>> this is d.w. news live from berlin. tonight u.s. president donald trump at the southern border with mexico telling the country yet again why he wants a border wall and why the democrats remain the problem. president trump: but they have been taken over by a group of people that don't care about gangs. they don't care about human n traffickining and drugs. ththey don't care about anythin i'll tell you what. they have gone crazy. >> in texas the president trying to make his point with a show and tell of weapons and

drugs captured from mexican gangs. also coming up, u.s. secretary of state mike pompei owe slams the obama administration's middle east policies in the egyptian capital cairo accusing trump's predecessor of being naive and timid in the face of the arab spring uprisings. and is she sugar coating the past? just months after greece emerged from its debt bailout the german chancellor angela merkel says, yes, those were tough times, but we strengthened the european spirit. it's good to have you with us. u.s. president donald trump has arrived at the border with mexico. as he continues to campaign to get money to fund his border wall there. now, he and congress, which is now partly controlled by the democrats are in a stand-off

over more than $5 billion that he wants for the project. that face-off has led to a partial government shutdown. at the border in texas trump was among friends, people who lived there, have experience of migrants arriving from mexico, and who support his efforts although some protesters also made their presence felt. earlier trump accused the democrats of not caring about the crime that he says migrants are bringing into the u.s. our reporter is in mcallen, texas with protesters from both sides of the divide. i asked her what they're saying. reporter: people i talked to among the protesters told me that they were born and raised here in the valley in mcallen and as you can see behind me you see trump's opponents on one side of the street and trump's supporters on the other side. and the opponents of the wall told me that they live in this community and it is a safe

commmmunity and therefore t tre is no crisis at the borderr and therefore they don't need a wawall and they also think that wall is not going to be effectctive to protect the community here. but o of course when you look a the other side of the street and talk to trump supporters, they will tell you they want to support the president becauause he iss determinedd to keep them safe. >> so that's what people are saying who have come to this area for today's event. what about the locals, the people who live there? do they want to see a border wall built? >> you know, i have been to the border region here a couple of times and i spoke to many people, to people who lived here f for dececades, too borde papatrol agents, and not allll them even if they support donald trump would t tell you a border is really needed here. what is needed h here, more personnel.. and better technology they would tell you to protect the border. as i said,d, even trump

supporters will tell you, well, we don't need necessarily the border to be built here. >> speaking with us earlier from the u.s.-mexican border in mcallen, texas. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo has delivered a scathing rebuke of the brags's middle east policies. he is touring capitals in the region to brief allies after president donald trump announced he is pulling u.s. troops out of syria. while speaking tolled at the american university in the egyptian capital pompeo accused trump's predecessor of being naive and timid when fronted with the challenges posed by the arab spring uprisings which shook the middle east and its political order back in 2011. pompeo said that obama's policies have diminished america's role in the region and harmed its long-time allies. >> these last witness

convulsions as old systems crumbled and new ones started to emerge. that has happened here, too. at this critical moment, america, your long-time friend, was absent too much. >> all right. i'm joined now at the big table with my guest from the german institute for international and security affairs. it is good to see you again. we've got this major middle east policy speech delivered today by mr. pompeo. what did you make of it? >> well, mr. pompeo obviously wants to do two things. he wants to reassure allies in the region, the states that he would call the moderate states -- israel, jiment, saudi arabia, and some others -- israel, egypt, saudi arabia, and some others that the united states is there to stay though it is withdrawing troops from syria. secondly, he wants to build this alliance for a single purpose, that is to exert maximum pressure as he said several months ago on iran.

>> in his speech today pom peao was -- he was emphatic the u.s. is not retreating from the middle east but at the same time said the syria withdrawal is still going to happen. aren't those 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, iraq, jordan, all over the gulf, so the united states is there and he -- and states in the region now know they are there to stay and possibly there to stay in order to confront iran. i think that this speech was kind of frightening, because there is something looming on the horizon and that is at least military campaign by the israelis and syria. >> speaking of iran, mr. pompeo had a lot to say about iran today, none of it good. take a listen.

secretary pompeo: let's turn to iran. president trump 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. reimposed sanctions that should never have been lifted. we embarked 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 plomesy and workk with our partners- use diplomacy and work with our partners and work through the u.n.-led process to bring peace and stability to the long suffering syrian people. >> all right. so you've got mr. pompeo there saying the u.s. is going to drive iran completely out of syria, despite the u.s. troop withdrawal, and he is 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. >> do you think -- is he prepping the world for military

conflict? >> i don't know. it is very hard to interpret what is going on in the trump administration. but remember when john bolten and john pompeo got their jobs in april american media speculated and called it a war cabinet. these are the most hard line politicians 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 them. 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 that you're wrong. as always, we appreciate your insights. thank you. the german chancellor angela merkel is in greece for talks with the prime minister and other officials there. it is the german chancellor's

first visit since 2014 and comes just four months after greece emerged from its final bail out package. ahead of the formal talks merkel highlighted the improvement of greece's finances, relations between the two countries they have calmed since merkel's previous visits which were over shadowed by angry rallies. merkel was widely blamed in greece for the us an erty the country has lived through for much of the past decade. merkel was widely blamed in greece for much of the austerity the country has lived through. i am joined by our chief political editor from athens tonight. good evening to you. we've seen it many times. locking horns. it's what they used to do. how was their meeting today? reporter: well, they were trying to stress the harmony between them. it is true before he came to power one of his campaign slogans was actually against angela merkel and, of course, against the austerity package,

which in the end once he was in office he, himself, implemented and took forward. both were rather eager to move away from angela merkel being the face of austerity in greece. and with him implicitly promising the toughest days were over now that greece is on a much more stable couourse. both w were verery eager to str that they are looking at this whole challenge in the past but also the challenge in the future as a european project that they stand as european lead earns of course they feel they are united by taking a stance against popularism across europe ahead of looking to the european elections in may. that was also mirrored by very few protests in the streets this time around. >> very few protests but we can't forget many greeks are still dealing with the ramifications of almost a decade of austerity.

what do the greek people think of this visit? >> absolutely. i mean, walking in the streets and talking to people here today we got reactions when -- once people recognized us as a german camera team saying rather rude words about angela merkel but all the way to one woman who came up to specifically stress that she was very impressed with angela merkel being a female leader standing in not just for europe but also for peace. most people were somewhere in the middle where they said yes they are having a very tough time but theyy felt those very dark days were -- where the future of greece was very uncertain in the eurozone, whether it would stay over, some young people feeling rather resentful of the austerity package and not really seeing much headway for them with greece of course having some of the highest youth unemployment in europe. the economic data also shows that greece is already through

the toughest times. just to remind us of a half sentence i heard the german chancellor say here today as well, she said this road of reform continues. so, clearly. there are still expectations from europe from germany toward greece to continue on that path. >> all right. our chief political editor. in athens tonight. thank you. across europe the heaviest snowfall in two decades is bringing daily life in alpine regions to a grinding halt. at least 17 people are reported to have died from weather-related causes in the past week alone. austria has been especially hard hit. forecasters warning that there will be more snow. in some places avalanche warnings are at their highest level. >> it is a beautiful sight but these snow laden slopes also spell danger. many mountain sides in austria are so heavy with snow that the

army is preparing a set of oigs with controlled explosion -- avalanches with controlled explosions. in the past 24 hours it has snowed nonstop. >> it makes sense to set off these explosions. that is a common strategy to defuse the situation. but the areas with the highest threat level are above 2,200 meters. you cannot set off explosions there because you can't get there. >> 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 50% in the affected areas. one hotel owner who is grateful just to be alive was flinal air lifted from his mountain chalet on wednesday. he had been snowed in since christmas day. >> i was trapped. . the feeling was very depressing. it is exhausting to shovel snow all day. >> in germany, the state of

emergency has been declared in parts of bavaria. >> in the worst affected areas the snow on the roofs weighs up to 400 kilos. that snow must urgently be removed from those roofs. >> experts fear that up to a meter of fresh snow will fall in austria before the weekend. meaning the chaos in the northern alps is set to continue. >> d.w.'s reporter is in the austrian town and he described the scene for us from there. reporter: one thing the snow has donee to this s small austr village is to make it even smaller. a lot of the roads have become just narrow passages between mounds of s snow and some of th houses half buried look half the size they actually arere the people have had to cozy together as s well. 80 to 100 people have had t to leave their homes.

that is becausese of the danger of avalanche occurring a at any time. auauthorities h have raissed th levevel to the highest alert level. they're tryining to o get every out of this area. even the mayor has had t to evacuate his home. we spoke to him earlier and he said he hasn't seen snono like this for at least 12 years, but he says thatt the people here are used to a lot of snow and they're trying to get on with their daily lives. he's seen them really come together to make this happen. >> braving the winter elements there for us. some sports news. police in spain have arrested 28 professional tennis players following a match fixing investigation linked to an armenian criminal gang. the unnamed players are thought to be from the lower tiers of pro tennis, but one of them took part in last year's u.s. open. footage from the e.u.'s europol police agency showed the raids including searches of 11 houses in spain where 167,000 euros in

cash were seized. along with credit cards and a shotgun. 83 people in total are being held. the bundesliga returns to action in less than a week and ahead of the start they're flying back to germany following the mid season camp in qatar. with controversy, injuries, and a new signing the winter break has been eventful for the reigning league champions. >> bayern munich's last training session is done and dusted. they're struggling for fitness for friday's bundesliga return. there was a glimmer of hope after a solid day of work. >> today was good. a good end to the camp. the week didn't go as i'd hoped but today was good. >> bayern's time in qatar has been equally mixed. many fans were happy to see them but back home others were

upset with the club spending the mid season break in a country accused of human rights abuses. controversy then erupted with a video posted of him eating a 300 euro gold coated steak in dubai ahead of his arrival in qatar. his expletive laced backlash against critics led to a big club fine. he ended up getting injured in the qatar training match. there was some good news for bayern during the week with the announcement france winner will join in july. bayern head back to munich with a lot of baggage. now they have to focus on the big job at hand, trying to overhaul the lead at the top of the bundesliga. >> well, it was one of the most spectacular robberies in living memory. in march, 2017, thieves in berlin somehow managed to steal a 100 kill gram gold coin from one of the city's most prestigious museums. four suspects are going on

trial in connection with that theft. prosecutors say three of them broke into the museum and used a ladder, a wheel barrow, and a rope to extract the coin from its bullet proof glass case. the fourth suspect is a, believe it or not, museum guard. there is still no trace of the 4 million euro coin, but there has been plenty of speculation as to where it is now. >> it was one of the most spectacular heists ever seen in berlin. a golden coin weighing 100 kilos, half a meter across, and worth 4 million euros. but what happened to the piece called the big maple leaf? we asked goldsmith max corn what you could do with a huge gold coin. >> first you'd have to cut it up to melt it. i would use a circular saw. you'd also be left with a pile of gold dust which you'd somehow have to melt down. fwu would all be very time

consuming. >> melting the gold down would mean it cocould then be cast in bars or rings. but only by using specialist equipment. >> melting is an expensive process. it can be done, sure. but a furnace that canan reach the e right temperature to melt gold is not like the oven in your kitchen. reporter: a temperature of 800 or 900 degrees celsius would be needed.. an elaborate affair like the heist, itself. the thieves walked across a train track running along side the museum then used a ladder to climb in through a window. they smashed open the display case with an ax and threw the heavy coin on to nearby parkland. police were quickly on the case. three members of a well known criminalal gang were arrested along with a museum supervisor. traces of gold were found on their clothing and tools. but there was no sign of the loot, the big maple leaf.

max conor the goldsmith has his own idea about what happened to it. >> i think it was melted down into small bars and taken out of the country.. if it would have been used in some other business, probably illegal, you can't sell gold without leaving a trail of evidence. >> the museum is still hoping the precious original will resurface one day, but for the time being, there is only this cardboard replica. >> no one knows where the gold is today. let's talk business news now. a legal battle that, well, could have ensured better working conditions in pakistan. it could have done that. >> that's right. that was the aim. however, apparently it isn't that easy. a court decision has left many asking who is liable for the working conditions in supplier

factories in low wage countries? it happened here in germany. a court has rejected a lawsuit by four pakistanis against the german discount clothing retailer kick. they wanted the company to take responsibility for a fire at a textile factory in karachi six years ago in addition to 30,000 euros each in damages. the p plaintiffs, a survivor an three parents who lost their sons, won't get compensation. retailer kick refuses to take legal responsibility foror a a deadly factory fire i in pakist and t the case c cannot be trie germany. the reason is that the statute of limitations has expired. therefore the court cannot decide whether the claims asserted a are even possible in substance and amount. in september, 2012, more than 250 people died in a fire at a kick supplier factory in pakistan. the blaze was triggered by a pakistani protection racket. the victims say they want kick to compensate them because the high number of victims was due to a lack of adequate fire

protection. the textile retailer has long rejected any guilt. >> we c consider this judgment be correct and fair in every respect.t. the fire,e, itself, wasas the result of a terrorist a arson attack thatt kick could not do anything about. the facactoryas in n rfect condition at the time the fire happened. human rights organizations are disappointed. who is held accountable for industrial disasters in low wage zphournts local supupplier or the companies they serveve? that question remained unanswered. in dortmund. >> earlier we spoke with a representative of the european center for constitutional and human rights and represented one of the plaintiffs. we asked if this case has had any impact despite the claims being rejected. >> so the merits have not been decided, which still means that the whole industry needs to be on their toes because whenever there is a new factory disaster

the next claim will be brought. we will again ask the courts to make a decision on liability questions. also the case has been putting so much pressure on kick that they were willing to pay in total $6 million u.s. in an out of court negotiation. i think at least for the german debate this case has highlighted we are desperately in need of better laws and that lawmakers need to be thinking about supply chain liability rules. >> to the u.s. now where president donald trump has canceled his trip to the world economic forum in davos amid a stand-off with a democrat-led house of representatives that has led to a partial government shutdown leaving more than 800,000 workers unpaid for nearly three weeks. several hundreds of them braved the cold to protest the shutdown in washington. trump's insistence to include funding for a border barrier

has led to a budget impasse. the shutdown is souring investor sentiment amid a broader economic slowdown. corporate news. like volkswagen fiat chrysler has fallen foul of u.s. authorities in the diesel emissions scandal and is now due to pay more than $515 million in settlement. the u.s. italian company is accused of using illegal softwarere in more than 100,000 of its jeep cherokee s.u.v.'s and ram pick oims. it however denies any wrongdoing. the settlement is a far cry from volkswagen'n's. the german auto maker hasas already paid d re than $20 billion in the u.s. alone. meanwhile fiat chrysler says it will issue an emissions recall for the affected vehicles but will not offer to buy them back. our d.w. correspondent has been following the story for us in washington. it's good to see you. let's start with the basics. this all sounds very much like volkswagen's dieselgate scandal where the company as we know

used illegal software to alter emission levels. why is fiat chrysler's settlement so much lower? reporter: a lot of this has to do with the volume of cars. in the u.s. fiat chrysler sells far fewer diesel cars than volkswagen and diesel cars are far less common in the u.s. than they are elsewhere in the world. the number of cars being recalled iss also far less than what v.w. had to deal with. i think v.w. hadad t to recall buy back around 600,000 cars and fiatt chrysleler will only have to t take back around a hundred thousand. but it is also -- there is a veryry different way that the scandal affected both these companies. at v.w. it was the top executives who were aware of this cheating software that was part of their cars and they specifically built this software to circumvent testing and make it look like they were pushing down emissions when in

fact they weren't. at fiat chrysler in fact what it was was the company that makes the software that regularly makes these cars just snuck the software into the cars without fiat chrysler knowing which is part of the reason why they are pleading not guilty, they're found not guilty, and prosecutors are not pushing further with this. >> let's talk about the customers. we know as you mentioned it is fewer cars and customers probably but has there been any reaction to the revelations from affected customers? reporter: i'm sure if you are a fiat chrysler car owner this is going to be extremely annoying. fortunately, there are only two models of cars reported to be affected by this recall. it's just models that were built between 2014 and 2016. so again, in the grand scheme of things not that many cars will be affected and chrysler as part of this package, this

payout that they're giving out, they are setting aside between 260 and 280 million dollars specifically to compensate their customers who will have to have their cars recalled. >> it started very small at that time in volkswagen as well. let's see how this one goes. thank you very much. you're watching d.w. news from berlin. remember you can always find out more about the latest headlines on d.w..com. we'll go on a one-minute break. when we get back brent will be back to take you through the day. stay with us. .

yeah but it's it's you wawatching live from paris world news a and analysiss m france i get i marco in thesese living worldd news headlines. donald trump has been to the usus mexico border. the visits taking place as the row over his front teeth fence and the government shut down. defense. france questions the validity of the results of the presidential election in the democratic republic of congo. felix you should check the is claiming victory. amid doubts raised t to buy the challenger. months on paris brussels and the catholic church election monitotors also. down to the findings