by the 1980's uncle americal had a doctorate in physics was working at the academy of sciences in east berlin her first marriage ended in divorce but she kept a full my husband's last name. what was looking like a quiet life as a research scientist was interrupted on november the ninth one thousand nine hundred ninety she had just emerged from her weekly soma visit when she was swept up in the crowds pouring across the ward and into west ballin. i as. she said to me mother i've never been much of a civic activist so joining an activist movement isn't my thing but. she said she'd also consider the social democrats. in january one nine hundred ninety they still look like they might do really well here. but then they'll make it on their own we need something new chef and that was her pragmatic mind speaking. and then came the east german democratic movement the democratic awakening which included pastor wright. she said it's chaos there they need me. soon thereafter in spring nine hundred ninety eight. was appointed deputy spokesperson for the first and only democratically elected east ge

in americ that is exactly what we are going to do. finall our framework and you have to remember you see what's happen and encourages compan bring back trilli wealth overseas. and discourages them from bringi back the profits they earned overseas. i must tell you, i have been follow this for six years and republ democrats have always said we wan to they all agree and never got it done. we will bring everybody together and get that done. we will eliminate the penalty on bringi back future earnings. we will impose a one-time low tax on money currently parked overse so it can be brought home to america where it belong they incentivize companies in search of lower tax rates. they reject the offshoring model and we embraced a new model. it's called the american model. we want companies to hire and grow in america and raise wages for american workers. to rebuild american cities and towns. when we grow american manufacturing, we don't just grow wages, but also grow americ spirit. when we purchase products made in america, fashioned by our fe

yeah yeah twelve years of on good americal were not enough for her staunchest supporters they wanted to keep the chancellor in office for four more years her social democrat challenger martin schultz criticized her policies not to his advantage. if i get one candidate wants to live in the past and. candidate wants to shape the future team sure it's. magical told voters you know me that was a decisive factor in her campaign many wanted continuity and like the chancellor's unassuming style she's not obsessed with demonstrating the trappings of political power. many voters are also proud of the fact that during her administration germany has become a key player on the world stage. germans have grown used to saying until america is meeting with world leaders with loud emir putin she speaks russian which she lived in school. with british prime minister theresa may the chancellor speaks english merkel learned the language from her mother an english teacher. with turkish president regift everyone merkel talks tough. the relationship between merkel and u.s. president donald trump was describ

we begin the day with a germany transformed americal made history today a fourth term is germany's chancellor is hers to have but it will not be business as usual mrs merkel is now a weaker leader and whatever new government she constructs it is guaranteed to come with pitfalls that merkel has never had to master before in a world that has seen seismic shifts from washington to london to paris in berlin merkel's reelection should mean stability but it will not for the first time in sixty years. a far right party the a.f.d. will be a part of the german parliament today the a if these top candidate warned his party plans to quote hunt down chance america even if possible have her arrested for her refugee policy and with that the politics of conflict moves into a parliament that is known around the world for its consensus compromise and dare we say boring brand of legislative what can the world expect from this transformed germany what would the world like for mongol america where earlier tonight here in berlin she hinted that for now hanging on is enough. not all of these one wants the good let

write some very canny politicking from on the americal rebecca thanks very much for reporting for us from s.p.d. central and. well during her final days campaigning up in style zones chancellor merkel should her usually stateswoman like image to get down on her knees she joined a street rally in support of life saving c.p.r. techniques she led the crowd as she performed first aid maneuvers a bit tell me you. know. when he got home. all right and jared. he is no dummy he is in the studio with us here to talk about some social media strategies you know other usual pictures from the chancellor there that's not the pose we often get is this a trend are candidates doing stunts like this to get out the vote and well we can see you know in the last campaigning almost anything goes for the big major parties and what we've been seeing in the last week is the big parties trying to appeal to the undecided voters and also the people who are not going to vote at all who are going to abstain and we nari from pollsters saying that the voter turnout in this election is going to be lower so we're goi

in an exclusive interview on the americal tells t w diplomacy is the only way forward with pyongyang also coming up a desperate rescue effort underway right now in mexico city at a primary school that collapsed during tuesday's earthquake a building is one of hundreds destroyed in what's been called mexico's deadliest quake in a generation. plus protests are up in barcelona after spanish police detained regional cattle on officials there alleged crime organizing an independence referendum that madrid opposes. i'm sara harman welcome to the program it's good to have you with us. germany's chancellor has spoken out on the north korea crisis just days ahead of germany's general election americal said she disagrees with donald trump's military ultimatum for north korea in exclusive interview with g w miracle offer germany's assistance in the go shooting a diplomatic solution yesterday trump told the un the us would destroy a north korea if it continued to threaten the united states or its allies. i promise you is the only way to solve the north korea conflict according to the german chan

and of course you can find the entire interview that are did with chosen americal on our website that's to w dot com along with all of our election coverage that's on d.w. dot com and our facebook page and we would really love to hear what you think about germany's election so go ahead and share your thoughts with us on twitter and use the hash tag internally decides so you can be part of our discussion. well as germany's election inches closer many people are wondering how secure is the voting process after all recent presidential elections in the u.s. and in france where dogged by allegations of russian interference so could germany be the next target our reporter went to find out. what's the likelihood that sunday's election will be a true reflection of voters' wishes that the electorate will decide who gets in instead of hackers are there any security gaps two weeks back one hacker decided to find out he succeeded in hacking the software that transfers the election results and managed to manipulate its data. yes i was you'd have to i mean the way it looks a fifteen year old could ha

pascoe correspondent for the french weekly magazine look poor she says with the we can dangle americal emanuel micron's dream of a fresh start for europe is suddenly much more complex much to talk about of us begin with you pascal's tell us if you would give us a little bit of a flavor of how the election outcome here in germany has gone down with all the surprises it brought with it. i think it is a big shock in france and probably a big disappointment for my new my co who two days ago made a big speech about europe presenting his vision of europe for the future and he was sure that if the great big coalition i mean s.p.d. and seaview the social interaction. was. conducted he had the chance of at least realising pockley he's program but now it's going to be very difficult with the liberals partly was the greens as well and i think it's a it's a it's a bit feeling you have in france that lost the front french are back on the european scenes we are young presidents who want to introduce reforms who has ideas about europe and now the germans are going to be at least until christmas discu

just there on the americal speaks out on trump in a d.w.i. exclusive she called trump's russ north korea absolutely inappropriate i'm sara foreman in berlin and this is the day. even though this conflict is far away from germany it's also affects us all that is why i am prepared to us as the foreign minister to assume responsibility. and then we took part in negotiating the around agreement which i think is good and better than having no agreement to toll. it took many years but in the end it did limits iran's possibilities for nuclear armament and i think that's because i think we must take the same path or a similar one with russia with china together with the us also in the case of north korea. the united states has great strength and patience but if it is forced to defend itself for its allies we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea than i am against threats of this kind and speaking for myself and the government i must say that we consider any talk of military solution to be absolutely inappropriate and we are counting

despair for germany's conservatives they lost significant ground this time around but chancellor angle americal will still serve a fourth term she says she'd wished for a better result which is now set to form a new government. isn't starts the cuff we the c.d.u. in the c.s.u. have emerged as the strongest party we have the mandate to form a government and no one will form one against us. the social democrats are in shock after their worst ever result the so-called schultz effect a bump in the polls when party leader martin schulz declared his candidacy went nowhere he's now ruling out joining the new government but says he won't step down as party chair. i've advised the s.p.d. leadership that we go into the opposition soon we're all united in our decision. to take this step. i mean he's i'm sure that. with the s.p.d. out one of michael's possible coalition partners is the pro-business free democratic party and they came back strong after a humiliating defeat four years ago the reform than the reform the dear friends. the last election period was the first in the history of our republic withou

the fact that again, 6 out of 10 americ are saying trump is wrong. i think that's shocking news to the white house. i think it's heartening for the player i realize there are things he wants to see, but i think becaus of the fact that trump is inserting himself, people who are not on the side of kneeling player are saying i want to see them protest because they are protes against trump. that'sing the argument. >> i have one final question and i want to put it to you, domini when you heard the president say as a former player yourself, he said he talked to owners and he thinks they are afraid of the player that essentially they are sort of going along with it because they are afraid. what's your reaction? >> that's dog whistle. it's certainly not -- it's a lot dog whistle that we all seem to be able to hear except for president trump. it's disappointing. as a former curren player, what is the first thing you think when hear that? >> i talked to a lot of players and i can't say i was that disapp it's hard for me to be surprised by what he says and does

tonight we'll talk to the mayor of san juan, the govern of puerto rico and regular people, americ

distance themselves from the extreme right elements within their own party but johnson the angle americal is facing bigger problems after the social democrats ruled out forming a grand coalition with her conservatives a three way partnership with the business friendly liberal democrats and the environmentalist greens seems the only possibility even if it's all smiles in public their political outlooks remain worlds apart they are likely to demand a heavy price for making any compromises meanwhile the bavarian christian socialists the c.d.u. sister party are also threatening to quit their alliance with merkel's conservatives unless their demands are met. as. you can my view it's absolutely essential that we set out a clear commitment to stemming the influx of refugees in other words a cap on numbers. that's what we've promised people. the f.t.p. and the greens are unlikely to go along with any cap on refugees it almost seems as if the chancellor is already missing her old coalition partners in the s.p.d. . they're not really thought of chris we will begin having exploratory talks with the

news coming to you live from berlin germany's chancellor under pressure from all sides as uncle americal seeks to build a stable governing coalition the leader of the barbarian sister party says things have to change following the conservatives huge election losses also coming up just two days at the germany's right wing a up to celebrate a huge election gains the party's co-leader says she's resigning. and france's president calls for more european unity among well not calling says the e.u. is too weak he wants a joint budget of the eurozone and a shared military intervention force but how will that go down elsewhere in the e.u. . and sarah harman welcome to the program german chancellor angela merkel is coming under increasing pressure as she works to cobble together a new government her bavarian sister party the c.s.u. insists that policy changes are needed and lessons must be learned at the conservatives major election losses but the chancellor already has her hands full as she seeks to build a coalition with the pro-business free democrats and the environmentalist greens two parties

we know that they're lagging a lot behind on go americal see the use so they're really hoping social media might turn their fortunes around they're trying really really hard and they've got this new video that they've released this week showing off their canvassing efforts in this case it's a video game volunteer earning points by accomplishing tasks for the u.s. p.g.a. all around beldin you know it's a little bit kitschy it's a little bit of money but it's all part of the last seventy two hours before before the public. mari i want to talk with you about a particular social media campaign that's going on targeting women what's behind this well that's right and i didn't know this until this week but apparently in every election in germany since nine hundred fifty three more men have gone to the polls than women and that's a bit surprising because there are about two million more women in germany than there are men so there's a new campaign that is hoping to change old os it's called joe woman the as opposed to germany it was launched by twenty three german magazines with a combined r

an exclusive interview on the americal tells d.w. that diplomacy is the only way forward with jiang young also coming up a desperate rescue effort is underway right now in mexico city at applying mary schools that collapsed during tuesday's earthquake the building is one of hundreds destroyed and what's being called mexico's deadliest quake in a generation. i'm sara harmon welcome to the program it's good to have you with us germany's chancellor has spoken now a north korea crisis just days ahead of germany's general election on the americal said she. disagrees with donald trump's military ultimatum on north korea in an exclusive interview with g.w. merkel offered germany's assistance in negotiating a diplomatic solution yesterday trump told the u.n. that the u.s. would destroy north korea if it continued to threaten the u.s. or its allies. i promise you is the only way to solve the north korea conflict according to the german chancellor in an exclusive interview with g w hunger merkel spoke out in favor of multilateral negotiations

americ is finally back on the right our co and our economy cannot take off like they should unless werm the outdat complex, and extremely burden tax cuts. it is a burden on our country. we have a once in a generation opport to pass tax reform that is pro growth, pro job, pro worker pro family, and pro americ our current tax code punishes compan for doing business in the united states and encourages them to leave. that's what's happened for so many years. that's one of the reasons, probab the prime reason that compan are leaving our countr and firing all those people. they are not bringing the jobs with them. they are giving other countries. firing all the great people. that's stopping. it already started to stop nine months ago, but that's stopping. and it's stopping right now. we need a tax system that encour companies to stay in americ grow in america, and hire with congress to develop a framew that will deliver exactl that. more jobs, higher pay, and lower taxes for middle income families and for american businesses of all sizes. these are businesses that create jobs. we unveiled a

because of the i d but moscow doesn't recognize americal as arguably the most influential politician in europe it has to deal with yes it's true that russians have recently had a direct contact to the d. but you can see you can't say moscow has been only keeping in touch with the deep president putin met with the social democrats in my governor the german foreign minister he also welcome to the various state premier how to say how far to wise in the last two years and he received the christian democrats and the americal german cut chancellor at he's a summer house and such is so alternately what russians want is dialogue to be recognized as an equal partner and russians are not interested in a weak germany they want to strong germany because of a very strong german russian relations yuri thanks so much they don't use your ear shatter they're talking to us from moscow. and as if the german election wasn't enough to deal with the german capital was also hosting a major global sporting event it is i have all the details nearly forty four thousand competitors hit the streets of germany's

americal seemed made to order for then chancellor helmut kohl she was just what he wanted for his west and male dominated christian democrats young a woman and from the east as coles protege was appointed minister for women and youth the first cabinet of the really unified germany. in november one thousand nine hundred ninety year after losing the chancellorship cole was still the honorary chair and running patriarch of the christian democrats but then came a scandal kohls party the c.d.u. had run an illicit slush fund involving donor contributions ugly american broke ranks and made a move that would rob the already shaken old guard of the party in a prominent daily she wrote an article proclaiming the end of the cold era a few months later america was party chairman this was the moment she would later revealed when she first believed she could become chancellor. she was neither a man nor a catholic nor from west germany. so she was the exact opposite of the leaders of her party. let's make this mother fit your party leader and send her packing after a year or at most two that proved t

higher than in the two thousand and thirteen election as things stand idle americal studi your party is on course to win two hundred thirty eight seats in the bundestag out of a total of around six hundred martin scholz and his social democrats come next with one hundred forty eight seats while alternative for germany and parliament for the first time will have ninety five seats so with the shifting forces in parliament and on merkel will need to find a new coalition partner so let's now take a look at the likely path for the chancellor. the german parties really emerge with a solid majority from the elections so when it's over the try to make friends which is not easy after having tried hard to undermine each other's policies during complaining but the good news is for the politicians you can always see the story we can't keep our election promise because our coalition partners won't let us which is not good news for the voters though you might ask what was the point when you basically get a program that you didn't vote for. there is no guarantee that what you as a voter would like.

one year he is the co-chair co-founder he said you know we will hunt americal so they have her in their spotlight and well we'll have to see exactly how she responds what what we've seen in other countries the u.k. being the best example is that even when the far right party doesn't win it is not in government per se they're able to end fluence the governing party with theresa may she is not a member of of you kep the far right party in the u.k. but you know she is guiding breck's it which is which was the position so will markel koat as she famously does. positions that are held by the f.t. and use that to illegitimate her own. her or her own chancellorship and if so will that pull germany further to the right that's the kind of power that the a.f.p. might have will have to wait and see but we will have to wait and see just how much power they will have already had the lead to say on monday morning that she wants it with the party in parliament i mean what does that mean for the party thorsten bene. i mean the party is famously famous for its infighting among the top brass and it is al

well they're going to be very difficult talks americal knows that i think she probably got off to the wrong start yesterday when she sort of said well she believes that the general course of government policy over the last few years has been the right one and she wants to continue with that there are going to have to be changes i think that is clear you've seen a much sort of tougher and more confident line from the varian conservatives the c.s.u. today and the varian leader was here just a short time ago saying that he's very very confident they can get a government but of course he means a government that takes on board a lot of what the c.s.u. has been saying that hard line on the immigration issue in particular calling for an absolute cap on the number of people allowed to come to germany and that's something that the greens in particular are going to find very very hard to agree to so angle americal is going to have to square that circle and many others many differences of opinion between the greens in the free democrats as well it's going to be a long and difficult process and a

you address these people how do you how do you connect with them i mean some people have accused americal of shifting right to try and appeal to some of the after voter base is more conservative and see immigrant voters do you agree that she has done that do you think what happened when when she you know all of sudden was confronted with a million people that were coming in this is. two thousand and fifteen she did that because she believed it was the right thing to do but then she realized that our country wasn't prepared for it and to measure that up she had to go back and figure out ok how do we make sure that another wave like that doesn't happen so she did the deal with turkey and then you know she's continuing to sharpen up the border controls she had to do that but i think that that's something again that's comparative because you find that in france you find that britain and you certainly find it you know that in the united states the debate over immigration and border and wall to wall building is pretty heated it was a hot button issue in the u.s. election i think the discussion

with holes in her favor uncle americal can feel confident that she'll be reelected as chancellor of the a if he is likely to win seats in parliament for the first time machall ruled out ever cooperating with the far right party and she promised to take the concerns of those who feel disadvantaged seriously. my you know my answer is clear to solve people's problems the worries they have having their own jobs as well as decent schools and doctors to really take care of these issues but on the other hand to signal a clear start to hatred and violence. the interview with chancellor merkel was the last in a series of seven that included all top candidates of germany's major parties and recent surveys are correct on sunday young americans conservative c.d.u. c.s.u. will become the strongest political power and she could become one of the longest serving chancellors in german history. you saw in a poll there she's did of use editor in chief and she led that interview with the german chancellor angela merkel she is with us in studio now to talk more about the interview high in this story we hav

containing white powder and razor blades began winding at the home of german politicians including americal just days before sunday's election these letters were written in broken arabic and full of spelling mistakes here's one of the letters that was sent to a green politician hans christian struggling to post it on twitter and police say tests on the power of shown it's actually armless. or earlier i got an update from contour riedel she's an investigative journalist with the german broadcaster bt air and she first reported the story. what we know now is that a lot of high ranking for the pensions among them the most prominent ones chancellor angela merkel and the ready hands prime minister has the will first. received letters this morning inside their will rise up late and white powder. and. letter written in arabic language they couldn't read what was inside but there were books by. and through it and trucks and ok where do you think sent these letters i think it's much too early to say anything about the persons or a group who could have sent them. what we know now is that that were se

the state of the news coming to live from berlin on the americal begins the tough task of building a government despite suffering historic losses she says all parties have a responsibility to for must be able to coalition which will speak to former partners a social democrats but she may have to work with two parties who have little in common and then how is she going to deal with this. is to deny it i'm sorry him but our view is we need new policies one million foreign people have been brought into this country and they are taking the president this country away from us that he have to you does not want this view you have been elected to address these policies head on. why as an immigrant i asked do you use the first news conferences or stunning election results the promise to shake up german politics. on sarah harman welcome to the show it's good to have you with us julie is election campaign was often called dull but the results are proving a tad more interesting the mass circulation daily build is even talking about a. earthquake i'll americal will say on this chance or bought he

you from the heart of berlin where heads are still spinning after sunday's election outcome angle americal secured a fourth term in office as chancellor but who will be joining her in government will only become clear in the days or more likely the weeks that lie ahead the chancellor social democratic rival martin schultz failed to convince enough voters that he should get the job and save the s.p.d. will now lead the opposition but for many the clear winners in this election are the third placed alternative for germany the far right a.f.d. who have made it into the bundestag for the very first time so today on quadriga we're examining the election results here in germany and their significance for germany europe and the rest of the world election twenty seventeen germany has voted in to discuss the latest developments i'm joined here in the studio by three astute observers of german politics beginning with verizon or who was for many years with germany's a.r.d. t.v. network and one of the best known correspondents reporting on the german politics. also with us is alan posner a regular col

that until america is forced to change policies because of the i d but moscow doesn't recognize americal as arguably the most influential politician in europe it has to deal with yes it's true that russians have recently had to direct contact to the d. but you can see you can see moscow has been only keeping in touch with the deep president putin met with the social democrats in my gabrial the german foreign minister he also welcomed to various state premier house a home for two allies in the last two years and here is see that the christian democrats and the americal german cut chancellor and he's somehow us and such is so alternately what russians want is dialogue to be recognized as an equal partner and russians are not interested in a weak germany they want to strong germany because of a very strong german russian relations theory thanks so much they don't use your ear shatter they're talking to us from moscow. well politics is very interesting dominating the headlines of the moment but there's a lot more going on in the world too including sports back over the it's more than thanks