Greenies below zero this year they were joined by one very eminent believer. Welcome to the show my name sarah harmon its good to have you with us saturday marks the First Anniversary of Donald Trumps inauguration as the forty first president of the United States some said he wouldnt last till christmas but with the economy booming and his Health Reportedly good President Trump is Holding Steady as unpredictable nature however has had his supporters cheering and his opponents cringing heres a look back. It was an audacious first week in office. Gratian had been a central tenet of candidate Trumps Campaign within days of his inauguration President Trump issued the first of what became known as muslim bands his supporters welcomed the move but thousands of people turned out at airports across the country to protest the executive order legal challenges against the travel ban came almost immediately even after trump signed a second and then a third ban later in the year courts prevented them from going fully into effect the Supreme Court will ultimately decide their fate this year. Shortly after the election the number of illegal crossings at the u. S. Mexican border hit an all time low according to u. S. Border officials throughout the year the government stepped up raids and arrests of suspected undocumented persons in the u. S. The wall on the u. S. Mexican border that trump promised is now part of some key immigration negotiations in washington. One clear triumph for trump was the ascension of neil course to the Supreme Court. For many conservatives this was an affirmation of why they voted for trump course it is an arch conservative jurist at just forty nine years old and with a lifetime appointment he is likely to shape a good portion of american law moving forward. Trumps only legislative success so far has been his tax bill with an estimated one point five trillion dollars in tax cuts it advances several conservative republican objectives like slashing corporate taxes and in particular lowering the rate for the richest americans he signed the bill into law even though the American Public largely disapproved. The president also fulfilled a Key Campaign Promise when he announced hed withdraw the us from the paris climate agreement over the objections of many of his advisors the us is now the only country in the world that has not signed the accord. Building on strategies the Obama Administration put in place trump ups the numbers of u. S. Troops in iraq and syria ultimately helping to defeat the socalled Islamic State the Prime Minister of iraq declared victory over i asked last month. And the u. S. Economy has remained strong under trump u. S. Stock markets have reached record highs and unemployment is at a seventeen year low over the president s behavior has been a daily flashpoint and many people still feel left behind in the economy mainstream conservatives have a lot to be happy about. Well trumps propensity for governing twitter is something americans have had to get used to in the last year earlier spoke to the former cia director and then secretary of defense leon panetta we asked him if trumps use of twitter matters. I cannot imagine i was i was chief of staff to the present the United States to bill clinton i could not imagine being a chief of staff and trying to determine what the strategy is for a particular day and then go to work and find out the president at five am started tweeting things that that totally undermine the ability to have some kind of strategy for that particular day youre going to have to spend your time basically repairing the damage that the president did from his tweets it is it is very unstable its very erratic theres no reason that the president has to suddenly get up in the morning and tweet without developing some kind of stable policy approach to deciding what is the strategy for this administration it cannot just be a tweet you cant do Foreign Policy by tweeting and that was former cia director leon panetta speaking to you a little earlier heres a look now at some of the other stories that are making news around the world Turkish Forces have launched an operation against a kurdish controlled enclave in syrias african region and move comes just days after turkeys president said he would stamp out what he called nests of terror on the border prince turki it ons with the United States which has backed kurdish militias in the fight against the socalled Islamic State. In germany cleanup work is underway in the wake of the worst storm to hit Northern Europe in a decade hurricane frederick that killed at least twelve people eight of them in germany insurers here estimate the storm cost some five hundred Million Euros worth of damage. That the president abdel fatah elsisi says hell run for a second term in office in a more to life than is widely expected to win the first round despite challengers have been critical of his repressive rule since taking power in two thousand and fourteen sisi has led an unprecedented crackdown on his political opponents and. I mean it court has sentenced the man who sold a pistol to the gunman in the citys twenty sixteen mass shooting men was identified only as phillip k. And was found guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter hes been sentenced to seven years in prison it made it to selling the weapons and the eighteen year old gunman who killed nine people before killing himself. The political fate of germanys chancellor Angela Merkel could be decided this weekend and not by the voters or even her own party but by her potential Coalition Partners on sunday leader of the social democrats marching scholz will try to convince a special Party Conference to Enter Coalition talks with merkel and her conservatives a no vote would mean either a minority government or fresh elections. These three leaders want to join forces and form a government but its a nervous affair none of them know whether this man will win the backing off his party the social democrats in particular yesterdays youth wing has strong reservations about joining another grand coalition. We reject a renewed grand coalition because were convinced it wouldnt be right for democracy in germany and we consider it a negligent to let the far right have to become the leading opposition party. And recent days party leader martin shows has been touring the country lobbying for a yes vote on the grand coalition because of their own style of concentrating on winning the majority of the Party Conference on sunday in favor of the decision to enter into talks aimed at finding a Coalition Agreement thats my task to get a majority first choice there is more at stake than just being part of another grand coalition if the Party Conference votes no his time as party leader will be over. Us thats what im afraid of is that if the majority of the party votes against a grand coalition bill be such a big question mark over the leadership skills of Martin Schulz that he can no longer remain as s. P. D. Leader. A no from the Party Conference would also put chancellor merkel in an awkward position its an unusual situation for america she can only wait and see wait and see whether a party other than her own will help her secure a fourth term as chancellor if a second attempt to form a government fails macas public image will suffer no one could replace her right away but there are younger politicians and have party who are waiting in the wings for now though they are keeping a low profile. Which bullied him and refused to talk about what may happen after machall shes been a leading candidate she is germanys chancellor and she must also lead the next go. That should be the focus of our attention not what might happen in the future so the leaders of three different parties are keeping their fingers crossed that b. S. P. Party congress on sunday will vote in favor of a grand coalition. Meanwhile chancellor merkels been in paris to meet with the french president and manuel kron theyre trying to hammer out a series of reforms to the eurozone mccrone is keen to see change he wants a separate budget and a single finance minister the eurozone merkel though doesnt seem so sure. Over the last weeks and months and Manuel Mccollum has been left waiting hes eager to push on with grand plans for europe but his key partner the german chancellor has been busy with other things shes been struggling to form a new government at home. Inevitably those struggles were a major issue when the two leaders face the press. Marichal said she was optimistic she would soon reach a coalition with germany social democrats and i can see substantial areas of agreement notably regarding our european ambitions and im convinced that for that we need a stable government. Cannot be realized alone and ive already said that several times they need to be accompanied by german ambitions. And those ambitions are high thats an e. U. Summit last month merkel and mark kong pledged to draw up proposals for reforming the euro zone mccall has floated radical ideas a single budget a single finance minister for all Member States merkel is more hesitant but on the wider vision for europe the two say they are agreed. It is a europe that must have a common Foreign Policy on strategic questions a europe that must create its own Common Development policy its a europe of defense and it is a europe that has to be economically strong was i know what got us votes off the starts and was clearly for me the priority is to know where do we want to go i think we share this vision of defending a greater sovereignty Greater Unity and a europe of a more democratic character and if we agree on the end goals we can construct the tools to get. You and equip. For the french president a more integrated europe goes hand in hand with the probusiness policies he hopes will invigorate the economy at home. So big plans for the European Union but with germany one of the key players of the e. U. Not having a new government its going to be hard for the french president. To put any of these plans into action Orthodox Christians around the world have been celebrating if any for them the holiday commemorates the baptism of jesus in the river jordan millions of believers marked the occasion with a traditional ritual often braving freezing waters even russias president Vladimir Putin. Well its certainly not for the fainthearted. Here in siberia the air temperature is minus thirty degrees celsius and lake baikal is frozen over but thats not enough to deter these Orthodox Christians they believe taking it it cleanses the so and brings. You in reporter just because ive been doing it every year for about five years. Thats all. I do it to strengthen my spirit and my heart and to purify my soul. The water is the first blessed by a priest. For those who cant face the freeze they can at least go home with some holy water. The ceremony happens all over russia to mock orthodox appear from the. Whole world and this year even president Vladimir Putin couldnt resist the chance to strip off and take the plunge. In moscow the ad temperature was a comparatively balmy minus tix to greece. Not that it made much difference to the faith is that. A little it was a little bit of those order for a sea of a very. Good look yes its a very keenly feeling very cold but also refreshing. My friends talked me into doing it. But not everybody got a chance to test the mettle this year in some parts of siberia extreme temperatures of minus sixty southie has led authorities to batten bathing. Finally day nine of the paragliding world cup super final in colombia has been won by Michael Segal the swiss pilot soared to victory of a six minute lead over his closest challenger competitors battled clouds and missed throughout the race after the day started with a Tropical Storm singles win also season playing top spot in the overall world cup workings and state of the news have a great weekend. They make a commitment. They follow. And stronger