President confronts china donald trump strips Hong Kong Office of special trading Status Holding china accountable for its clampdown on human rights to. South africa reopens its schools despite a rise in cases of 1920 schools lack basic facilities will they become breeding grounds for the coronavirus. Plus flooding in Bangladesh Forces more than a 1000000 people from their homes a further of the country is under water after some of the heaviest monsoon rains in decades and rivers are said to rise even further. Welcome to the program we begin with breaking news the Irish Government and apple have won their appeal against a 26 the e. U. Decision that sat apple had to pay the i was government 13000000000 euros in back taxes money that ireland didnt even want so ill instruct the case to you have so. Dublin has long denied that its tax arrangements with apple about so illegal state Aid European Commission is expected to appeal the ruling to the European Court of justice. Earlier this year then irish Prime Minister leo of arad Current Apple chief executive tim cook had an anniversary to celebrate 40 years since apple started manufacturing in ireland over the decades the e. U. Country in the us i phone maker have both profited from the arrangement apple gets a massive tax break but it provides employment for Multinational Companies the favorable situation in ireland is practically unrivaled in europe at the moment firms officially pay 12. 5 percent Corporate Tax in arland thats compared with the e. U. Average of 21. 3 percent officially companies in germany have to cough up at least 30 percent. That alone has attracted Many Companies to ireland and in fact apple paid far less tax at times for example as little as 0. 005 percent in 2014 when the tech giant paid just 50 euros tax on every 1000000 euros in profit. That was the last straw for e. U. Competition commissioner my creative s. Here in 2016 the European Commission ordered apple to pay ireland 13000000000 euros in back taxes. But devlin and apple both appeal the ruling. Well im now joined by sullivan from d. W. Business who looks a little closer to the story it looks like a major vindication of countries a low tax policies like ireland so where does this leave the European Commission in their fight against tax avoidance but its definitely a blow hard symbolically its a big blow but it is important to draw a distinction between this specific case and the wider fight against tax avoidance so this case looked at the issue of illegal state aid did apples specific arrangements in ireland amount to a legal state it the courts today said it didnt that the commission did not prove that it did under various levels and the verdict is quite clear in that regard over the wider issue that is that countries like ireland and the netherlands and so on so forth that the commission increasingly has been looking to the competition commissioner margaret star has been increasingly looking to tackle this issue and were seeing more and more reports the commission are increasingly willing to use 2 as theyve never used before such as bringing in voting on changing the Corporate Tax structures in the not by totally all 27. 00 members agreeing but by a qualified majority now if that comes in that would mean that the fight is still very much on but how does this ruling how will this go down across capitals and depends on what capital youre talking about in places like dublin the hague i suspect that it will be going down very well places like paris and berlin much less so the big backdrop of all this of course is that this week european leaders are meeting to discuss the Pandemic Recovery fund so theyre asking the leaders of countries and governments to give on precedented sums of money that will be given as grants that theyve never done before while at the same time theyre seeing a court ruling today that grants Companies Like apple a fortune and the figures that we saw like where theyre paid 0. 0005 percent tax so obviously that is a very very difficult backdrop to argue on one level youre telling the leaders of certain countries we need your money while apple is merrily taking its money too. Who knows where so obviously its a very very difficult context or certainly there will be a challenge in reaction and ive no doubt it will come up at the talks that are happening this week so is this the end of the affair that no certainly not the European Commission other hasnt confirmed as yet but will be a shock if they werent going to appeal this to the highest court European Court of justice and that if that happens well be waiting for another 2 years we could be back here in 2 years time talking with this guard and the overall fight against tax avoidance in europe and the world is a hold one that they always it is involved in thats not going anywhere the waters are rising on this issue its a blow to the commission in their fight a significant blow but this is not over. Thank you very much to the u. S. Where President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending Hong Kong Special trading privileges is also announced a sanctions against officials and banks involved in beijings crackdown on Civil Liberties in the territory china has condemned the decision and says it will retaliate with sanctions on u. S. Citizens and other escalation of tensions between the u. S. And china trump took actions against china in retaliation for its recent moves on hong kong he authorized sanctions on banks and officials involved in imposing a tough new security law that effectively terminates the semi autonomous territories unique status the u. S. Move comes to weeks after beijing passed a new law that many say represses fundamental democratic freedoms in the city the law prohibits what beijing views as subversive activities and gives the police sweeping powers to conduct searches and make arrests something the authorities made ample use of as soon as the law was passed. Trump also revoked Hong Kong Special trading status today also signed an executive order ending u. S. Preferential treatment for hong. Hong kong will now be treated the same as Mainland China no special privileges no special it can trade print and no export of Sensitive Technology is without its privileges hong kong could lose its position as a bustling and competitive Financial Hub wiping out businesses and threatening livelihoods. As the deep freeze between the 2 superpowers shows no signs of thawing hong kongs residents are left out in the cold. For more on this story lets cross over to spelling who is in beijing how much pressure is this putting on china. I think the biggest pressure will be on Hong Kong Hong kongs economy while in hong kongs Business Model was to be part of the western set of business rules of the dollar economy enjoying the status of of a free trade economy and when trading with western countries but being closely tied to china and Many Companies decided to channel their businesses with china through hong kong for exactly that reason so a lot of this Business Model will have to be rethought we dont know what will really happen but it looks a little bit like chinas trying to transform hong kong into some kind of an offshore location for chinese businesses but that is still under the grip of china money has flown into hong kong from china in the last few weeks whereas a western businesses have been cautious. Theres also a 2nd part to this that sanctions against individuals in china and hong kong would have been instrumental in imposing this National Security law this might be a blow to individuals the chinese elite as well as the leader of hong kong likes to send their children to study in the u. S. And other western countries theyre also families who have assets in western countries but i dont think anybody was unprepared for this so they might have made other arrangements in the meantime but here beijing has promised to retaliate what can we expect. Beijing has retaliated in a similar case by imposing sanctions on you as politicians that means that u. S. Politicians would not be issued visas to china this is of course way less threatening to u. S. Politicians than those who the chinese elite the u. S. Elite usually does not send their children to receive education in china and they do also do not transfer their assets to china to have them in a safe place but there are of course other ways that. China could use to retaliate 1st of all american businesses in china could be could be threatened in various ways could be targeted by various measures and that is probably something that the u. S. Business community would fear more than this kind of targeted magnitsky style sanctions that china has also started to adopt. In beijing for us thank you and well have more on the latest developments in hong kong in our business show including what it all means for the purchase trade and the economy thats coming up right after this news broke. And also some of the other stories making headlines around the world today u. S. Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg has been admitted to hospital to receive treatment for a possible infection is 87 and one of the 4 liberals on the Supreme Court if she is replaced a new trump appointee is likely to shift the court in a solidly conservative direction. Thousands of bolivians half protested against their government in the capital of past because of Economic Hardship caused by covert 19 some burnt effigies of political leaders they want to thirtys to do more to reactivate the economy after massive layoffs bolivia has about 50000 covert 90 cases. Thousands have called on israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to resign in a protest outside his official residence in jerusalem that has seen his popularity drop in recent weeks as he faces a trial on corruption charges and grapples with a deepening Coronavirus Crisis. For one 3rd of bangladesh is under water after some of the heaviest monsoon rains in a decade more than a 1000000 people have been forced from their homes by heavy flooding forecasters warn that major rivers are expected to rise further in the coming days. Officials say the flooding began in late june after heavy rains in the northern parts of bangladesh and neighboring india the countrys share of a 50 rivers while flooding takes place almost every year during the monsoon season this years have been particularly bad the situation in bangladesh has become dire for many especially farmers who depend on their livestock. Thats when. The flood water is constantly rising neither we nor our cattle could go out we need a small boat to do so are we having problems with food to the cooking ovens have been flooded even our beds are under water. So get over the. The floods have destroyed crops and driven people in several impoverished regions from their homes well over a 1000000 people are on the move looking for safety. Now homesteads have been flooded we had a small road out here but it got destroyed last night so were trying to salvage all our crops like rice and corn and other goods. The countrys Flood Forecasting Center has warned that the situation could worsen still with major rivers expected to rise even further in the coming days. Here are some of the other main developments in the global corona crisis u. S. States of alabama florida and North Carolina have reported record daily increases in deaths from over 90 germany has issued a warning against all nonessential travel to luxembourg amid a recent spike in cases that france will make it compulsory for people to wear masks and shops and other enclosed spaces as often next months. To south africa now where the president warns of the greatest crisis in the history of its democracy south africa now has about 300000 cases of covert 90 the highest rate in africa schools that reopened last month and since then several 1000 teachers and students have become infected with the virus for sen facilities have made many of south africas schools a breeding ground for the virus t w correspondent ugly and krishna reports from the city of durban. d lisa other teachers toilets at the Elementary School in kuan yew swat the woman started hasnt worked for years so the female teachers have always used the students facilities which are also in a sorry state. I started working here. 25 years pick. This like these yes did you think that after 25 years i thought. Everything was right. And what i didnt see any change i didnt enjoy waking its only that i like this trick id like to give now thats the only thing which proves. It pushes me. Because id like to help these poorly in. 4 years she has pressed the ministry of education for support. Do you believe her and said this new man to fix the whole school. Only 3 roofs were repaired last year and even then only partially visiting Teachers Union representative saying the roof is not watertight and the rainy season will soon be here critics say for years south africa has suffered from massive corruption in the awarding of government contracts theres no follow up theres no theyve been meeting for their weapon that is done in our institutions you just to give people to go there do it their way or can then theres no one called chronos theyre after whats to check a way that everything was done according to their book before they paid how would they paid if their work is not finished because you can see that its not finished trucks deliver water but not enough many tanks remain empty the union says it was irresponsible to open schools like this and with the rapid growth uncovered. 1000 cases only 2 age groups have begun classes so far but others are to follow and the. Infrastructure of the school has been neglected for years so at the moment there are only few learners here but the teachers fear that if more learners return to school it will be impossible to follow social distancing rules. Have been no covered 9000 cases in the school so far but many parents work just an hours drive away durban one of the countrys coronavirus hotspots despite repeated requests we couldnt secure an interview either with the Regional Government or the federal ministry of education. Although once lessons to continue regardless offer frustration at the pen demick. There is no future if you have to be killed to protect him because youre living in this country has made this the only thing that can help this is to go to school. And despite the difficult circumstances or war and here students are doing all they can to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Alice cross over to do have you on the town who filed this report out and thousands of teachers and students became infected after schools reopened is the government considering closing them down again. It doesnt look like that at the moment the government argues that it has to cater for the rights of basic education for all children in south africa and they say that they need to adapt to the new reality to this new situation and for some learners especially from poor backgrounds this is indeed crucial not only when it comes to education but also when it comes to food on the table because theres these feeding schemes and schools here that provide one meal a day for free for all of the students going to school and remember south africa has one of the most equal societies in the world a huge gap between rich and poor and you can also see that obviously in schools and the Education Sector you have some very good rich schools they were of course able to provide Online Learning during the lockdown theyre also better prepared for the new measures that. Need to be put in place during the covered 19 outbreak but on the other hand you have a lot of poor schools and some experts argue that only if only some schools continue with the school that would have a very negative impact in the future on inequality and might even increase this get. Public pressure likely to change that well the i would say the society is really divided here you have also teachers that are really divided you have those who are saying no we really have to stop that we have to close the schools its not safe and on the other hand many are saying no no we have to continue the reality it looks like it we dont know when things will end and the unions who are calling for schools to close say we have to close them until the peak is over but nobody knows when the peak will be over you have to remember in south africa the situation was like this that theyre locked on the strictest one was introduced in the early stages and thats meant ok the Health Sector could get ready and thats a big benefit but on the other hand it also meant that the people here are kind of tired of following lockdown regulations at the moment theres not a big willingness of going back to a Strict Lockdown at the moment despite this higher numbers which is obviously a problem. In cape town thank you for the 1st time since the coronavirus pandemic began spectators are being allowed to attend a major sporting event here in germany tennis tournament in berlin features some of the worlds best players maintain its tours have been suspended since mid march organizer