and chance alone -- and chancellor angela merkel talks to the leading candidates. theirhan voters cast ballots sunday in a presidential election that should bring about the first democratic transfer of power in the nations history. voters flocked to the polls defying nationwide threats of attacks by the taliban and. reports of violence were relatively few. eight candidates were on the ballot, hoping to take over from outgoing president hamid karzai. he has been in 2001. >> vote counting is underway and election workers are busy. that was contrary to analyst protections. some polling centers stayed open longer because so many people were still in line. millions of afghans to find the threats of terrorist attacks. eager to do their part in choosing the next president. and men voted separately, everyone turning out expressed their longing for a democratic and secure afghanistan. i voted to guarantee the future of my country. the ballot box is a way to build our nation and show participation in these elections. we have come here to vote for an honest president who will

covering angela merkel's first visit to athens since 2012. photography, hundreds of his best images are on display in london, taking a chance to go inside the business of photography. that is later this hour on "in the know." leading, pushing the regional index down the most in three weeks. let's head to zeb over in hong kong. >> we're seeing some of the biggest impact in japan and china. chinese shares, the mainland companies that are listed here in hong kong, down about two percent today. it reflects a concern about china's growth. the latest inflation figures show inflation well below the government target of 3.5% in the month of march, while producer , 25es also fell 2.3% straight months of declining producer prices. it also just perhaps more stimulus to come from the government in beijing. however limited it may be. it also indicates domestic demand which is so critical to the reforms we are seeing in china is not holding up the way the chinese government would like to see. the markets not interpreting it well, neither is the prospect of

angela merkel is holding up well in the polls. inay, the party convenes berlin to discuss a platform and prepare an election campaign and they were joined by a high-profile guest. >> he is the star of the show -- jean-claude juncker, the top candidate to head the european commission. he is in berlin to convince germany's conservatives to cast their votes for him come they. -- may. will be no there eurobonds because they are of no use -- that the deficits nor dead will increase growth or add jobs here in europe. >> the center right politician wants to get tough on eurozone members who mismanaged their economies. he wants them to keep their budget under control. >> when i hear people talking about growth in europe, there are always calls for more state-run programs. here in germany we know the social market economy made us strong, the first we have to put the groundwork in place to create good conditions for both big and small companies on our continent. without that, we will not create new jobs. >> and it looks like she has the sup

. >> and angela merkel says europe's debt crisis is not over yet. ised on the fear that greece expected to announce his return to the bond market. ♪ >> good morning, everybody. you are watching "the pulse". we are live from bloomberg's headquarters right you're in london. top of thep at the pile, we will discuss the uk's strengthening recovery with daniel alexander, the chief secretary to the treasury. flying cars have always been the stuff of science fiction -- until now. we will test out this real life chitty chitty bang bang. >> italy and france's new prime ministers are hoping to leave the -- lead the charge for europe's economic recovery. they have just announced tax and spending cuts to kickstart their economies. or more, let's bring on jonathan ferro. basically, they are trying to get more leeway from europe to try to grow. >> these guys are doing exactly what they have been brought in to do. for the socialist party in france. matteo renzi has cut the growth outlook for this year. his message to the people is that politicians are going to tak

call with german chancellor angela merkel. however it's estimated forty thousand russian soldiers will remain stationed along the border area mosque as deputy defense minister said russian military hardware would be deployed to pieces across crimea which intimidated by ukrainian troops. today the first rains of last tomorrow they will be followed by the others. today we will put together the schedule didn't finish the whole operation within the mom is. earlier monday russian prime minister dimitri medvedev is a crime yet with a delegation of government ministers kiev condemned the visit as a crude violation of international rules mean on the floor. foreign ministers are to meet in brussels beginning tuesday discussed that second be taken to support ukraine. then moving on to a recent ruling by united nation's highest court on japan's whaling program top un judges ordered monday that japan must halt its whaling operations in the southern ocean around

she the mobile -- later met chancellor angela merkel. > to me it is not just success -- but a success in achieving unit above all. >> spending years under house -- t, she has helped lead arrest aung san suu kyi helped lead them to human rights. >> a peacekeeping mission for the central african republic. they begin working mid september taking over for african and french troupes troops currently on the ground. >> we believe in the world today who can help us. >> a recent slide into sec tearian violence between muslims and christians have prompted and of ethnic cleansing genocide. protecting civilians and facilitating deliveries will be a primary purpose fofert u.n. peacekeepers. over half the population are in need of humanitarian assistance. >> mount colon opened its doors to the public on thursday. it is germany's biggest art fair. the event is a magnate for rich and powerful collectors and art lovers who can afford to look but not spend. > german chancellor angela merkel was in the greek capital on friday. the chancellor said ameasures are dwing to -- beginning to bare fruit, and sh

would angela merkel agree? what is her message during this visit?uch tonk it is very bask in the tramp that was yesterday on the one hand, but on the other hand -- the triumph of that was yesterday on the other hand, a message to the greek people that we brought you out of this mess. it is an impressive comeback for greece in the capital markets. it is very much one of support, and of sharing real joy with her counterpart. and on the other hand, urging them to stick by these very painful austerity reforms that unemployment28% and wiped out one quarter of the economy. nonetheless, angela merkel will be here to show support and urge for more austerity. >> that message of more austerity might not go over well. the last time which german chancellor visited in 2012 come a she was meant with violent anti-austerity protests. are we expecting a repeat of that? exploded a bomb that yesterday morning, and i think that is a pretty ominous message . although the police are massively deployed, over 6000 policemen in the city center. public assemblies have been o

angela merkel is jetting into athens today to talk with a great prime minister., you've been in it out of greece. the last time she was there, she viciousted in a fairly way. there were effigies being burned. time? it going to be this >> there was really quite violent demonstrations against her. you can hear it everywhere in the streets. there.r then when i was i was there last week. the atmosphere feels like different. not withstanding the car bomb that went off. i am not sure that is the case. --need to find out who out was behind that car bomb. will be pretty much the same it. that is it you can't fix a problem like reese overnight. you have to do a lot of hard work. she is conscious of the fact that you have high unemployment at only 7.5%. it is way too high. look at the numbers they came out and maybe they had peaked. she arrives at 3:00, she will be talking to small business companies and some start up companies. show something in her suitcase in the form of an announcement of a development bank. this may be psychologically quite important to be able to dev

angela merkel.of germany, that says a lot. >> well, i'm impressed that our foreign policy and diplomacy has failed again. what is this? here comes angela merkel, she north korea negotiates with putin, and gets she negotiates with putin, gets him to remove 20,000 troops. we have failed on all levels. we have failed in egypt, and fail 234-ed in syria, who had te the day? putin, our allies look at us as a weakness, leading from behind. neil: here is where i try to give the president the benefit of the doubt, germany has most at stake, closest to putin. big recipient of natural gas contracts, far less than we are. you know, angela merkel has a invested interest in gutted this nut to calm down, she does get it dialed back. and putin said i listen to her, i don't listen to you, so a win-win for both. >> yes, merkel looks like a hero, 50% of their fuel is from ukraine, 30% fuels their cars, and gas, electricity, she had something at stake, sanctions were not going to help her country. that is why putin lau

along the ukrainian board to withdraw, at least that is what he reportedly told german chancellor angela merkelpenhaul, live for us this morning on the russia/ukraine border. what is the latest between this conversation with putin and merk merkel? what do we know? >> reporter: well, poppy, the russian border is just a few miles that way, and that really puts a different aspect on all of these conversations, whether between russia and germany or in paris between john kerry and sergey lavrov, because the people here in this border region really don't trust the russians where they say, okay, putin says he may be moving one battalion of 800 men back from the border, but they still believe that there are many thousands more russian troops massing just over there. and so, people like this, people like these men have formed self-defense militias. normally, these are civilians, but they have had some military experience in the distant past. so now they're forming self-defense militias, because they say that if the russians do invade, they will help the military. these may also start up some sort of gue

the big question is going to be whether european allies like angela merkel, the german chancellor, they say they're mathewing forward with their own sanctions. but they've said it before and they weren't tough sanctions. so the president when he gets back to washington tuesday night, within a couple of days, he'll be sitting down at the white house with merkel who will be in washington. ukraine, front and center here in asia and will be as soon as he gets back to washington. >> angela merkel, very much a key player there. ed, thank you very much for that report. we'll tell you more about the growing crisis in ukraine. the u.s. and other world powers standing together vowing to impose new sanctions on russia and its supporters in eastern ukraine, possibly as ed henry reported as soon as monday. this as secretary of state john kerry is urging his russian counterpart to help support an effort to free a group of military observers being held by pro-russian separatists in ukraine. leland is donetsk with more. >> it's been more than 24 hours since those international observers were taken and

here's his portrait of german chancellor angela merkel. not bad. president bill clinton's also been painting. he has a contrasting style to bush. here's clinton's painting of angela merkel. i thought it was interesting. here's clinton's portrait of nancy pelosi. finally, here's president clinton as he sees himself. >> giving john meacham a run for his money there. >> still renaissance man. >> that's right. >>> he's one of the most '90s or she is one of the most memorable characters. >> miss hillard. >> the water is boiling. >> hello. >> hello. >> hello puppets. >> finally sequel we've all been waiting for, thomas. there will be a second installment to the 1993's mrs. doubtfire. hollywood reporter says robin williams is in fact expected to return as the scottish nanny. >> hot jambalaya coming through. >> no word on what the plot will focus on. i think the kids are probably old now. >> they are. >> they're adults now. >> joey lawrence's brother, what's his name? >> i don't remember. >> anyway, he's one of the kids. those kids are all grown up. the gi

a visit from angela merkel. congratulations. >> yes. you showed her an automated system.d she ask you about? she wanted a sense of what we were doing. we are doing automotive technology. >> and industry. >> is automation. it is more than just automating factories. thinking of a new quality of i.t. technologies and delivers a good foundation. >> it is interesting that you say that. one of the big concerns is that the jobs will be replaced by automation. the automation will pursue this? transformation a from lower jobs to higher level .obs and automation people a lot of new jobs will be created for the worker. abouthave been talking toyota today and some jobs going back to manual. -- is that something that is happening? >> we have a specialized product doing this with products. >> outside of the european market, your biggest market is china. can you tell me how the business is in china? >> very good. we have a good development of thea and we are delivering machine builders. china andsident of germany had a special message that we thought was interesting with regard to the e

angela merkel came here last night. competitivebout trends.eached trade talks which is very near and dear to her. communicate to the participants here at this absolutely enormous show. i've been talking to some of the participants here. they're pretty optimistic about the outlook, not just for germany and europe, but also all around the world. the us economy, the chinese primey, the chinese minister was here talking about the bottom line for chinese growth. show has gonel very well here, focused on automation, guy. >> all right, david, thank you so much. we will be back with david tweed shortly. toyota wants to get back to basics. >> the carmaker is envisioning a future where humans take their place alongside robots. you heard me correctly. it is thinking a little counterintuitive. >> are joined by david wood, chair of the london futurists meet up. we are excited about this conversation. it is the biggest transformation since the 18th century industrial revolution. >> it will be incomparable. the way that robots are taking over more and more j

opposed to any further bailing out of the country and of course that may very well be the reason why angela merkel has decided not to sit down and talk with them the greek opposition leader a lexus tsipras saying that the opposition is guaranteeing the future of europe and that on the limb merkel is only representing europe's past while she is here privately there are those germans who say apparently according to one report that she views the opposition as troublemakers and undesirable negotiators one person i met with from this series of party is coast as he goes he's in charge of foreign policy with them and he gave me some of his party's thoughts about the german chancellor visit well we have been hearing this tale for the last three years that growth is just around the corner unfortunately mrs merkel is participating in the free electro propaganda of the government we have more than sixty percent of people in extreme poverty or poverty these are the results of extreme neo liberal policies we can't be followed through with the choice of policies which in a sense just save the banks but don't sa

german german chancellor angela merkel called on vladimir putin to call back the tanks, jet fighters and troops sitting on the border of ukraine, or russia will face another round of tougher sanction, the warping after vladimir putin fired off a letter to 18 world leaders, threatening to turn off russian gas to ukraine unless the country pays what it owes them. gas dollars can be gepp dived. >> putin says the european union helped to create the crisis in ukraine. the squeeze play comes as pro-russian separatists refuse to surrender control of offices in eastern ukraine despite a deadline to do so. for more we are joined from the washington d.c. studio, formerly chief economic advisor to russian president, and served as vladimir putin's representative to the g8. andre illarionov, good to have you with us. angela merkel, and the president spoke on the phone on thursday and threatened tougher sanctions if russia doesn't pull back their troops. how much does it affect putin? >> i don't think it affects putin in a serious way. it does not look like in putin is going to use troops in the f

and we have putin and angela merkel talking. >> yes, they are talking about the supply of gas. 40% ofurope's gas supplies come from russia but pass through the ukraine. and with the crisis there worsening day by day, angela merkel was interested in talking about securitying those supplies. some eastern europe countries rely 100% on russia's gas supplies. but ukraine has defaulted for 14 months now for payment to russia. and russia has in the past been threatening to just pull the plug on the supply. if that hand it would be a rerun of the gas war of 2009 when russia did exactly that, and for 18 days there was a very, very limited supply of gas flowing from russia through ukraine, and europe was struck very, very hard. so there is real concern about this. so much so that the kremlin announced a few hours ago, that they are preparing a meeting in the next few days, between ukraine, the eu, and russia. it's that serious that they are going to be talking about that anyway. >> thank you very much. >>> now u.s. president barack obama has warned north korea against carrying out another nucle

>> angela merkel is one of them. the other is mark which are from the netherlands. the dutch are partners in this event. having two leaders here really underlines the importance of the sort of advance for the economy. this is the biggest industrial fair in the world. it is the biggest convention center in the world. it is difficult to give you a sense of the scale of this place. millionalking about one square meters of exhibition coverage. i haven't been able to count them all. exhibitors here at this show. more than a quarter of a million people will come through here. quite a few ofy them coming through. >> this has always been a fair that has been about innovation. what is the theme this year? the theme is a theme with is pushed forward by the german government. industry 4.0. it is about automation. automating the manufacturing process. we are talking about becoming more efficient, increased productivity, better use of energy and also being able to customize automation. many of the exhibitors here will be showing off the latest in what they can do. the secondary

you have tight ties to angela merkel. do you plan to meet with her, ask for germany's help in this? >> well, she issued a pretty tough statement today. i'm not surprised. she's one tough lady. she can be very resolute. to date, she's looked at the diplomacy route. that has not worked very well. she's now talking about hard sanctions. she'll be in town in washington next week. i plan to meet with her on thursday, i believe it is. and encourage europe and germany to take a stand with the united states and nato to show some real resolve. >> it looks like we could be on the brink of civil war in ukraine with russia not backing down. senator dan coats, always great to see you. thank you for your time. >>> now to health care. oregon's state-run insurance marketplace is so screwed up, it may now throw in the towel and give control of all website operations to the federal government. something you wouldn't be able to tell, though, from their trippi colorful ads. ♪ >> everything looks okay by the ads, right? not so. the cover oregon board expected to vote today on handing over that control t

angela merkel's government legislation recently, but critics say women are not defenseless creatures and do not need to be given preferential treatment. the opposition has angered women's rights campaigners. they remind them that if it was not for feminism, women would not even have the right to work and the fight continues to counsel -- to counter inequality in the workplace. beenar sentiments have launched on facebook to coincide with international women's day on march 8. believe --sked to asked togg99Ññwççñmw ÷w 04/04/14 04/04/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! evidencee very strong he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition. we are going through the records thensure that is in fact underlying cause. >> as the army continues to investigate this week's deadly shooting at fort hood, that l

tuesday, german chancellor angela merkel said president vladimir putin had assured her he was moving troops back. it is certainly not the final step necessary as the true concentration on the ukrainian border is very high. but today i'm i have no reason to doubt his word. note sounded more cautious on the supposed russian pullout. but this is not what we are seeing. next we have not seen the evidence of that yet. of course we continue to call for that. >> russia could invade eastern ukraine and might try to extend its influence to other former communist countries like latvia and lithuania. >> at least 150,000 people have now been killed in syria's three-year-old civil war, according to the syrian observatory for human rights. according to the ngo, a third of those killed were civilians and it may be that the actual toll is far higher than the one given today. on the ground, the story the last few months has been one of losses on the rebel side as the regime forced to take back land that had been lost. the latest blow to those opposed to the rule of bush are al-assad , rebel forces ha

he has angela merkel washington at some point.r words, she is willing to take pain to her economy. american consumers will have to take pain in terms of energy prices. this will tak con seniority effort. >> -- this will take a concerted effort. >> we have it all on videotape. thank you, guys. next on the rundown race carted a huge factor. ben carson on that. both barack obama and attorney general holder have greatly benefited from their skin color. very honestly, i'm pouring everything i have into this place. that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. but it's fun, too -- with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, 'cause a good playlist is good for business. i need the boss's signature for this. i'm the boss. ♪ honestly ♪ i wanna see you be brave does your mouth often feel dry? a dry mouth can be a side effect of many medications but it can a

but angela merkel has been very cough tough in her words. up to the 28 countries of the european union to see what they do. i think they will step up. will it be fully involving their natural gas? maybe not, but there are other levers that are economiced on russia that involve all kinds of trade with them, all kinds of commerce that are significant levers on russia, which is a global economy. energy, for instance. but then i think we have to take steps like export america natural gas into the region so that the region isn't dependent on russia natural gas but is dependent on our natural gas, which provides more jobs for us, more manufacturing for us and brings more transatlantic energy security. >> ambassador richardson, good to see you. thanks so much. >> thank you, shep. >>> we're turning to breaking news now. a serious situation coming to us from just outside st. louis. there is reason to believe, according to authorities, that a boat has overturned in lake glenn carbon, illinois, where police are now on scene and our local helicopter fro

. >> vladimir putin called on angela merkel and ban ki-moon.raine began using force, putin said moscow was still take part in talks in geneva on thursday. that meeting will be the international community's next chance to mediate the crisis. washington is expected to threatened further sanctions. the white house has already given kiev tacit support for its military operation. >> the government is trying to calm the situation in the east. we note the measured approach of the ukrainian security forces. the use of force is not a preferred option. the ukrainian government has a responsibility to provide law and order. these provocations in eastern ukraine are creating a situation in which the government has to respond. >> the u.s. insists it is not considering sending arms to kiev . the u.n. has said it is not ready to send peacekeepers to the region. ban ki-moon has said he fears the crisis is intensifying. >> should there be one or two or even three levels of minimum wage in france? a u.k. has different rates depending on people's age. below and a

. >> russian president vladimir putin told angela merkel in a phone call that he is pulling back some of 15,000 troops. they discussed other moves to ease tension. >> the obama administration is considering releasing a middle eastern spy as efforts to keep the talks between israeli and palestine leaders from stopping. >> all sides are admitting that there isn't a deal to release palestine prisoners in the next day, the talks could collapse. u.s. and israeli and palestine officials are meeting, trying to come to an agreement to release the last group of four groups of 104 palestine prisoners that israeli agreed to release as part of the talks. palestinians say if the prisoners are not released by noon eastern, they'll walk away from the talks. they'll go to the u.n., to other international organizations and get recognition from them. that is what they agreed not to do so long as the talks were ongoing. what the secretary of state is here to do is prevent the palestinians from walking away. if john kerry is desperate, in the words of one u.s. officials, he's gone so far as talking about

president obama talked to prime minister cameron and angela merkel and president hollande and g-7 issued a statement on this when the president with them in brus sels, if we see further dangerous escalation, russian troops moving in ukraine, we feel we have to do that together as an international community. >> what would trigger the president deciding on additional sanctions, those he can control? how many days will you let the russian militias occupy the buildings and not disarm and violate the geneva agreement? >> first of all, the russian government has a responsibility to use the influence it has on those protesters to encourage and impress them to vacant the buildings and abide by the agreement we reached in geneva. if we don't see those actions as we get into next week, we're going to be prepared to move towards additional cost potentially moving to sanctions. again, the way i would characterize the time line, we're looking at the matter of days. we're not going to go a number of weeks waiting to see if the groups disarm and leave those buildings. the agreement makes clear this has

. >> angela merkel. >> bitter. >> likely the most telling - take a look at how he sees russian president vladimir putin, whose soul bush once said he could see. >> it's not a friendly painting. he seems to have changed his mind. wherever he saw, he was wrong. >> started with a self-portrait. >> he turned the art op himself. >> is that confidence. >> i think so. >> neck fat. >> neck fat - will dot date >> there's a big proportion of neck fat. >> it's real. >> takes confidence for any artist to expose work to the crit. this is a former president who has more than a few of those, and could be seen as bush responding. >> he's been reluctant to make a statement about his administration. like the rest of the world he's wrestling with what it meant. >> is he painting or sending a message. people will likely be polarized in their opinions. >> now, a salvadorian fisherman who claimed to be lost at sea for 13 months passed a lie detect yore test. he claims to have survived on turtle blood, fish and birds he caught with his bare hands. >> too many americans have been out of work for too long. there

president putin also gave the civil war warning to the german chancellor, angela merkel.ports from eastern ukraine say armed men have entered the city council building here in the mining center of donetsk which it's reported they now control. the tense standoff in kramatorsk there between ukrainian troops and armed pro-russian separatists. there are similar tensions in slovyansk and in up to ten towns and cities across the east of the country pr pro-russian groups continue to occupy some government buildings. what's happened in kramatorsk. the military airfield is under ukrainian control. that's after it was retaken from re-russian separatists. a convy of ukrainian armored vehicles has also entered the city only to be blocked by locals. the bbc's james reynolds is there in kramatorsk. >> reporter: this is a very unusual situation in kramatorsk. there are six ukrainian armored vehicles in a convoy. have a look at this here. and they've been stopped. they can't move forward because just over there, you may be able to see a green bus. that green bus has been put here by loca

he has angela merkel washington at some point.r words, she is willing to take pain to her economy. american consumers will have to take pain in terms of energy prices. this will tak con seniority effort. >> -- this will take a concerted effort. >> we have it all on videotape. thank you, guys. next on the rundown race carted a huge factor. ben carson on that. both barack obama and attorney general holder have greatly benefited from their skin color. very provocative. factor will be right back. (mom) when our little girl was born, we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word. (little girl) no! saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. what? (announcer) the 2015 subaru forester (girl) what? (announcer) built to be there for your family. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so

according to the office of german chancellor angela merkel, russian president vladimir putin has ordered withdrawal of forces. ukrainian officials call it a repositioning. u.s. officials say russia could have up to 40,000 troops on that border. >>> at least six people are dead after an explosion in nairobi. it happened in a largely somali neighborhood. there's been no claim of responsibility. past attacks in that area have been blimed on al shabaab militants. >>> let's get latest now on the investigation of flight 370 and we turn to jim clancy live in kuala lumpur. jim, we understand you have to transcript from the cockpit of flight 370. how much of that have you got there? >> reporter: we've got the entire transcript from a government source highly placed that wishes to remain anonymous at this time. it is the full transcript between the tower, air traffic control in kuala lumpur and the pilots of flight mh-370. i can tell you that it is a complete version of this, there's three pages of it and it ends at 1:19:29 on the morning of march 8 saying "good night malaysian 370." that coming f

the comparison went too far for chancellor angela merkel.he distanced herself from her minister's comments. moscow is incensed and told their ambassadors so. foreign minister sergei lavrov called for a more moderate tone. >> now is not the time for exaggerated rhetoric, not at a time when we're trying to de-escalate tensions. this language is over the top and must be toned down. it is evident that some people have lost all sense of reality. >> but the russian foreign ministry's rhetoric is hardly subdued. it says wolfgang schÄuble's comments are pseudo-historic references and the gross manipulation of historical facts. >> israel says it will not release 26 palestinian prisoners as part of confidence building measures aimed at peace talks. >> the announcement came thursday, with israel hauling it -- calling it an effort for palestinians to get notice from the united nations. >> there are signs that the u.s. mediation efforts are close to collapse. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry went ahead with a visit to algeria on thursday. but hi

. >> and angela merkel. >> maybe a bit bitter. >> and russian president, whois soul bush said he could see. >> he's not a friendly pointing. he seemed to have changed his mind. whatever he saw was wrong. >> the former president turned his art on himself. >> i think it is neck fat. >> there's a big prop orgs. >> it's very -- proportion. >> it's very real. >> it takes a certain confidence to expose work. this is a former president who already has a few of those and it could be seen as bush responding in a wap. >> he's reluctant to make a statement about his administration. like the rest of the world i think he's wrestling with what it meant. >> much like his presidency, people will likely be polarized in their opinions. >> now, it's a matter of pride in mongolia that they are the bendiest nation on earth. we have more. >> eight-year-old has dreamed of being a contorsionist like her mother. >> i want to be part of a performance. it looked so glamorous. many other young girls want the same thing. for several hours a day, we learn from one of the greats. teaching these children to contort t

the german chancellor angela merkel was informed about the move in a phone call. >> russia's announcement that some of its troops are withdrawing from the border with ukraine serves lightly to less intentions. these ukrainian soldiers parading in front of the acting president will stay op their guard, the crisis is not over yet. we are ready for negotiations but freeing crimea will be the main issue. >> for ukraine that is increasingly unlikely. russia's p.m. was in crimea, promising to raise pensions and salaries. a fundamental decision has been taken to increase pensions with the help of an additional payment. it has been agreed by me, it's the strongest signal of the pence. it's russian now. it was called a crude violation but can do nothing about it. cause for concern among those that fought for the down fall. and those looking at the embattled square. i don't know what to tell you about the future. it depends on the government. the fact that crimea was taken away from us was not a success. >> are you concerned about your country's relationship with russia? >> translation: russians ar

meeting with her polish counterpart, german chairman angela merkel said russia is not doing enough to de-escalate the crisis. >> i am absolutely convinced that russia has the power or could have the power to get the ukrainest and eastern to join a peaceful process of dialogue and reparation for elections but so far moscow has not even given those signals. russian economy is already suffering from the sanctions that have been imposed. now the pressure looks set to increase. >> moving onto other news, slovenia's governing coalition is on the brink of collapse after just 13 months in office. members of the ruling positive slovenia party have voted to oust the prime minister and replace her with the party founder. to hand in her resignation. coalition partners say they government led by the party leader. they are calling for new elections. hundreds of thousands of doldrums are making their way to rome to witness the historic -- athletic pilgrims -- catholic pilgrims are making their way to rome to witness the historic canonization of two saints. >> anticipation is building in rome and so

secretary ban ki-moon and several governmental officials are in attendance including chancellor angela merkel>> the issues facing the summit are as diverse as the continents themselves. economic relationships, immigration, and security. european leaders and their counterparts from africa have much to discuss, but on day one in brussels, the focus was on war-torn central african republic. france already has soldiers in the country trying to restore security. another 1000 soldiers from other eu countries are expected to arrive by may. germany will provide financial and logistical support. >> germany will provide strategic air transport as well as traditional development aid, which is of vital importance to the country. the same goes for somalia and other countries. >> economic issues are also on the agenda. africa's economies are growing rapidly, and europeans want some of the action, but they face stiff competition from countries like china and the u.s. african leaders are aware of their new bargaining prowess. >> we have grown stronger and stronger in terms of economic development and also in

angela merkel has been speaking by telephone to the russian president to voice a great concern over the situation and also to urge the implementation of a deal that was signed in geneva. the ukrainian prime minister accused moscow of trying to start a third world war. >> ukrainian special forces set up checkpoints a few kilometers from slaviansk. they know look poised to retake the town. a few kilometers down the road, militants manning their own say they will not be scared off. >> the kiev government is a game. they are sending troops to exterminate their own people. i want to bloody the peaceful people. that is why we will stay here and fight for justice. >> a france 24 so heavily armed -- team saw heavily armed troops just a kilometer away from the border. the acting president has said russia wants to start world war iii. >> it is clear that russia wants to wreck the elections so that ukraine will not have a legally elected president. and second, to remove the pro-western ukrainian government and third to occupy ukraine militarily as well as [indiscernible] >> the local press had a d

president vladimir putin was speaking with the german chancellor angela merkel yesterday, tuesday, and was talking about ukraine being on the edge, he said, of civil war. that message was early in the day reinforced by the prime minister dmitry medvedev. those warnings are seen outside - certainly outside russia as more than slightly disingenuous because russia is seen as the prime mover in presenting and pushing the violence in the eastern - in the eastern ukraine. kiev had a very difficult, agonising decision. what basically to do in the face of it. do they move resolutely against the pro-russian backed separatists in the east of the country, risking blooded shed and risking, of course, a major incursion by more than 40,000 russian troops that are still on the border. or do they do nothing. dithering, and watching parts of eastern ukraine sliding out of their control. it was a difficult decision for the president to commit to the so-called all-out anti-terrorist operation. >> at this time, of course, it's a time of huge volatility. talks are scheduled for thursday. 4-way talks includ

this is something that, as you said, german chancellor angela merkel told the president that vladimirre. >> and jonathan, the secretary also mentioned very strongly that they were anti-cement inc., threats that there were calls in one area from the pro-russian militia reportedly, where an area that was controlled by the russians and the administration building to -- for jews to self-identify or else. and he said in this day and able, after this march of history, that is not only intolerable it is grotesque, also saying that other threats against russian orthodox that were reported bayou cranian orthodox were also intolerable. more to come as we try to see the world in this easter and passover season. it is not a happy place at all. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." stay tuned to msnbc for much more on this and other stories. tomorrow on the show, former aol ceo steve case. and my colleague, ronan farrow is next with "ronan farrow daily." stay tuned. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu c

that's the view of german chancellor angela merkel, the polish prime minister, and all the g-7 leaders. they've agreed on a new round of sanctions to up the pressure on moscow. >> i'm convinced that russia has the option or could have the option of getting the separatists in eastern ukraine to join a peaceful process of constitutional dialogue and separation for elections, but so far moscow has unfortunately not given those signals. >> but it's not yet clear what form the new sanctions will take. merkel favors expanding the assets freezes already imposed on vladimir putin's inner sir welcome but the u.s. wants more. while continuing his tour of asia, president barack obama called for tougher economic sanctions on russia. >> what's also important is laying the ground work so that if and when we see even greater escalation, perhaps even military incursion by russia into ukraine, that we're prepared for the sort of sanctions that would have even larger consequences. >> russia's economy has already been affected by the existing sanctions. now moscow faces added pressure. >> now, hundreds o

angela merkel has been harder towards russia than her constituents.ill be difficult to get the germans to go along. but if we see aggressive action on the part of moscow, there would be a rallying around sanctions in europe and in the united states. the tricky part, though, is that if russia continues to play the role that it is, and the situation in eastern ukraine continues to be unstable, what will be the triggering event that would allow the u.s. to rally the europeans to impose new sanctions against russia? >> so right now that trigger event is troops crossing the border? >> we don't know what it is. part of the bargaining that's going on is trying to let the russians guess, what would be the kind of activities that would invoke sanctions? >> all right, tim frye from columbia university, thanks so much. >> thank you. ♪ >> now to our signature segment, a report released this week says americans spend more than $300 billion a year on prescription drugs, about a thousand dollars per person. some of the most expensive are medications known as bioloji

. >> in berlin, chancellor angela merkel has been reading -- meeting with regional politicians to discuss the country's energy policies. energy prices have been rising due to a decision to switch away from nuclear and conventional power generation to renewable sources. the german government is trying to balance the cost of promoting renewable and at the same time keep energy prices from rising further. environmentalists charge the government is abandoning its commitment to green energy while the states and industry worry that rising costs could hurt the economy. our chief political correspondent is here for us at our parliamentary studios. gabriel is known as germany's super minister because he holds two portfolios. how is he performing? super in any way? >> certainly, he did not come out of this evening's energy summit, as it was being built, looking all that super. he wound up somewhere in the middle, squeezed between consumers who at the moment they're the largest share of the 20 billion euro a year cost for this switch away from fossil fuels and nuclear to renewables. we have very lar

president barack obama told chancellor angela merkel the west must prepare to impose more sanctions onoscow if russian actions in the region escalate. >> this as satellite images appear to show large numbers of russian forces massed near ukraine's border. nato's chief says russian troops near the border are not training as moscow claims but are ready for combat. rasmussen and the u.s. estimate up to 40,000 russian troops are there. >>> now with russia threatening to cut off ukraine's natural gas and with thousands of russian forces massed on its border, ukraine has another problem. heavily armed official offing two cities. >> ukraine is offering amnesty if they'll walk away, but they have other demand. nick paton walsh takes us inside the barricade. >> reporter: outside the security services building, you don't see much people power. that's because the people in charge here, dozens of armed men, some army veterans, well dug in aren't using crowds to make their point. fearing an attack by police, they limit what we can film. but there are gunmen lining every corridor. two nights ago, uk

. >> putin phoned german chancellor angela merkel. he told her personally of the withdrawal plan. analysts say the pullout affects only a portion of troops. they say tens of thousands of russian forces will remain in place along the ukrainian border. >>> u.n. military commanders stationed in south korea are hoping to ease tensions on the peninsula. they've called on officials from north korea to sit down for talks. the move comes after the two koreas exchanged artillery fire across the disputed maritime border. north korean forces shot more than 500 rockets and other munitions off the west coast of the peninsula as part of a live action military drill. about 100 shells fell on the south korean side of the disputed boundary known as the northern limit line. south korean forces responded by firing 300 rounds. south korea's defense ministry says officials at the u.n. command urged leaders in the north to stop their aggressive action. the u.n. command also proposed holding general level talks. it's unclear if the north replied. >>> officials in seoul say the shelling was a premeditate

good morning angie...it's a packed agenda for president obama and german chancellor angela merkel. the two will meet at the white house on friday. the telegraph reports early this week u.s. and european leaders are expected to reveal an extension to russian sanctions, as the conflict between ukraine and russia escalates. the white house says the sanctions will be targeted on russian individuals and companies. washington has been pushing for tougher economic sanctions on russia, which would have a direct impact on europe. a preliminary report on missing malaysian flight 370 is coming out this week. contents of the report are under wraps, but it's expected to include a safety recommendation for the aviation industry.after nearly two months, the search for the jet has turned up nothing.all leads have hit roadblocks, and a u-s defense official told reuters the search could take years. in today's cover story... college athletes could be one step closer to unionizing... after an historic vote at northwestern university that could allow student athletes to earn more than just thousands of

nations is helping to make progress on trade and security available thompson berlin with chancellor angela merkel expected to discuss how they and other leaders of the group of seven nations can cooperate over the situation in ukraine before reading on the toronto said he wanted to work with european leaders to resolve the crisis peacefully he helps improve security cooperation with the germans be someone calls japan's pro active contribution to peace over the next week. abbott will also visit britain portugal spain france and belgium. the european union added fifteen more people to its sanctions list for their role in the crisis in ukraine they include general valerie dear awesome auntie for the russian general staff and russian deputy prime minister to meet recalls that. eu representatives say the move was in response to russia's failure to take concrete action to reduce tensions in ukraine. also on the list is danny's push allin of pro russian leader in ukraine's eastern region of donetsk it's believed he has contacts with the group occupying local government offices that the new. and the unit

germany says that russian president vladimir putin told chancellor angela merkel in a phone call todayt he is pulling back some russian troops from its border with ukraine. the state department says that if the report is accurate, it's a welcome step. and general motors is recalling 1.3 million vehicles including some chevy malibus. meanwhile, gm's new ceo testified before congress. anderson? >>> thanks for watching. our coverage continues next with cnn international. >> the search and recovery operation is probably the most challenging one i have ever seen. >>> officials speak out about the enormous task of combing the cease for the missing malaysian airliner. we are live from perth australia. >>> and we'll take you to kuala lumpur where new questions are being asked about the plane's flight path just before it disappeared. >>> and russia appears to be pulling some troops away from its western border, but the ukrainian military isn't taking any chances. >> the military have been pulling up armored vehiclend