this is the w. news live from berlin after a year of negotiations and missed of deadlines britain and the european union to reach a bracks a trade agreement european commission president or cilla funded lyon describes it as fair and balanced and says britain a little remain a trusted a partner with british prime minister boris johnson and greeted the deal as fantastic news that will end uncertainty also coming up on the show. there is a light at the end of the tunnel that's what a german a president franco voltage timer says in his traditional christmas address we'll

have more on what he had to say about the coronavirus pandemic. plus every year millions of trees are cut down to decorate homes only to be thrown away a few days later we meet one man who is promoting a more sustained cesspit at sustainable christmas tree. i'm claire edge and welcome to the show after months of uncertainty britain and the european union have finally struck an agreement on a post a bracks a trade deal it's implementation will mark big changes the u.k. and e.u. will form 2 separate markets and free movement between the 2 will end when both sides patched up their differences at the 11th hour to a virgin encroaching crisis as the end of the 12 month transition period of protest . just days before the january 1st deadline britain is set to leave the european

union with a trade deal after months of wrangling the 2 sides finally agreed to the terms on which the e.u. would be allowed to continue fishing in british waters the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place before the deal could be announced both sides are selling the remit as the best deal for their positions. british prime minister boris johnson said it would benefit greatly part of the u.k. . a deal that will protect jobs across this country do a lot of goods u.k. goods and components to be sold without tariffs and without coaches in the e.u. market the deal which will if anything allow our companies and our exporters to do even more business with all european friends over in brussels the e.u. chief said it was time to look to the future. we will continue cooperating with the u.k. in all areas of mutual interest for example in the field of climate change and

that's the security and transfixed to care that we still need steve more than we do apart it's crazy the deal needs the approval of both the british parliament and the e.u.'s 27 member states ambassadors for me you countries will meet on christmas day to start reviewing the deal the british parliament will debate and vote on the deal on december 30th. and the agreement comes into effect on the 1st of january it means there will be no tariffs on trade between britain and its biggest trading partner the european union fishing rights emerged as one of the last of barriers to a deal the e.u. has agreed to give up a quarter of the fish it catches in british waters and there will be no hard a border between ireland and northern ireland which is part of the u.k. this has been another big sticking point irish prime minister martin described the outcome as a good compromise for britain's final departure from the e.u.

means an end to free movement conditions will apply for residency and travelers will face restrictions. and i'm joined now by david charter he's the u.s. editor for the british newspaper the times david you've been monitoring the negotiations between the e.u. and britain from washington d.c. do you consider this a win win or did one side manage to edge the other out. i really consider this a great deal round actually because the absolute worst thing that could have happened was for the talks to crash at this late stage when they were so close they had 95 percent of the agreement in the bank and let's be what's called a no deal situation at the end of the year which would have meant tariffs quotas terrorists would have smashed the car industry britain it would have put a 10 percent tariff on finnish cars and 20 percent on vans and trucks it would have been devastating for

a lot of manufacturing in britain it would have really created a lot of friction back and forth across the border and a lot of extra costs would have been damaging for exporters and manufacturers this is really wonderful news actually given the fact that the british public voted progress it exactly 4 and a half years ago there were 3 prime ministers down the line but we finally got the deal across the line which is it's going to be a fantastic new start i hope for both sides and you could see that in the body language in the words that we used today we even have the head of the european commission equating shakespeare uscis passing as such a sweet story she says but it shows that we're ready to start on the right foot i think given all the difficulties surrounding the crate a virus. mutation that pulls the poles of problems between britain and france now

aside from the very thing what you called a disastrous outcome and you think of that britain and got what he really wanted. nobody gets everything they want from negotiations like this that cover so many different factors but given that way that the british i should say decided to leave the european union there were always going to be some drawbacks when it came to the smoothness of trading and travelling it be you and i think that the fishing deal looks very good for the from the british perspective of course the the british use the threat of. deploying the total sovereignty over fishing to ramp up the pressure on the europeans side to get a deal and there wouldn't be full sovereignty over. the british forces but in

reality that never could be it was never going to be 100 percent british control of 200 miles from its coast simply because the channel for example is less less than 30 miles wide in some places so it was there was always going to be a compromise and i think we don't know every fine detail of this yet it hasn't all been printed and we'll have to wait and see whether every whether there are some things that cause problems but i think looking very generally that the the message has got to be a deal with is so much better than a collapse in the talks and it and i don't know to which beyond the tariffs and the quotas would have just savage the atmospheric possibly for years to come. by u.k. prime minister by stance and claimed that he does settle his a country's difficult relationship with the e.u. a once and for all would you agree with that assessment. i think that we've got that the general playing field set as we've been discussing

discussing that the the mood is is very positive as well however there are going to be as the relationship develops there are going to be difficulties because although the deal does not require britain to adopt new e.u. and standards for food goods and sort of social social networking standards which that which is wont to reject actually in the referendum when they decided in 2016 to leave it means that over time british governments will will will take measures perhaps they will want to rescue an industry that is in trouble a manufacturing industry or an airline and still something of that nature and it will it is going to cause friction but once again i'm going to insist on sending a happy christmas message that's the playing field has been set in

a very positive manner i do have a charter u.s. editor for the times thank you very much here in berlin chancellor angela merkel said she's confident the bracks a deal is a good outcome and a statement she said with the agreement we are laying the foundations for a new chapter in our relations even from outside the european union the united kingdom will continue to be an important partner for germany and the e.u. the cabinet will meet on monday to discuss it germany's position and we can turn out of their stories making news around the bar of the 1st case of the new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in the u.k. has now been identified here in germany in fact a person a flew into frankfurt airport from london 5 days ago and fell ill at a home in southwest in germany. austria has reopened its ski lifts for christmas winter sports are underway at $400.00 alpine locations at despite the imminent

start of a 3rd national walk down the government argues that as an outdoor sport skiing is safe under strict conditions mountain restaurants meanwhile remain closed and small dover has a new president pro in europe a former prime minister my s.n.g. has been sworn in after winning last month's election as split between supporters of russia and those favoring closer ties with europe and sent do is the 1st woman to leave the former soviet nation and german a president has delivered a message of hope in his annual christmas day address to germany he said the krona virus pandemic had radically changed daily life in the country but also brought germans together the going on good. roster. and vincent israel's of visits a goof in front of them laden. how to play in the courts on time

insisted the most snow of. foosball them style the young penal income celt the eyes in. the hawk. on feelings under the media the pundit me on the in the for let's leave the mentions and. thus is must be anomalous leaving them. under those via. these dark views and. well you might want to spare a thought for tomas to the among coach has been sacked on christmas eve despite winning his last match for now and when it's 6 trophies with p.s.g. and led them into the champions league final last season his team are currently 3rd in the french top division just one point adrift of 1st place she is expected to be

replaced by former tottenham boss. chef tina. in germany as in many countries one of the most popular traditions is buying and decorating a tree millions of young pines are cut down every year to adorn living rooms but there's growing criticism over the damaging environmental impact so some entrepreneurs are creating more sustainable alternatives. a tree is cut down. and another. every year we cut down millions of trees just so that we can have one for christmas in germany alone around $30000000.00 trees are sold over the festive season. benedict bruiser is selling christmas trees with a difference to make a difference well the idea of the returns of christmas trees is that we've developed a system where we only cut the top of the tree and then have the natural succession

off the tree that will again build a new branch hopefully so it's a region of tree that never is being killed but it always regrowth. in january birds of peas people if they bring back the bits they've had over christmas. those bits are cut up and mixed into soil becoming nutrients in the tree plantation underneath the cover brazil plants potatoes or wild strawberries. and in the middle blackberries. and all around them they're regenerating christmas trees. which have a special meaning for birds and. through through all the technological advancements and the digital world we have lost many of those just natural ways of coming together and communicating and celebrating life and you know being aware of what

life actually means and for me a tradition is the christmas tree at christmas where you come together as a family and you just enjoy being together and having that time to also reflect on the if the projects proved successful hopes the technique will be used around the world to make christmas trees a little bit greener. well pope francis has celebrated the traditional christmas eve mass from st peter's basilica in the vatican this year's service started 2 hours earlier than usual to comply with italy's 10 pm lockdown curfew the congregation was also much smaller due to social distancing roles christmas day we'll see more changes when the pope a gives his traditional be at or be a blessing from inside st peter's rather than from the balcony overlooking the square. and our mind you can always get you know the news on the go just download our app from google play or from the app store it will give you access to all the

latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if you happen to be part of a news story yourself you can also use the d. w. x. to send us photos and videos of what's happening. today i'm clear it's an empire then for me the whole team to watching. the story of producer propaganda. they were called the right mind bastards born after the 1st world war. their mothers were germans living in the occupied drawing land their fathers soldiers from the french colony. from german children had a hard time and because they were reminder of the german defeat. exclusion and

culminated in forced sterilization under the nazis. this documentary examines the few traces that remain of their existence. the children's shame. storage january 11th on d.w. . edited them. the deal is sealed after 4 long years they've finally done as britain and the european union and agree on a perhaps a divorce deal the news means a decades long relationship will end on friendlier terms than serious and major trade chaos can be avoided for negotiators on both sides a bittersweet moment. i'm . quite.

relieved. to think there's still. stability and uncertainty sometimes being a fractious and difficult relationship. with. your friend. you are on. your supporter. and indeed never let it be forgotten you are number one in the market. this is the business i'm k. ferguson thanks for joining me the deal is done to 4 years off for the people of the united kingdom voted by a narrow margin to leave the european union the 2 sides have reached an agreement on the future terms of their relationship fundamentally the deal means that both sides can continue to trade without their goods having to pay tariffs there also won't be a limit on how much they can buy and sell to each other in other words no quotas

they've also reached an agreement on a so-called level playing field for doing business european commission president or a slush fund a line set the e.q. rules and standards will be respected we have effective tools to react if fair competition is distorted and impacts our trade. finally they also agreed on the emotional issue of fisheries with the european union agreeing to reduce its quota for a fishing and british waters by 25 per cent for the next 5 years that seems like a win for the block britain britain had wanted a 80 percent reduction in during negotiations but there are still quite a few open questions this deal only governs the trade in goods not in services which are especially important to the british economy so while this deal is being hailed as a big achievement it does of course mark the end of

a union that's been quite far trial at the best of tides here's how european commission president or the law fonda line described the new relationship status. in the. country. but it remains a choice that. we're on long island. with to be the $26.00 summit in. all the upcoming. g. 7. 1000020 presidency. in opinion. will. today live on our common goal. and british prime minister barak johnson has also been hailing the agreement focusing on the size of the trading relationship and evolved. so i'm very pleased to tell you this thoughtfully that we have completed the biggest trade deal yet worth 660000000000 pounds a year

a comprehensive canada style free trade deal between the u.k. and the e.u. a deal that will protect jobs across this country if you allow goods u.k. goods and components to be sold without tariffs and without quotas in the e.u. market a deal which will if anything allow our companies and our exporters to do even more business with our european friends and this deal was of course a long time in the making and in many ways it represents the beginning of what could be a long post back the journey for the united kingdom my colleague daniel winter on the road ahead. the deal is done a crisis averted it's a relief for both sides after all half of the u.k.'s trade is with its european neighbors and the u.k. is the use 3rd largest trading partner the talks were painful but the alternative was worse pushing the begrudging neighbors closer together never has the european

union offered so much to a so-called 3rd country the u.k. has enhanced its decision making at home but still has access to the e.u. market whereas the e.u. has kept a key customer for billions of euros of goods selling british wares freely in the e.u. as marketplace's the 1st big step but britain still has a monumental task ahead of it before the brics a briton had access to scores of deals now it's on a shopping spree bartering with partners to snap up trade pacts worldwide. the u.k. has already signed up $59.00 countries to continue trading under the same conditions as with the e.u. plus a fresh deal with japan that's $220000000000.00 euros worth of trade the new deal will be a relief on both sides of the channel but for britain the toughest times may lie ahead experts predict economic growth to slow living standards to drop right now

the u.k. needs good news for its economy and as with everywhere the pandemic has eaten away at growth hastening the decline of thousands of small towns and cities getting trade humming through britain's ports will help mitigate those effects but will the opportunity cost of brecht's it leave the u.k. far weaker in the world than it could have been or will britain confound critics and build itself into a single pull on the english channel the odds are stacked against them but by getting a deal with the e.u. done britons have looks beyond their island and taken the 1st important step and speaking of looking beyond their own island that's at the transatlantic view on this deal from business correspondent yes quite to in new york yes this is of course huge news here in europe how important is this deal for u.s. investors a particular. well i mean more clarity and less uncertainty is always good for markets and actually we do see wall street gaining a bit in

a shortened trading session here on thursday global trade disputes and also are usually not necessarily helpful and if we look back 4 and a half years ago when we did have this surprise brics a devote we also saw some pressure on wall street but having that said it's not necessarily a game changer for wall street this is mostly between the u.k. and the european union and investors on wall street they have so many things to deal with i mean there is the pen demick we're doing we do see some slowing growth so we have all this fight about a new a picket so there really a lot of things on the plate but it is welcome news also on wall to get it as i've said we do see u.s. markets slightly to the upside. ok so u.s. investors have a lot of things on their mind right now but of course one of the biggest issues around rex it was britain wanting to make new trading relations and take you there with the rest of the well world where do you think they're related sit between the

u.s. and u.k. in the future. yeah i mean we have heard from boris johnson and there are some indications that the u.k. might push forward by liberal trade agreement because the united states the big question is if it's really in washington some high priority list to get those this is a new deal done any time soon there is no pressure for the upcoming president joe biden 1st of all the u.s. actually has a trade surplus with the u.k. so why make big changes at this point and then also boris johnson was considered to be rather close with u.s. president donald trump and i'm not so sure if we have the same feelings between the upcoming president joe biden and boris johnson so i would be cautious to really believe that we get a new trade deal any time soon might be in the interest of washington to really

clear things 1st was the european union and was china before they take care of the u.k. yes cutting you i thank you very much time now for a quick look at some of the other business stories making news. turkey's lira has surged to a 5 week high against the us dollar after a bigger than expected interest rate hike the central bank raised rates to 17 percent to cool skyrocketing inflation the euro has been among the worst performing currencies this year down around 23 per cent amid to corona virus locked and double digit inflation. some $850.00 cargo stothard british airways are to begin a week long strike on friday over a pay dispute the unite union the says workers face pay cuts of up to 25 per cent shipments to and from britain have already been disrupted by border closures

following the discovery of a new coronavirus ferry and. restarted daily flights to and from london after receiving clearance from italy's health ministry the carrier said passengers traveling to italy must be residents or have urgent reasons for the journey a negative covert 19 test is also required flights were suspended earlier this week because of the new virus variant. and finally how's this for a childhood dream come true the iconic toy store f.a.o. schwartz in midtown manhattan has opened its doors to overnight visitors for the 1st time ever the premises recent the advertised on home run full sized air b.n. b. the accommodation includes a living room overlooking the giant rockefeller center christmas tree the 1st family to avail of it hogs free run of the store including the giant step on

a keyboard note from the movie big they also got to take home some souvenirs and a reminder of the top story this hour the european union have agreed on a deal governing the future off their relationship. it comes 4 years after people in the u.k. voted by a slim margin to leave the bloc major sticking points in recent months i think that it's occurring a level playing field on trade dispute resolution that she likes. the props of our show from or you can visit our website at t w dot com slash business we're on social media as well probably on the team it's good bye and take care.

of folks. is a master of the art of confrontation this is wrong. oh for combat i mean you're going to be are exploiting the elusive you to champion a so-called liberal talk trying to frighten people who so far come from here on the surface of the conflict zone to sebastian as he holds the power to account this is a fix for your whichever way you like to spin the conflict so close. to the ocean.

for. sure. to environmentalist jeffrey has made up his mind. to kill any more. visits rural areas every week. for the conservation gonna initiative sensitizes ferocity for the protection of forest and become the. 60. w. . o. . h. . was. for. fantasy

. in the trash. see. starts december 25th. here in brazil everything is ok for you preparing for the military in sydney we have not the military government prisoners in the news these days for all the wrong reasons allegations of high level corruption uncontrolled illegal logging and finds raging in the amazon rain forest i did so that's highest figure in the world for cope with 19 infections my guest this week from brasilia is the country's vice president. how did the government let it all gets so bad.

vice president how milton were our welcome to conflict zone a few months ago you told journalists everything's under control we just don't know who's just how bad is the chaos in your administration. everything is ok in our administration that was a kind of a joke that i used to say ok it was not very straight for war war that i put it was a joke only a joke because here in brazil everything is ok. what sort of joke was it you had 2 health ministers who were gone in the space of a single month during a health emergency and justice minister resigned and education minister hurries off to the u.s. just days after stepping down from the job saying i don't want to fight leave me

alone don't provoke me isn't that enough chaos for you now it is not things that happen any government ok that their way that their vacation minister went out well it was not a big problem for us ok and you know brazil is a very different country and well some things that happen here that happen in other countries it's our culture so why did you write an op ed may the 14th you said no country in the world has inflicted more harm on itself than brazil and you warned that institutional damage was driving the country into chaos you were the one who mentioned the chaos and drew attention to it you said we've become incapable of the essentials in facing any problem sitting at the table talking and debating that was a powerful indictment of your own administration wasn't it because your leaders like you who are supposed to unify your country. well the country is

suffering what happens all around the ward they use on an excess of of tripoli as politico the political sides are all very there to say. about it a lot of polarization in politics but. our administration is running the country well and so far as today he sings are getting better and the relationship between the different powers are getting each day better and better so we had some difficult time some months ago but now everything's ok really and added to that the president his family and several associates are kneedeep in criminal and legislative investigations is that ok to. this question it's still under investigation and of course it's than the hands of the judiciary system and we

have to wait for their disposal has to get tweets sent. by warning about all this chaos as you did last may were you preparing for the military to intervene and start to dealing with the chaos in june the president openly floated the idea of military intervention saying the armed forces would not accept absurd decisions by the supreme court of congress is not was not a threat. that's not a that's not true 1st of all them and force are aligned with their constitutional mission and they are not stepping out of the it syncs here in brazil. are going muson well and where we have to make it very clear that democracy is a value of not only for mr bush or not his government but us to our am and forced to so there is no any anywhere and there is no threat to did the supreme court or

the jews that have system here in brazil and the fact that he attended rallies outside military bases when his supporters called for an armed intervention to get rid of governors judges and lawmakers who imposed lockdowns in response to the pandemic no threat there either i suppose to question the pandemic people have to understand that brazil it's a very unequal country where we're unequal socially economically and of course geographically so since the beginning of depend emic it we've been trying to deal with their health for we stay economic curve and with the social curve that's the way that mr bowser not a government dealt with this pandemic well he attended rallies which called for an armed intervention didn't he to get rid of governors judges and lawmakers what's that if not a threat to democracy you want to play on those dots is not a threat to democracy well the governor of south paulo thought it was good. the

governor of south paolo said brazil i said face up every day afraid of aggression to democracy to the constitution to the congress to the supreme court president both n.r.o. he said stop this endless aggression. this happens because there is polarization in politics the governor of some poll opposed to mr bush on out of this is much more talk down there that say action when is the dangerous here's the happens it's a new way to people behave. not dangerous it's dangerous you have power to do what do you mean but nobody has the power to do what they mean we swards here in brazil plenty of people seem to think you're doing politics through fear these days eduardo cost of pinto from the federal university of rio he says this is the problem of having a government filled with military personnel during an institutional crisis the

military will fight tooth and nail to stay in power and they have guns which makes political mediation difficult why fill the government with all these military personnel if you're not planning on the military taking over power 1st of all it's got to be very clear that we are not a military government mr bowser not in ny where elected by more than 57000000 brazilians ok and of course we have some people into gaza that come from the military but they are here sinking for the good of brazil and respecting our constitution and our loss the federal audit court is now investigating what it calls the excessive presence of the military in civil public service and it is excessive isn't it the court said in june there were as many as 3000 military personnel in government jobs what do you need 3000 of the military in government jobs for. well 1st of all it's have to be very clear that any government in brazil

has more din 2000 military in government jobs because we have a security cabinet that belongs to their dad a president that has more than 1000 military people and india's scholars of military people are those who work did fs ministry so we don't have such a huge number of military people. dead in civil jobs in our government that's some kind of been seen formation that came through some different channels and are all these military personnel qualified to do the jobs they're doing i'm thinking of the current health minister as well oh he's an active duty general who followed orders from the president is that his only qualification he doesn't know anything about health or drugs does he well you don't need to be a doctor to be the house minister why do you need to be it's manageable understands the public administration and more that you don't mocked up with rupture and of

course mr punch will also not about the logistics that was the main problem in our house minister and he knows how to a bay orders more than the other health ministers the c minos to do as he's told that's his main qualification is it well he has the qualifications and he has been do we have very good job and this has been that they asked about all their secretaries of the different states here in brazil they are all very pleased with the job that mr puzzle has been doing because all the necessary support for it to fight in control depend them has reached it every point in an hour in our country. mr vice president mr paulson r.-o. has never hidden his admiration for brazil's former military dictatorship do you

share that admiration well we had a period of a military presence that lasted about 20 years they had they did a very good sings for brazil another sings they didn't go so well and this is history and history can only be judge it when time pass we are still some 50 years away from that period we need some more 50 years so that this period can be judged well well during the vote to impeach former president dilma rousseff mr ball so narrow dedicated his balance to one of the regime's most notorious torturers this man was convicted of torture during the 21 years of military dictatorship last year your president called him a national hero 502 cases of torture were identified in the unit he ran you have nice heroes in your administration these days don't you. first of all we had on

we don't agree we started tortures it's not. politics that our country simpatico to it and of course when there is a lot of people that fought the euro but guerrillas judy in the late sixty's and beginning of the 7th of last century and many of these people have been wrongly accused of being torturers so colonel carlos alberto was wrongly accused and you also think of him as a hero do you despite the cases the 500 cases of torture which were attributed to his unit. what i can tell you about him and carlos are back to brilliant used to he was my commanding officer in the late seventy's of their last century and he was a man on or and a man who respect the human rights of his subordinates so bent of sings that people tell about him i can tell you because i had a very close friendship with this man that's not true so he was wrongly convicted

then of torture was it it was all made up while the trial was fixed 1st of all. i'm not aligned with stuart and of course many people are still alive from that period and all of them want to put sings in the way that they saw that's why i told you before that we have to wait for all these sectors to disappear so debt history can make its part and of course what really happened during that period that pure come through well given that you and your president are not prepared to condemn the torture is only torture can you not understand why so many people in brazil and internationally doubts your commitment your administration's commitment to democracy and you understand that well democracy it's one of the national of our national pearman and objectives we

don't see brazil out of democracy our main objective today is make of brazil the most brilliant democracy in the 1000. really and with people like al gusto hal a no minister of institutional security another retired general he's on record as saying he believes it's up to the military to put this house in order this house meaning brazil another threat you have all these people who are prepared to make threats but you say there really isn't a threat i'm confused mr vice president gore. like i like i've been telling you this makes parts of the discussion that we have the polarization in politics ok it's must really ward's then actions because you want name one single action from mr bozo not a government that was a real real real scratch to democracy here in brazil but words matter in politics don't they you play it's all down but even the supreme court's chief justice tough

ali warned in june about the president's dubiousness about democracy he said dubiously that's not a great characteristic for a democratic leader is it these dubious about democracy i think there is no way to sink. get there is that some dubious of feelings of the mr bowser nodded to democracy including last saturday for instance mr bush or not and mr tough fully aware eating together in a dinner so if mr tarpley had any doubt about the way mr bush on our behave they would not be together in the heat in their house in his house by the port but that . your former justice minister sergio morrow accused the president of interfering in an investigation into his family basically attempting to obstruct justice this is a highly damaging allegation from

a minister who used to be well liked and respected by mr bowser wasn't it well mr morell may dislike you say chanst views are being investigated through their supreme court we are waiting for this investigation to come through ok of course we have to wait for dead it is process to end i myself. will work i'm side by side with president bush for not joining all this time and i can tell you that he did not interfere in the federal police and the work of the federal police so that he could help some of his sons that are being accused of some wrongdoings how do you know he didn't did he tell you that he didn't have i know that well well i've been with mr bozo not. to tell us and we've been working closely together and i can tell you.