german chancellor merkel says doing that is going to increase fighting. we'll hear from them in a news conference coming up in just a few minutes where they could announce new plans. some u.s. lawmakers think there is no way around arming the ukrainian military right now and angela merkel thinks that could force the u.s. to get more deeply involved. >> putin does not want a diplomatic solution. he wants to dominate ukraine as well as russia's other neighbors. he may make tactical compromises here or there but just as a prelude to further aggression. mark my words. >> there is no military solution. the solution is a political diplomatic one but president putin's got to make the decision to take an off-ramp and we have to make it clear to him that we're absolutely committed to the sovereignty and integrity of ukraine no matter what. >> want to bring in the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. ambassador thanks so much for being with us. we know where you stand on this. you support -- you have written a paper supporting providing defensive lethal weapons. anti

angela merkel is heading to the white house next week. coming up bilateral talks with president obama. and a look at germany's growing presence on the world stage. >>> details on where the storm on the west coast is heading. heading. >> welcome back. german chancellor angela merkel is playing host to the annual munich security conference. tonight we take a deeper look at germany its position in europe and its growing role in european affairs. we begin with mike viqueria, previewing next week's talks. >> thomas, with all these issues on the table whenever the two meet the issue is ukraine now it's taken on a new urgency. angela merkel meets with president obama fresh off her high profile trip to moscow where she and french president francois hollande met with vladimir putin in an effort to defuse the escalating conflict in ukraine. after dismissing a strategy of providing ukraine with lethal military aid mr. obama is now considering reversing course but merkel and other european allies are against it. they fear a situation out of control i

i want to talk more about merkel as a leader. economically ms. raymond one of the largest gdps 3.6 trillion if i understand correctly. >> germany has had did discipline when europe was doing well they did their major restructuring. then we came into a pretty severe crisis from 2008 on wards to be amplified in 2010 by greece. german structural integrity is intact but the southern countries are in crisis and trying to do austerity measures in the midst of a crisis has proven to be somewhat problematic right now. >> several years ago merkel had a lot to say about greece. she's been relatively quiet why so? >> this is the telling part i think. five years ago a greek exit was unfathomable. she was very clear that was a situation they would not tolerate. now they are quiet about it because if the situation gets worse and they do not up honored austerity measures, there is an exit strategy now. they are much more willing to let that occur than five years ago. the greek leadership is misreading the situation thinking that that won't be allowed. >> there'

merkel. even see the silence.ersation. >> the problem is you have this old power three heads of state meeting. what you have going on in the eastern ukraine is not the west failing id of the world. who knows this is the kind of aggression it is difficult to counter because he can still maintain plausible deniability. >> why should he stop his method? >> the peace plan that chancellor merkel is going to president obama with looks like exactly what -- >> there are sanctioned meetings today. >> we keep going back to the munich security conference. poroshenko held up russian passports taken up what he says were russian soldiers operating in ukraine. this is russia against ukraine. >> we will have much more through the morning. he bomb host -- president obama hosts chancellor merkel. stay with us. ♪ >> our question of the day, what should companies be doing with their cash? it is -- snarky answers morning. our audience. we say good morning. a olivia sterns and brendan greeley with us this morning. top headlines from ar

schauble and later on with miss merkel and find a way. >> mr. tsipras would like to get to be forgiven or restructured. what kind of message would give to other countries that are indebted with financial problems, like spain and to go? could not -- spain and portugal? could not the whole eurozone unravel? >> we have a similar situation in spain. there are strong horses -- forces in the political landscape. we will have elections there too. we have to change it. it is the premise they get to their voters. i think it is -- it is the promise they gave to their voters. i think it is the right thing to do. >> is this reason party -- the syriza party in coalition with the far right party? they disagree on anti-austerity measures. how do you explain that? >> it is a very complicated thing. in our party, we are not very comfortable with it. if you look at the results of the last elections, there was no other alternative. even the past, they made a coalition in 2011 with a much more right-wing party. for me it is important what will be the outcome of the

merkel gave a very strong speech not to arm ukraine.ine but didn't specifically say to arm ukraine. john kerry came on "meet the press" and said there are no differences but there are profound differences between the german and the french on the one hand and the u.s. option pushed very hard by senator mccain and others who had been in munich as well this weekend to arm ukraine with defensive weapons. >> that's right, andrea we're really at a critical moment in the relationship. if you look at the history of the u.s. and e.u. on this issue, it's been one of unity under very difficult conditions. the germans went along with the plant plan to ratchet up sanctions, this was difficult for angela merkel to do in germany. now for the first time we see real daylight between them. i think this meeting will be all about how you reconcile these two positions that are very fundamentally different. she wants to continue

andalon -- as merkel and hollande meet in moscow.ted to bring you jeffrey rosenberg from black rock and alan krueger from princeton university. it is the myth and measurement of this job stay. jeffrey rosenberg, let me start with you. what do we know for certain about the myth and measurement of labor? jeffrey: average 200,000 jobs created every month. this is a jobs market that is creating jobs. what we are concerned about -- what we are confused about is whether it is creating wages. tom: beautifully said. alan, this goes to the idea of the myths out there. is it one america, or as you said, there are two job economies? alan: we have the divergence in the last 30 years and he just economy, and that is not going to turn around overnight. when we get back to full in plymouth, we will see stronger wage growth. we are seeing hints of that. there was a lot of question about what happened with hourly wages, so i will be focused on a winning numbers come out this month. olivia: how significant is today's jobs report? does a big beat miss

merkel has taken a tough line in public, she has told mr. putin privately that she won't oppose the was line if mr. obama opts to send weapons to ukraine. vice president joe biden said he supported arming ukraine. mr. obama has yet to make a decision, according to officials, and plans to wait to talk to ms. merkel." that happening this morning in washington. they will go before the cameras at 11:40 a.m. eastern time and we will have live coverage on c-span so tune in. darrell, missouri, democratic caller. caller: yeah, i'm totally against arming the ukraine. we've got to understand that we spent $5 billion to destabilize ukraine and get rid of the elected government to put this guy that is in there now in their. we did that. this is our thing. i don't how we can sit up here in the media can listen to us blaming russia for something that we went in there and did. now we want to arm them? come on, how many more countries are we going to bomb? host: all right, dental. tom in minnesota, democratic caller. caller: yes, good morning. i'm very much

chancellor merkel? stuart: i'm going to break as we wait hearing from angela merkel.essman scott garrett is with me. the president stressed diplomatic, nothing new, nothing strong from the president. your take please. >> i take as a couple, one what we heard from this, the russians in aggression is a threat to the stability of the region. so too after listening to the speech, that the administration's lack of coherent policy in the area also is a threat to stability in the region. for example, one of the strongest pushbacks is in the field, we talked about this before, energy. i caught a quick note about it something about pushing forward, but limitations on environment gases greenhouse gases, coal-fired plants. shouldn't we be doing to make europe everything at this point in time a stable and independent with regard to direction. stuart: climate change is one of the first things the president mentioned along with trade agreement, looking at greece and then climate change. got to do that. >> you took the notes. seems the problem the administration, a, not a coherent p

the question is, what do angela merkel and francois hollande do next? we will have to watch the press conference to see whether they have any dance -- plans or whether they will wait to see if things calmed down after debaltseve. perhaps they will simply keep on insisting that everyone on her this unraveling peace accord -- everyone honor this unraveling peace accord. annette: armen georgian, thank you. fighting continues in eastern ukraine. all sides are still insisting they support the cease-fire, despite a number of violations. kiev says the rebels have shelled ukrainian positions more than 50 times in the last 24 hours alone. oliver farry has more. oliver: pro-russian separatists put on display their prisoners ukrainian troops captured during the battle for debaltseve, a transport hub located between donetsk and -- a total of 90 troops were taken prisoner when debaltseve fell to the rebels on wednesday, and many others are still missing. russia's prime minister dmitry medvedev -- ngf, ukrainian president accused separatists -- and he have -- in kiev

merkel clearly has her position staked out. thing both sides made a point of saying is they are going to work through their differences. listen to how merkel put it yesterday. >> as to the export of arms i have given you my opinion. you may rest assure no matter what we decide, the alliance between the united states and europe will continue to stand and will continue to be solid even though on certain issues we may not always agree. >> guy the term coming out of the white house is they have tactical disagreements but the germans and americans are unified on the idea of increasing the costs for the russians if aggressions continue as the ukrainians are alleging. the minceing agreement -- minsk agreement is in name only. not just a humanitarian not just a military crisis but there is a economic crisis inside the ukraine. they have a $17 billion loan. they are going to need an additional $15 billion. in the coming days, they face a cash crunch as well. guy? guy: merkel thinks we're engaging in some shuttle diplomacy here. she is o

i heard angela merkel put it into words. peaceful environment of all of europe is in danger as russia in her words violates the principle of territory integrity. there are people in eastern ukraine, 10 days now, no running water, no heat no electricity and i think you talked earlier about, where would they go? they've been trying to evacuate. many people don't want to leave their homes because they're afraid. >> many are forced out of their homes. >> it's really a disasterrous situation. >> you have 5,000 dead already from this conflict and he said they violated just about every commitment they made, meaning the russians and vladmir putin and she said russia is in violation on two different fronts so they're in agreement on both of those points so why is nothing happening? why is nothing moving forward? why do they continue to pursue language and talking instead of taking action? i think the big elephant in the room there it's iran and it came up at the very end about the deadline at what point would you consider extending t

angela merkel is in washington for talks with president obama. but in brussels in the last few minutes, eu foreign ministers have approved putting visa bans and on asset freezes on more ukrainian ukrainian finances but wait until the 16th another meeting in minsk. more on that coming up. how do i get hotel deals nobody else gets?... i know a guy. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor! i know this guy... konohito... and this guy... who knows a guy. hey guy. i know a guy in new york, vegas, dallas. i've known some guys for decades and some, nice to meet ya, let's deal. my competitors may know a guy, but i know over 60,000 guys. and gals. exclusive hotel deals - up to 60% off...priceline.com you want an advanced degree, but sometimes work can get in the way. now capella university offers flexpath, a revolutionary new program that allows you to earn a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. what makes it an suv is what you can get into it. what makes it an nx is what you can get out of it. introducing the first-eve

merkel for the warm reception. i also extend thanks to the government of germany.here to cement bilateral relations between iraq and germany. our relations are deep rooted in history and today we are a part of the international coalition and so is germany in the face of this. germany has been providing assistance to iraq in terms of intelligence security training and so far there is a solution to provide weapons to iraq to the peshmerga. and it is being provided to the iraqi government in iraq. cementing our relation is very substantial as we are facing the threat of i.s.i.l. it is not only a threat to iraq but it is the entire region and the global security and there is a great deal of cooperation between iraq and germany in terms of intelligence and namely the foreign militants who are representing large number of places and coming from different world countries including germany and crossing from syria into iraq those foreign militants and operatives they are wreaking havoc and killing iraqi infrastructure and iraqi people and i informed america those foreign fi

angela merkel is at the white house this hour. just wrapped up a news conference with president obama where she again pressed for a peaceful regs lugs in ukraine. the u.s. is considering arming ukrainian forces. >> what i've asked my team to do is look at all options, what other means can we put in place to change mr. putin's calculus and the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that's being examined, but i have not made a decision about that yet. i've consulted with not just angela but will be consulting with other allies about the issue. >> translator: as to the export of arms, i have given you my opinion. but you may rest assured that no matter what we decide, the alliance between the united states and europe will continue to stand, will stin to be solid. >> just last week merkel and francois holland met in russia with vladimir putin. with possible emergency summit this wednesday in minsk. >> joining me now chris jansing, senior white house correspondent. what are the significant takeaways out of the

president obama meeting with german chancellor merkel. they are expected to focus most of their time on the crisis going on right now in the ukraine. a peace summit this week and the looming question over whether president obama will begin arming ukraine's military forces. we are awaiting a joint news conference later this hour. let's talk about it with bret baier. wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting? merkel has been talking apparently time and time again with russian leader vladmir putin. so far there's been no sign that vladmir putin is willing to step in and stop the onslaught in the ukraine. merkel doesn't seem to want to arm the ukrainian government the loyalists there. where does president obama stand on all of this? >> i think this meeting is part of that going forward. i think that you're right merkel is the go between with russian president vladmir putin. the negotiations have continued but apparently germany and france have given vladmir putin until wednesday to come up with a blueprint or an overall strate

chancellor merkel. >> translator: i'm delighted to be back in washington. nine months ago, we were here for the last time, and this visit here has a lot to do with, first and foremost, the fact that we have assumed the presidency this year, and that we coordinate on these matters very closely, as we do on others, and obviously we will address issues related to the global economy when we meet in bavaria. in the summer, from a european vantage point, i think we can say we have made significant progress in a number of years. we have countries who are now back on the growth path. ireland comes to mind here in particular, but also spain and portugal after a strong phase of structural reforms. they have now made significant progress. the new commission. the new commissioner has launched a growth program in which germany will participate. we will pin our hopes basically on growth, infrastructure, but also on other growth projects. for example, the digital economy. if i think of the state of the digital economy in the united states, there is a lot of things to be d

angela merkel well aware that the u.s. is to send weapons to ukraine. they feel it could exacerbate the crisis. they hope to reach a diplomatic solution today. it is a sign she understands the seriousness of the situation and that there is a need for a diplomatic solution to be reached sooner rather than later. hopefully we will see process on a peace plan today. >> thank you. over 5000 people have died in the ukrainian conflict. civilians are caught in the middle. ukrainian forces have agreed to allow residents to evacuate. >> the offer was made to cease fighting as of 9:00 a.m. the ukrainian side agreed so the process of evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridor doors will not be -- corridor doors -- corridors will not be interrupted. buses will be parked with signs. residents can decide which direction they want to go. >> the eastern town is a key railway hub. to an ongoing story at of jordan. demonstrations being held for a murder pilot. he was burned alive by islamic state militants. his death has sparked grief and anger. ladainian warp

-- he and the german chancellor, angela merkel would head to kiev today. >> along with angela merkel, i have decided to come up with a new initiative. we believe for kiev early this afternoon and we will put forward a new proposition on how to end the conflict. it will be based upon the principle of territorial integrity for ukraine and we will go and discuss it with president poroshenko today and friday in moscow with the russian president. because time is running out. that way, no one will ever be able to say that france and germany together didn't do all they could to preserve peace. >> "france 24" was at that press conference at the presidential palace, a press conference i believe is still -- that i believe is still going on. international policy was key to the french president today. >> the press conference is just winding down. this was the big change from previous press conferences. generally, most of the questions, especially at the beginning are about domestic policy. today, it was about international affairs. with this surprise announcement of the new initiative by the fre

angela merkel and president hollande are meeting the russian president putin in moscow. the german chancellor and french president are presenting a new peace plan. the meeting comes a day after merkel and hollande meet the ukraine president petro poroshenko in kiev. >> the players are all here, angela merkel and president hollande arrived in moscow, they were whisked straight into the russian capitol straight into a meeting with vladimir putin. vladimir putin has a plan. we know as much, because john kerry said so when he was in kiev on thursday. he said that that plan had been submitted to merkel and hollande by written form and that they had consulted it, looked at it and they have come up with their own counter proposal. it is that which they've brought here to the russian capitol that they are sitting down with putin now to talk about. what these two plans are we don't really know, because there's been little information released about them. two european leaders have said that whatever they are going to discuss with putin involves the territorial integrity of ukraine

and i think angela merkel made that clear as well. >> they did. crystal clear. gloria borger, thank you! >> thanks, brooke. >>> ahead, the parents of the american hostage who isis claims has been killed is making a direct appeal to the terrorist group, as they go through a, quote, living hell. >>> plus we'll speak live with the woman, the domestic abuse survivor who shared the grammy stage with katy perry. hear what happened behind the scenes. >>> and just in, we are getting word that brian williams did an interview with "stars and stripes." hear what the nbc anchor said, next. are you sure you're not ignoring them in your body? even if you're treating your crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. and if you ignore the signs, the more debilitating your symptoms could become. learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis.com. and then speak with your gastroenterologist. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorr

merkel and francois hollande met with john kerry.d america is working to change russia's behavior. >> in greece, they failed to agree on a new plan to deal with debt. meanwhile, the e.c.b. said it will allow the central banks to provide as much as 60 billion euros in emergency funding for the country's lenders. denmark's central bank cut its rate for the fourth time in a year. in an interview with bloomberg, the danish central bank governor said the peg would not be abandoned. >> euro and kronor are very close substitutes. but of course if anyone starts having doubt about the beg peg we will have an issue. we will do whatever it takes. there is no limit and we can go on forever. >> that is fascinating. anyone who has doubts about the peg, then we're going to have an issue. we'll talk about that in a moment. feels like a lot longer than that doesn't it? jonathan ferro is here with more. not a lot of movement in the numbers. >> no. just over 3 billion. could have been up by 100 billion. it gives you an idea how much they would have had

the president met with angela merkel yesterday and will hold off until merkel meets with vladimir putin on wednesday. let's get more now from jim acosta. >> reporter: president obama and merkel tried to show a united front with the violence in ukraine. they looked far apart on the arms to the military. president obama may take his confrontation with vladimir putin to the next level and ship arms to ukraine and fight the pro-russian separatists. >> i asked my team to look at all options. what other means can we put in place to change mr. putin's calculus. the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of the options examined. i have not made a decision about that yet. >> reporter: chancellor merkel is expected to sit down with putin on wednesday to hammer out a peace deal but past attempts have had little effect on putin. in a sign of the internal debate within the administration the president downplayed the help of ukraine to defend itself. asked if he had a red line he had no red line for when russia might go too far. >> big meeting in belarus. russia, ukraine and france and german

president obama meets with german chancellor merkel to discuss how to defuse an escalating crisis. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead this monday, a showdown over states' rights alabama's chief justice clashes with the u-s supreme court on the issue of same sex marriage. >> ifill: the plague of the early front runner, when being out front only makes you a better target, amy walter and nia malika-henderson on positioning for 2016. >> woodruff: plus... >> within the department there were systematic failures. we have good people, and the system has failed them. >> woodruff: ...major overhauls for law enforcement, albuquerque police rethink excessive and lethal use of force during confrontations. >> you can go into these and it's not so much about talking to someone. it could be about, okay, what is this person capable of doing and how can i talk them down or how can i help them with what they are going through. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provi

president obama and angela merkel have made a show of unity on the ukraine. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> president obama said for now there will be no lethal aid for key have -- for kiev. >> they will be joining chocks -- talks with the ukrainian ministers to de-escalate the conflict. >> sanctions against russia were taking their toll and exerting pressure on president vladimir putin. he suggested there were others that can see the damage being done to the russian economy. ukraine could never defeat russia militarily, even with american help. he stuck to his guns on keeping open the option of sending military aid. >> one of those options are being examined. >> and then, they went to see russian president vladimir putin to try to get them to talk pace -- to talk peace. she is looking forward to the meeting with france hollande. we have to put all her efforts into a diplomatic effort to solve the situation. she is still devoted to seeking a diplomatic

what specifically was he asking angela merkel? >> that isn't to the public yet. we don't know exactly. it looks like that offer included substantially more territory for the rebels and greatly increases the autonomy for them western officials described it as frozen conflict along the lines of what we have seen in the former soviet space where russia backs a break away government places, a breakarm region from georgia or trans mistia part of maldova. russia backs separatethrifts not backed by anyone else host: a tweet from the president of russia indicating a phone conversation between angela merkel and president hollande of france and poroshenko of ukraine. so this is the negotiations are still continuing as we speak right now. correct? >> that's right. a phone conversation with the leaders to try to get the parties on the ground if they can get to an outline they would meet in minsk on wednesday. we don't know yet whether that will happen. host: if there is not an agreement, if there is not a cease-fire, then what? >> well, that's it looks like fighting would co

angela merkel meeting face-to-face with president obama in washington. she favors sanctions with russia if vladimir putin does not end fighting in eastern ukraine by wednesday. president obama is facing mounting pressure. our frederik pleitgen is live with the latest. good morning, fred. >> reporter: there are some people who are saying they want these sanctions, obviously, to go forward. one of the things that is going on is a little more optimism here in kiev. because of the telephone call that took place yesterday between vladimir putin, petro poroshenko and angela merkel they managed to map out the system where they wanted to meet in minsk. vladimir putin gave an interview to a newspaper in egypt where he said not all issues have been sorted out. a meeting group meeting in berlin germany, to get issues off the table. the big one is how much territory would the pro-russian separatists keep in ukraine. they have more territory than the last time these people sat together. what about nato membership for ukraine? that is high on russia's general. at this

>> well i think he's going to listen carefully to angela merkel. if he breaks away from her he jumps in and arms the ukrainians and john mccain and others would like him to do that could well drive a wedge deep inside nato and for the president to really begin thinking about arming the ukrainians with lethal weapons requires him also to think about what happens if russia escalates not only there but elsewhere? what else is the united states prepared and willing to do? he has to have those questions answered before he would think about it. i think the president wants to buy time to think about it and not rush into action because he's got enough conflict in enough parts of his plate that it is overwhelming at the moment. this is another case where senator mccain, senator graham and others are calling for quick action and the president is saying, let's study. >> i want to read you part of what angela merkel said over the weekend about the possibility the u.s. sends weapons to ukraine. she wrote, the problem is i can't see any situation in which an imp

merkel has made it clear.o chief general, they do not see a military solution to this issue. it has to be a combination of pressure -- >> because there is a danger of escalating. >> absolutely, and on and on and on and it has to be an escalation of pressure but with opening some doors for mr. vladimir putin to look at. and door number one is the reauthorization of minsk, and i think it will have to provide for ukrainian sovereignty and territoriality, and a certain amount, of course, of autonomy. >> they have not agreed on sanctions. >> vladimir putin is a hard man. deeply dug in. he is now married to his policies, and to some extent, one of the great problems we have in the present situation is there appears to be growing rigidity on both the sides. the president said of course that it was a vladimir putin's aggressiveness that was driving germany and the united states the united states and europe closer together, and i think he is exactly right but we have to find a way of seeing whether there is a diplomati

merkel and hollande announced they will go to kiev. forget nonfarm payrolls, tepid payrolls is front and center. and the changing of the grandchildren guard. time marches on for the royal family. good morning, everyone. this is "bloomberg surveillance." we are live from our world headquarters in new york. it is thursday, february 5. i am tom keene. joining me olivia sterns and brendan greeley, an amazing morning in europe. oliva: we begin this morning in ukraine where intense discussions are about to begin. german chancellor angela merkel and french president francois hollande are heading to kiev. john kerry is heading over there. the main topic -- whether nato and the u.s. should provide lethal weapons to fight pro-russian separatists rebels. ukraine central-bank raised its key discount rate by 5.5 percentage points to 19.5. ukrainian currency has been battered. and a surprising move from the ecb, which announced it is cutting off a key lifeline to greece's banks. the ecb says it will restrict loans. shares of greece bank plummeted. f

3 the relationship with president and angela merkel?ain after the eavesdropping incident? >> no, i think they said quite frankly at the end when the n.s.a. issue was raised, both angela merkel and president obama saiduokñ it had caused some major rifts -- that wasn't their word -- between allies, and many allies didn't quite understand. now the president made a very spirited defense when we're out in seesh space looking for the terrorists -- in cyberspace looking for terrorists they were in new york. i think it's a frank and open relationship. the germans remain upset about the n.s.a. surveillance -- >> ifill: but they're ans actionle virdz. >> exactly and they have to trust one another. >> ifill: interesting. margaret warner, thank you. >> always my ples. whrrk >> woodruff: to the fight over whether gay couples can marry. a federal court last month lifted alabama's ban on same-sex marriage passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2006. but, roy moore, the state supreme court's chief justice, ordered state judges to ignore the federal ruling.

and just the merkel said the same thing. if anything, the germans would like to go that route before the talk of weapons comes back onto the table. the question is whether the president will wait that long and how much time he will give angela merkel to try to get a writ -- a peaceful resolution to this. mark: the president was also asked about the situation in greece -- the chancellor was also estimate the situation in greece. how did she respond? peter: you could see the discomfort in her face and the efforts to walk away from austerity measures in place. she said, listen, if the greeks want to talk, they have to put something on the table to begin negotiations. the basic framework in place now made make the starting point for negotiations. mark: peter, thank you so much. john lipsky is a senior fellow at the johns hopkins senior farm policy institute and a former first deputy managing director for the international monetary fund and he joins me in studio. dr. lipsey, welcome back to bottom line. john: good to be here. mar

angela merkel has promised to use all her power to get president putin to sign a peace plan. let's go live to moscow. you've got president hollande saying he wants not only a ceasefire, but a comprehensive peace agreement as soon as possible and angela merkel saying she doesn't even know if it is possible to get a ceasefire. what kind of reception will they get in moscow? >> when they get here, they were supposed to be arriving about this time, but running slightly late. when they get here, they'll drive straight into moscow and into a meeting with vladimir putin. ellis to what they've got to say and offer a plan of his own. he has submitted that plan to

angela merkel and alon visit moscow with peace in ukraine but can they convince vladimir putin. cost of falling oil prices and how the drop is causing more pain for nigerian consumers. ♪ we begin in jordan where the result to destroy the islamic state of iraq and lavonte is growing stronger and widened campaign against i.s.i.l. carrying out dozens of strikes targeting the group's position and all of this in response to the killing of the pilot muath al-kaseasbeh and let's go live to aman and jordan. so jordan itself carrying out military operations against i.s.i.l., how are ordinary jordanians reacting are they rallying against i.s.i.l. now? >> well this is what we are seeing here adrian in downtown aman, this huge rally with thousands of jordanians supporting and in support of the government, the king and army and the people here are saying muath al-kaseasbeh was killed in a barbaric manner and people say the only positive thing about this horrific murder of muath al-kaseasbeh is jordanians are united and speaking in one voice and are convinced that jordan should have joined ag

good for merkel and francis hollande.orts suggest that merkel and her meetingway president obama came away convinced that he was not for sending weapons, i think that's commendable on the president's part. too often you see the media pushes for action, action being war, when it's a false choice between doing nothing and war. >> you heard them. there are media reports that the white house is preparing legislation allowing them as a last resort to send weapons, this is a slippery slope. the danger of a proxy war is what we have. >> a new cold war. >> we have two nuclear superpowers coming close to each other, head to head, fighting through others. >> that's right. proxy war. it didn't need to come to this and shouldn't. ukraine is more of a strategic interest for russia, what strategic national interest does the united states have. do americans want to fight, send weapons. you followed the money, ukraine, it is estimated, needs $50 billion in short-term economic infusion to be a stable country. >> it has to come from europe

angela merkel and president hollande are peteing russian penalty putin in moscow. they are presenting a new peace plan. the meeting comes a day after merkel and hollande met the ukrainian president poroshenko in kiev. we are live in moscow. any word yet from the meeting? >> what we are hearing from the kremlin is that these three leaders, merkel, and hollande and putin are meeting with each other pretty much head-to-head. there are no advisors, no one else really in the room, maybe an interpreter but they, it is just these three people talking face-to-face. now, they have a plan, or at least hollande and merkel has a plan by the way putin has a plan, as well. we heard that from john kerry. he that said putin had sent this plan to the two european leaders a few days ago. they have been looking at it. they came up with a counter proposal and it's that they have brought here to moscow to discuss with vladimir putin. we know little bit because the details haven't been fully articulated publicly, but we know there are going to be certain areas of discussion, certain ver

merkel does not seem to be biting.he french finance in us -- finance ministers seems to be saying, give them a bridging loan. will it be february were greece runs out of money in the loan erruns to its end? >> take the statements to parliament you are getting over the weekend in greece. they were real fighting-talk-typ e stuff. you are not going to get anything else. this is the first big boilerplate speech after being elected. they are not going to turn around and say we will not stand up to what we said we would do. the european wants to play hardball. they want to make sure greece toes the line. equally they have a vested interest in one greece to stay in the eurozone. a compromise has to be found. it is a very european way, this sort of public debate going on and using the media to have an argument, almost. and then they sit down and eventually come up with some sort of compromise. i think that that is the most likely outcome. but what i would say is that the risks of an accident are starting to go up because as th

chancellor merkel. >> translator: thank you, president barack. i'm delighted to be -- to do with first and foremost the fact that we have assumed the presidency of of this year and that we coordinate on these matters very closely as we do with others and obviously we'll address issues related to the global economy when we met in ba vary ya this summer. from a european vantage point i think we can say that we have made significant progress in a number of areas. we have countries who are now back on the growth path. ireland comes to mind but also spain and portugal after a strong phase of structural reforms they have now made significant progress, the new commissioner that's come in office has launched a growth program in which germany will participate. we will pin our hopes basically on growth and infrastructure but also on other growth projects. for example, the digital economy, the state of the digital economy in the united states. there is a lot of things to be done by the europeans now. i would say that a free trade agreement, the conclusion o

you heard that from angela merkel. so you have all of that a threat to ukraine and the whole region in our allies and yet, well, listen, we have to talk this through, we haven't made a decision on that. i will say that the public disagreement on there, an acknowledge nlt of the disagreement with the germans on arming does seem to indicate that he's at least prepared to make a decision that differs with america's chief ally in the region and that could be significant. >> and she might be prepared to live with it. >> has to be quite frankly. >> exactly. >> very quickly on another important issue that came up in the news conference the negotiations with iran to end its potential for having some sort of nuclear weapon. at the end of march there's a deadline. the president seemed to say they're not going to extend the deadline. but they need a framework agreement by then. he also made it clear he has a serious disagreement right now on the worthiness of these entire negotiations with the prime minister of israel. >> on the

angela merkel and france president hollande plans to fly to kiev. the military alliance is plan to go strengthen its eastern european strengths. we have more. >> in driving snow, john kerry was the first to arrive in kiev thursday offering u.s. support to ukraine and warnings to russia. >> we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from russia and coming into ukraine. we can't close our eyes to russian fighters in unmarked uniforms crossing the border and leading individual companies of so-called separatists in battle. >> he'll be followed later by the leaders of france and germany, president hollande and angela merkel. >> we will present a new policial to resolve the conflict based on the territorial integrity of ukraine and we will discuss it with president poroshenko today and on friday in moscow with the russian president, because time is of the essence. >> this latest flurry of diplomatic activity reflection growing awarm at the escalating of fighting in eastern ukraine and belief that russia is fueling it. as nato headquart

president obama is cities undecided as german chancellor angela merkel pushes for a diplomatic solution. >>> hello there i'm felicity barr you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, nigeria says allied forces will destroy all of boko haram camps within six weeks but the rebels vow to fight on. funerals are held for some of the victims of a deadly stampede outside a cairo football stadium. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and tell you why the biggest award ceremony in music wasn't all just song and dance. >> hello. u.s. president barack obama says he hasn't decided whether to supply ukraine ukrainian forces in the battle. germany differs from u.s. in four minister in brussels, the key message there key measures against russia should be delayed. while the violence continues to escalate russian backed rebels have attacked more than 11 niems 24timesin the last 24 hours. allen, president obama isn't showing any inclination doing it any time soon is he? >> he thinks he wants to give the diplomatic measures put forbid by angela merkel and francois hollande time to catch on. the ministers will meet i

but today as president obama and chancellor merkel spoke standing side by side at the white house we heard a softened message. here they were. >> as to the export of arms i have given you my opinion, but you may rest assure that no matter what we decide, the alliance between the united states and europe will continue to stand. the french president and i have decided to make one further attempt to make progress through a diplomatic means. >> i have not made a decision about that yet. i've consulted with not just angela, but will be consulting with other allies about this issue. it's not based on the idea that ukraine could defeat a russian army that was determined. it is rather to see whether or not there are additional things we canbo doí- to help ukraine bolster its5!s mphasize that a decision has not yet been made. >> let's go to donetsk, ukraine,<;cc on the phone with me is our senior international r0Ñ#1 , he has yet to make a decision asv pñ whether or not the u.s. will arm these+ c ukrainian soldiers. you know, when we heard from chancellor angela merkel today she said you kno

right now at the white house german chancellor angela merkel is meeting with president obama.he president not to provide arms to ukraine's government for fear russia would respond by escalating the crisis. in the meantime merkel and the president of france plan to meet on wednesday with officials from ukraine and from russia. they are hoping to broker a peace deal but could decide to expand sanctions on russia as well to apply additional pressure. so let's get the view from eastern ukraine this morning. cnn's nick paton walsh is in donetsk. hi nick. >> reporter: carol, while i'm talking you may hear what we've been hearing for days the constant thud of shelling hitting around donetsk. we are traveled to the northeast of this town towards the areas where the separatists are pushing forward with some success and through one town they went through massive devastation there. buildings are torn in two. apartment blocks with massive holes. people coming back some for the first time to collect what little of their possessions there were and others fleeing for the first time. the road

>> are their points of agreement between merkel and obama?esident certainly respects her views. he is going to listen carefully to what she says about the progress she has made with vladimir putin. he is under intense pressure from members of congress, for some in his home -- in his own and ministration think this is the right thing to do. >> he knows what she is going to have to say. the president and his advisers have weighed this heavily. are they really going to change course now? >> there are still some options at this point. there is the prospect of tougher economic state -- economic sanctions. there is also the possibility the president could dangle idea -- dangle the idea of arms down the roads were ukrainians. >> thank you for giving us the latest outside the white house. i want to stay on ukraine. he is russia's analyst at the eurasia group. you spent your career talking about vladimir putin. help us understand what she is looking during this process. >> i think the recent flurry of diplomacy is -- of diplomacy is the last chance fo

we will be hearing from angela merkel the german chancellor, later in brussels. we can expect the eu leaders here at 28 heads of state and government to cautiously welcomed the minsk agreements, but of course we are well aware that angela merkel and francois hollande are already managing exit stations, emphasizing that this is not a breakthrough. one official i spoke to yesterday was telling me very early litmus test if this deal is signed, which it now has been, would be a cease-fire, whether a cease-fire actually holds. of course european leaders are very aware of the fact that after the first minsk agreements was signed in september, that cease-fire did not hold. so there is plenty of room for pacifism here, but at the very least, eu leaders might be able to say in the short-term to the united states, hold off on arming ukraine and let's give this diplomatic push a more details. >> armen where has this minsk deal left sanctions on russia/ ? >> will at the last meeting of eu foreign ministers here, a list was drawn up of 19 individuals and companies that are in

for president obama and chancellor merkel they'll be talking about an eu/u.s.eated, would be the world's largest free trading book. so there's plenty on the agenda. >> bbc news washington. >>> closing arguments are being held today on the trial of the captain of the "costa concordia" cruise liner. he's accused of causing the death of 32 people when the ship hit rocks off the coast in 2012. he's also accused of abandoning the luxury liners when many of the passengers and crew remained on board. the italian prosecutor has asked the court to sentence him to more than 26 years in prison for his role in the disaster. a verdict is expected this week. >>> in the africa cup of nations, ivory coast is beating ghana in a thrilling penalty shoot-out. the elephants picked up just their second win ever in africa's premiere competition. the final was decided in a mammoth shoot-out, it involves 25 penalties and it was barry who ended up as the hero. he converted the winning spot kick. >> translator: today, it was superb. we should congratulate our goalkeeper, because he had s

it indicates german chancellor merkel is downbeat? >> guest: she has just been to moscow where she met directly with president putin. they are trying to identify some sort of cease-fire that would satisfy russian and ukrainian demands and it's a very difficult situation because the facts keep changing on the ground. so whether chancellor merkel was able to persuade president putin that now is the time to stop the fighting, we just don't know. >> host: this is coming when the u.s. leaders are urging the u.s. military to provide lethal assistance to those ukrainian forces. >> guest: there is growing demand in the u.s. congress to increase the military assistance to ukraine. this would most likely escalate the crisis and it's been greeted in europe at least with demands that we not send lethal weapons because the europeans fear that this will escalate the crisis >> host: tomorrow, the german chancellor will meet with the president. what do you think the two will be focusing on? >> guest: trying to finds some means to negotiate a cease-fi

he sent that plan to merkel and hollande a few days ago. john kerry said as much thursday. they have had a look at the plan and come up with a counter proposal. that's what they've brought here and are talking about at this moment. it is a plan based on the minsk agreement and will range numerous thorny issues. the three main ones are where to draw the line in terms of territory, where the front line is now, is that going to be the demarcation line and what kind of autonomy is going to be granted to the separatists and what is going to happen with the russian-ukrainian border. it is that membrane by which arms and men have been coming across from russia. these are difficult issues and angela merkel going into the attacks said that she wasn't entirely convinced that there would be any dramatic progress coming out of this session alone. it might take more negotiation. >> thank you. >> the united states revealed its new national security strategy involving pushing for more international pressure on isil and russia. it details four ways the obama government plan to say tackle t