A Saudi Royal Palace with rocket fire saudi forces say theyve intercepted it and point the finger at iran as the source of the rebels increased firepower. And a big boost for President Trump as the u. S. Senate backs is tax reform but a procedural error means the house of representatives has to vote on it one more time. And life in the shadows of the front line in Eastern Ukraine we have an exclusive report from a village thats been cut off by the fighting leaving residents with no way out. Im brian thomas great to have you with us will the European Commission today take steps towards a triggering the socalled Nuclear Option of article seven im imposing. Sanctions on poland a move brussels has never taken against a member state sanctions would include the un president and step of suspending polands Voting Rights and cutting its aid are brussels correspondent teri schultz is following this for us a short while ago i asked her whats behind the unraveling of relations between warsaw and the e. U. It has been a complete breakdown in fact the two sides are barely see even speaking anymore from what we hear about the possibility that the socalled Nuclear Option will be triggered its been years that the European Commission has been warning poland not to take these and these steps it considers undemocratic particularly in these latest weeks and months with regard to its Supreme Court so the European Commission has not wanted to trigger article seven but it really feels at this point that it has no choice and in fact youve got the euro the speaker of the European Parliament coming out yesterday and saying we need to do this poland has pushed us into this corner and article seven is really our only recourse at the moment because the ruling law and Justice Party seems absolutely unwilling to go back on these proposals to have more political control over the judiciary ok well stay with us your colleague our Catherine Martens in brussels is put together a report to give us a better idea of what exactly it takes to trigger article seven lets take a look at that. Europe has mechanisms to deal with cases of delinquency and that means more than just idle threats and reprimands. Should an e. U. Country go against the principles of democracy then europe has no choice but to nail its colors to the mast. Article several camera triggered by the European Commission only in the case of a persistent and serious breach of the rule of law its the most radical form of sanctions within the European Union and has not been applied so far. Every you country must uphold basic values including freedom Human Dignity and the rule of law breaches can incur real punishment but imposing sanctions is no simple process. Every Single Member state passed a gift the approval of the European Commission needs within the material the Member States in order to trigger i took a step to thankful scouting it tough they can in cleared the suspension of Voting Rights. Video of even one countries against imposing sanctions then article seven amounts to nothing more than empty posturing. Ok well what is poland been saying all about all this terry has but has it been engaging brussels with its position. From what we understand the talks have in fact gotten less and less frequent about this possibility and the new Prime Minister in fact on last week said he expects this measure to be taken against poland he even left the summit early polling very much assert that it has the right to do this it is long schafer under e. U. E. U. Rules and said that this is a matter for its own sovereignty and in fact says the judiciary will be better off after these reforms but these are measures that the e. U. Simply feels that it cannot live with it would give a Political Party an extraordinary amount of control over this additional brand and poland has been warned step by step that this would not be acceptable there was a point at which the president. Did not sign into law a couple of the proposals and there was hope then that there might be some room for compromise but in fact it looks now like they will go into law and as as country mentioned there simply is not any longer any option for the European Commission but to take the step ok what about countries that in the past strongly backed poland until youve hungary mainly will they be voting against poland. Yes hungary has come out and said that it will not lead article seven in the end it will not let these these potential sanctions go into effect that some way down the road because what will happen today what we expect to happen today is the first step and that is that the commission will tell poland that it is invoking article seven the first part of article seven and then Member States must approve that and at this point twenty two countries must agree to go along with these measures and it wont be a problem to get twenty two countries so that it will it will go forward the discussions on what to do about poland what to do under article seven will go ahead but in the end it will take all countries it will take everyone but the polish government to agree to finally invoke sanctions finally cut off funding finally take these measures and hungriest said it will not let that happen it may not be the only one ok this is a part of a much bigger story isnt it one of the implications year of this vote today for for the larger story for european unity at a time when its confronting challenges like that like in a sort of russia how does that fit in there. Well it is is probably the most relevant case at the moment because of course the u. K. Left saying it wanted its sovereignty back and poland has raised this in in these negotiations in this battle about wanting its sovereignty and this will be particularly interesting tomorrow because british Prime Minister to resign may well be in poland and there have been many calls on her to come out and stand with the e. U. To be unified with the e. U. Against what people in brussels see as a derogation of the rule of law but it will also be an important for the other Eastern European countries the visa grad for who support is needed to get to get measures passed here in brussels so it is definitely a test for unity but at the moment no one but hungary has come out and said that it will break with the rest of the European Union when it comes to taking these these measures against the polish government ok Terry Schultz bring us up to date thanks so much for that terry and thanks to the entire brussels staff for giving us some perspective on this this morning now for some of the other stories making the news around the world austrias new chancellor has assured leaders that his Government Supports the block in brussels bossy and quote said austria remained pro european that despite a euro skeptic party joining government kurtzs conservatives joined a coalition with the far right Freedom Party this week European Commissions claude younger told quotes the austrian government would be judged by its deeds. Political parties in spains catalonia region have held their final rallies ahead of thursdays election Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy campaigned on behalf of the prounion Popular Party while the ousted seven his leader Carlos Bustamante spoke to Pro Independence supporters via video link from brussels to snap polls called after catalonia as parliament was disbanded by madrid following an independence bit. A bus crash on mexicos yucatan peninsula has killed at least twelve people and injured many more the State Government said the dead included tourists who were traveling from a u. S. Cruise ship to the resort town of wall to see an archaeological site. Were turning to saudi arabia now that country says it has intercepted a ballistic rocket that was fired by yemens who the rebels toured riyadh now this is the second time in two months that a rebel rocket has targeted the saudi capital saudi arabia and its allies have pointed to iran as the source of the rebels increased firepower. This footage provided by the with the military is said to show rebels launching a missile on tuesday from an unidentified location in yemen. The latest missile fired by the who these toward riyadh was again intercepted by Saudi Air Defenses and before hitting the capital. The rebels said the missile had been aimed at the Saudi Royal Palace where a meeting of saudi leaders was taking place their leader boasted that after a thousand a days of fighting Yemeni Missiles posed a growing threat to the saudis power base. At the United Nations saudi ally washington sounded alarmed when the u. S. Was quick to point fingers at a writer which backs the shiite who denies the. Thankfully the missile was intercepted before it could hit its intended target but the very fact of this attack is a flashing red siren for this council it bears all the hallmarks of previous attacks using iranian provided weapons it is only a matter of time before one of these missiles hits the target but washington is unlikely to persuade the Security Council to take action against iran and terrans ally russia which has be dope our has called for dialogue with instead of threats if we dont come over to monica now and theres been some progress on the huge tax bill moving through washington its now finally moving swiftly brined the us senate has passed the republicans one point five trillion dollar tax overhaul moving the bill closer to President Donald Trump desk and marking his first major legislative victory and the house of representatives will first take a revote on the bill after passing the overhaul comfortably two hundred twenty seven to two hundred three procedural violations maad the first vote the revote is expected later today u. S. President wants to sign the bill into law before christmas now critics say the package is a deficit bloating giveaway to the super rich but republicans argue the tax cuts for corporations Small Businesses and individuals will bolster Economic Growth. The legislation provides steep tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy and more modest cuts for middle class and low income families it will slash the Corporate Tax rate from thirty five to twenty one percent prior to the vote White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders defended the reform saying it would benefit everyone not just the rich. This is a tax package that prioritize helping the middle class certainly does that this is something that we wanted to benefit all americans and thats been the focus all along and so thats what weve continued to push for thats been the president s priority through earlier more than a dozen people were arrested for blocking the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange protesters held signs and chanted slogans against the bill. This bill is class warfare on the part of the rich its all about the donors to the Republican Party we have to defend our people all of our people President Donald Trump insists the cuts will not drive up the deficit saying they will attract more investment and lead to robust Economic Growth that he claims will create new jobs bolster wages and fill public coffers. The u. S. Tax bill im joined by cost of tout from the n. G. O. S Tax Justice Network and i would like to pick you up right away on that particular name or title because the bill includes tax cuts for both corporations as well as low and middle income families it says so is it just is it a fair bill the bill indeed includes tax cuts for nearly everyone but its and the end not a fair bill because most of those tax cuts eighty three percent of the tax cuts go to the super rich to the richest one percent of americans ok but it is if everything goes as planned it would be the first sweeping reform to the u. S. Tax system in more than three decades. I mean why is the reform so important in the first place. The reform of the tax is an ongoing issue so you have to reform and adjust tech systems all the time and the u. S. Has been doing this in the past. The reform is very important for trump i think primarily because thats his first and biggest promise to his donors were looking for better tax rates and its also important because the u. S. Did not adjust its Corporate Tax rate for the last decades and is one of the countries with the highest Corporate Tax rates today yeah and also has a huge deficit in its budget and obviously thats something that trump wants to do something about now in effect and so you basically agree to his critics that say this is package is a quote deficit bloating giveaway to the super rich but lets see if we can find something positive like what kind of amendments do you think the bill would need in order to make it more sam more acceptable so looking at positive sites theres some two positive ideas in the bill at least so one is to fight base erosion that means to fight tax evasion by many Foreign Corporations in the u. S. And the second is to finally tax all those cash piles that epa and the other companies have stocked offshore the problem of the bill is that the rate for those tax for this taxation of those cash has is very low its only fifteen percent and not the thirty five percent that those companies were actually supposed to pay but this is why they didnt pay it so i mean is there a middle way is this something if you had the chance to to knock on the door of the president on a trump and say listen this is how the reform would really do your country your economy good and be fair for everyone what would you tell him i would tell him to join the International Initiatives to cut base erosion to join the in an International Initiatives to Exchange Information on tax and accounts and to cooperate and to drive forward the International Reform agenda that definitely need. A lot of fixes and a lot of initiative to make big improvements but not in this way all right lets find out if somebody does knocked on his door and tell him all these things because of top header from the n. T. O. Tax just as network thank you so much for your insights. And of course the massive tax reform moving through washington isnt see a repudiate domestic issue but Foreign Countries are consent for a lot of reasons among them such a substantial change to tax policies in such a giant economy will certainly Impact Global markets as cash flows are redirected now coupled with the looming changes to americas new trade policies the tax scheme also contains big risks for Foreign Companies trade between the e. U. And the us is booming but will it continue to do so much of Donald Trumps trade plans remain unclear for example early versions of the republican tax bill included a twenty percent excise tax on companies purchases from foreign subsidiaries that was aimed at discouraging american firms from producing abroad but it would also have hurt to german car makers with plants in the u. S. That important components from gemini. Now theres another threat of higher g. T. S. On imports that frightens us because theyre unpredictable and dont comply with World Trade Organization roles so nobody knows what effect theyll have. To. There are now concerns trumps reform could trigger a global race to the a Corporate Taxes the e. U. Average is around twenty two percent slightly higher than in the us after this legislation takes effect in many countries rates a much higher including germany where its around thirty percent that could lead to German Investments being diverted to the u. S. One thing trump is certainly successful at is stimulating the American Economy and if he pushes through massive tax cuts in the u. S. That will lead to German Companies investing that to store. Them as a result their profits and jobs could shift to the u. S. As well America First trumps favorite slogan is getting a boost from the tax reform package. So many uncertainties and certainly here in germany theres a huge uncertainty we go into the holidays not knowing if theyll get a government its a very slow growing market that is certainly right the leaders of germany as two biggest Political Parties are meeting today for more talks about possibly teaming up to form a new German Government chose wrongly mackerels conservatives have been without a governing majority sense while septembers an inclusive lection theyre hoping to form another grand coalition as its called with the social democrats after talks with smaller parties broke down but s. P. D. Leader martin schol says and no russian is insisting his party will weigh its options very carefully. At first he was against it then he played hard to get now hes leaving all options open until the last minute biggest question is still up in the air whether our conversation will lead to the formation of a government with very serious about. All eyes are on on the american who wants a coalition with the social democrats to work as quickly as possible for her one thing is clear that we want to form a stable government. The word stable seems to be macros mantra that means not having to agree on any majority on every issue just in. Both parties will only decide at the end of january whether to embark on Coalition Negotiations the s. P. D. Has many issues it would like to address. The most what they have to modernize the Education System and secure pensions and medical care and fight poverty in old age their it outside. But those on issues michael c. D. U. Was willing to go into detail on yet the questions concerning europe will certainly be on the agenda. Many are asking whether the two sides have any overlapping interest to talk and that could decide whether germany gets a government soon or not. All tensions are flaring up once again in Eastern Ukraine along that five hundred kilometer long separation line dividing ukrainian troops and russian backed separatists this past week alone as seen three ukrainian soldiers killed and at least eight civilians seriously wounded just days before this escalation our correspondent Nick Connelly visited the region he met People Living on the frontline heres his exclusive report from a small village shabaka. A single port old road is all the connect the village of juggling to the outside world. The ridge that overshadows the village is already deep in separatist held territory here the front line begins where peoples gardens and. Because one hundred forty mostly elderly residents are dependent on outside help since public transport broke down the nearest supermarket is several hours walk away its only thanks to this volunteer lead in geo that International Aid is able to reach those who need it most. Of the crew the weaker the village is cut off the people here have no way of getting out to the people here are just about surviving are mostly thanks to what they can grow in their gardens. Twenty seven year old catch it takes us to her house on the far edge of the village. Of the three children left in java all the other families have long since left a single mother culture relies on help from my parents and n. G. O. S her youngest son is just eighteen months old began. For the last two weeks theyve been shooting every single day without a break i used to be scared but now you just get used to it after a while when the conflict broke out the family used to take cover in an outside cellar since that was hit they hide inside so that the thumb this is the best protected room the one least likely to get hit on that side we are protected by the house i was born and from that side we barely get anything coming at us and if there is then there are trees touch wood this house has never had a direct hit so far off. One of the separatists only seventy meters away the next street. Bridge in the distance locals tell us serves as a Vantage Point for separatists not as. Shows us where a direct hit brought down the roof of the cellar she used to hide in yes if i had somewhere to go that was really mine id leave but just to be tolerated i dont want that ive tried that twice already. Beyond catches house only ruins remain and the front line trenches most of them buried deep enough to stand up in safely. We mean to ukrainian soldiers on guard duty theyre also father and son most of life. Theres plenty of shooting mostly at night its a bit quieter during the day but it happens but. Its december and darkness falls early and with the shooting starts its time to leave. Just a few kilometers down the road is the checkpoint one of only a handful of places where civilians can cross between government and separatist held territory. Up to ten thousand people make this journey every day. My father died ive just been to his funeral. Here i went from my pension i live in the whole of. My pension its really badly organized particularly on the separatist tide. But even the checkpoints on to entirely safe in recent months this crossing has come under attack three times. Its a three hour wait out in the cold for these people here queuing to cross the circle separation line that divides Ukrainian Government troops from separatists its now been almost three years since the front moved in this region cutting off the city just seven kilometers behind me from its suburbs and the ukrainian held sides. These checkpoints were set up as a temporary stopgap but with political efforts to resolve the conflict going nowhere in a hurry theyve long since become a permanent fixture of life here in Eastern Ukraine. Well the bundesliga may be on its midseason break but the german compas offering football fans a festive treat this week been in great form cologne have used the knockout competitions as a refuge from the string of losses but when the two faced off last night it turned out to be a tight affair now though it been the hero and shockers late to two george frankfurt in the bundesliga at the weekend and the defender was again in the action against cologne heading over in the first half corners were going to prove useful to shout the old game another one in the Second Period led to another good chance this time a t in the stats it was denied by an excellent save from team zero zero and. Despite cologne offering little fret shout the fans were worried it wouldnt be their night but their fears were raised on sixty three minutes when yet another corner was met superbly by max meyer the midfielder is an outside fit for germanys world cup squad and head is like that will do his case no harm. The final whistle was greeted with jumps of delight from coach dominica to disco shellcode know the cup is that best chance of a trophy this term won then it finished with maya the hero this time. Lets take a look now at the rest of tuesday nights german cup results there was success for mines against a guard or thirty or part of born will be in januarys draw for the quarter finals in february after beating second division. Also in through but only after extra time. And we have time for a reminder of the top stories were following for you today the European Commission is expected today to censure poland over its highly controversial judicial reforms brussels could take the unprecedented step of triggering the socalled Nuclear Option of article seven that would impose sanctions on warsaw the move was suspend the countrys Voting Rights and cut off aid. The u. S. Senate has passed the republicans tax overhaul setting up President Trumps first major legislative Victory House of representatives had also approved the bill baka must first take a revote due to a procedural error before the president can sign that bill into law. Saudi arabia says it has intercepted a Ballistic Missile fired at its capital riyadh by yemen based who the rebels u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations says the strike bears the hallmarks of previous attacks using weapons provided by iran. This is the news live from berlin im brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being with us. At full speed. But always on the move. Mostly today and to the future. Trying. To build. A global playing company aims to consolidate. The Company Plans to close its factory in the east german city. Even though the order books are full of entries say there dumfounded. Made in germany in sixty minutes on t. W. On freedom and. Where i come from the region is rich in history and talent but so poor in education opportunity and freedom this makes it especially difficult for independent journalists i see many of the younger promising journalists who are now making names for themselves all over the. Song live along the way some might follow. With continue. Their experience of freedom in a sense is like that fenians of day you can visit it with your car coming back from. Mining in your fish would i work at the end of it. Alone welcome to drive with a d w car show in this edition a look behind the scenes are out equal with the assurance
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