america correspondent out of canada alex mahela bit the host of the big picture holland cook r.t. america correspondent rachel blevins and our 2 americas sports producer jim thank you all 4 of you for coming i actually want to start with you alex because you do not reside here in the u.s. so you actually have a very i'm always curious to get that outsider's perspective whatever we have these debates what is your take on this round of the debates featuring the democratic candidates for president. i think harrison bodies everything that's wrong with the united states when it comes to politics not only from the democratic but from the republican side and when you look at somebody that's all about party it's all about the democratic party look what gabbert saying about the democratic party she's putting party before the people of the united states of america that in itself is disgusting and then the accusations against gaghan scabbard a person who actually served in the military a purse. it was actually trying to bring peace to the world and it just you're seeing the motion this the m

more on this i'm now joined by chief political editor she is in delhi following a visit good to see mahela german and indian leaders have met regularly in recent years so what's special about this one. well the special thing about is that she's brought part of her cabinet also including the foreign minister here and these government consultations as they're called were set up just shortly after germany started consultations with india there was a strong feeling that both countries should be on a par when it comes to thinking about future relationships also particularly in terms of trade but having said that germany feels that this is a quite a way to go to actually find enough common ground here with india to have something like a free trade agreement with the european union that something germany is very keen on and also this is the kind of big picture stuff but also the agriculture minister here as well she wants to talk about things like farming and safety standards picky when it comes to instance for food stuff that is being exported to the european union so it's from the small detail

and data is chief political editor mahela kirsner has been following the celebrations for us at the brandenburg gate. first live in germany eastern where celebrate 30 years in the fold of the fallen who are here at the brandenburg gate in this should be built to symbolize the power of crosses in the now and over the past decade has gone from being the symbol of the bold move when they so when the also park faced off to becoming the symbol of german reunification a lot of fans a lot of good formants is this evening but in between also the mess is that east germans need more of a say in where germany or unification is truly going politicians here like followers may. also reminding that experiencing the freedom east to west germany today also means taking response ability for the freedom of the future. so those spectacular celebrations mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall but let's turn the clock back 30 years now and see what actually happened on that night the change the history of the world. the world must go what had seemed unimaginable became true on november 9th 1989. after 28 y

they don't need to change political editor editor mahela has been covering the party conference and sent us this assessment thank you do you want to become more professional more stable more mainstream its new leadership team of old and new the professor from the west more tune into local power from the east these 2 leaders will be able to deliver that to a certain degree the hope is that the a of d. come the general elections and 2021 or early could be seen as a viable coalition option although the big tent parties rule that out for now but the very fact that john the leader of the extreme right wing of the 50 welcomes both new leaders suggest that he too thinks that the extreme right can build a political home in the a f d so overall this could once again be a further shifts to the right. turning now to some of the other stories making news around the world thousands of anti-government protesters in iraq are keeping up the pressure and day after prime minister abdul abdul mahdi announced his resignation they say is departure is not enough and a calling for sweeping reforms and an end t

political editor nick elocution is standing by for us at the german parliament in berlin good to see mahela what else did the chancellor have to say what was have message. well her message was 1st of all and that's how she started a pledge towards nato she said that the security of europe depended even more on nato today than it did during the cold war she also struck a very very much a foreign policy tone she was very much focused on germany's outlook on the world and she basically said that germany's wealth in the future will depend on 2 factors how it responds to climate change and how it responds and embraces digitalisation she also set a very new tone looking at africa there germany is involved in supporting states in this our whole regency said that that was an essential issue also a stabilizing live year but with a view to those african states as she said that germany will also have to think about providing more than training to bolster security meaning of course the export of arms and that is something that will be very difficult to do with the current coalition partner the social d

party congress mahela at the c.d.u. members won't be electing a new leader at this conference so what concrete threats then is on the gate come about our face in their lives. absolutely there is no leadership question on the agenda but the question is how far will. the adversary. go at this party conference he announced that he would be holding a speech when really he's an ordinary delegate he will get the chance to speak and we got a real sense here that everybody will be very careful to give him the space of the time that he wants to have with everybody watching every word he says whether it's an attack. who's been struggling in the opinion polls who failed to turn around the downward trend of the c.d.u. and foolish. brands him self as the one who can bring that cif a conservative back much stronger than if you'd come though he is losing traction here because many delegates i spoke to are also simply getting annoyed with what could become an internal simmering leadership debate with elections technically still 2 years