i'm saying. this is due to the news live from berlin poland on the outs with the e.u. brussels follows through on its threat to punish warsaw over judicial reforms it says are on democratic the move could see poland stripped of its evolving brains

also coming up no word from these two journalists since their arrest and me and more over a week ago they were investigating alleged abuses against him jumbos looks we'll get an update on their disappearance from their god. and europe deals a big blow to the right hill and company over's its top port says over is a taxi service not just the now full look at the fallout. i'm semi so much going to get to have you with us after months of tension between warsaw in brussels the e.u. has now started a process that could strip poland of its voting rights in the block the move comes after poland's parliament last week adopted new reforms allowing it to effectively choose members of the country's supreme court the e.u. says this puts the courts under political control and violates european norms in an unprecedented move the commission has now triggered the so-called article seven

which paves the way to punishing poland. european commission deputy had friends temperaments made that announcement in brussels earlier today let's listen to what he said it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to initiate article seven one. but the facts leave us no choice. i stood before you in july when i clearly said that we'd almost reached a situation where we would need to invoke article seven one situation since then has not improved but deteriorated so we have no other option let's go right to brussels to mine a standing by for us hi max remind us what exactly poland has done to prompt this reaction from brussels. and you have a couple of good examples there sumi earlier they really drew the line with the supreme court laws what you just said that the polish government tries influence

the composition of the supreme court by a couple of tricks for example by lowering the age the eligible age for judges which would make some of them go now which would alter the whole makeup of that court in favor of the polish government and their political direction and that's just one example another example is that the justice minister would get get more influence over who becomes an ordinary judge by naming them directly and this of course is bad for the separation of powers the judiciary and the executive and funds to moments who we just saw there the commissioner in charge said that there was thirteen laws in total over the last two years and i quote here which can systematically politically interfere with the composition powers the administration and the functioning judicial authorities and i think what really was the law last straw for the commission wasn't necessarily all those laws although they're bad enough in the eyes of the commission but that the polish government is quite simply

refuse to talk about it to come to brussels and try to negotiate something ok back so article seven has been triggered and we should say again this is never happened before what happens next. well first of all there's a backdoor fronts to mill and said if the polish government implements a list of remedies by that you commission within the next three months that they might be willing to forget about all that now if they don't and there's really no indication that they will change anything the polish government that is then the european parliament has to give its ok which is probable after what we've been talking to different members of the different parties it seems that european parliament largely in favor of triggering article seven here and then the european council so the member states would have to have a four fifth's majority they will also have that to do just that and so then we have this efficiently because right now the commission is just giving the recommendations but in order to really trigger sanctions what we were talking about

earlier you would need unanimity in you council so that would be another vote down the road we're talking about all member states there max and that you isn't really a model of harmony at the moment is there going to be enough backing for this to actually end in sanctions hungary has already announced that they would veto something like that but you have to keep in mind we're talking about something that would be in months maybe even in years and a lot of things change then and there's a lot of backdoor diplomacy there so hungry once something when it comes to the vote you know something in a completely unrelated field there might be a way for the others to strong arm them so poland shouldn't be too sure about that although right now it looks like unanimity would be a far shot but the thing is that the commission really didn't want this to happen they don't want to go this way and you could see it when you heard france two months earlier today it really pained him to do that but poland just took steps that the u.

commission felt they could not ignore right you know these max hoffman reporting from brussels max that to talk to you. now me and maher has barred a senior united nations rights monitor from entering the country special repertory young he was due to visit me in mar in january she planned to assess alleges rights violations against their will hinge a muslim minority more than six hundred thousand we're going to have flood suspected ethnic cleansing in rakhine state on the border with bangladesh says it will no longer cooperate with lee. and meanwhile pressure is mounting on me and maher to release two voyagers journalists arrested more than a week ago the men are accused of violating a colonial era official secrets law they had been investigating the alleged military crackdown on rohingya muslims. committed to finding the truth but now held captive thirty one year old while alone and twenty seven year old cho so who are described as bookish and warm by family and friends. lone joint

reuters news agency over a year ago from a family of rice promised he'd always dreamed of becoming a journalist. he's also written a children's book co-founded a charity to promote tolerance between myanmar ethnic groups and worked with orphans. was a good husband to me. the heart and he continues to learn. tonight. he's not a politician he's a real journalist. i believe he wouldn't do anything wrong that's why i want him to be free to soon as possible. who wrote poetry before violence and his native state led him to write news. but his learns reporting on

the military crackdown that which has forced more than six hundred fifty thousand muslims to flee has cost them their freedom. they've been missing since last tuesday after being invited to dine with police officers and young gone myanmar's ministry of information released this photo of the two men who it said had illegally obtained documents on the violence they plan to share with international media foreign governments human rights groups the u.n. and the e.u. have condemned the arrests we expect for me i'm our authorities to ensure the food production of their rights and to release the journalists as quickly as possible freedom of the press and media is the foundation and the corners or the corner stone of in the book. of thirty's say police have almost completed their probe of the two journalists after which a court case against them again. let's speak to journalist david greene bomb in

yangon he's been following the situation david tell us more about the official secrets act that these two journalists are accused of violating. this is a law from the one nine hundred twenty three when the m.r. then called burma was part of the british india now legal experts say that this law has a very very broad definition of what could be considered an official secret i mean basically anything that's not in the public domain through the official channels could potentially be an official secret for example as we often see in the western press when a proposed budget is going to come out before it actually gets submitted in the legislature parliament it often gets leaked to the press well under this hypothetically if a reporter were to report on that before was officially put into parliament that in theory be a violation of the c. of the official secrets act so it has a very very broad definition here now in this case it's quite serious i mean we're

talking about possibility of a fourteen year prison sentence for these two parters reporters as your reports before said they had been reporting on the crisis and were kind state now there have been reports in the local media here connecting the arrests of these two reuters journalists to human remains that were recently found in northern rakhine state so it's leading to a lot of questions as to what happened how did these people die and is there any connection to those remains and any reports that the reuters journalists might have been working on keep in mind you want officials have accused me and mark the military of ethnic cleansing the military continues to deny it so the big question here is will these remains a blow a hole in the military claims and if they do is what the reuters journalist is that what they were working on is that why they were arrested we just do not know at this time david it's not only these two writers journalists some several journalists have been arrested me and more recently a local journalist but also foreign correspondents how is this having an impact on the ability to report to independently especially on the events happening in

rakhine state. you know i've talked to a number of local reporters here who said it's just really having a chilling effect particularly as these latest arrests or these these two are looking at the possibility of fourteen years they basically say they're really concerned that when it comes to sensitive issues but if they want to comes to the crisis or kind state they're afraid of that they do anything more than just scratch the bare surface on this story that it could lead to some more of them landing in prison and it's not just the local reporters who work for the local press it's as we said these two reuters reporters who are they are both locals mi amor nationals who are working for a major international news organization that has really been the been doing of aggressive job of reporting on this for kind crisis and putting out some of the best journalism on it and then also just in general a lot of foreign reporters including myself we depend on these local journalists to help us help us with their language skills their contacts and their understanding of the conflicts that goes on in this country so this is really having an impact on

the local reporting will that last long term is hard to say right now journalist david greene and yangon david good to talk to you sure. now to some other stories making headlines around the world in mexico a reporter has been shot dead in the southern state of vera cruz authorities say good model pettis was killed in front of dozens of parents and children at his son's school christmas party regularly about security and drug trafficking she is the twelfth journalist to be killed in mexico this year. the european union's chief breaks ago she says britain should have a transition period shorter than two years after it leaves the e.u. that's a three months short of then britain and initially saw michelle daniels said the u.k. would have to abide by e.u. rules during that time. austria's new chancellor is met with european parliament head on tonio touch johnny as he seeks to reassure you leaders that his government still supports the bloc sebastian court says austria remains pro european despite

a euro skeptic party joining the government courts as conservatives formed a coalition of the far right freedom party this week. now is the biggest name in the gig economy which in gauges temp workers and it's just hit its biggest roadblock a european court ruling the app doesn't just connect people wanting a ride with those trying to earn some extra cash but that it is a regular transportation company and needs to follow the rules. a simple app a couple of clicks and before you know it is waiting he or she drives a private vehicle and is basically just an ordinary citizen that was the original idea behind but off to countless battles europe says contact it that easy the bombshell came on wednesday with a ruling by the european court of justice a spanish taxi drivers association submitted a complaint of unfair competition by the u.s. company in response the top european court decided folds into the category of

transportation rather than technology services and just like any other taxi company it's therefore subject to regulation from now on all drivers need a license to work that's already the case in many e.u. countries vehicles must also be officially registered as taxis something that could put the brakes on business model. the ruling is a milestone for taxi companies in europe why they've continually protested against like here in romania at the end of november the us apps rock bottom prices meant customers turned their backs on the stock taxi companies but now it seems may be heading down a dead end street. and that's just one item from german football a cologne have decided to keep interim coach to fund wouldn't back in charge of the bundesliga struggling side until the end of the season as they try to avoid a possible probable relegation back was put in temporary command until the

mid-season break after sacking this but africa long one for the first time in the league this season over the weekend the former under nineteen coach has had his due extended until june. thanks for watching good news don't forget you can head to our website state of your dot com for all the latest news and information around the clock or follow us on twitter the handle at. thanks for watching. we've. we've. stories that the world over information may provide the means they want.