this is the. heads of the polls today. for independence from spain. all the seats are up for grabs after madrid declared the last vote void. once again support the quest for independence also. president trunk delivers on

a key campaign promise through a sweeping tax reform bill with the biggest tax. goes on trial accused of carrying out a bomb attack. team boss. had nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with money. thomas a very warm welcome to the show we begin with this program with some breaking news police in australia say a vehicle has been driven into a crowd of people outside a train station in the city of melbourne authorities say at least seven people have been taken to hospital the incident occurred at the flinders street station during . thursday evening rush hour that area was packed with people doing christmas

shopping police have arrested the driver they say they have not yet established whether this incident is terror related it seems to be similar to one in january when a car was driven into the destiny and south the very same spot was going to live today to be a correspondent peter ham and he joins us from melbourne a date of what to tell us this point. well it's so far unclear here already said whether there is a terrorism terrorism related on knowledge of what we definitely know now is that thirteen people have been character hospitals are in office buildings now amongst the thirteen is one child toddler most probably that's the information we've got it was a very very busy area not only for christmas shopping because. as well because it's a very busy station the flynn the street station i can see from my hotel window the

area sealed off more or less a lot of police around lot of ambon ambulances around what i can tell you is that the driver is in custody now it seems he's under word after this accident so everything else is unclear so far it just happened a very short while ago and we have to wait for more information coming from the police ok do we have any information about the driver who's been arrested any information about that person right now. you know unfortunately not yet we know it's emmanuel personally was driving the small s.u.v.s was ok as you ve and he's in the rest as i already said but that's all we know so far he to herman for us bring us up to date with the latest live from melbourne thanks very much. we're turning now to spain where catalonia heads to the polls today for a hotly contested election seen as a gauge of support for independence now this comes two months after the region

declared independence following a referendum opposed by madrid spanish authorities responded immediately with a crackdown arresting separatist leaders and calling snap elections the ones we're seeing today madrid hopes today's vote will put an end to the political crisis. you know about his companion for the independent catalonia the pianist and her friends think that madrid stands for spain of the past. and got. the independence movement in catalonia really wants to change things for the better than people in the rest of spain don't necessarily agree with that parliament for example approved giving people the right to receive gas and electricity even if they can't afford it but the central government then overturned the law but we don't have a common future with madrid and. we are not going to do that. but

the group has been plastering makeshift posters like these all across catalonia but you didn't expect to get involved in this campaign until a little while ago independence how do you thin an option for oil initially i wanted to very against independence and the referendum it was after all a united country would have had more means to improve in citizens' life but when i saw how the police were beating voters something inside me broke to pieces i couldn't help but say that he was that busy. the referendum was a turning point for many people here but that doesn't mean that they are any closer to agree with each other quite the contrary the catalans are more divided than ever . yama vivus has always apace independence but it wasn't until after october's referendum that he took to the streets for the first time to express that sentiment along with hundreds of thousands of others he finally felt accepted by

his home region. laconically a bullet example his our country is based on stigma if we say something that is considered politically incorrect we are socially has to fight in arkansas here in catalonia speaking out in favor of a united spain was for a long time. we didn't dare to give us about the rest. random and what happened at the time was so ridiculous that we lost our fear of stigma finally found the courage to speak our minds. jamo recently started a satirical you tube channel in one of his videos he proclaims a catalonian republic from his balcony he wants people to laugh about a topic he thinks is being taken too seriously he's also calling for a conciliation not of political our politicians have broken our society but we shouldn't forget the navy has been against the war in favor of independence to know is that our neighbor and not our enemy that we need to learn to appreciate each

other again put into even if we don't agree with each other. but yama knows reconciliation will take years he intends to keep on making his videos and hopes that one day they will make even independent supporters laugh let's go straight to barcelona our correspondent barbara vessel standing by for us there barbara is this the day that decides the future of independence for catalonia. that's what some people say hoop and even many voters might put but if you look at the polls brian is quite clear that there is simply no outcome that makes for an easy solution because the party landscape here is splintered you can vote for independence on the hard right on the sort of medium right and even on the middle of the political spectrum and you have the same on the other side against independents you have a liberal party you have the socialists and you have a further party who might sort of be the kingmaker in the end so it has really

evolved spectrum and it will be difficult to form a coalition afterwards that is capable of making decisions and the biggest problem is that nobody can really see a way out of this impasse here about how to solve the animosity between the two camps in this region ok that animosity barbara was deepened when madrid arrested or forced the departure you can say the flight of separatist leaders like carlos bustamante brussels you know considering that with separatists leaders in jail or were on the run is this a free and fair election. it is free because you can still vote for their parties you can vote for the people of them sound but you have other figureheads who will sort of who stand in for them so you can pretty much create the same outcome that the region had before those before those elections and we also have to

keep in mind i mean what these people did is a criminal offense under the spanish constitution and it's not many countries in europe who would say oh they're political heroes we'll just have to sort of let them get on with their work and splintering and breaking up spain most countries wouldn't tolerate that and the government in madrid came down rather heavy handed but still people do have a free choice here ok brussels is of course looking very closely is what happens today where you are there barcelona and throughout catalonia what's at stake for the need today the e.u. wants this to go away the e.u. doesn't want this at all i mean separatist movements we know there are several regions in europe we know scotland we know something in the north of italy there are the regions in spain there is corsica all kinds of places who might feel emboldened and think they they should sort of have

a runaway move and break off their regions from the mother country this is something the e.u. does absolutely not want if you listen to them they say do we want europe broken up into seventy tiny little state lots nobody really wants that the european idea is to break down borders not create new borders and that's what the catalan independent independent supporters want so no support from brussels absolutely zero ok barbara thanks so much for that more from barbara throughout the day as the vote in catalonia proceeds. in the united states the most sweeping tax reform in a generation is now the law of the land president trump signed in a store overhauled the u.s. tax code after the house of representatives gave its final approval now the bill includes permanent tax breaks for corporations and temporary tax cuts for individuals it is the first major legislative victory for the trumpet ministration

. in his election campaign president trump promised to lower taxes and after eleven months on the job he's delivered on that promise. in typical trump fashion he praised the achievement in super lotto it's the largest i always say the most massive but it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country and the reform but tax cuts. really something special we are making in america great again your republican congressional leaders were under intense pressure that is to pass the legislation before the end of the air. the bill slashes tax rates for businesses and the wealthiest americans part with more modest and only temporary relief for the middle class not a single democrat voted for the plan. they say it was aimed a soul that helping the richest one percent. the true face.

going forward has been nevil it instead of focusing on the middle class which contains millions of betterment on the forgotten america republican to build it to install a permanent plutocracy. republicans say the tax cuts will help boost the american economy. but many analysts are skeptical about the long term benefits. president trump says his tax overhaul is a christmas gift to the american people. but polls suggest that it's when most americans are unsure if they want to keep. well this isn't the first big tax cut in america the state of kansas has done something similar right daniel that's exactly right brian and twenty twelve governor sam brownback introduced sweeping tax cuts for individuals and some businesses as expected overall state tax revenue actually went up but that wasn't

enough to counter economic headwinds and grow the economy it's a lesson the federal government must tax cuts not a silver bullet to improving the fortunes of a nation or even a state. the midwestern state of kansas was hit hard during the financial crisis after years of sluggish growth governor sam brownback was hoping to kick start the economy with drastic tax cuts his administration reduced the income tax and then got rid of it. the state eliminated taxes for farmers the self employed as well as small and medium sized businesses. gary mason the owner of an environmental consulting and services firm gladly accepted the massive tax cuts. probably got about twenty thousand dollars with a quick minute side of it with the state of kansas tax credit or lower taxes for small businesses. quickly like this but the dream of an economic boom never

materialized the watchdog job center is not as busy as it was a few years ago but that's not due to the tax reform. where there wasn't anything that drastic change the economy is recovering so we know that that's part of it is just the natural coverage from the recession instead of a strong recovery kansas saw an impressive growth and massive budget deficits as its tax base disappeared funding for this public school in kansas city dropped by fifteen percent much to the chagrin of principal david smith the tax cut basically spent all the money that the state had and they're out of money so what they're arguing is that schools don't need more money i think these things show you that we do and we will be able to use that money to do more for kids kansas be a blueprint for the entire country if donald trump's optimistic plans don't succeed the u.s. could see a spiraling deficit and stagnation instead of many new jobs. apple has admitted

that the performance of older i phones is slowed down by the company develop of primal labs published data that appeared to show slow performance in the i phone six s. and seven models as they aged apple of knowledge that software takes measures to reduce power demands which can have the effect of slowed the process and they say the problem stems from the fact that all lithium ion batteries degrade as they age . and now they're disappointed pilots unions speaking to budget and i know why and have the very first time in the company's history the reason for the discontent islands ryanair had refused to negotiate with unions on pilots' pay the airline says it will answer a number of proposals in whiting by noon today the unions threatened to go on strike again if the deadline passes without a satisfactory. one immutable fact of breck's it

great britain is surrounded by water that means that ports are not only a vital lifeline for british trade within the e.u. but also stand to be huge bottlenecks massively increased customs inspections post cracks that would hold up a cross border business. reports from dove. everything runs like clockwork in dover there's many as ten thousand trucks pass through the port every day there are a few formalities as most of the traffic involves the european union that could all change after brics it john surely has been a holy here for twenty years his office is right next to the port he specializes in shipments to and from eastern europe he was there or thereabouts there to wait for moldova. we could do it first though for sure we don't have a customs office as we do not the facilities in the parking space for five thousand trucks can we get out of here for you to see you. this is go right

we're calling it is the economic suicide john's big worry is that if customs documents are needed again waiting times could massively increase this truckin knows his boss in that case would simply avoid doing business with the u.k. . rail the days in dover. and august take rose to germany. through latvia or someone from serbia. customs paperwork for nonnie you countries is processed in a small hotel at the moment that makes up a small portion of the overall traffic less than one percent about five hundred trucks a day customs broker alfie matthews processes the documents by hand an elaborate computer system would be needed to get through more we could have a deal with europe or european trucks don't need examinations so they don't have to

stay here they could drive straight through paperwork could be done electronically there wouldn't be any queues but as things stand there's neither a sophisticated computer system nor a deal with the e.u. britain urgently needs a solution there's nowhere to park any more trucks. is there room for oh i don't have a truck there are here are very very. ten thousand a day where the roof you see in the cliffs is not. true because. without a clear way forward over will become a bottleneck in the absence of a better computer system or a deal with brussels the traffic jams could stretch over twenty kilometers in britain and on the continent and apart from breck said there's another big exit in the u.k. brian another top resignation that's right daniel a key ally of the british prime minister treason may her deputy damian green has

been forced to resign may wrote to green to ask for his resignation after an investigation concluded he had made false statements about pornography found on a government computer in his office green was also under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment is the latest among a number of birth alterations who have left office due to alleged misconduct. well here in germany the trial of a german russian man accused of carrying out a bomb attack on the orissa darkman team boss in april is due to start today the suspect has been charged with attempted murder causing splosion and serious bodily harm at first investigators thought the incident was terror related but now they believe it was something completely different. fans had already started gathering in the stadium for dortmund's champions league match against monaco but dortmund didn't make it there that night just as they left the

hotel shortly after seven pm the team bus was rocked by several blasts glass shattered dortmund defender mark part truck and a police officer were injured. daughter was taken to hospital for surgery on a fractured wrist that buses reinforced windows prevented further injuries. police discovered three homemade explosive devices packed with shards of metal placed in bush's by the roadside a shaken dortmund team lost against monaco when they played their reshaped match the next evening. the authorities first line of inquiry a terror plot letters left at the scene claimed the attack was retaliation for german military operations against so-called islamic state in iraq and syria ten days later police arrested a twenty eight year old german russian national identified only as sergei wu the

motive of the attack not terrorism but greed the suspect had taken out options on thousands of piracy of dortmund shares betting that an attack would send prices plummeting and net him millions. johnston crane from our sports desk has been looking into this for us good morning jonathan this was an attack that shocked all of germany a massive shock someone would actually target football players or some degree of this was an attack on football the football community as a whole. so much passion in germany and also an element of relief that this attack was not in the end and a police officer were injured but miraculous that no one was actually killed the suspect is being charged with the attempted murder of twenty eight people but what he did do was unite football fans united football fans from rival teams to restore

dortmund fans offering monaco support to accommodation for the night somewhere to eat so i think it really did put football in perspective there was some very thorough police work right after the attack of course what led investigators in the end to the suspect yes initially investigates this was an islamist attack they found several letters at the scene after the attack one claiming responsibility by islamic state also that says from purporting to be from far right and far left groups the police quickly realized that they were a bit suspicious raising questions about that authenticity and then they were led to the hotel opposite to where the attack took place because stuff that would raise the alarm about someone acting very suspiciously off to the everyone else is running around in a panic as you would expect this person sat down in the restaurant calmly a to steak and also ordered a math and then they were alerted to some. cheese with stock purchases this put

option which essentially means that stock can be sold at a specific price of a set and dates and they were then able to trace that back through the ip address to the hotel and eventually place closed in the suspect ten days i'd like to follow up on that you know the suspect in custody was taking advantage of a financial rarity apparently and in german football what can you tell. about that show being listed on the stock exchange is actually coleman in other major european leagues but dortmund are the only german club to be listed on the stock exchange and they did this back in two thousand and one when they were facing financial ruin essentially they really needed to raise money quickly so an influx of cash came in they were able to buy a load of players improve their fortunes but of course stock prices. were results of volatile so the suspect really took advantage of this prosecutor said that just one euro a fall of one euro in the drop in stock price would have netted him hotham million euro ok briefly if you could what about the attack and its effect on security at

dortmund gains and generally for for german football we've seen attacks on football stadiums in the past don't forget in november twenty fifth in there with the explosions outside the study fronts before the fronts and during the france and germany match but attacks on team bus is quite rest there i think what it did do was highlight how unprepared football clubs were for this and how unprepared they want to deal with something like this happening and that is obviously something that has really been looked at now in the aftermath of this attack jobs and train for us thanks so very much for that job. well there was a blockbuster a german match on wednesday a german. saw table toppers by munich hosting a tough door and here's the best of the action from that clash. dortmund beat by a long route to winning the cup last season and it won two in a row and a new coach peter shergold but winning at the alley on sunday in a is tough for any team. and button made

a fast start in the twelve minute nicklaus soothers header to tons of the jerome though it's a pilot in the rebound it was his first ever cook goal and get by and they deserve blame. but dortmund almost levelled on thirty five minutes when the bull run through to under ya malenko but alibaba cleared off the line. soon after though by and doubled their lead when a well move was expertly finished thanks so much smaller the fine fans knew they'd seen something special at a rough time in front of goal in the last two seasons but you wouldn't know it. dorman pulled one back midway through the second half for ya malenko to set up a grandstand finish but it wasn't to be for the holders a first defeat pushed well mighty buy and go through to the quarterfinals. also to britain now and the town of wigan and northwestern england is holding the world are eating championships for the twenty fourth time we're going to are proud to be

called but the nickname apparently does not come from their appetite for the dish and said to date back to the one nine hundred twenty six general strike after a number of days without pay the hungry miners went back to work forced to eat humble pie. in this corner of the world it's the stuff of legend was there to figure out the city but if you take. it in. the rules. one of the famous meats and potato pie as quickly as possible it's a challenge the brave folk of way can go every year each eager to claim the title world champion paulie. will go to tolls lengths to secure victory i'm fortunate because it's you know it's an international sporting competition that we've got to take it very seriously and you know when we do often testing if people

are known to turn. to ted olson trying that upon. the moments of truth by its appearance that could only be. already have three titles after thirty two seconds of pie scoffing the hot. so as the sun sets on another chapter of northern english tradition the bright folk of which i well may the pollies be with. let's get your top stories this hour the stache region of catalonia a new regional parliament today separatist parties hope the pole will strengthen their bed to break away from spain election was called up the madrid declared october's vote for the peninsula legal and arrested. yes. this is news live from berlin don't forget there's more of our website www dot com now though

thanks so much for being with us. to us car tires are indispensable but the environment would be better off without them. german scientists are taking a closer look at the damage they cause. and they're searching for greener solutions in production. disposal. and recycling.

to morrow to do next digitally. entered the conflict zone confronting the powerful. all against is called stigma a difficult challenge for the party taking a beating at the polls in september many social democrats say the poxy needed to reinvent itself so really s.p.d. go into a position to become a jew and yet knows. in the sixty minutes d w. i'm not proud and i will not succeed in dividing us about i'll not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we're tired of this dictatorship. taking the stand global news that matters. made for minds.

freedom of expression. a value that always has to be defended and new. all over the world. are to a freedom freedom of art. a multimedia project about artists and their right to express their views freely. d w dot com to freedom. hello and welcome to tomorrow today coming up. roped off robert how dangerous are particles from tires. thailand's elephants a danger for rubber plantation.