berlin. tonight, the eu five what will be one of germany's biggest political changes in decades. chancellor angela merkel prepares to relinquish the chair of her party. she has led the conservative party for 18 years. tomorrow, there will be a new leader. also coming up, yemen peace talks begin in sweden and both sides agreed to an exchange of visitors.

the u.n. is warning not to expect too much from the negotiations. a shocking arrest, a top global executive of chinese telecoms giant huawei is facing a tradition to the united states for violating sanctions on iran. also coming up, shattered dreams after a video of a soccer crazy afghan boy went viral. his dream came true and he met his idol, but two years later, he is the face of afghans are lost everything to be taliban. -- who have lost everything to the taliban. i'm brent goff. it is good to have you with us. tonight, and era is drawing to a close in germany. on friday, angela merkel will relinquish the chair of her conservative party.

she will continue as chancellor for the time being, which makes her a political disruptor. in germany, the leader of the main party and government is almost always the chancellor. that means the place replaces merkel will also have his or her eyes on the chancellor. >> before it kicks off, the boss takes a look to make sure everything is set. this has become each addition at the party congress. it will be angela merkel's last one. >> i am quite grateful. i was the party leader for over 18 years. that is a long time. >> merkel will be trading -- treading a fine line. her goal is to unite the party, achieving party unity and will be both the linchpin and litmus test for her successor. the chancellor has yet to make an endorsement. >> this is an important duty for

the 1001 delegates, to set the tone for the future team that will lead the party. which is why i am looking forward to tomorrow. of course, i am just as anxious as everyone else. it is democracy in its purest form, where there is a range of candidates to choose from. everything else will be decided by the delegates. >> it will be a a tight race tomorrow, but for now, she can relax. >> today is say nicolas state. >> a chocolate -- >> today is saint nicholas day. >> a chocolate present for the chancellor. brent: for more on this, want to go to our political correspondent. today is the last full day of angela merkel being the head of the cdu after 18 years. this is the end of an era.

>> it is indeed. you said it yourself. angela merkel has been the leader of the cdu for 18 years, since she was elected in that party in the year 2000. she has had a very significant impact on her party, shifting the party from the right to the center-right of the political spectrum. that has been a key move by angela merkel in these 18 years and i would say, just as you have, that this is the end of an era, as merkel as the leader of the cdu. she will continue as chancellor, but it will be a difficult task for her to combine these two elements, because she has always said in the past that these two positions, chancellor and party leader, should be in one pair of hands. brent: standby, we are going to take a closer look at the three candidates who are vying for her

mantle. >> these are the three candidates to replace angela merkel. they have been crisscrossing the country, making their pitch for the role. immigration has been a big issue. where do the candidates stand? first, the comeback kid. 20 years ago, he was the rising star of the party, until merkel snatcheded his post. he has touough words for germa's asylumum laws. >> it has long been my opininion that we should be willing to discuss the rightht to asylum, whether r the they can stay this way. -- whether they can stay this way. >> he has toughened his stance on the face of intense criticism, but he is an immigration hardliner. party memeers wantining a youngr face m go o for the young k kidn

the b block, jenss spahn, who hs given merkel a fair amount off grief. >> the party is for rule of law anand domestic security. we are for public safety. we're the pararty for e europe,e europe that protects and protects itself. protects its citizens, defends its values. a eurorope that helps us, becaue germany alone is too small. >> not everyone is out to area the past. those looking toward continuity could look toward the favored daughter, annegret kramp-karrenbauer. one position she shares with merkel, relying less on the u.s. for defense. >> the days when we would say to nato, the u.s., or whoever, we -- and we as germany look on and

do little, those days are ovove. we have to take more responsisibility for o our secu, and that means spepending more money for it. >> friedrich merz, jens spahn, annegret kramp-karrenbauer, they have staked out where they stand , and now the party gets to choose at its conference friday. wherever the places -- whoever replaces merkel as party chair may replace her as chancellor candidate in future elections. until then, they will have to work together. brent: there we have it. the woman known as akk, the favorite of the chancellor, merz returning, and spahn, the least likely candidate. thomas: jens spahn does not seem

to be someone with top chances, but the race is very close. i don't think anyone would say for sure who they believe is going to get that post tomorrow. it seems it will be a close race between annegret kramp-karrenbauer and friedrich merz, and whoever does get that post will certainly have a big influence on the cdu in the next few years, whether it is remaining on the course in the center of the political spectrum , or whether it will be turning again back to the right of the political spectrum. somethingg that friedrich h merz could possibly do. this is a position that is very important for the cdu and german politics as a whole. it will influence the job that angela merkel has as chancellor in the remaining years before 2021. brent: our political correspondent, thomas sparrow,

in berlin. thank you. here are some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. in france, protesters have blocked access to hundreds of schools across the country and clashed with police in several cities. it is part of ongoing demonstrations against education overhauls, and it comes as antigovernment yellow vest protesters plan to rally again this saturday in paris. we learned tonight that officials will close the eiffel tower saturday. the high court has cleared opposition leader of charges of insurrection and forgery. she was jailed for allegedly submitting forged documents in her bid to unseat the president. a three-judge panel ruled that all of the charges against her were baseless. former u.s. president george h w bush to rest in texas. over 1000 mourners gathered in

houston to pay their final respects to bush, who died last week at the age of 94. he will be buried later today in a private ceremony. there is a catastrophe unfolding in yemen. we have to stop it. those are the words of sweden's foreign minister today, as she opened talks aimed at ending the war. the negotiations bring together the saudi backed government and rebels aligned with iran. this is the first time the two have come together in more than two years. before the talks began, the sides agreed to a prisoner swap. this conflict has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis. millions of people are suffering from severe hunger. >> newborns fighting for their lives. their mothers too weak to help them. every day, 120 babies are brought to this clinic

malnourished, week, sick. many are so gone that doctors can no longer help them. >> it is not their fault. these children should not have to suffer like t this. we all suffer. diseases are rampant. children are malnourished, even at school. >> according to the u.n., three million women and children are in danger of starvation. 8 million people a are dependent on aid. rural districts, i including t e were f fighting have stopped, ae didifficult for aid organizatios to reach. the war has already cost thousands of lives. today, at the start of the yemen peace talks, the world health organization says this loss of life must stop. >> it is a man-made conflict. it is making millions of people hungry. the only thing that we need is peace, because it is not sustainable.

to continue assisting and having half the population of a country relying on external support. >> millions of people are waiting for their hunger, need, and sorrow to come to an end. more than anyone else, the youngest are running out of time. brent: earlier, we spoke to britain's ambassador to yemen. we asked him if he thought these talks would bring tangible resusults. michael: w whave to hahave rerealistic expectations. wewe should have high ambitions. we all have high ambitions for these talks, and we hopope that progress will be made, first of all l on thiss framework for the process, a k kind of gatewayay o the negotiations, w which sets p how the negotiations unfolold or the montnths to come. we have also set out a numbeberf confidencece buildlding measure,

because one of the results of the absesence of dirirect contat has s be a lackk of confidence. an agreement was r reached to exchange pririsoners a already,d we are h hoping that there wille progress o on others. thirdly,y, we are lookining att dede-escalation, reducing g the violence, brbringing the cononft to an end. in all those three areasas, we want to sesee progress. the w week and maybybe longer to come is nonot going to solve the problems, but t it is a beginnn. itit is fundamental. you u can't get anywhehere witha beginningg and the parties need confidence in n each other to me forward toward peace. brent: that was britain's ambassador toward yemen, michael aron, speaking with us earlier. beijing is demanding that canada release one of china's top tech executives.

she is the daughter of the man known as the bill gates of china , the founder of the telecoms giant huawei. she now faces extradition to the united states for alleged violation of sanctions against iran. >> she's the chief financial executor -- the chief financial officer of one of the largest telecom companies in the world. meng wanzhou has been in prison for days. she is accused of helping the country viviolate a sanction on iran. >> china has expressed its syria's position on this case to both canada and the united states. we are demanding the reason for her arrest to be clarified immediately. we're also demanding her release and for her rights to be

safeguarded. >> men's detention comes as -- meng's detention comes as huawei faces s increasing s scrutiny fm abroad. u.s. lawmakers have d described the company ass a threat to u.s. security, saying its technology could be used for spying. other countries, like australia and new zealand, share thosose concerns and have banned huawei 'ss equipment from being used in their highgh-speed networks. this is an especially sensitive time in the chinese u.s. relationship. the leaders agreed to a 90 day truce in the trade dispute. the u.s. decision to target one of china's most important tech giants is only likely to read at night tensions. brent: we will be back later with more on the unrest in those economic communications.

you may remember the images of an afghan boy a couple years ago who made headlines after being pictured wearing lionel messi football shirt made out of a plastic bag. the internet fame has given way to the harsh realities of life in afghanistan. his family had b been forced to flee their homes because of the taliban. >> it was a story which captured the hearts of millions. when pictures of murtaza ahmadi wearing a makeshift lionel messi shirt fashioned out of a bag or uploaded to facebook, it was quickly a viral sensation. his dreams of meeting his idol became realility when he was invited to lead barcelona for a friendly match, a magical moment for the football mad five-year-old. two years on, this happy times are a distant memory, after taliban soldiers attacked their village and murtaza ahmadi and

his family were forced to flee their homes. his international fame has brought unwelcome attention back home. >> some men were chasing us, saying ever since our son became famous, our family has become rich, because messi gave us money. we didn't care, but when the taliban got closer, our lives were in danger. >> now living in kabul, he dreams of being reunited with his mother, a world away from war-torn afghanistan. >> i like messi a lot. i want to live close to him. i want him to take me out of this place. >> one of more than 300,000 afghans that fled their homes due to violence since the beginning of 2018, murtaza ahmadi's story is not unique, but the boy dubbed mini messi

by the media provides a face for their plight. brent: now to the man who says he can't think of anything more exciting than the surface of things. that is a modest view of his own work by the american artist alex katz, but others begged to differ. many see him as one of the most important precursors of pop art and now he has come to munich for a major retrospective of his work. >> he loves capturing the transition between day and night, like when there is moonlight or morning fog. it is that special lights that has and him since he was a young artist. alex: i got into this state of painting where i felt fully connected to what i wanted to do. i was determined to fool around

with perception and light. the light is whwhat unififies te painti.. >> ax kakatz, an artistic legend from new york, has come to munich for an opening exhibition of his work. the painter known for his powerful brushstrokes has been active for over seven decades and at 91 years old, he is hardly slowing down. alex: the painting patterns are irregular. if i do a large painting, i might do it in one day and not do another one the next day. >> he began his impressive career back in the 1950's. he liked the bohemian life, his friends included poets and dancers. he often frequented jazz clubs. he helped pave the way for pop art, while preserving his own unique style.

he has been devoted to creating the here and now, while incorporating human perception and daily life. alex: no one else had done it was one reason. it was fresh. to make a painting that looked new was the idea. the painting gestures of my time and my place, the early ones have people tricking and smoking, because that is what everyone was doing. >> much of his success could also be dueue to his wifefe, his muse, his love, and his model. he has been directing her for half a century. she is even there for the interview, near his side, composed and strong. alex: she can do anything. >> it sounds like a lot of love between you both.

alex: it is love, but it is more than that. >> you can certainly see that in his works. the experienced pro looks at the beauty of life then transforms it into art. brent: modern realism to modern business. kristof is here with the rest of the chinese tech executive meng wanzhou. kristof: equity markets around the world are tumbling after the arrest of huawei's chief financial officer. this is stoking fears that the financial truce between beijing and washington will be short-lived. a selloff that all major markets, spreading to asia and across the atlantic to us. >> the smile still not hold for long in the new york stock exchange. the dow quickly shed points

after the news that the u.s. was seeking the extradition of an executive. the u.s. accuses huawei of avoiding sanctions. the drops a wrist all gains made so far -- the drops are raced all gains made so far this year. there are fears this could reignite the trade conflict between the u.s. and china, just as it seemed that the trade talks were making headway. >> on saturday, the cfo was arrested, the very day that donald trump and xi jinping agreed to their truce. that, along with the bricks it worries are playing out right now, that will probably heighten over the weekend. >> it was a similar scene in england, as the london stock exchange dropped three points. in germany, the exchange dropped below the psychologically important 11,000 points, bringing it to its lowest point in over two years.

all in all, a bitter day for investors around the globe. kristof: let's get more on the story with jens korte. it looks like the truce between beijing and washington is over before it even started. jens: clearly, the news of the arrest took investors here on wall street off guard. for the second consecutive trading day, blue chips lost almost 800 points in value. it is hard to imagine that this event is not going to be hurtful on trade talks between the u.s. and china. we have two big concerns here, one is that we might be seeing a cooling of economic growth and the second one is an escalation of the trade tensions between the u.s. and china. this is not helpful at all, even if we still have to wait for

official statements from the white house. we have to see what happens on friday. if she will be sent to the u.s., the whole story is still developing. >> let's look at the bigger picture. huawei is a technology leader, particularly when it comes to 5g. they are seen with much suspicion in the united states. could other companies benefit from that? jens: theoretically, you can imagine that some u.s. companies who are also betting on 5g might take shares away from huawei, but on the other side, you have u.s. chip makers who are suppliers and they might be impacted negatively. there is no doubt about it that 2018, especially when it comes to 5g, there could be a huge year with all the connectivity

and much faster service seeing a breakthrough when it comes to connecting homomes, cars, businesses, and so on. i am not quite sure if it is going to be that helpful for the whole industry with all the events going on at this point. christof: jens korte in new york, thank you. let's take a look at equities. saudi arabia says it is not confident that an agreement on oil output cuts can be reached. the country's oil minister says that of the latest biannual mission -- panel meeting of o -- the latest biannual meeting of opec that it is not sure it can reach demands. president donald trump has urged saudi arabia to refrain from lowering output in order to keep prices up. >> the decisions made by these people will be felt by anyone with a car.

opec ministers and representatives are focused on one subject, output cuts for crude oil. the idea is to drive the price back up after a three-month slide. during that time, the price of a barrel of crude has fallen from about $80 to about $60 now. it is hurting countries that rely on oil revenues to finance their economies. >> we hope oil producers will contribute equal cuts across the board. so far, from my consultations with colleagues, we have not reached that. >> iran could prove to be a stumbling block. for years, sanctions meant it could not export near as much oil as it could have done. no sooner were the sanctions lifted than the u.s. reimpose them. -- reimposed them. >> we will not accept any cut,

and we expect that iran should be excxcluded and exempted from any cut. >> reports say that aside from iriran, there is agreement on te necessity of cuts. it is just not clear how large they will be. opec is trying to court in it that with nonmember russia. christof: a quicker member of the top story for this hour. it has been angela merkel's last day as chair for the party of the cdu. german able be electing her successor as party leader, although merkel is stayingng ons chancellor. after a short break, brent will be back to take you through the day. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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