they're waiting for their delivery sponsor talks today so together. deliver features. this is the w. news live from berlin the u.s. president confronts china donald trump has signed an executive order stripping hong kong of its special trading status holding china accountable for its clampdown on human rights that beijing says it will retaliate also coming up a victory for apple after an e.u. ordered to pay $13000000000.00 euros in back taxes to ireland is dismissed it's

a blow to e.u. efforts to crack down on sweetheart tax deals for big business. and a 3rd of bangladesh is under water after some of the heaviest monsoon rains in decades and rivers are said to rise even further. as welcome to the program us president donald trump signed an executive order ending hong kong special trading privileges he also announced sanctions against officials and banks involved in beijing's crackdown on civil liberties in the territory china has condemned the decision and says it will retaliate 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 pass 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 kong hong kong will now be treated the same as mainland china no special privileges no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies. 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 kong's residents are left out in the cold. well donald trump's move to sideline hong kong is going to have a clear impact on the economy the active opponent from the business joins me now live hong kong's economy is resting very much on financial services how will this impact business that i think it's kind of a devastating impact on business i think if you split up the business is there in financial services you have the foreign companies you've got the domestic hong kong companies and then you've got the chinese companies with the foreign companies you've got $9000.00 foreign firms $1300.00 of them are u.s. companies a lot of them are going to be involved financial services then in front of you have the local tycoons who've also built up their their their billions there and then

you've got the chinese companies who've arrived in the last 30 years or whatever so i think the 1st 2 sections are going to have difficulty i think the chinese it's going to be a different maybe a different question but it's overall it's going to have a devastating impact. on how the stages of financial gateway into asia and hong kong playing to that status at least i think it's going to be a financial gateway to china i think that's going to change anything that's going to increase but as a financial gateway to asia i think it's losing its status now why would you put money in hong kong instead of say singapore or even places like taipei or other areas in asia now because you don't have the certainty that you used to have financial markets like certainty and predictability and i think that's been kind of removed so i imagine a lot of investors are going to be looking at in that way china seems to be fronting a lot of battles on the economic front right now there's cove it this way and now this is going to end i. you know it's really quite amazing to see that china all of

us within the last few months it's had to take on so much a lot of this is where things have been bubbling under the surface for a long time and i think it's now coming home to roost we said since the beginning that this would happen in hong kong it would be like berlin in many ways that a lot of these big systemic battles that we see in the economic terms are going to be fought in hong kong and that's what we're seeing right now it's a community business thank you. the irish government. won their appeal against 2016 e.u. decision that set up to pay the irish government a 13000000000 euros in back taxes money that island didn't even want so took the taste of europe's 2nd highest court as long denied that its tax arrangements with apple amount to illegal state aid the european commission is expected to feel the ruling to the european court of justice and. earlier this year then irish prime

minister lavrov 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 and ireland that's 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 is little is 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 us here in 2060 in the european commission ordered apple to pay ireland 13000000000 euros in back taxes but dublin and apple both appealed the ruling. and now joined by author sullivan from d.w. businesses looks a little closer to the story it looks like a major vindication of full countries a low tax policies like ireland so where does this leave the european. a mission in the fight against tax avoidance but it's definitely a blow hard symbolically it's 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 at those specific arrangements in ireland amount when you can state it the courts today said it didn't 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 vistar has

been increasingly looking to tackle this issue and we're seeing more and more reports the commission are increasingly willing to use tools they've never used before such as bringing in voting on changing the corporate tax structures new not by totally all $27.00 members agreeing but by a qualified majority if that comes in that would mean that the fight is still very much on but how does this ruling the whole of this go down across capitals in the depends on what happens you're talking about in places like dublin the hague i suspect that it could 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 they're asking the leaders of countries and governments to give on precedented sums of money that will be given as grants that they've never done before but at the same time they're saying according to their the grounds companies like apple a fortune and the figures that we saw like where they're paid 0.0005 percent tax so

obviously that is a very very difficult backdrop to argue on one level you're telling the leaders of certain countries we need your money while apple is merrily taking its money to who knows where so obviously it's a very very difficult context so certainly there would be a challenge in reaction and i've no doubt it'll come up at the talks that are happening this week so is this the end of the of that no certainly not the european commission although doesn't confirm this yet but it will be a shock if they weren't going to appeal this to the highest court european court of justice and that. that happens we'll 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 in the world is a hold one that they always it is involved in that's not going anywhere the waters are rising on this issue it's a blow to the commission their fight a significant blow but this is not over this alone thank you very much. companies in the developed nations have often been accused of turning a blind eye to conditions the factories and farms where they source their products

spot the german government is planning to make them accountable for their overseas supply chains it's planning a law that will impact a wide range of sectors from textiles to t.v. . these pictures show the tea harvest in the northern indian state as many german wholesalers buy their tea here produced under working conditions that would not be allowed in germany says development minister garrett miller. these are conditions like an early colonial times in are some women working 12 hour days in the heat on steep slopes and earning $1.00 a day i mean dollars tarp. up to now german companies can commit themselves voluntarily to uphold acceptable social and ecological standards along their supply chains but few actually do and there's been no consequences for abuses. we are to this means we're accepting and cementing exploitation of people in the environment

in developing countries and we're tolerating child labor on a massive scale by that new legislation could stop that the so-called supply chain law would make larger companies responsible for maintaining ethical standards with regard to subsidiaries and contractors abroad and make them liable for violations but businesses are protesting saying it would be impossible to monitor all foreign suppliers and that by going it alone germany would put its companies at a competitive disadvantage instead they're calling for a europe wide solution. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world german police and customs officers have discovered 31 migrants hidden inside a refrigerated truck reports say the migrants were all male and came from turkey syria iran and iraq vehicle stops near the czech border at a turkish license plate and the turkish driver who's now in custody. thousands of

bug areas got gathered for the 6 evening in a row on the side the government headquarters and sophia demonstrators piling pressure on veteran primary or whole bar soft to resign over his perceived links with all the guys the protests were peaceful until a group of supporters is started throwing glass bottles beer towns and smoke bombs . u.s. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg has been admitted to hospital to receive receive treatment for a possible infection ensberg is 87 and one of the 4 liberals on the supreme court she's would place a new trump appointee as likely to shift the court in a solidly conservative direction. to bangladesh now where one 3rd of the country is underwater after some of the heaviest monsoon rains in a decade or than a 1000000 people have been forced from their homes by heavy flooding forecasters warn that major rivers i expected to rise even 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 country share over 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. that's why. 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 there when 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. but.

our home states have been flooded we had a small road out here but it got destroyed last night so we're trying to salvage all our crops like rice and corn and other goods. the country's flood forecasting center has warned that the situation could worsen still with major rivers expected to rise even further in the coming days. this is the w. news here's a reminder of all top stories this hour u.s. president signed an executive order revoking hong kong's special trade status with the u.s. trump also announced sanctions against individuals and banks involved in china's new security law in the hong kong beijing says it will retaliate. and the and the u. cold ties rule that apple does not have to pay islands 13000000000 euros in back taxes the european commission a pursuit the case says it has gets to decide whether to appeal to the european

court of justice. you're watching t.v. news from the that's it from me and don't forget you can also step states on our website e.w. dot com and also do follow us on twitter and on insta from asked d.-w. i'm gal 1st said you now for. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. hour corona up to. 19 special next on d w.