and correspondent katia kepner joins us now from delhi and culture we can see that you're actually taking precautions there how are people how are you dealing with the situation. well right exactly like this so now i take it off of course to be able to speak to you better on a day like this it's really quite a heavy time of delhi as you can see i would always take my and my my mask if i go out if i have to go out otherwise i try to stay inside. and i test expand uy so if we take a look on this laser tag that we have to quickly change the q i needed to five hundred were just like. we had to just level off of course already and it's really dangerous for the house so this is just to demonstrate why you can't see anything behind me usually we would see a tower over bare our skyscrapers nothing if you ask me on a personal level it's definitely frustrating. to have

a smart kid who is like running to the door saying out and i can't let him out i have to somehow cage him into the flat but. having said this of course i'm still part of an elite who can afford an asset or inside who can afford to isolate the flat and here comes the sad part i think because a large part of delhi's population even doesn't realize and it's not aware of the really hazardous level it's now and the really disastrous effect on the health. and to that end is the government doing anything to promote awareness getting that word out to people about what it is that they need to do to protect themselves and what are they doing to just reduce the pollution levels generally speaking how was this caused got you. well it's costs through many many different factors and this exactly makes it so difficult to find a solution and to play the blame game as we say here so first of all you have delis

geographical situation with the rich is extremely favorable for this situation now then you have the farmers and the surrounding states right now who burn their crops in these days and all this air is coming to delhi then of course you have the old diesel cars which are still on the road you have generators and you have poor in the streets in the night who make fire to just get warmer and all these factors come together oh i just forgot the construction sites all over the city who of course also produce the dust so all this mix together is what we see right now but this is the government doing well if you ask me much too little much too late there are some measures which stop doing nala so they make to make it cheaper to take the metro for example they make it more expensive to park the car but this is nothing which really helps in the longer term and having lived in the city for more than four years now and really seeing the same situation f.-u.

year again so it's quite a frustrating time for people living in delhi and we can see it so evidently behind you there those levels of smog those levels of pollution cocktail will let you go now and put that mask back on to take care and in delhi. germany's highest court has ruled that intersex people must be allowed to officially register their gender the federal constitutional court has found that current rules are discriminatory they mean that babies have to be registered as either male or female the court says that the birth register could also include options to register as inter diverse or diverse now the government now has until the end of next year to draw up new rules on how gender is designated. for more let's bring in political correspondent kate brady who is joining us from berlin today so kate was a lengthy court battle why did it make it all the way to the constitutional court

well this was a long case and this was initially dismissed by the regional court in this was a case brought forward by an intersex person in germany who birth that had to be registered as female but it was a constitutional court today as you mention that actually ruled in favor of this gender and that that means of course that this would now will not be discriminatory and also this was reflective of the german constitution the basic law which has the general protection of personality and it was this point which the constitutional court said today meant that the birth register in germany needed to be altered so that people could positively register their births and this should come into place by the end of next year so if you're having a child here in germany i mean what sort of changes can you expect going forward. so by the end of two thousand and eighteen people in germany will be able to

register that birth either as male female all this the gender or exactly how that will be designated is still a little unclear but the court in calls here with this morning suggested as a designation such as into diverse or any of the positive designation of a gender now there are around eighty thousand people in germany that identify as intersex so this is obviously going to change many many lives for the positive in germany. with the latest from berlin thank you. catalonia as ousted leader carlos pushed him on has sharply criticized the european union for not supporting the region's bid for independence he made the comments in a speech in brussels where he's facing possible extradition back to spain to face charges pushed him on had some supporters from home in the audience two hundred separatist mayors from catalonia flew in to rally behind his cause.

that. freedom these mayors wanted for catalonia and for the region's x. leaders now behind bars. there was a toast is the mayor of a small catalog village he joined his colleagues in brussels to say they want support from europe it's very difficult for us at the european commission is doing nothing catalonia is a very pro european country we see ourselves as part of the european family alongside berlin and paris. catalonia is ousted president carlos puts them on got a hero's welcome from the mayors gathered in brussels he too condemned the response in europe to his region's push for independence. to sit there know what is this the europe you want is this the europe you want to build a europe with a government in jail a country without the right to choose its representatives in

a democratic way. on himself could face up to thirty years in jail on charges of sedition and rebellion if belgium sends him back home to spain. puts them on currently is in belgium on provisional release that means a number of conditions apply for instance he can't leave the country but it seems he can campaign and so europe will have to prepare for more events like this one. but european commission chief sean claude young isn't budging he says the u. doesn't need any more splits and he's urged cut along leaders to stop violating spanish law. a group of protesters in brussels some to say message to the separatist mayors there are many who don't want to see a breakup of spain. well from brussels and catalonia now we are heading to germany monika jones standing by with more on the strength of the german economy and there

are many figures yes yes there are some very interesting and encouraging figures there sara the german economy is in a very good place right now that is according to a report published by the government's economic adviser also known as the five wise men now in their annual report the experts reported a strong apps with two percent growth forecast for the current year and even war in twenty eighteen and that goes hand in hand with low unemployment and decent tax revenues now both offer financial leeway which the government would to do well to make use of say experts investment is needed in education and in research as well as in infrastructure like truck and road building or faster internet access. and there's another interesting reporter due out today european car makers are about to be hit by a new set of challenges the e.u. is scheduled today to announce a plan to slash allowed auto emissions by another thirty percent but several

producers are already having trouble meeting existing targets that's according to a study by international consultancy firm p a consulting a comic is in europe currently aim for new cars to admit it average of maximum ninety five grams of c o two per kilometer that means that some models can produce more than that as long as others are more environmentally friendly german car makers however are exposed folks. they cannot meet existing targets according to their reports of their emissions are still well over the existing threshold different picture with toyota and p.s.a. they're in a better position at eighty nine and eighty seven grams per kilometer respectively they already come in well below the current target but the industry as a whole is not moving fast enough in reducing emissions and that is why the e.u. wants to extend reductions until twenty thirty and the allowed limits to sixty six

grams of c o two per kilometer. german comic a hoax wagon cost chose to break the law rather than conform to emissions regulations worldwide so there is widespread doubt the automotive industry will accept further restrictions from regulate us. there's a lot at stake and nowhere more so than in germany carmakers here were on tenterhooks as they waited to find out the new rules of the game. the european commission's proposals on emissions rules will cover the period between twenty twenty one and twenty thirty. report suggests c.e.o. to limits could be cut by thirty percent. but according to german easy judges there will be no real penalties for failure to meet the new target a breath of relief for germany's car industry already grappling with the fallout of the diesel emissions scandal taking

a closer look at the country's auto industry the livelihoods of some eight hundred thousand people depend on it german carmakers produce fifteen million vehicles worldwide each year that amounts to around four hundred billion euros in revenue almost a fifth of g.d.p. . so it's hardly a surprise that german carmakers enjoy a rather cozy ties with lawmakers in the past efforts to get tough on regulation have been met with fierce resistance here's what the head of germany's automotive industry association had to say back in july. don't get the wrong kind of political intervention could threaten the car industry. as long as politicians proposed guidelines instead of interfering with technology this sector will continue to succeed in the past politicians or bureaucrats making decisions on technology has not been good for jobs or for the economic development of the country to be shifty go to church you can begin to smell. jobs and economic

development under threat environmentalists say such arguments have enabled car makers to get away with far too much the auto industry may have a sympathetic ear in germany but on a european wide level there may be a bumpy road ahead. when german foreign minister got to be a want to get tough on european car emissions targets by twenty twenty five saying that stricter rules would cost jobs and growth well earlier i spoke to greg ajah director clean vehicles at transport an environment in brussels and i asked him what he makes of that argument it's known since there's a recent study that b.m.w. and folks like and have participated in been done by the european climate foundation that shows it's net positive for jobs in germany until twenty thirty and that includes more than twenty thousand jobs in the automotive industry nearly

seventy thousand jobs in the electrical industry and most shops in services all said this is a this is a regulation which drives innovation and creates jobs so how do you explain the resistance then. i think the resistance is because the car industry wants to continue to sell the same old diesel technology in europe because it can't sell it anywhere else in the world and is desperate to try to recover the investment which is made what what kind of rules do you expect the e.u. will propose today and how will those rules impact the car industry we think they will propose a fifteen percent cuts by twenty twenty five in a thirty percent cut by twenty thirty we also think that they will propose a fifteen percent thirty percent share of zero emission vehicles including plug in hybrids by twenty twenty five and twenty thirty but crucially after the intervention of the midst of his men there will be no sanction if they don't

actually hit those targets so they are effectively meaningless and just paper regulation so that there are only so there is no no no repercussions and no impact for the motorists with those rules either you know that the impacts on motorists will be very positive because the cars will have lower c o two emissions so they will be lower. roads taxes but in particular they will be much lower fuel costs overall we think this will add about a hundred year owes to the price of a new car but that will pay back in lower fuel costs within maybe two years so overall this is something that benefits the driver to if if the cars and the car makers adhered to the new rules you just said that a lot of them may not do it because they won't be penalties so no repercussions there for motorists either just briefly. there won't be penalties for the targets

for zero emission vehicles there will be penalties for missing the thirty percent and fifteen percent overall reduction targets we think those penalties will be the same as they are at the moment and in that will drive the industry to achieve their goals personally i don't agree with the analysis i've seen it doesn't take account of some of the flexibilities which exist in the regulation the car industry will hit their targets for twenty twenty ok and for twenty thirty ok well greg we have to leave it here thank you so much directed lane because a transport and environmental joining us in brussels. now brevity is the soul of wit but that doesn't stop twitter from changing its business model. to absolutely microblogging is about to get a little bit bigger because twitter is rolling out a new feature that is drawing plenty of cheers and jeers it is doubling the number of characters allowed in most tweets from one hundred forty to two hundred eighty

the company said that it decided to make the change after testing it with a limited group of users it said that many people were wasting their time trying to fit their thoughts into a one hundred forty character tweet and it wants to be easier and faster for everyone to express themselves the response has been mixed many critics say that the doubling of the character limit ruins their favorite thing about tweeting the brevity this user took advantage of the new characters to repeat this was a mistake an actor james phelps is a bit more positive though he says that this new two hundred forty characters is like eating your big mane and then realizing that you still have time for dessert and coffee twitter itself predicts that most users will keep their tweets short and the american medical association used science to explain why the new feature feels so strange to many people change is resisted because it is psychologically and physically uncomfortable your brain feels good when you hold firm to what is known

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