north and south korea are to hold their first formal talks in two years after donald trump claimed his tough stance made the meeting possible. israeli prime minister faces mass protests over mounting corruption allegations with thousands again marching in the streets of tel aviv. also in the headlines new coalition talks are in full swing in germany. and what some see as the country's worst political crisis in years. welcome to our teams and ask the live from moscow daniel hawkins thanks for joining

us this hour a north korea is set to hold official talks with its southern neighbor for the first time in two years as tensions run high on the peninsula there are signs the spot is easing now with some progress already made at the start of the year has already seen the reopening of a cross border phone line the next day trump the laid on your military drills with salt until after south korea holds the winter olympics next month face to face negotiations with the north set for tuesday and we. have more to shed some more light on this caleb you've been across the story people optimistic about these talks what can we really expect. well it's hard to tell exactly what's going to be discussed one thing that certainly will be on the agenda is the upcoming olympic games but folks are rather optimistic the simple fact that these talks are happening is rather exciting and surprising at this point we've heard from the

unification minister in south korea and he has called for the talks to be kind of an opportunity to ease tensions now you wonder how much worse the tensions could get over the last few months we've seen a real intensification with a lot of heated words exchanged you know the testing of missiles and such but then we heard in the new year's speech by the leader of north korea he said that he was open to talks it was rather an unexpected announcement this was kim jong un. so you see we. want to check this out really once reconsideration in unity we will keep open the doors for two and exchange to everyone including the south greeted ministration

opposition poems these groups from various fields and quantities and individuals now the moon administration in south korea just immediately jumped at the opportunity to talk with the north however we then saw on twitter a certain individual take credit for the diplomacy between north and south korea donald trump this was him on twitter. a lot of people have said a lot of people have written that without my rhetoric and without my tough stance and such a stance i mean this is this is what has to be done if it has to be done that they wouldn't be talking about olympics that they wouldn't be talking right now. because . year of strategic patience. with the north korean regime has failed united states is prepared to use the full range of our capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies we will have no choice but to totally destroy

north korea little rocket man rocket fuel for the american economy is a sick puppy. now it's interesting that donald trump takes credit for north korea and south korea talking when unlike previous negotiations the united states will actually not be at the table in this discussion that's upcoming but the world is now watching the korean peninsula and waiting to see what happens next i will see talks between north korea and south korea in lieu of the upcoming olympic games so all eyes are on the korean peninsula. the world watching to see how those negotiations pan out thanks for bringing us the update that scalable put a live from new york. now to discuss the issue further let's go live to tom brooks professor of law and government. the dean at their own law school thanks for joining us good to have you on the program today. these talks have been a little waited a bit of

a surprise for many i list do you think there's going to be more than just about the upcoming olympics what can we expect to be on the table do you think. well i suspect it will be more than just about the olympics but i do suspect that the olympics will be the big thing that the north koreans will want to talk about it's a real opportunity for the north koreans to be on the world stage they don't have much chance to do that for lots of reasons you must report the difficult relationship they've had with much of the world for a long time and will want to make the most of that opportunity. i think the south koreans will be wanting to explore different ways they can lower tensions and i think it is a very important opportunity and a welcome one between the two sides but i also think that one or two meetings in the run up to a winter olympics next month they're not going to achieve everything so i would get

my hopes up too high the biggest thing i would want out of this is that there be further talks to happen after the olympics are held but it's still a first meeting is better than none yeah i think that's the view of many of us that something is better than nothing but in the grand scheme of things i mean with how the relationship has been how talks have deteriorated do you think this face to face meeting is the first one in two years is it perhaps a sign of reconciliation always that too optimistic perhaps. i suspect it might be a bit too optimistic in this is that earth create regime that surprised everyone is they always do they are very difficult to predict not unlike the white house which is equally as difficult to predict what they will do next i think we it's a difficult game trying to. second guess what the north koreans are going to do next but it's certainly good that this is happened after a few years it's good that the two sides are going to be getting together if we're

live pictures is the callouses i suspect that's a good thing and then what we hope is that there's some momentum that comes from this but i think that these talks are happening certainly not because of trumpet in the sense some sense despite trumpet it is very telling that usually the americans are always in the room and now the americans are nowhere to be found so i think there are the trump dimension is one that can't be overplayed but for a negative reasons rather than a positive i'm glad it's happening despite it and speaking of the american president he's made a point as they have taken credit for the progress in these talks in these relations i mean how justified is that really given his while quite fierce rhetoric ali what about the north. well i suspect none you know when he was doing his rhetoric about you know fire and arsenal and all this kind of stuff what were the north koreans doing in response firing missiles off the

coast of japan threatening to hit american interest in guam you know what trump's rhetoric has done has increased the kinds of threats if we were to get threats in the united states from north korea but increase the level of severity of these to the likes that we haven't seen certainly for some time i think that you know trump's tough talk about. littering the country and so on are just bluster that would come to nothing i think that no one's actually talking about starting a war with anybody and so i think his tough talk is is only only that and the fact that he's got no representative in the room for the talks no one will be actually there to help have anything to do with what goes on in that room or help the negotiations in any way is a sign of how powerless how much the united states has genuinely walked away from world leadership in areas like the korean peninsula is just the latest example

where trump is been walking away from the world rather than working more with it and you mentioned earlier it's obviously important to discuss the at the olympics but it's even more important you said that talks carry on off to the olympics as well if that is the case if those negotiations do carry on do you think that could lead to an easing of tensions on the peninsula i mean what what could it lead to long i suppose is the question and. well that's really the main thing so if there are talks that happen if there's an agreement for talks after the olympics that take place that's where i would begin getting more optimistic rather than a kind of a short term one off. basically. sation the conflict for a couple weeks for the olympics that's where i think that there might be something longer term happening but if there is any progress that happens i think it's going to be something that's a result of many years indeed decades of work by

a number of administrations in the korean peninsula area and elsewhere not things that happened in the last year or so and i think what we might be looking for here is not just an easing of attention but some kind of plan for a kind of a peaceful coexistence if that could be possible something that you think it's hard to see things getting much worse than they are right now in the korean peninsula and there needs to be something moving forward where we don't have everyone on a war foot world like footing as there is at the moment and that's the kind of outcome we'd like to see does that mean rejection of trade barriers does that mean crossing borders does that mean repatriation of people i'm not sure but those will be the kinds of things that will want to see discussed and approved probably not in the next days and weeks or so but it would be something we would hope for after the olympics if indeed they do hold for the talks. brooks professor of law and

government and the dean school thanks for joining us and altie great to have your take on that today. well thousands of march through the streets of tel aviv in israel demanding the resignation of the country's prime minister over mounting corruption allegations the protesters were carrying placards and shouting slogans the notes in the government but i guess if has this report. six weeks now its release have been demonstrating against the prime minister the prime minister as they've affectionately nicknamed him not just in tel aviv the capital but it's now growing israel proper and always been here for the last three

years everybody is talking about it all the time to the media. there is a feeling that the government is corrupt and puts its interests before the citizens that the. government is corrupt. they're tired of it i think is going to get elected again it's enough. there are two publicly known cases against that and yeah in the first his wife and he alleged to have the excepted illicit gifts tobacco and alcohol from a hollywood billionaire luxurious champagne for the lady and fine cigars for the gentleman case number two netanyahu reportedly struck a deal with a major newspaper where in return for more favorable coverage he would weaken a rival newspaper using his office and powers as prime minister serious allegations stuff like this has put people in jail you think bebe's scared

if there will be recommendations by police to endure so. here's a fact i doubt the public knows the vast majority of police recommendations in with nothing more than sixty percent of police recommendations are thrown out here of course denies everything just like his predecessor who would or met also denied ever taking bribes even as he was handcuffed and convoyed off to jail b.b. doesn't care police can recommend whatever they want it's only if the state prosecutors decide to act will he face trouble and he seems sure they won't they knew a year ago even before the investigation why did it take a year and a waste of time and public funds there's more of course questions about netanyahu is connections how bibi's cousin ended up in the middle of

a controversial billion dollar deal to buy german submarines you know how these things happen but isn't it amazing how a man can be so flippant about corruption allegations against him and so righteous about corruption allegations against. others bridgie reunions are poor into the streets they seek freedom they seek justice i wish the iranian people success in their noble quest for freedom. against another corrupted reduce the new learn but try to manipulate. criticism against him it is really the. government releases still months away from issuing an official recommendation on whether to try the netanyahu or not the b.b.c. allies as striking back they've passed through legislation that would be the police

for making any public recommendations on whether people should be taken to court then yahoo's a survivor israel's longest serving prime minister he has weathered and survived plenty of scandals and next time this law will make it even easier under the israeli law the prime minister does not have to resign even if he is indicted and even when he's standing trial only after he has been convicted in a certain district court in jerusalem and after he's appeal has been denied by the high court which could take two years or so but this is only the legal point from b. public and political point of view there will be a lot of pressure on him to resign or at least step aside for

a while once he's indicted. the new coalition talks have ticked off in germany what seen as i'm going to michael's last chance to form a majority government on avoid yet another election the social democrats on the ruling christian. democratic union will now have five days to enter into a so-called grand coalition both sides seem confident of success of forming an alliance with the social democrats is the only option left for the previous talks with the green party in the free democrats collapsed two months ago the current political crisis is seen by some as the worst in germany for years it a trunk of sizes up merkel's chances of resolving it to put together a coalition it takes a match angle has been desperate to make any match she hopes her party could match with the greens but that plan also required matching with the p.

or the free democrats are rights wide here too but no it's a match pop ups angle almost got it right with the green party but she's still in favor of using coal power plus her transport minister in the old government called the greens tofu that has fallen into our meat when it comes to the f d t these folks were nowhere near matching with deep divisions and how to deal with tax and solemn and environmental policies. we will not abandon our foreign policy with which we are not convinced it is better not to govern than to govern badly so that was it for the so called to make a call that talks. one guy quit using the coalition building up all together but then signed up again you know we are not entering a grand coalition we said this clearly in this room after the elections and we

still stand by this. time politics and that's why these tools necessary to meet the great challenges facing the world europe. so angle crossed paths with her part there swipe left or swipe right the conservative leader is having another go at matching with the social democrats but here again angle may find herself matchless here's why. migration was much less of an issue in twenty third thing when agreeing on the c.d.u. s.p.d. grand coalition was no sweat today it's one of the main if not the number one issue for germans to worry about the success of the right wing force the conservative blog to get more tough on asylum seekers something the social democrats refuse to accept. instead what they'd love to accept and actually push for is

more integration after all the s.p.d. leader wants to see the knotted states of europe and while angle as c.d.u. as moore has it and the varian wing of her block is turning increasingly euro skeptic you don't invite hungary's leader slash e.u. bogeyman viktor orban to a party summit for nothing. then there's the issue of how much to spend on the army the conservatives are seeking more military spending to reach the nato target of two percent of g.d.p. the social democrats though say that's not what germany needs if eventually these things are nuff to cause a mismatch angle americal may end up in real trouble. as the prospect of yet another election looms recent opinion polls show more than half of germans are against markel running again it was spoke to geopolitical analyst writer office who

believes a rerun is much more likely than people think the trust in great coalition is beginning to diminish quite considerably in. population there is already much of a majority of people calling for new elections as recent polls have shown a good negotiator would have seen much earlier one of the three or four or even negotiating parties. why i'm to represented in two different points that were gathered to flow with mission and obviously angela merkel failed at that point she did not realize how bad the situation was perceived on behalf of liberals i can imagine that will be replaced. even if there are new elections already in twenty eight. got more news coming for you just after this

short break stay tuned here on r.t. international. corruption absolute power corrupts absolutely and. over their heads up saudi arabia these days is as corrupt as the day is long and he's just stealing money from folks and with us trying to be at it but america is like that. meanwhile already there actually are in the process of reform but that's evil.

the international of the us saw me in the department of homeland security have developed a virtual reality training game meant to simulate active shooter situations in schools it's intended for teachers and first responders helping them stay ahead of a potential tragedy. the feeling. other been more than two hundred fifty school shootings in the u.s.

in the past five years that averages nearly one every week already this new year there have been two reported foreign incidents in schools nearly a third of all mass shootings in the united states since two thousand have taken place in schools here is a reminder of some of the deadliest. and we spoke to two experts about just how effective this new school shooting

similarity may be in helping to curb that problem. we have to really understand that we do live in a day and age when children are going to have to understand this at a younger age than we would have liked then we were probably raised with and because of that you know it is good to utilize technology in order to train them to either defend themselves against it or defend others against it and just to be ready for it because sometimes the worst things will happen when children or those in it situation have absolutely no idea how to handle what is happening in the group by teachers with at least some information in order to repair any addend that they're actually use and sold them on their school and what that does say is it is assumed that the assaults will come there will be more socks and dare i say that there will be there will be more shooting there will be more back in schools across the united states we have seen this and there's nothing that tells me that that's simply not true will technology and video games make decision ration safer i don't

know i hope it will but here's what i do know i know that we have seen mass shooting after mass shooting after back shooting children in the united states but we're working in the schools with young students to help them understand the modern threats of that time and to better prepare with that to know exactly what to do in the case of the current modern threat happiness upon their school in this case it is all syrians the united states and so you know teachers first responders being able to take part in the simulations is going to help them better trained their students for what to do in the event of a school shooting this is to some degree and acceptance that that is the ongoing reality and that the only true response the only thing that the u.s. can do at this point is simply to prepare teachers for what is coming rather than to find a legitimate alternative to stopping those actual shootings themselves. well you might think a successful businessman has better things to do than spend his days picking up

litter on the streets. when you're a man on a mission. thank you. but i think it doesn't matter how much money you know. you are rich or poor you always need to pass on positive energy to society it doesn't matter how old you are either. in public i would pick it up and not to do it again because i collect trash to remind and persuade others thank. you but if

ten percent of citizens were like him our environment would be much better. i believe that if i persist the environment will be better keep doing like you even when i'm seventy eighty years old. that's the headlines for this hour at the top of next hour time for more global headlines. will. the two thousand and eight economic crisis turn some countries into peg's

these are the countries with weaker economies that needed austerity policies if you are in a situation of flow gloat even the recession austerity is a very bad idea it doesn't work and it makes millions of people very unhappy those who are unemployed see their wages decline almost a decade how good are the results just all of it in your duties will by the people living with the wider world be people with your daughter julie a choice. to be in full view she thought the climate was i mean to for legal. challenge must be more than this she is not was always the case she's family and on about. why are the same measures still in place to one of the consequences used to weaken bluebirds food dismantle the will first one of those was the truth the consumer is the consequences are actually quite acceptable to the decision makers.

i was born into full time it was my home for twenty five years. off to sea in the heart of my state i can't see. that not will follow me and my people was for the

rest of our lives. we won't see any shots of the faithful not in this film we never want to see that again. grenfell for local and global reasons there's a bigger picture that i love more about every day we talk politics now and how we can take power because we learned that we have to look off to ourselves. grenfell changed everything. it did the consequences we saw fit to make the cranes loom in the horizon and different morph anyways no i live in cannes in the chelsea it's one of the richest areas in the whole country but the north where we live has one of the highest concentration of people of low incomes. the growing inequality is pushing so many out the area it's obvious global capital has no the god for people like me.