On as the European Parliament debates the future of the bloc. Im sumi so much going to thank you for joining us catalonia is newly elected parliament is about to meet for the First Time Since december his election separatist parties won those elections and should have the necessary votes to nominate a separatist president but their favorite candidate. Remains in selfimposed exile in belgium where he is avoiding charges of rebellion and sedition thousands of Catalan Independence supporters took to the streets of barcelona last night calling for the release of independence leaders in custody for the past three months. Lets bring in journalist Stephen Bergen who joins us for more on the story from barcelona hi stephen as we said there the average leader carlos pushed him on his a selfimposed exile in belgium does that mean he essentially cannot take part well these are all questions that are never really that handlebar you know the constitutional lawyers before the lawyers that represent the tassel in Parliament Say he cannot become president via a video link up that he has to physically be present in the parliament now if he sets foot on spanish soil he will immediately arrest and almost certainly put in preventive custody which opens that he doesnt want. But at the moment theres an only one candidate is being presented as a person and that is tomorrow and it remains to be seen whether or not what will happen next if it is if it becomes clear that he cannot legally that become president without attorney are concerned then the question is will it will his party put up a Second Chance at that moment that is not clear where does all of this leave the catalonians Pro Independence wolf and what we see more confrontations with madrid. Well the general trend is that people are the in both push to multiparty or scare republicans not backing away from confrontation which is only led to a lot of grief people taking in prison i can only hardship for people in general here and so the general mood is to back away from confrontation and to go for dialogue how to push the model is not in the mood at all he says you know we hes even created a web site a republican the republicans counseling you know which was declared in october which hasnt been recognized by anyone and today hes issued a video which mixes up images of Police Violence on october first during the referendum in trying to live here with images of Hitler Franco and spanish Prime Minister mariano horror so he clearly is not over say thats a majority. What are we going to see madrid do here is it possible that after its hardline stance they could actually change tack. I think first madrid wants to see apollo start listen to what the study and look and then counsel and you can then revert to its really its regional autonomy which it lost in october and i think you know the smart thing for both the Spanish Government and everyone else would be to agree to. Have talks about reforming the constitution this will take the heat out of everything and quickly but you know some sort of talks can be prolonged three years keep a lot of people occupier and avoid confrontation correspondent Stephen Bergen for us in barcelona stephen a thank you very much for that analysis. Of care. Now a Hong Kong Court has sentenced prodemocracy activist joshua wang to three months in jail one was found guilty of contempt of court relating to his role in the two thousand and fourteen prodemocracy Umbrella Movement street demonstrations it is a second time he has been imprisoned over the rallies he pleaded guilty to the firing in order to leave a protest camp. And we can cross over to correspondent from hong kong for more on this story florence good to see you why is joshua wang being jailed for a second time well of calderons through really pain and would you also question to if you are the cool to its very clear east sixteen activists mall which joshua ignored a cool injection back in november twenty fourth jena does happen when the police decided to actively dismantle one of the protest sites in one coke that had been occupied for weeks by thousands of her Peaceful Protesters start often now seamless Umbrella Movement will judge you and you down to judgment qualified joshua involvement on the day as d. D. And extensive interesting to note that the judge handed out an even more severe jail term to a lesser known activists russell wont reach since the message somehow that just show is not specifically some get it and maybe hes just being the price for what he did according to those who do you know the defendants in the same incident they received suspended sentences as they were found lessons will now of course if you are joshua you will see that this announced political persecution and that the government and police are using the courts to basically discourage young people like him to take part in such events and to become politically engaged already ahead of todays hearing a he actually gave a brief but defiant statement lets listen to what he said. They have our voting but they caught our eye well enough to know it is different we need to face a president that has a president going out to fight for democracy and everywhere right here. So joshua wang saying there clearly they will continue to fight for democracy is that going to be possible if most of this Movement Leaders are tied up in court cases. Well yeah it does continue and as you heard very defiant but definitely. This young activist and their partys life much more complicated they actually facing an avalanche of cases yesterday to see just what was at the court of final repeat the last instance of the judiciary in a completely different case and the law in hong kong is that if you search for movement few months in shape to constantinople action to at least five years so for the by elections of that are coming up in march one example the new party that he found it just nominated that number three he could speak it and the one and a number two are both disqualified and the same time and what what we just heard hes consistent it is important to mention that these young activists follow civil disobedience and the super assistance principles so for them its obviously very unpleasant and by drink having to serve juice sentences hes consistent with what dick staked. And some of them except he says a price to be to get their political message across florence a shiny for us reporting from hong kong thank you very much for your analysis today. Now to some other stories making news around the world former s. S. Guard oscar going has filed a request for mercy with German Authorities a recent Court Ruling Said that the ninety six year old groom who is known as the book keeper of auschwitz had to serve a four year sentence as an accessory to murder he has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions. Steve bannon the former chief strategist of u. S. President donald trump has refused to answer questions about the Election Campaign campaigns a legit ties to russia ban and was testifying before a Congressional Committee reports say he has also been subpoenaed to talk to a grand jury investigating the russia allegations. A meteor lit up the sky over parts of the american midwest and canada yesterday evening the images youre seeing here were recorded in michigan Officials Say the meteor exploded about seventy kilometers north of detroit and caused a two point zero magnitude tremor. On how to deal with north koreas Weapons Program that was the question of the day as the Foreign Ministers of twenty nations met in canada despite signs that young and sola found Common Ground the diplomats warned the International Community against easing up pressure and they called for new sanctions china and russia lambasted the meeting but for the ministers meeting in canada at least Nuclear Program still poses a clear and present danger. Allies Standing Shoulder to shoulder against what they call a growing threat from pyongyang the Foreign Ministers of the twenty powers that supported south korea and the u. S. During the korean war continued their push for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula during talks in canada neighbor japan called for new sanctions on the north and. North korea continues to advance its Nuclear Missile programs even as we speak and we should not be blinded by north koreas Charm Offensive in short it is not the time to ease pressure or to rework north career. The Charm Offensive comes ahead of next months Olympic Games so limpy on yang recently agreed on a deal which would see the north take part in the games. The direct talks came in the face of International Pressure to only engaged once it abandons its Nuclear Program. While the diplomats in canada said they welcomed dialogue with the north the skepticism remains. And with respect to whether americans should be concerned about a war with north korea i think its we all need to be very sober and clear eyed about the Current Situation we have to recognize that threat is growing and if north korea is not does not choose the pathway of engagement discussion to go shish and then they themselves will trigger an option that option is reported to be a preemptive strike on a weapons site in north korea china and russia did not attend the meeting they accuse the ministers of embracing a cold war mentality. Business with monica now the latest on the bitcoin crisis well you know the saying sumi the higher they rise the greater the fall goes for bitcoin right now the crypto currency thats divided the financial world it has been in freefall in the last twenty four hours tumbling more than twenty five percent its being described as a bloodbath bitcoin fell below eleven thousand edging close to its six week low rumors that the south korean and chinese governments could ban trading encrypted currencies said many of the coins lower the e. U. Is also reported to be preparing new rules that would no longer allow cryptocurrency owners to remain anonymous when they convert crypto coins to euros. And with that its over to danny of course the Frankfurt Stock Exchange daniel is this the crash that critics have been warning about for quite a long time now. While people are divided i would personally say yes this is certainly already one of the first real crashes that we are seeing others let me quote one of the cryptocurrency gurus here in the euro zone he was stating a little bit earlier stop being greedy so far this has only been healthy and normal a real crash would be even ten times worse but yes when you talk about the numbers at the beginning of january it was estimated that the total value of cryptocurrency would be at a level of about eight hundred twenty two billion dollars just with one week it was losing more than two hundred thirty billion us dollars so yeah i think you can really consider this some sort of crash at least now daniel i mean many small investors joined the party sort of towards the end of the year should they be worried now should they get out and cut their losses or hold on to bitcoin. Well this is really hard to answer because even though because rules dont consider this as a crash at the moment they also dont know in which direction all of this call is going to go some were saying some weeks ago that we might have the bitcoin right now at a level of about fifty thousand euro of course this is not the case anymore but i would really strongly recommend people who are at the moment thinking to invest their money into big con true we rethink and really to be very well informed i was just talking to a friend yesterday she was telling me that she is now thinking for a birthday present to give her boyfriend some part of the recall and told her for the moment certainly to rethink ok danny of course and frank are very cautious there thank you so much for this. Well tax havens are on the e. U. s agenda today the block is preparing to remove several countries from its recently published a blacklist of tax havens seventeen countries when they met in the list published in december and many of them were small islands in the caribbean and in the pacific eight countries are now expected to be removed from the list next week after making new commitments thats what the e. U. Is saying they include south korea one of the Worlds Largest economies the United Arab Emirates one of the largest arab economies and panama long a haven for offshore accounts now critics say that the e. U. Is backtracking by allowing the countries off the list so soon and earlier i spoke to a whole shall donee e. U. Policy advisor on inequality and taxation for Oxfam International and i asked her just what those two commitments are. Well i really wish i could have stuck to your questions but the problem with this blacklisting process if that turns parents is lacking and we do not really know what kind of commitments other countries making to be have the list it was already the case with what we called the greatest for all countries which could have been blacklisted but just commuted to reforms the problem that we never dared to have a chance to sow those commitments and im afraid it will be exactly the same for those eight countries which are soon going to be removed from the u. Blacklist all right so even if those commitments are really really great is there going to be some sort of control mechanism in order to shake if they really going to change their tax schemes. Well we hope so we are always hopeful but the problem again is that if we dont know what the commitments are to whom are really relying on to know if theyre really fulfilling their commitments were just relying on the willingness of you Member States including some e. U. Tax havens to make that judgment whether the commitments ive been fulfilled or not thats a bit worrying thats why were asking for more transparency were government have got those commitments well below what you just mentioned sort of evil tax havens i mean how does the e. U. Tax system the various countries actually fair in comparison to those well known tax havens. Well if you talk about the impact of tech sevens on the e. U. Countries and their tax revenues we believe the e. U. Tax evans are way more impact than the tiny island has been able to pressure to commit to reforms so what were asking is not that they stop asking to other countries to reform but that they also look weve in the you to also investigate their own countries and to ask. Such as looks number i learned in the evidence on marta to also reform now i mean this blacklist that were talking about with those seventeen countries it was only released in december now its january what was the point. Well its true its going very very fast i have never seen such a fast decision on tax issue that european level so far some of the countries we believe never really deserve their place on this blacklist such a country has moved what is a friend of a country has moved on the tax revenues but its true that for those were wondering why going so fast and also all those countries will just be moved to the greatest so its not really that they are compliant is just that theyre making promises at the same time if the use able to go so fast then were also wondering should their sources other countries that just adopt new were firms and im thinking for example of the us who just of the very worrying tax reform. Of the knee there from Oxfam International speaking to us from brussels thank you so much for your views thank you. And as brussels is reviewing its tax haven blacklist staff borgen is taking a hard look at the future development of the use of me thats right bringing in europe closer to european thats what the e. U. Parliament is hoping for in a series of debates with countries leaders on the future of the bloc first up to present his ideas i was the irish Prime Minister. He said today that europe was at a crossroads with the rise of populism and skepticism and with braggs that looming he called on the e. U. To ensure britain honors all its pledges on the future of Northern Ireland. In our history didnt he is not talking and has been following brad carson. Since it was the first and in a series of debates that is to come here at the European Parliament also of the heads and say to the government it was highly anticipated and you could say that the irish Prime Minister delivered you know hes part of a Younger Generation of politicians that are emerging down the European Union trying to get out of their comfort zone and he did he even spoke not only in english but also in french and here comes german never saw any head of state that wasnt german do that here and strasburg so highly symbolic move he tried to explain that there really was no alternative to the European Union today in spite of all the populism that is going on in spite of all the nationalism that we are experiencing at the moment in the European Union because on a global stage all the big countries in the world all the biggest cities in the world are not european so globally and you said as much europe is the union of small countries and thats why everybody had to stick together and of course it is a piece project remains of peace project and nowhere else than in ireland and Northern Ireland you can see that more that it still helps maintain peace and i believe we have a sound bite on that. Today there is a peace bridge crossing the river foyle bringing together the divided communities in johns native city of derry in Northern Ireland a bridge that the European Union helped to build. Defriended hard to imagine the good friday agreement being made without our shared membership of the European Union and its single marcus and in our land we are now having to contemplate our future without that foundation which underpinned it and made it possible. So you can really tell how important that is for ireland even more important this whole the European Union flanking the Peace Process between Northern Ireland and ireland than for any other country so a lot at stake for the irish Prime Minister in strasbourg so we think theres no alternative to the European Union we heard him in that sound by touching on the thing the market what did he have to say that about greg that. You have to give in mind that really and again here a lot at stake for island because nowhere is of course the trade relation and also a cultural connection between the u. K. And the European Union more tangible and more important than between ireland and the United Kingdom and that whats at stake here really for ireland is the introduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland thats part of the United Kingdom and ireland and something they dont have at the moment and if it were reintroduced then the worry is that it would not only have economic upheaval but possibly also political upheaval its the only land border between the United Kingdom and ireland and so they want to avoid at all costs having this hard border reintroduced between the u. K. And between island after drags it so thats the main concern and he said again there will be no backsliding on that commitment from the u. K. That you wont have a hard border between those two countries so in theory its settled but in practice practice we see nobody really knows how this is going to look like how this is going to be put into place and he had to say this about the people of northern not that the majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union the majority of the representatives elected to the norden arent Assembly Want to remain in the Customs Union and the Single Market and its likely that the majority of People Living in Northern Ireland will remain european citizens after breaks us because of their unique status under the good friday agreement which allows them to be british citizens irish citizens are both. So you can see not only Economic Issues that state but highly political cultural issues at stake something where of iraq are really stressed this needs to be solved also practically solved later when the u. K. Really leaves the European Union and i think what hes kind of concerned he has about this particular issue. Max hoffman are covering this debate at the new parliament in strasbourg for us today thank you max well later today british m. P. s will hold a key vote on legislation allowing britain to leave the European Union the brags that bilis faced fierce opposition in the house of commons and if it passes could have an even tougher time in the house of lords just last month Prime Minister theresa may was forced to amend the draft law after a rebellion and her conservative party one of the twenty five tory parties most ardent to break that supporters is so well a fernandas the latest stop in our series road to brag that you caught up with that british member of parliament and asked her why shes such a fervent advocate for leaving the e. U. The e. U. Is worried about the strength of britains position and as a result they are probably more defensive than they need to be. My name is sue elephant and im a conservative member of the u. K. Parliament. Means opportunity. And restoring democracy to the british. Were right in the middle of the e. U. Withdrawal bill thats a piece of legislation which is essential for britains position on the day that we leave the European Union. I feel very encouraged by the progress thats being made is still very much at the beginning but time is running out and we dont have that much time really. I dont think negotiations are supposed to be friendly i was a lawyer for ten years and yes you might very much like the person youre negotiating with but you know at the end of the day youre going to be serving the interests of your client and the client here is the british people so you dont you know youre not necessarily going to. Agree on everything and be nice to each other thank you i am grateful to him for giving way the Prime Minister has said very clearly we want you to stay and we value your commitment what part of it doesnt he understand. I have a constituency which is on the coast and i meet with fishermen because theyre just fish for bass and they have been almost ruined actually by inappropriate policies from juta the common fisheries policy which is a European Union creation and i think theres a quote. Opportunity to really vigor right our fishing and our culture in britain. Was the feel i owe. Yes i think i was Free Trade Agreement with the e. U. Is adamant possible and i think that would be a great great benefit to british workers and companies and european workers and companies bought since they were a bit more collaborative and supportive we might have made a bit more progress by now. We just have time for a reminder of our top story catalonia newly elected parliament is meeting for the First Time Since december snap Regional Elections separatist lawmakers have the majority and could seek to bring back leader carlos who remains in selfimposed exile in belgium. Thank you for watching. On the. Culture. Where. Superfood stylish style icon. Lifestyle sure a. Job. In the thick of things but way up high chicken presenter nicole fruition visits berlins legendary thoughts democrats its a day for the masses once again one umbrella in flight distracts and interact with others from all over the world but what exactly did they come to see today were going to find out and she has insider tips for places even many locals dont know discovering the term appliance. In sixty minutes on d w. Are you up to speed on the latest technology. Know when it may be time for an upgrade this become part of the future become a cyborg i must say works and ive designed my perception of reality implants that make every day life easier. I use my implants on a daily basis that optimize the human body and connect people more effectively. I hope that this will make us more ethical persons what would life be like as a cyborg and what effect will it not in society does the human race need to upgrade i think its only the beginning of this cyborgs human machines starting february first on t w. So youre max great to have your own burridge today weve got the spotlight on the following topics. In good form italian design on the key to the movie has been successful since the seventys. On the borderlines in german photographer stephan and most of his camera to the broadest optically you