Independents hours after house of catalog Leader Congress pushed along turned himself into Belgian Police his party puts him forward as its leader in upcoming Regional Elections called by spain. And we like each other and our countries like each other u. S. President Donald Trumps remarks ahead of a meal with japans Prime Minister shinzo ave on the first day of trumps twelve day tour of asia trump is seeking support from allies in the region to face up to north korea. Im sorry welcome to the program its good to have you with us we begin with some breaking news a massive new leak of files from an offshore law firm showing how widespread tax avoidance is common. Among Big Companies as well as the super rich has been released by germanys so do i just signed on an International Consortium of news outlets tech giants like apple were just one of the Companies Featured it offshore tax avoidance schemes also included in the League Sports giant nike as well as the queen of england and big German Companies like zealand and germans germanys main Postal Company possed bank papers also reveal extensive offshore activities of u. S. President Donald Trumps cabinets donors and advisors particular attention being paid to u. S. Commerce secretary ross. Well lets get more now on these paradigms papers Political Correspondent i know koehler is here with me in the studio here what can you tell us about these papers theyve just come out and i havent had a lot of time to dig into it but what do we know right off the top i didnt have a lot of time digging into it since its about thirteen million documents so there was a whole bunch of journalists worldwide working on these papers. Including data out of databases fax copies are all sort of stuff basically its about avoiding taxes and not even illegally avoiding taxes but sometimes this legal avoidance can be still dodgy because. States dont have enough money they dont have enough taxes coming in and big Big Companies voiding to pay taxes that trumps commerce secretary bubble ross being singled out here by name to every details of what hes being implicated then. Yeah wilbur ross apparently is into some business with a russian which is quite. Quite serious topic because of the. Allegations of russia taking influence in the us elections last year. But its not only will the ross their advisers to canada Prime Minister trudeau who is in these papers theyre like yes Foreign Ministers to listen x. Gen wesley clark so there are a lot of people in the us administration. Names pop up in these papers so we have to look into this over the next few months its been a while since the Panama Papers came out put this in context for us is this bigger. It is maybe it is being it certainly is different because panama was known as a dirty text haven and this apple be. Had a reputation of being a clean off saw. With clean and transparent. Investments so if this is somehow. Not quite all right what is going on there this might really influence the whole offshore scene and experts who are waiting for the papers to come out said this might really change the whole game all right time will tell still a lot to go through on your caller thanks for giving us your initial impressions. We also can on president carlos push mom along was for all their former ministers has surrendered to police in belgium the five are wanted in spain on the european arrest warrant issued there and a News Conference a spokesman for the brussels prosecutor said the five now appear before a judge they face charges of sedition rebellion and misuse of public funds for holding an illegal referendum on october first to travel to belgium last week in madrid move to impose direct rule on catalonia after the original parliament declared independence. Of more im joined now by our correspondent Barbara Van Zyl in brussels barbara good to see you will push law and these ministers now be extradited to spain. It is in the end very likely all legal experts here say it is very very rare their european arrest warrant is not implemented is not executed however he is supposedly going to fight it tooth and nail that he has to roans off the peel and he even in the end can appeal to the high court so this will drag on probably into generally even february of next year so one things for sure hes not going to be home in time for the elections in spain ok more and eat alone you. Know has continuously maintained this is an internal matter for spain that try to avoid getting involved where does that leave belgium now and a very uncomfortable position not that it had anything to do was this extradition process because this is a strictly legal judicial process however the Belgium National flamers National Party is already sort of smelling the fresh air and is sort of becoming increasingly frisky weve had the vice premier here around john ball say that now i really had to look at whether spain would really treat puts them on fairly and so on its a force they really dreaming of reviewing their own video for independence and that is very bad news for the government bad news for the belgian government thats Barbara Faisal reporting for us from brussels thank you. President all trump has a message for asian allies the u. S. Will defend them against dictatorial regimes kicking off a marathon torah five asian nations in japan trump said the United States had the military might to keep that promise to the president s twelve day trip comes as tensions rise over north Koreas Nuclear program. Donald trump touched down in tokyo and was expected to give the United States as oldest asian ally much needed security assurances a change of jacket later it was there. We will never you know never waver and never falter in defense of our people our freedom and our Great American flag no one no dictator no regime and no nation. Under arrest and of. Resolve what that resolve would have to look like in a potential conflict with north korea has become somewhat clearer amid trumps round of golf with japans newly reelected Prime Minister shinzo abbay lawmakers in washington asked u. S. Military officials for specifics on removing north Koreas Nuclear capabilities the joint chiefs of staff responded that only a Ground Invasion could do it with absolute certainty of success in response sixteen lawmakers fifteen democratic and one republican all military veterans called the assessment deeply disturbing they criticized the Trump Administration for lacking a strategy on north korea and a plan to contain potential conflict. But that didnt affect the personal chemistry trump an avi appear to have both are also hawkish on defense but trade may be another matter we will seek new opportunities for cooperation and commerce and we will partner with friends and allies to pursue a free and open in do think reach we will see free fair and Research Trade the u. S. Trade deficit with japan is a Sticking Point in the countrys relations the deficit hit sixty nine billion dollars in two thousand and sixteen the second largest behind china. Turning now to saudi arabia where media reports say that a loving royals and thirty eight former officials have been arrested on charges that include Money Laundering and bessel men a public funds and personal enrichment from state owned enterprises of the purchased came immediately after crown prince muhammad bin salomon thats this guy over here was appointed head of a new Anti Corruption commission the saudi king solomon established this new body by while decree on saturday and in doing so he only added to the extensive powers enjoyed by his favorite son and heir the most prominent head to roll was this man over here prince will lead been tall hes sixty two years old and the billionaire tycoon is one of the richest men in the world. Prince albert sued for magazine for underestimating his huge wealth not just a playboy prince his glittering Business Empire spans high end media banking and Luxury Hotels with investments from twitter to the four seasons hes also building the worlds tallest tower in the south. But this is the new face of saudi arabia thirty two year old king in waiting crown Prince Mohammed bin soundman seen here last month willing investors in riyadh the crown prince is leading the drive to modernize the ultra conservative kingdom looking to a future less dependent on oil the latest purchase been welcomed by many of his subjects. God willing everything that has happened is the beginning of what is planned correcting mistakes correcting ministries and correcting injustices against. Corruption should have been fought a long time ago because its corruption societies development. The middle east. One prominent saudi commentator says the crackdown is long overdue. But. These detentions will calm the anger of citizens who felt that Senior Leaders were immune from accountability that shows that no one is excluded and this will eventually benefit all citizens and the country as a whole. The speed and extent of the changes being brought to leave saudis wondering whats next. On this day with me now is daniel garrulous hes the editor in chief of the magazine is enough which focuses on middle Eastern Affairs daniel welcome this feels unprecedented dozens of arrests of very top is this really just about corruption i dont think so i think it is popular to fight corruption and it is necessary fight corruption and also the idea that members of the royal family and there are thousands of them in saudi arabia would be immune to penalties that is over and that is a positive signal to many but i think what is really happening here is is momma been some on the crown prince is preparing to take all of power and i think we will soon in the next couple of months see that and so this night of the long knives that happened yesterday was also intended to silence those in the palace of the royal family that might be able to counter such of such a move or that might even be able to i dont know stage a coup against it and is because this is not the only reason that saudi arabia has been in the news this weekend because saudis foreign ties are coming into sharper focus yesterday we saw the lebanese Prime Minister resign and announcement he made from riyadh where hes now fled in exile put this in context for us what are the broader implications for the region lebanese Prime Minister saad how d. D. Was somehow saudi arabias man in lebanon as was his father who was assassinated spectacularly i think everybody all the viewers of this program know for saudi arabia. How they need to step down because i think what were looking at is preparations for another military conflict for. The war in the middle east i think saudi arabias gamble is that they think israel in the United States may be in a position to attack hezbollah in lebanon and saudi arabia would obviously support such a move because hezbollah is the proxy of iran of its rival in lebanon and i think my speculation i cannot of course i have no no evidence of that at the moment but i think that saad hariri cannot be a member of a government that would need to defy or attack such such a military move cannot be a member of a government in union with hezbollah and at the same time know about this this military move of the saudi government i think thats why he stepped down thats why the saudis convinced him to step down and i think they will bail him out because they also knew that he was in a deep financial crisis he has business not going well and i think saudi arabia will support him financially that is again my speculation but i think it is permitted speculation on this thats why we invited you here from the magazines you know thanks for being with us today thank you. I was im breaking news coming in media reports say that a number of people have been shot at a church in the u. S. State of texas bring you more on that story just as soon as we get it and remember you can always find the latest news on our web site at address is d. W. Dot com im sara harmon in berlin thanks for being with us well have an update at the top of the hour say that. When cities are going gold by the sea. Of the wall and costly protective measures will have begun