from berlin. tonight, north korea claims it can now attack would nuclear weapons. the u.s. issuing a start leader for leader kim jong-un. >> his abusive use of missiles and nuclear threats show he's begging for war. brent: and in an emergency meeting, washington demands the strongest possible measures be taken against pyongyang. also coming up, germany three weeks before the election.

angela merkel's biggest rival is back on the campaign trail. they clashed in a debate with most polls calling in the loser. plus, how germany's most famous living artisist confronts the country's p past. hear how is moving wk is being honored with a place on the walls of the german parliament here in berlin. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. tonight the u.s. is calling on the united nations security council to impose the strongest possible measures on north korea. this, just a day after pyongyang conducted a nuclear test involving what it says is a hydrogen bomb which should be set atop a ballistic missile target the united states.

in a moment i will ask with the options are tonight in the face of a nuclear north korea. first, here is more on washington's efforts to give diplomacy one final chance. reporter: this emergency session comes only one month after the un security council imposed its stiffest sanctions so far on north korea. developments over the weekend were evidence they had been ineffective. a frustrated u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley further echoed donald trump's words that washington was considering cutting trade ties with countries that deal with pyongyang. >> the u.s. will look at every country that does business with north korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions. reporter: that is directed at a reclusive country's biggest alay china, which slammed the threat as unacceptable. >> what we absolutely y nnot

accept is that on the onone han, we are making efforts to peacefullyly r resolve the north korean nuclear issue, and on the other hand, ourur interests are being harmed. this is both not objective and not fair. reporter: north korea shocked the world on sunday when it claimed it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, calling the test a perfect success. pyongyang has its adverersaries scscrambling too respond. its southern neighbor is predicting further applications. >> we p put -- further complications. >> we predict north korea could fire an icbm to show they have obtained the means of delivering a nuclear bomb to united states. reporter: south korea simulated an attack on pyongyang's main testing site e but so far mility maneuvers and talk talk have not

seseemed to imprpress nonorth k. it has only pushed ahead with its nuclear missile program. brent: four more i am joined by joshua in washington. he is an editor at the nonproliferation review. it is good to have you back. let me first ascii for your take on what we are seeing tonight in new york, this emergency security council meeting. joshua: t this is almost always how the u.s. and its partner countries respond to this kindnd of event, with the threat of more sanctions. how threat the chinese will go is always the limiting factor because they are responsible for the great majority of north korea's foreign trade. they simply try to sanction chinese companies that do business with north korea. at that point i have to ask if

the north korean tail is wagging the dog of u.s. chinese relations. brent: that's a good question. the dog willingly -- wagging the tail. what does this mean for china's role in ththis crisis? does washingngton have any leverage rigight now on beijing? joshua: i suppopose o our main source of leverage is the same as north korea's, and that is our own image of recklessness. certainly something that ambassador haley's reference to war brings up. many people feel that president trump is prone to recklklessnes, at least in his rhetoric. so that may put pressure on the chinese to do more, to come more in our direction.

but the north koreans are playing the same game. this is a case of what we sometimes call in america, putting pressure on officials to make c calls in a sports matchup more in liking with your own team's preferences. brent: does anyone tonight know what the motives of kim jong-un are? aren't we even at the united nations security council, aren't we in a guessing game of what he wants to do with t that nuclear tetechnology? joshua: i suppose. the only one he really knows going on in his mind is him. that is true of a anyone. the best we can do is simply to read his statements, read the statements of the north korean foreign ministry, and see what is they are saying.

what it is is they are making missiles and nuclear weapons by themselves, sanctions cannot stop them. they will respond to sanctions with more aggressive testing schedules, not the opposite. that's a point they made i believe back in march, when the u.s. started talking about maximum pressure and engagement. north korea said their response would be maximum pace of strengthening our nuclear arsenal. so here we are. they would like united states to stop imposing sanctions, to stop conducting combined exercises with the south korean military, stop flying bombers and from guam with united states and stop visiting witith aircraft carrir. they find all this threatening. they had memories of what happened to iraq and libya. brent: a lot of analysts are

saying kim jong-un does not want to be the next muammar gaddafi. joshua, thank you very much. here in germany, a much anticipated face-off between the two main rivals for the nation's top job failed to set many sparks less night. just three weeks before the general election it turned out that chancellor angela merkel and her main rival martin schulz actually agree on main -- most things. germany's strained situation with turkey took up most of the time. schultz was left to press deflect -- reporter: martin schulz is still putting up a fight despite the fact the current poll results show angela merkel as the more popular chancellor candidate after sunday's tv debate. on monday in a bavarian beer tent, he went for a full frontal

attack on merkel's policies. >> there is someone who wants to administer the past and it is angela merkel. there's someone who wants to shape the future and his name is martin schulz and he will tell you how it is done. reporter: he was less aggressive during the tv debate still tried to rattle merkel. first he attacked her immigration policy. he accused the chancellor of opening the borders two years ago without having cleared it up with germany's european partners first. the chancellor defended herself. >> sometimes in life there are moments, even in the life of a government leader, where you must make decisions. i had lost all hope that victor or bond would change his mind. reporter: he then criticize her decision on turkey, surprising or. >> if i have a chance after i am

sworn in i will suggest the european council and all accession talks -- end all talks with turkey. reporter: otherwise there was a harmonious mood in the only tv debate between them. they gave merkel a slight advantage. the smaller parties were disappointed, saying to debate was more cozy than cutthroat. >> i got the feeling during the first hour that at any moment we can expect the two of them to fall into each other's arms with tears in their eyes saying, i didn't mean it that way, don't be angry at me. reporter: at this debate -- >> at this debate the big loser was the future of our country. reporter: only three weeks left before they face the final battle before the voters decide. brent: whoever wins the election on september 24 may well be one or more of germany's smaller political parties if they want

to build a coalition government and run the country. tonight goes five smaller parties have a chance to show off their very different political views on live television. angela merkel has left the door open for working with either the greens or the free democrats. the left party is less likely to make into government where is full to just the alternative for germany, the afd, is set to make it into the federal parliament for the first time. big debate, small debate. i'm joined now by our political correspondent. people were saying to debate less might was rather boring. can we say more about the debates tonight? >> personally i didn't think it was such a boring debate. but this debate definitely was more lively. before, the small parties were highly criticizing last night's

debate. they said they didn't talk about the big topics of the future, education -- brent: the chancellor said that herself at the end of the debate. >> and they were not able to paint it vision for what they want your me to look like so that was the criticism of the smaller parties of yesterday's debate going into their own debate tonight. tonight we saw a much more lively debate. digitalization, education, topics and a lot of german voters will care about it i think it was a much more lively and expect full exchange. but of course you have an ideological spectrum that is far wider from the very left to the very right. so for that reason it was more lively than to debate yesterday. brent: the greens and the liberal free democrats, they could be the key makers come election day. how did they fare tonight? charlotte: kingmakers, meaning

chancellor-makers is very true. we have a very unique situation at the moment. four smaller parties that could come out as the third largest party. left, greens, liberals and nationalists are all pulling around 8%. merkel has already said she will not go into a coalition with the far right or the far left which means at least the greens any liberals -- greens and the liberals. we saw they were challenging each other but also very sympathetic to each other. brent: preparing for a coalition. charlotte: a coalition after september 24. brent: the far right, they were invited to this debate as well. how did they present themselves? charlotte: they could also come out as the strongest party in the september 24 election. their main thing is they are the

nationalist anti-immigration party and as that, they represented themselves tonight. the thing with them is that everything is the topics are running immigration, they are very strong, they want stricter border control, they why cap on the number of refugees -- they want a cap on the number of refugees and faster deportations. but all the other topics they are not very good at. brent: thank you very much. angela merkel had a busy day following the debate, facing follow-up from the dieselgate scandal and a meeting with mayors and reasonable -- regional leaders. more than half of vehicles in germany human diesel. they emit -- germany emit diesel. the chancellor is hoping extra cash will help solve the problem. reporter: the capital of

germany's car industry became the first city forced by court order to impose driving bans on diesel cars. more than 80 other german cities faced the same verdict over nitrogen oxide pollution unless they find another solution, and fast. in berlin, chancellor angela merkel promised to help them with extra funding. >> we want to double the size of the joint mobility fund we are setting up together with the car industry. originally the sum was 500 million euros. now we will increase the fund to one billion euros. reporter: the money will most likely be invested in electric engines for public transport and can full --converting old diesel bus engines into new ones. but these memeasures will not provide the quick help cities need to reduce -- decrcreased ar pollution from diesel cars.

>> today we mostly discussed the problems but we haven't yet agreed on anything to solve them. we need to find short-term solutions and we e don't wawante ports to force driving bans on us. reporter: the diesel engine was once hailed as the secret weapon of the german car industry in the fight against climate change. now it is germany's achilles heel. not only did german carmakers lie about emissions, they have done little to spur the development of electric cars. it could face its worst ever crisis. no political party wanted to fail. >> we don't want dririving bans. but right now we still don't know how we will be able to reach our goal. reporter: with no solution in sight, throwing money at the problem seems to be deterrent strategy.

mostly taxpayer money. german carmakers have only agreed to pay 250 million euros into the joint mobility fund. that's a rather small amount compared to some 15 billion euros vw has to pay in the united states. brent: so just how bad and how widespread is the diesel emissions scandal? it is a dirty problem. >> it almost seems endemic in the industry, it is fair to say. a new study confirms what many of us have already expected which emissions cheating in the auto industry is rampant. the international council has found volkswagen is far from the biggest offender. reporter: just how much nitrogen oxide are new diesel in the? that was the subject of a study -- diesel emitting? the e results have come as a surprisese. the biggest offender is not

embattled carmaker volkswagen, but french manufacturer renault. it's cars emitted 11 times as much nitrogen oxide as amended. chrysler's vehicles a most nine times as much. volvo was the third-biggest offender. latest miles him it to put for times more nitrogen oxide and permitted, a pretty good performance relatively speaking. a study by research group ittt, which set the diesel emissions scandal in motion, finds a similar evevence of widespread viololations. that raiseses the question, whys everyone only talking about vw and why are offendnding vehicles still l on the road? up to now volkswagen is the only company to have admitted to cheating on emissions tests. but the latest study suggests other carmakers may have also figured out ways to have cheated

tests in a lab while systematically exceeding limits in everyday conditions on the road. helena: eu antitrust regulators have approved germany's plan to approve aitberlin -- the assistanance will allll for the wind down of the airline without distorting competition. brussels adds thee move will h p prect ththe interests ofof passengers.. germany's second-largest carrier file for bankruptcy last month after its main shareholder cut off its financing. our correspondent in frankfurt has more now on the future projects -- prospects of air berlin. reporter: the bridge and loan is expected to last air berlin until mid-november. it will be paid out under strict conditions. it will also have to be paid back within six months. otherwise germany will have to

explain to authorities its plan for winding down the airline. that obviously makes for time pressure in terms of finding a buyer for air berlin. lufthansa is widely expected to take over in the 70 of the 140 planes available as well as absorb around 3000 staff. there is also a motley crew of investors interested in air berlin, among them come -- them, a startup financer in berlin. he would restore them to their holiday carrier origins. helena: our financial correspondent in frankfurt. in u.k., staging their first ever strike over pay and conditions. workers in southeast london gathered at a restaurant as well as outside parliament. they said they are not paid enough and have urged other branches to join the action. some have described a new -- the

move as the stork. -- as historic. back now to brent. brent: now for a look at how germany's most famous living artist confronts the country's darkest chapter from the past. his paintings are known the world over. his work confronting the holocaust is about to get a new audience. the series is called -- named after auschwitz. the new home we did german parliament. -- the new home for it will be the german parliament. reporter: paintings named after auschwitz. everyone who visits will pass these works when they enter the building. but is it possible to convey the horrors of the holocaust through art? >> music is a good example.

instrumental music were the title suggests what the song is about in the music reflects that. hopefully that is what i have managed to do with these paintings. reporter: the works are based on four photographs struggled out of auschwitz, where more than one million jews died. he worked on the series in 2014. typical of his style, the layers of paint are scraped, suggestions of smoke and ash. the 85-year-old painter donated copies of his piece as a symbol of how germany deals with its dark past. the entrance lobby now holds two of his creations. he is celebrated as one of the

world's most important contemporary artists. >> of course these are abstract paintings as well. but behind these abstract paintings, there is a very concrete project. reporter: the debate about a part of german history that cannot be erased, nor suppressed. reporter: he says he is glad. for decades he wanted to look at auschwitz as an artist. it will be an abstract memorial seen by each and every visitor to the german bundestag. brent: i'm joined now by an arts journalist and author. good to have you here on the show. what was your first impression? guest: the series is very monochrome but there are pockets

of color. these are abstract paintings and it is very hard to identify the photographs in the actual images on display. but of course, this series is something that has been on his mind for a very, very long time. he has wanted to address the holocaust in his arc and this is his artistic response to something that has been in his thoughts for decades. brent: we have images here of his work. what would you say is so special about these paintings? guest: i think what is particularly special about them is first of all the source from which they come. they come from these four documentary photographs taken by a jewish captives in auschwitz and he secretly photographed his fellow prisoners as they were burning corpses. of course if he had been caught, he would have been killed on the spot. so it is a very poignant history behind them and you can see why

he was so drawn to this particular subject in these particular images. brent: d's you think the viewer going into the german parliament and seeing this series, do you think they will be this connection to this horrible story that did inspire the paintings? catherine: i think it is one of those cases where it is conceptual art and you have to know the bathroom -- the background. he said he first of all reproduced the photographs themselves on canvas and decided that didn't work any scratched away at them and painted over them again and again until he came up with something very abstract. so in a way it is also a symbol of his own confrontation with the past and his own work over the decades and trying to work out how to come up with an artistic response to auschwitz. but we have to remember these we facing his black, red and gold series which he produced in 1999.

so we had this one positive image of germany on the other side, confronting this very dark image of the past. and it's a reminder that germany's self image is s a was about confronting the past, this other dimension to it. brent: we have had a lot of stories lately on this topic of the past and how you remember the past come how the past is also memorialized and portrayed. we have heard from a lot of experts as well that the holocaust is a chapter in history that really can never be adequately represented, even in art. would you say what we are seeing here in this series is a successful attempt at representing something that maybe unrepresented? catherine: i think it is, yes. but i also think perhaps that it is the personal dimension of his own quest to come up with a response that makes it interesting.

he is germany's most successful living artist. he was actually born in 1932 so he lived through that time. he had family members who were involved in one way or another in the nazi period. his aunt was a victim. brent: we appreciate you coming in and giving us your insights. after a short break i will we back to taking today. stick around for that. we will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

. pm here in the french capital you watching live from paris au france thirty four until the just wilson these are all top stories. north korea is making a phone call so says the u. s. as the security council holds an emergency session on how to respond to this weekend's nuclear provocation. another step towards peace be colombian government is today signing a ceasefire deal with countries lost nature of rebel groups the l. n.. spend a very warm welcome key figures from venezuela's opposition kick off a tour of europe by holding talks with the french president emmanuel mccall here in paris