Is very much in the e. U. As close neighbor britain prepares to get out. Plus could hockey diplomacy end the standoff between the two korea theyve agreed to field a joint Ice Hockey Team at the Winter Olympics next month but despite talks other world powers want to keep up the pressure on the north. And hes one of millions of chinese rarely seen in public we look at efforts to empower the mentally disabled in china rather than hide them away. Im going to thank you for joining us at home in austria he governs in a coalition with a far right party today courts austrias new chancellor is in berlin for talks with america his anti immigration euro sky. Stance clashes with the german chancellors views cts has been a vocal critic of michaels open door policy but the two want to find Common Ground on the protection of the use borders and it was trip to berlin quite stressed that germany is an important partner for austria. The pair held a press conference a little while ago lets listen to what america had to say about the new austrian government. You know we will judge the new austrian government by its actions thats what ive also told the chancellor. I think thats what counts. And i am confident that we can cooperate on a new policy. To close if you just get on this in a new. Home in dallas and we will be watching Everything Else closely and i will personally be taking a closer look than i would usually do. Lets bring in these Political Correspondent linda crane for more on the story hi melinda we heard the chancellor there saying well we will be watching closely in the past the tone between these two countries specifically over the migration question has become harsh has this meeting help smooth things over well the tone today certainly wasnt harsh but as you saw there the chancellors words were measured she did go on to say that she sees a good basis for working together with austria and that she does not see that many divisions between the two and the austrian chancellor said before he left on his trip speaking to a major german newspaper that neighbors will always have some differences but that in fact he sees the rest of the European Union moving toward austrias position nonetheless in the statements that were made at todays press conference certainly there were some differences evident both on migration policy and also on policy in regard to the European Union. Well mr cortes reiterated his argument that austria has borne what he says a disproportionate burden when it comes to migration policy well lets listen to what he said a little while ago. We have contributed a disproportionately high share we have taken in the second highest number of Asylum Seekers after sweden per capita i dont think anyone can accuse us of not showing solidarity on the contrary. So melinda listening to that are these divisions as strong as they have been in the past. The two leaders were doing their best to indicate that they do find Common Ground on a number of issues for example on the need to better protect europes borders on the need for resettlement of those who are not entitled to remain for example with by better agreements with the countries that those those migrants have left and then also on the question of Economic Development to ensure that flows of would be migrants decrease but the chance that made it very clear that she feels that nonetheless for those refugees who do come to europe who have a right to stay that there need to be workable policies to redistribute them austria in the past has supported the position of some Eastern European countries who have said that they will not follow those quotas and in this case the austrian chancellor said that in fact he does believe that there is too much attention paid to the quota issue so thats exactly the kind of issue that the chancellor means to watch in future to see how things develop on the other hand when the austrian chancellor says that he thinks other European Countries are moving in austrias direction he is looking at the agreement that germanys two leading parties made with each other last week as a prelude to possible negotiations on a grand coalition between the two because that agreement does in fact establish Something Like an aspirational upper limit for the number of refugees that germany will take in future and that is exactly what the austrian government did last year so on that point hes correct all right some Common Ground there after all melinda crane our Political Correspondent covering the meeting of the two chancellors here in berlin thank you melinda. Now in barcelona catalonia as new parliament has been holding its opening session lawmakers from Pro Independence parties use their slim majority to elect roger torrent as a signal that the chamber will likely continue with push for independence from spain yellow ribbons mark the empty seats of the former president carlos christabel and other separatist figures first of all remains in selfimposed exile in belgium three others are in jail facing charges of rebellion and sedition journalist Stephen Bergen is standing by in barcelona with more on the story hi stephen tell us whats been happening today in parliament. Well we managed to get through the first a church was electing a speaker of the house normally a pretty routine but nothing to change modes there is there was. A committee which means the next day the poetry business can go forward and nerds electing a leader this is going to be less straightforward and the only candidate moment is goes which involves the rescue service and so poser in brussels and if he returns will be arrested and put in pretty close and. He wants to be made president viral video link is not clear whether this is legal the catholic vote only. Knows whos the most parties we dont care what he or anyway basically weve got ten days. In order to sort itself out and i suspect is going to go to war. Stephen we mentioned that the choice of speaker is perhaps a signal that this chamber will continue with push for independence so can we then expect more confrontation with madrid. Well the deal only possible coalition of makes up the numbers as a pro event of the coalition theres no way that any other groups would care to give her time to make up the numbers. The general feeling among independents parties is to pull back from confrontation of mutual interests and. You know it has been very damaging or has altered certain people being jailed and possibly several more. And economic damage to the region as a whole so the general feeling is you know we found a way to party fost no interest pull back and you know negotiate and sew up however the messages coming from constitutional are quite different because bush also says that he is the president of the republicans to clear up the hurt and theres no going back thievin burgeon reporting from barcelona thievin thank you. Lets take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world steve bannon the former chief strategist of u. S. President donald trump has refused to answer questions about the election campaigns a legit ties to russia then and was testifying before a Congressional Committee reports say he has also been subpoenaed to talk to a grand jury investigating the russian allegations. Officials in california and i describe the thirteen siblings freed from prison by conditions in their home as friendly and quarter were told theyre receiving medical care and counseling police found the family after being alerted by a seventeen Year Old Girl who had escaped the house the parents face charges of torture and child endangerment. People in northern kosovo have been paying their respects to all of or even in the event of it unknown attackers gunned down the moderate ethnic serbs politician outside his office early on tuesday his murder is likely to increase tensions between kosovo and serbia which does not recognize the independence of its former province. Of the former s. S. Guard oscar cloning has failed in an appeal for clemency a Court Ruling Said that ninety six Year Old Girl and it was known as the book keeper of cats to serve a four year sentence as an accessory to murder in the nazi death camps he has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions. Right ben fizzling this year with business and ben coming up on a big one year mark a very one year mark to celebrate for some and to reflect for others u. S. President donald trump is approaching his one Year Anniversary in the white house his motto America First so what effect is that had on the u. S. Economy lets crunch the numbers starting with wall street and the dow jones the worlds most important stock index its made up of thirty stocks from the biggest and most influential u. S. Companies over the past twelve months the dow jones index has risen by nearly thirty percent theres been one record after the next the u. S. Unemployment rate has the climb from five point one. Percent to three point one percent over the past year and puts the us economy of whats defined as full employment the jobless rate of four percent or less but economists say that donald trump had little to do with it with a Strong Economy the Unemployment Rate has been sinking for years the dollar is also fallen against the euro year ago the Exchange Rate was ninety four euro cents to the dollar now its just a shade over eighty euro cents now is that because the euro is strong or is the dollar fading after all the u. S. Economy seems to be doing just fine lets pull in Laurence Kotlikoff hes a professor of economics at the university of boston so things are looking fantastic can you give me your analysis of whether or not trumps presidency has had anything to do with that well i think you know i mean. You know they get onto the bandwagon and Business Leaders i think now or. You know domestic about the future i dont think its any specific housekeepers say that trump has engaged in because the increase in a star is far beyond. What. You were going to get out of the tax cuts on the business side and any regulation changes is just i think youre a general climate in optimism. You know the economy really if you think about what happened in two thousand and eight everybody got very upset about Lehman Brothers going under that they Investment Banking it was you know the end of a series of other failures and then there were more to come but if you think about it Lehman Brothers is going to india and did not collapse and its employees were not kill so the real economy didnt change but the entire economy got very pessimistic and nervous and they immediately as employers started laying off workers five hundred thousand at a time in the u. S. Or month so thats what we have we have a record nation. Were not in behavior here everybody gets on the same bandwagon and so its not that surprising that we have periods of. Great optimism and the economy thrives when we get to form point in the stock market booms but then they can be followed by busts we see not a start so i think this is just one of those episodes what do you think this has styria ironhide it is going to give around for long if we going to suddenly see a crash or is that hysteria and hype going to just slowly fade away well you know its its very hard because its psychology here and youre trying to as an economist your own really. Understand collective of psychology but you know our models in economics of of this kind of psychological reactions to. The economy in. Elective behavior here is that. Small events can trigger big changes in beliefs so everybody has starts we start getting its of news about be at times are about things not looking as good as people hopes. Then theyll add up and at some point when its a little. Hair on the camels back well flip the camera is our expression and in english so i think thats what happened with women brothers you had a series of failures their senses are Horgan Fannie Mae and freddie macin and and then we were brothers was the last straw well lawrence putting the psychology to one side for the moment is their long term value to trump policy. Well i give his tax reform and like a b. It really wasnt what economists would have they were but it will help investment and the us will probably get our output to go up about five percent our wages go up of four or five percent wages over time will go up by about five percent but its not going up by twenty percent were not talking about. An absolute sea change in the Economic Performance of the country so you know i think it was a decent reform and better than most many times were saying is i think they were motivated by want political views on the both sides are harmless on the left and the right you know i have ours kotlikoff professor of economics at the university of boston thank you very much for your insight five thank you. Transatlantic ties to bringing europe closer to europeans now thats what the e. U. Parliament is certainly hoping for in a series of debates with countries leaders on the future of the bloc first up to present his ideas was the irish Prime Minister barak carr 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 did it because max hoffman has been following this story for us he joins us from strasburg by max rod carr has been laying out essential his vision for europe what more did he have to say. You know sometimes its hard in the European Union not to lose yourself in all the details theres so much going on so many different realities its very bureaucratic so really to see the value of the European Union sometimes you need to take it take a step back and look at the whole construction and thats exactly what the Prime Minister of ireland tried to do he said look in the global context we are a union of small countries because if you look at the lists with the largest cities the largest countries virtually none of them are european and thats how he tried to explain the value of the European Union why it is so important to be together to really punch above its weight and then he also stressed something that for many European Countries isnt that important anymore or at least its not at the forefront of what people are thinking about in those countries anymore and that is the peace value that the European Union has of course most of the conflicts in europe are far in the past and thats a good thing but not all of them and in ireland one of those conflict zones is very close the conflict between Northern Ireland and ireland and this is how you explained the value of the European Union when it comes to peace between Northern Ireland and ireland. 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 great ship the European Union helped to build. Defriended hard to imagine the good friday agreement being made with as i shared membership of the European Union and its single market. And in our land we are now having to contemplate our future with that foundation which underpinned it and made it possible. So this is a very tangible thing this is a very tangible example of why in the eyes of the irish Prime Minister its extremely important to continue supporting the European Union even if it is at a crossroads at the moment so varadkar very much a proponent of the value of a European Partnership this at a time when britain is leaving the european young union what do you have to say about brags that. Well again here a very specific role for the irish Prime Minister because the only hard border you have between the United Kingdom that wants to lead the European Union and the European Union is between again Northern Ireland and ireland and yet this is of course a region where the cultural ties the economic ties are very very close where you have a whole lot of relatives that just across the border so what the irish Prime Minister really wants to avoid at all costs is the reintroduction of a hard border in fact that was one of the crucial elements of the agreement that was struck so far between the u. K. And the European Union the Prime Minister of the u. K. To resume a promise there will be no hard border so in theory everythings fine but what barack said again and touched upon in practice its pretty unclear how this is supposed to work not having a hard border there and he said there will be no back slipping on that no backtracking on that we