waiting for his arrival well as border areas of the valley and i feel it's very important that we secure our borders is absolutely important and it's necessary for my children for their safety i was just it's good for all the positive it was just because of that the support the difficulties of all those projects that's our country sponsor. true members of the same community but deeply divided

a couple of all star temper the police have to intervene meanwhile president lamb was given a tour along the rio grande day where he talked to border patrol agents using this trip to bolster his argument for his signature complaint promise that what they need more than anything is the barrier the wall color whatever you want whether it's steel and concrete you don't care we need a barrier in macallan trump once again threatens to invoke emergency powers to build the wall without congressional approval but many in the rio grande a valley does agree they don't see a reason to declare a national emergency here most people we talked to at the protest told us that there is no crisis that they feel safe they accuse the president called stoking fear in their community and even some of the time supporters say they do for tighten security but they don't believe that the world is going to fold so much. brenda kennedy has lived in the kalam for twelve years she says she's proud of her

community. this is the safest place i've ever lived in my life so this whole idea that there's been you know victims coming over illegally and drugs in the street in her child it's ridiculous absolutely not. she says he president shrum stayed long enough. macallan to see that for himself maybe he'd change his mind. ok let's go straight to mccallum now and always honor phenomena put the report together for us good morning oh xandra can you tell us more about the president's visit to the border well the whole purpose of this visit was of course to both to try for the border for every detail seems to be well orchestrated he met with border patrol officials with border patrol agents who didn't receive that paycheck he held a roundtable of border security and immigration where they were he was showing

bricks of heroin bales of mary who are not guns and cash that was seized by border secure the border patrol agents then they were to appear for family members of people who were killed by illegal immigrants so as you can see this visit was well orchestrated and i talked to many people here and some of them told me that they didn't like it they didn't like that the president was using card breaking stories to make his case for the border ok i was going to do just mention some of the border patrol agents that the president was was talking to how if they've been describing the situation at the border. they met with president and they gave him a security briefing at the border border. the border patrol official told that many nationalists trying to sneak into the country across the border people

coming from pakistan or china so it seemed that he was a sort of supporting the president and there are border patrol agents who would tell you that. wally's need to it's to protect the border but they also tell you that what they need is more personnel and better technology to protect the border alexander the president is now back in washington d.c. he's been talking once again about declaring a national emergency to break the standoff over funding the wall out likely is that . i mean it seems that the white house is really seriously looking into it and we are hearing that that president strong is leaning towards this options option of all there are people in the administration for restraint and so we have to say that the most democrats are of course against those they criticize such as that such

a decision would be an overreach would be illegal but there are also democrats they were they are open to this option saying that this could be the only face saving way to reopen the government alexander phenomena thanks very much at the us mexico border miguel in texas for story thanks very much. it's to norway now where police say the missing wife of a billionaire has been kidnapped in an unusual twist the alleged abductors are insisting on a ransom being paid in a crypto currency similar to bitcoin and this gators admit that they have no idea what may have happened to the victim or where she is. sixty eight year old and elizabeth haagen has not been seen since last october but police have only now revealed that she is missing the search for home and surrounding woodland in a wealthy suburb outside the capital also has failed to turn up any useful evidence

police say the kidnappers have used only digital technology to get in touch with them they order it but until there's not been any verbal contact yet there's not been any sign that she's in life and neither is there any sign that she's dead or for no matter. the victim is married to tom haagen a property in the energy tycoon and one of norway's richest men detectives want to talk to a pedestrian and the cyclist filmed outside the businessman's office on the day his wife disappeared the suspects have not yet been identified by behavior but if i had i was surprised in horrified that something like this could happen here i also feel great despair for the family it's a terrible situation is that the. local media say the kidnappers are demanding a ransom equivalent to nine million euros to be paid in the cryptocurrency more

narrow similar to bit coin police are advising the family not to pay any ransom they're working on the theory that mrs holl gun was at home when she was abducted but officers admit the investigation is making little progress. well looks like germans are increasingly worried about their personal data being stolen and misused a new survey shows that more than sixty percent of people living here this is a major concern for them and follows revelations that a hacker stole personal information from about one thousand public figures celebrities and politicians the survey was conducted by him for testing for the german public broadcaster a r d n gauges german opinions on a number of topics. the us twitter account cause the political storm in germany the personal data open attentions and celebrities where sleep over number of days mobile phone numbers bank statements and intimate photos were posted online it

didn't take long to find this inspector. a twenty year old student was annoyed by the public statements made by his victims the political establishment is alarmed and so is the public. how concerned are germans about the misuse of data sixty one percent are worried or even very worried that their data will end up in the wrong hands. at the same time to deter is asian in shaping more and more aspects of life it is changing society the economy and daily life people in germany have mixed feelings about this development only twenty five percent believe that the benefits of digitalisation way the negative more than half the positives and negatives in equal measure the rest is skeptical germans are not skeptical about the economy the booming economy and low unemployment reflecting their views on their own personal situation seventy eight percent say that their own economic

situation is good or very good only twenty two percent say the opposite. all in all germans tend to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about the year ahead. while from the world of sports police in the united states have requested a d.n.a. sample from football star christiane rinaldo as part of an ongoing rape investigation involving a sports superstar and all those being sued for allegedly raping catherine may your guy in las vegas in two thousand and nine or your guy has filed a lawsuit seeking to avoid a non-disclosure statement that she says she was pressured into signing and although has also maintained the encounter was consensual. tennis superstar andy murray has announced he will be retiring this year saying a persistent hip injury is causing him too much pain to carry on playing out an emotional press conference from melbourne repeatedly broke down in tears he said he

will be playing at the australian open when it begins next week but also that it may be the final tournaments of his career the british athlete has won three grand slams along with two olympic gold medals. now when you think about the sport of athletics vatican city probably doesn't come to mind but the tiny state lead has just launched its own international track and field team so will it be god speed for the vatican on route to the olympics let's find out. a rare sight in st peter's square. this is part of the vatican city's new athletics team and they are ready to take on the world to benteke and maybe the smallest state on earth but the team as lofty ambitions. so they live. with regards to the olympics the dream we have is to be carrying the vatican flag during the opening ceremony on the games. a marathon running priest

and a half marathon loving none are among the team members. for me when i began running it gave me the chance to rediscover inner peace to find a balance we need to have time for silence. the vatican competing at the olympics may still be a way off but a leap of faith is all they need. if you sleep over to business with steven now more bad news for a former c.e.o. of global auto industry that's right by we're talking of course about carlos ghosn japanese prosecutors filing two new charges against the former nissan chairman and head of the renault nissan alliance they're accusing goanna of breach of trust and falsifying financial reporting the announcement comes two days after go and made his first appearance in its hokey o. court for legit financial misconduct in japan the going was responsible for

a nose alliance with nissan french car maker says it has no evidence of fraud on the part of gone and gone has denied the charges link to nissan his lawyers said they will seek bail following the newest allegations. asian markets are up today on efforts to resolve the u.s. trying to china trade dispute western nations meanwhile are hoping a resolution could lead to easier access to that lucrative chinese consumer market something that has remained frustratingly out of reach for many businesses and germany's influential v.d.i. industry association has now called on the european union to adopt a tougher policy towards china on just this issue. chinese market has long been a gold mine for many german companies with carmakers like audi and mercedes making an ever larger share of their profits here but the b.t.i. federation for german industry claims the chinese market is far from a level playing field the business lobby accuses beijing of using

a combination of protectionism price dumping and state subsidies to bolster china's economy and cement the central government's control. the development of a free market isn't on beijing's agenda these are the central government is trying to expand the communist party control of the economy and civil society. and that's become more apparent in the last three years. there is also growing concern that china shopping tour of buying controlling shares of german high tech companies like robotics manufacturing could soon lead to a strategic disadvantage for europe in the report the b.t.r. is calling on berlin to take action to make the economies of germany and europe more resilient among the demands increased scrutiny of china's state support for firms that compete with european companies and more oversight of chinese acquisitions the b.t.i. also says western countries must do more to defend their lead in technology as. of course we need to do our own homework first and increase our own competitiveness by

investing more in infrastructure and education including research by expand the research budget. the reading i also believe you members must close ranks to ensure china does not eventually gain a competitive edge in technology. so push there for more aggressive effort by the e.u. related to chinese markets earlier i spoke to clifford china correspondent for the irish times in beijing and i asked him if the u.s. is aggressive push for similar access as part of trade talks might pay off. it seems that it could it's china isn't reacting places extremely as people told graham it is not going to have the reaction that people anticipated but it's stepney having an impact so this gives and the u.s. a lot of leverage in the in the into trade talks and if eventually they do come to a resolution as i think there are signs growing that it they could come to

a resolution soon and this would be obviously of benefit to european firms who are also hoping that some of the issues that the u.s. wants addressed are also are also dealt with because they will benefit european firms too that again was clifford cohen and china correspondent for the irish times speaking to us from beijing. well all eyes are on the u.s. dollar following remarks by federal reserve chairman jerome powell that the central bank could be patient with plans to raise interest rates powell had previously suggested the fed would raise interest rates at least twice this year despite concerns that that might throw the u.s. into recession for hikes last year joined unprecedented angry response from president trump who accused the fed of threatening the country's economic boom powell says the fed won't be swayed by politics. and meanwhile president trump has canceled his trip to the world economic forum in davos this

comes amid the standoff with a democrat led the democratic led house of representatives that has led to a partial government shutdown. shutdown has left more than eight hundred thousand federal government workers unpaid for nearly three weeks several hundred of them braved the cold to protest the shutdown in washington and their likely receive back pay once the shutdown is over trump is refusing to sign a congressional spending bill because it does not include funding for a wall along the border with mexico. you're watching t.v. news will of course have more for you in the next hour you can always find more for these stories on d w dot com and dot com slash business i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for joining us.

and he's made me stop. was the youngest to put it to make it here piers national. he wants more details of playing professionally in germany's for. real company towns on this is first. double. quadriga international talk show

for journalists to discuss the topic of the week. as the new year gets underway germany has become a long time and member of the united nations security council doesn't the u.n. is divided underfunded in my opinion efficiency some book coming bill in a cheap find out shortly on poetry. quadriga in a sixty minutes on d w. e takes a personal leave. with a little wonderful people in stories that make the game so special. for all true fans dot com. take up more than football online how about taking a few risks you could even take

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