has called it a big day for national security. the u.s. president has already signed one executive order on building a wall along the border with mexico. of his course was one main campaign pledges. he is also moving to block immigration from several countries in the middle east, including iraq, syria, and libya. our washington correspondent has

more now on the wall with mexico and the ban on immigration from muslim countries. no clear details on what the border wall would look like, but the white house does say that mexico will pay for it one way or another. the executive order has just been signed by president trump at the department of homeland security and in that text it says very clearly that admiral funds will now be used to build that wall -- federal funds will be used to build the wall between mexico and the united states. practically, there are obvious problems and difficulties. this is an incredibly expensive project. ande is difficult terrain there would have to be authorization from individual people who on the land to build the wall. those are just some of the practical problems, but the biggest problem is how to's one finance something like that. donald trump had said in an

interview with abc news that will be aired later tonight local time that mexico will pay for it and that the wall will be built inside of the next few months, or at least there will be a starting point in the next few months. the big problem with this is that it would be the american taxpayer paying for it. do they want to, or not necessarily? trump, theo donald american taxpayer would be reimbursed in the end by mexico, but of course the mexican president has insisted repeatedly that of course mexico would not pay for this wall. he is scheduled to be here in washington at the end of the month and is scheduled to meet with president trump at the white house. we will have to wait and see what he makes of it and whether he does want to sit down with his american counterpart. so there he is trying to crack down on illegal

immigration from mexico. he's been criticized for singling out muslim countries for immigration restrictions. he's saying no more visas for iraq, like -- people from syria, and libya. >> this is an executive order that is not yet been signed by president trump. it's probably going to be tomorrow. borderke the wall on the between mexico and the united states, it stems from a campaign promise that seemed rather outlanders at the time, when donald trump said he wanted to stop muslims from entering the united states until we figure things out. that was the verbiage from donald trump at the time. we've got a few elements already of what we know he's inking about putting in this executive order that does not exist yet. one of them would be to stop the refugee resettlement program for syrians altogether. here is another option donald trump is looking at, stopping all these is for 30 days from a

whole host of countries, many of which you already named. here are all the countries. iraq, iran, libya, somalia, sudan, syria, and yemen. be stopped ford 30 days until a new visa program, new regulations would be put in place. ,ll of it sounds rather vague we don't have the executive order and it has not been signed by president trump. relatively difficult to make into a concrete reality, but all those campaign promises that seemed totally unrealistic, here they are being put into relatively concrete reality by the president. from muslimigration majority countries, it all seems to be happening. laura: here in france, the conservative presidential candidate is engulfed in a scandal over reports he paid his wife a half-million euros while

she was working as his assistant. that is not illegal or uncommon in france, but the report claims there is no evidence she ever did the work she was paid for. >> a roadblock in his campaign. foundate françois fillon himself under fire with a report he claimed -- he paid his wife a half-million euros for work it's claimed she never did. she has generally stayed out of her husband's affairs, but was hired as a parliamentary assistant, a fairly common practice in france, earning a total of 500 thousand euros over total of eight years. the newspaper said it has not been never find any witnesses of her work. call the report mudslinging. >> i am outraged by this article

because she is my wife, does that mean she is not allowed to work? imagine for a second a male politician saying that a woman can only make jam. all the feminists would yell. remuneratedice of family members is legal in france, providing the person completes actual work, generally as an assistant. the new report has raised questions about fillon's commitment to transparency, a key part of his platform during the primaries. >> for someone who presented himself as exemplary in his own campaign, there's a huge discrepancy between his words and his actions. it's not for him to clear this -- it's up to him to clear this up. >> the weekly paper also alleged lon earned another

100,000 euros working for a 2012-2013,azine from but the editor of the magazine said he had never even met the woman. laura: meanwhile on the left, any mistake on the left could cost them dearly. one of them will be eliminated in a runoff vote on sunday. prime minister manuel valls insisting he's the only candidate with any credibility to win the election. who'sgo to james creedon in the northeast of paris. james, what is the atmosphere like as we head to the third and final debate for manual vowels -- manuel valls? soi'm among his supporters,

they are very much behind their man, so is the. there have been quite a few events over the last week or so that i been covering. he definitely has a core of solid and passionate supporters who feel that he is the best to lead france into the uncertain times ahead in europe and in the world. at various rallies he spoke as prime experience minister and interior minister. he's that the focus on international issues and has spoken quite a few times about donald trump and how we need strong leadership in france and europe as we head into uncertain times ahead for european security, and all the issues that the donald trump presidency will evoke for transatlantic relations. in that regard, he is really trying to show that he is the that his only adversary in the particular

primary is just not realistic in terms of his policies and expectations. he's been compared with jeremy , and his economic policies are being discussed right now, is the first item on the agenda of this two-hour debate. unrealistic and impossible to finance, it's idealistic and should not -- that his program is more it has beend accounted for in terms of the numbers and that he is the man to go for if you want solid leadership and experience of a more pragmatic, economic policies. he's put the focus on matters of security. his experience as prime minister

and interior minister dealing with a series of terror incidents in france over the last while, and the fact that manuel valls has made a strong defense of secularism, a key plank in his platform and his identity as a politician. and on being unrealistic in terms of his economic policies. basically a lot of people here this evening are telling me to isquiet because the debate underway and everyone is eagerly following it so i'll have to leave you for now. laura: try to keep yourself out of trouble there. we will speak to catherine nicholson later in the program. independent candidate macron wants to dismiss allegations

made against him saying he misused funds while he was a minister in the france while holland -- russ walthall on government. transparency international says the rise of anti-establishment populist leaders around the inld is fueling a rise corruption. it singled out turkey and hungary as particular offenders the election of donald trump in the united states is the real cause for concern. >> you report about the global it? of populism, does undermine corruption? >> they can't tell the media, they give space to ask the questions in corruption is driving.

>> the country that dropped most sharply in the rankings was qatar, which has been struggling over issues in connection with the 2022 world cup, including civil rights abuses for migrant workers. from 22ed nine points, in 2015. ranked denmarkrt and new zealand as the least corrupt, while somalia ranked the most corrupt. south sudan, korea, and syria also ranked in the bottom 10. concerns also mounting about the --ted states, where following a campaign that rallied against the political elite and on an anticorruption ticket. >> the united states are not yet .heir when you see that donald trump has put his son-in-law as a

senior advisor there are still conflicts of interest. he said he would drain the swamp , but the first sign he's not going to drain it, but water it. to break the vicious circle between corruption and the amicable distribution of power and wealth in society, the group says government should break the connection between business leaders and high-ranking officials. jordan's king abdullah has been meeting with russian president vladimir putin in moscow today following talks with syria. jordan has been badly affected by the war and is hosting hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees. they arellah said playing a key role. putin did manage to get

the revels in the regime in the same city, if not around the same table. constructive a role in trying to end the war in syria? >> no, as usual, he's not playing a constructive role. what is interesting is among the talks, despite the fact that you said putin was able to get everybody in the room, the syrians had very little decision-making in the process. turkey are basically the powers and russia and iran were not powers that were interested in peace in syria. laura: former u.s. president barack obama was heavily criticized for stepping back on wasa, and that is why putin able to seize the initiative and become such a major player in what is happening there. do you see that changing now that donald trump is in office?

>> it's hard to sell -- hard to tell because donald trump is so unpredictable. among other things, russia and thathave pledged together they will be [indiscernible] said some contradictory things during his campaign, very contradictory things, that he wanted to be very tough on iran and that he wanted some kind of improvement with russia and that russia was a partner in fighting isis. those goals are completely contradictory because russia and iran are allies in syria. at the conclusion of the talks, it makes it even more clear. because russia and iran have moved closer in this regard, it's going to be problematic if trump really wants to work with russia to fight isis. don't forget thatputin was never

interested in fighting isis in the first place. and support for president bashar al-assad has been absolutely crucial in keeping him in power. do you see that support continuing? reporter: absolutely. keep in mind that russia and iran do have different goals in syria. what putin is wedded to is or someone like him in power who will assure putin's interest in syria. them is opposition to interference by the united states. laura: there has been another deadly attack on a hotel in somalia's capital. when a carere killed bomb was rammed into the gate of

a hotel before storming inside and shooting people. the hotel is popular with politicians. there is another explosion shortly afterwards and several people were injured. attacks of this sort have occurred regularly in somalia since ousted bob was chased from most major cities two years ago. elected president is set to return to the country tomorrow. he was sworn into office in neighboring senegal after his predecessor refused to leave office. the outgoing president finally conceded and left the country over the weekend. we take a look at the events leading up to that. lastter: it all started december 1, bringing to an end the 22 year rule of jammeh. the next day he conceded in a speech that was dubbed one of the biggest election upsets in africa.

this opportunity to congratulate him for his victory. >> however, he then went back on his previous statement and challenge the results of the election, saying they had been meddled with. this was condemned by the international community and on december 13, he was urged to step down peacefully. jammeh refused to go and accuse them of interfering and likened it to an act of war. his actions created a worrying chain of events. the supreme court stalled on the verdict of accusations of a rigged election. thousands of civilian started heading for the senegalese border. later, ona week january 17, jammeh declared a

state of emergency. an ultimatum was issued for him to leave by january 19. failing to meet the ultimatum, west african troops from senegal, mali, nigeria, and ghana were sent in. guinea,for equatorial paving the way for the new president. laura: the former president of the european parliament has a new goal in sight, beat angela merkel in elections. simon takes a look at his chances. >> angela merkel's main rival

for the september elections in , martinnow has a name schiltz, the former president of the european parliament, has been officially nominated by the social democrat party to run against merkel's christian democratic union party. honors is an exceptional that i proudly accept, with the appropriate amount of humility. i will try to make things better for our country, because that is the aim of the spd, to improve our country. down from hisp position in september. he's considered a popular figure cope withave to limited experience in german politics, after spending most of his career in europe. he rose quickly to mayor before joining the european parliament in 1994 am aware he served as president from 2012-2017.

he wants closer political cooperation within the eu, such as creating a european army as well as believing in an open-door immigration policy. the current chairman stepped schulzmitting schiltz -- is a better chance of defeating angela merkel. she is driving for a fourth mandate as germany's chancellor. the spd is closely followed by the anti-immigration party. laura: let's get some business news for you. will, we will start in the united states. >> the first time ever in new york, the dow jones, america's most well-known index, heating the 20,000 mark. u.s. stocks had rallied significantly following donald trump election.

cyclical other companies are rising, fueled by optimism for economic growth, lower taxes, and deregulation. trump was quick to note the milestone for the blue trip -- blue-chip average. bullishness on wall street is rising. >> it's a sign, symbol that shows that our economy is getting better. >> the market is clearly endorsing the fact that his promises, all these things will be great for the market. rex tillerson bit more skeptical. 20,000 is just a number and the dow jones and index of only 30 large companies. it's debatable how much information we can glean from this or so. >> i think it is just a number. i do think that we have a change in perception in the u.s. markets, andu.s.

for all the doom and gloom from six months or a year ago about what would happen under certain circumstances, the circumstances have come by. there was a lot of cash that was held on the sidelines, and now gradually more of that cash is being put away. >> a big day for all the indices on wall street. here is how things stand at the moment. the nasdaq currently up nearly up .7% s&p 500 trading as is the dow jones. closing in the green, thanks to better than expected company earnings. the frankfurt dax topped out at 1.8%. despite disappointing news that german businesses are slightly less optimistic about the coming six months.

u.s. president donald trump has signed an executive order to build a wall along the u.s. border with mexico. one of his campaign promises. the wall which stretch 1600 kilometers along the southern part of the united states. we'll take a closer look at how much it might cost. another pillar of donald trump's presidential campaign becomes official policy by executive order. >> we will build a great wall along the southern border. wall alongleted, the the u.s. mexico border would be one of the larger and more costly infrastructure projects in u.s. history, with major economic impacts. shares in construction company shot up after trump's election victory. the border itself is over 3200 kilometers long. wouldhas said his wall cover only about 1600 of those kilometers, with the rest of the border protected by natural obstacles.

would behe wall between 10-18 meters in height and estimated it would cost $10 billion-$12 billion. >> nobody builds walls better than me, believe me. >> roughly 1100 kilometers of fence installed along the border after 2006 security bill have over $7cost the u.s. billion. independent estimates put the cost of trump's wall closer to $25 billion. the actual construction could take 40,000 workers for years to complete. it could add up to it economic boost for border communities, but the boom would likely be temporary. once the wall is finished, most of the jobs will dry up. in the region would find that situation drastically altered. donald trump will meet his first foreign leader as u.s. president on friday when britain's theresa may is due to visit.

a topic in today's prime minister's questions. they are expected to discuss a u.s.-u.k. tracheal that would cut tariffs and make it easier for workers to move easily between the two countries. the country looks to secure deals in an aftermath of the vote to leave the european union. >> will be looking for improved trade between our two countries that will bring prosperity and growth to this country and ensure that we can bring jobs to this country as well. we will put u.k. interest and values first. >> will be back in an hour with the closing u.s. markets. short break.take a stay with us.

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