they exist around the world. global ideas takes the next step protection for our planet's biological diversity trailblazing projects. d w dot com slash global i.d.s. . this is d w news live from berlin and growing pressure on the trumpet ministration as a former national security advisor pleads guilty to long to the f.b.i. . michael

flynn also tells investigators that he spoke to russian officials at the request of individuals close to the u.s. president also coming up. german police are investigating a suspicious device that caused the evacuation of the christmas market in the town of pasta air berlin. and honored for a fighting end justice and investigative journalist from azerbaijan is one of four winners of the alternative nobel prize. i'm still henry welcome to the program. a dramatic turn of events in washington former u.s. national security advisor michael flynn has pled guilty to charges that he lied to the f.b.i. prosecutors say son covered up his contacts with russia after donald trump's victory in last year's presidential election reports also suggest flynn said

a senior member of trump's team directed him to talk to russian officials was. michael flynn leaving court in washington d.c. to cries of lock him up from protesters those words hark back to last year when flynn led chance for then democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton to be sent to jail. in his plea deal flynn said a senior member of the trump transition team directed him to make contact with russian officials. when confirmed u.s. media reports say that senior member is u.s. president donald trump's son in law jarrett coercion or if true the investigation would move much closer to trump himself democratic lawmakers have reacted with renewed calls for the investigation to include more people linked to the president you know it we've got us a number of major figures like donald trump jr i want to bring back jared

questioner particularly in light of some of the supposed comments that general flynn may have been making. we've got other individuals like michael cohen and others that we still need to come back but i we've got more facts together. to further comment on i think would be guided her as for the president he has remained uncharacteristically silent about flynn but that may have to change michael flynn was a very close advisor to trump his guilty plea raises the question how deep will the probe get into president trump's inner circle is that. these agreements. news correspondent carson vaughn naaman joins me now from washington d.c. carson i know it's a bit late thing is there but can you tell us has there been any reaction so far from president trump or his administration on flynn's guilty plea yes. for president trump has basically tried to distance the white house

from michael flynn he said that michael finton worked for this administration only for a very short while and also said that microphone didn't implicate anyone by name in his plea both is technically correct but of course michael flynn was national security advisor only for a few weeks but he still was one of the most important biases of donald trump during the campaign after the complain and he was definitely part of donald trump's in a circle here and also he might not have implicated anyone by name during his plea but it seems clear that he has made a deal with the prosecutors and they are looking at the transition team prosecutors say a senior official in the transition team director michael flynn and according to media reports that seems to be jarrett cushion or the son in law and senior advisor of

president trump. is there any indication of how far this probe will go. now come out of the spotlight. well obviously he will. he is under the spotlight already after these reports that doesn't necessarily mean he will indict or anything is probably in trouble but the question is what did he actually do directing michael flynn in this is not an offense in itself i mean this is normal part of a transition from one government to the next to also contact and bassett us from other countries the question is did some point maybe also lie about his role in this whole affair and then he could be in trouble of course question also is a very important advisor here is charged with many important fields by president trump like remodelling the american bureaucracy chinese relations or relations with

china and peace in the middle east so if he comes under pressure that means trouble for donald trump even if the president self is not implicated yet as a person thank you karsten but stay with us for more despite flynn's guilty plea president appears to be heading towards his first major victory the u.s. senate has narrowly approved a sweeping tax overhaul which will slash payments for business and the rich lawmakers voted by fifty one to forty nine to back the package the vote takes trump and republicans a step closer to their biggest legislative win of the year the bill will add nearly one and a half trillion dollars to the u.s. national debt democrats say it's a giveaway funded by the taxpayer they lacked the votes to block the change and now they go back to cost of our naaman our correspondent in washington d.c. . carson would you call that a victory for trump. yes it is definitely

a victory for trump this is his first major legislative achievement having said that the achievement is not there yet one hundred percent both the house and the senate both chambers of congress have now passed versions of the text reform bill but those two versions very different in many details so there still has to be a process where those two versions are reconciled and then the new bill has to be voted on in both houses again so the republicans are not there yet but it's very likely that they will go through with it at this tax reform will become law because basically the republicans desperately want such a success if possible before the end of the year so they can show something to the voters before the midterm elections in two thousand and eighteen and that is why they have been pushing through these bills in such haste without any public

hearings and with last minute amendments until the early hours of this morning and if they're actually able to get it past these final hurdles by the end of the year what would actually change. well of course the details we don't know because that will still have to be negotiated but the big lines seem to be clear there will be a major corporate tax cut so that's good news for businesses that will also be tax cuts for individuals but. position democrats at least say that most of these cuts will go to the wealthy and that's also what many independent observers have criticized and also those tax cuts for individuals will not be permanent they will run out after a few years of would have to be extended and the third major point is of course the individual mandate of obamacare the affordable care act that. obama

introduced would have to go and the c.b.l. the congressional budget office a nonpartisan institution has said that thirteen million people might lose their health care cost of an amen thank you very much. german police are investigating a suspicious device that was found near christmas market in the city of pasta and outside of berlin police evacuated the market by they examine the contents of the package security is high in the area after last year's truck attack in berlin but at the ready say the device in part stems probably a fake bomb. attendant booths and empty streets the vacation left this usually crowded area deserted news of a possible bomb newport's timbs popular christmas market spread fast causing disbelief and an ease among locals in esslemont that moves us and i first we thought this had to be a joke maybe some kids milling around but it turned out to be rather serious you

only realize the tress after a while yes a month from now we're just keeping a safe distance i will see what happens next flashing blue lights and sirens in the middle of market stalls and festive decoration the haunting reminder of events in berlin last christmas. in an attack claimed by so-called islamic state tunisian asylum seekers and it's i'm only killed eleven people when he drove a truck into a crowd at a christmas market in the german capital. even though these memories are still fresh christmas market visitors from berlin this year shrugged off the idea of a possible new threat. book proposal i've heard what happened in potsdam but it doesn't upset me too much i don't care what are we supposed to do hide at home. it's worrying but it shouldn't stop us from what we're doing. after the two thousand and sixteen attack police in berlin and other german regions plan to

increase security for this year's christmas market season in potsdam however it's unclear whether authorities could have prevented major damage if the package had been a full scale bomb. that's come. to us this was an absolute surprise there were no indications of a possible attack if the package had been a real explosive device it would have been an actual threat. but for the time being we have no proof that it was actually equipped with a proper detonator. it was more like a well designed fake bomb. playing. bump experts destroy the package which contains nails and wiring but the feeling of uncertainty a german christmas markets won't be dealt with that easily. our correspondent kate brady joins me now in the studio welcome kate first off have any

more details emerged about the package and who may have sent it well at the moment as we've heard from the from them by police this morning then now saying that the device was most likely not explosive all we know so far is that it contains nails cables batteries and also a powder but no detonator has been found and so the next task at hand now for for investigators will be to find the culprit and who actually sent this package of course the motive behind that is also still unknown we heard from the interior minister from tobacco this morning he said that it's still too early to say whether the christmas market was in fact a target that could still be a political motive behind this device and more it could even be that the pharmacy where they six where the device was delivered to that could have also been the target and thinking back to the attack at last year's christmas market in berlin just how high are skirting measures in in berlin right now germany remains on high

alert across the country at the moment especially with the christmas markets underway now ahead of the christmas season and the german interior minister. said just this week that the threat of a terror attack in germany remains simply high any time any place but he also reiterated as well that christmas markets do still remain an entire group of german life and jim culture and as we heard in that report just now it seems unlikely that many germans are going to be staying home simply because of incidents like we saw last night kate thanks very much. you may have heard of the nobel prize but what about the alternative nobel prize its official name is the right livelihood award and last night at a ceremony in sweden it was given to four people for their efforts to fight injustice. they aren't famous but the winners of the right

livelihood award known as the alternative nobel prize have dedicated their lives to social justice human rights and government transparency four people were awarded it this year and environmental lawyer from the us a human rights lawyer from india a disability rights activist from ethiopia and investigative journalist from azerbaijan. and immensely pleased that at present the twenty seventeen right livelihood award my friend went over for courage and tenacity in exposing corruption at the highest levels of government to outstanding investigative journalism in the name of transparency and accountability but is my lover couldn't leave azerbaijan to accept it despite international protest her country's government has kept a travel ban against her in place she can only appear via video since the prices founding in stockholm in one nine hundred eighty the right livelihood award has been given to one hundred seventy people or organizations from sixty nine countries

. and a reminder of the top story we're following for you former u.s. national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. that's after he was charged as part of the special counsel investigation into russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. election. that's ernest rap join us again at the top of the hour in the meantime you can check out our website or follow us on twitter thanks for watching d.w. moves. every journey begins with the first step and every language with the first word in the.