any exceptions. because i am truly devoted to united europe. and i have promised myself not to let you down, we must so we start our work. thank you. editor isope affairs in brussels and earlier she told us why the poles are so against having one of their own nationals and such a senior position at the european union. >> the current position from the polish government, the current tusknment, was that interfered in national issues during the last 2.5 years. they found this unacceptable. since that law and justice party was elected in power in 2014, they have carried out a number of things, the constitutional courts and the justice system, that have worried a lot of the institutions in brussels. indeed, the e.u. has asked the

polish government for an explanation fearing the government is having too much control over the courts and the justice system in that country. but while, you know, poland was against tusk, 27, all the other member states, all voted in favor of keeping donald tusk in place as the head of the e.u. council saying that continuity was exactly what the bloc needed at this uncertain time when it comes to many issues like the economy, the brexit negotiations, and poland, however, has reacted to this reelection, saying it sets a dangerous precedent for the e.u. because it would not be unanimous decision. it is up to the president of the e.u. council has always an elected unanimously however, it was the possession only -- a position only created in 2009. there have not been many presidents. the 27 -- chairing

members of the e.u. is no easy task. especially when are so many differences. eve: indeed. definitely not an easy road ahead for donald tusk. not even the summit itself looks like it is proving more difficult than many expected. the polish prime minister refused to sign the conclusions of the summit, the topics of the finishthey first-- they their session on economy and they are going on to speak about migration and they european defense. the poles are thinking about leaving the summit early. sharp divisions seen enough e.u. and really a lot of people trying to see, a lot of member states think we need to look at what the future of the e.u. needs to be, that is tusk's main job cap out how to make your better, he promised to make it a better e.u., what is better remains to be see, whether it is more or less e.u., something germany, italy spain and france have been pushing for where

those who want to do so do so at their own speed. a lot of the eastern countries, including poland, want more powered back to their national governments. indeed, while poland maybe euro skeptic it is one of the beneficiaries of e.u. spending with 13 billion euros. four american states, including new york and washington, have filed lawsuits against resident donald trump's revised travel ban. hawaii was the first to do so, arguing it would harm its muslim population and its tourist industry and foreign students. the revised order that goes into effect on march 16 requires new main from people from six the muslim countries and shuts down the refugee program. it is not apply to travelers who have their visas. that last order was ruled unconstitutional. president trump: we're going

to have something -- >> the new republican health care package has passed its first hurdle. repealing the formal care act has been a priority for years but they are divided over how to replace it. some republicans say the new plan does not go far enough. democrats say it favors the interests of insurance companies over the health of american citizens. reporter: >> 23 yays, 16 nays. reporter: the vote that marks the beginning of the end of obamacare. republicans on the panel pass the legislation after 18 hoursr . >> this is an historic step, an important step and the repeal of obamacare, and putting -- reporter: the measure puts an end to financial penalties for not only health insurance, but also reverses most obamacare taxes and introduces a smaller system of tax credits based on age rather than income. the result of the vote affects

the funding of medicaid, the health plan providing coverage and care to lower income citizens. flew into groups -- influential groups represent hospitals and nurses came out against the bill warning it would lead to a rise in number of uninsured. concerned that the draft legislative proposal being considered by the house committee could lead to tremendous instability for those seeking affordable coverage." affordable care act, known as obamacare, was passed in 2010 with only democratic support. it had assured him the most significant expansion of insurance in the united states since the mid-1960's. and offered health care to over 20 million americans. will work with technology companies to help them fix the flaws that left him open to hacking by the cia, according to julian assange. he's offered to provide firms like samsung and apple with the tools allegedly used by the u.s. intelligence agency. the u.s. has launched an

investigation into the leak of thousands of internal cia documents, which wikileaks published earlier this week. the agency has responded by questioning his integrity. he says tech companies will get exclusive access to the sensitive information. from some these calls of the manufacturers, we have decided to work with them to give them some exclusive access to additional technical details we have, so that fixes can be developed and pushed out, so people can be secured. then once thiss material is effectively disarmed, by us, by removing critical components, we will publish additional details about what has been occurring. >> hundreds of marines are being deployed to syria to help recapture the city of racca.

the u.s. has been supporting and shaining rebel and kurdi forces. qqa fell to islamists who declared it their capital in 2013. reporter: the u.s. flag flying above armored vehicles rolling into syria here to support local troops. they are battling islamic state. have established an outpost as they close in on the militants in nearby raqqa, the de facto capital. they doubled the already 500 military personnel on the ground. although this is a temporary deployment, it could be a sign that the u.s. is becoming more hands-on. earlier this week, they cut a road. road out of the

city, in an attempt to -- military sources say they could be completely isolated within weeks. iraqi forces say they hope to recapture all of mosul within a month. the battle to liberate the last iraqi city under a jihadist control began in october, but the islam is a putting up a fierce resistance. fighting raging near the city's antiquities museum where government groups seized yesterday appear let's go to iraq. we are in the north of the country where there has been going into mosul with the troops throughout the day. tell us what you have witnessed in the last 24 hours. reporter: well, on the front line, iraqi troops are fired up, if we can use that, the expression, simply because the end goal is in sight.

they have eyes on the mosque, a symbolic price for them to because that is the mosque where islamic state was - bylaimed by a dowdy an00 baggdadi. but also because it is in the old city. these troops are now very, very close to fully recapturing mosul, although, they are also keenly aware that this last phase of this battle for mosul will be the most dangerous for them, because the layout of the alleys,y narrow which makes it difficult to navigate and maneuver but also because of the presence of civilians, but there is really the sense in and amongst iraqi troops that genuine progress has been made and that a full victory is quite near at this point. although, as you mentioned,

there still is a very fierce resistance being put out by the jihadists, many of whom are natives of mosul. they know the city very well, and they are using every weapon in their arsenals to try to push back as much as possible. although at this point, this seems more than likely for them, given the kinds of things we have been seeing played out throughout the city. andt's a last stand battle a battle with an enemy that has very little to lose. an awful jihadists and lot of innocent people trapped in the firing line as well, aren't there? >> absolutely. and those numbers are probably in the hundreds of thousands by all accounts. and that is going to make the task just so complicated. especially because troops, you know, are aware of the possibility of what they called collateral damage.

and that is an issue we have been tackling today with civilians who are telling us that it is it lives have been lost throughout this battle, notably when anti-isil coalition aircraft target residences where jihadists are supposedly holed up. at times there are civilians in their today we were talking to residents of mosul who took us to the ruins of a house and four people had been killed and several children as adults as well. after jihadists had gone to the first floor of ah house and the house was subsequentlyi hit by a bomb dropped by the anti-isil aircraft. those aircraft will not be able to engage over the old city denselyit is so populated. imagine those people caught in thecrossfire, between

jihadist and one side that have no qualms about using them as human shields and using every weapon in their arsenal, including possibly chemical weapons, and that is going to take, if. it happens, heavy toll on those civilians but on the other side, you also have iraqi troops who use heavy artillery, impressive weaponry to try to outdo jihadists. so it is going to be a very perilous moment for those civilians who are having a very hard time extracting themselves from this potentially deadly situation. laura: and these are the people who have had to live under the islamic state for the past couple of years as well. iraqibig prize for the security forces would be the capture of the isis founder al-baghdadi. thee are reporters, the -- americans are saying he has fled mosul where he was for a long time. i do not know if you have any information on that at all. >> well, we have and talking to

both the iraqi military officers about this unconfirmed report, you quote the american official, but to residents. is not muchy there reaction for several reasons, but because from a military perspective this has very little incidence on the battle the way it is being played out. al-baghdadi left some time ago and basically left his commanders in charge of the battle. that is the military side of things. those officers respond to say this is yet another victory in a series of victories they feel they have been scoring onoughout this offensiveon m mosul. residents say for them this changes nothing. they would much rather have seen the dead body of al-baghdadi and that there have been so many rumors circulating about this very idiomatic figure, his state of health, his whereabouts, that this latest one is to be taken according to these residents of

mosul with a grain of salt because it has been possible -- impossible to independently verify it. but they are saying if it is indeed true, that it means that he is, according to them, are powered rather than facing the enemy alongside his troops chose to flee to another location. laura: thank you very much, indeed. there reporting from iraq. thousands of people have been protesting in the south korean capital seoul to call on the constitutional court to uphold the impeachment of the president. anti-park protesters have been holding rallies every weekend since october. if the court does uphold parliament's decision, park would be the first south korean president to be dismissed by impeachment. the court will make its ruling tomorrow. thousands of people have been moved from low lying areas in madagascar amid floods in a

wake of a cycling. -- cyclone. it hit on tuesday, destroying roads and leaving tens of thousands cut off. five people have been confirmed killed and seven enters. enawo is one of the worst storms to hit madagascar in years. here in france, the presidential front runner emmanuel macron has had another boost in the polls. for the first time, survey shows in ahead of the far right leader marine le pen in the first y suggest hethe would easily beat her in the second round. winning some heavyweight endorsements. yesterday the former mayor of paris, socialist, says he backs macron. and there are reports in france as well but the defense minister is also supporting macron. well, the centrist as a big surprise in this election campaign. despite the unpopularity of the

reforms he brought in under hollande when he was his economy minister. macron is pro-business and pro-european, and he does not want to overturn the state's quote but modernize some of the countries implement laws. reporter: emmanuel macron presents himself as a radical centrists and it economic safe hand. he proposes to give more say and how companies are run to employees rather than share holders. while the 35 hour working week with state, individual working hours could be negotiated based on activity or even age. >> how can we believe in this day and age that the law should be the same whether we are 25, 40 or 55 years old? and that by definition we do not have the same working situation. reporter: macron also wants to make retirement more flexible with the possibility of ending a career at 65 or 67, depending on the individual's personal situation. the former economy minister

wants to cap compensation for workers in case of dismissal. controversial measures -- macron also promises to bump up pay packages by cutting unemployment and social contributions. workers pay under earnings. he aims to bring take home pay closer to the employees basic salary. a couple earning minimum wage would save around 500 eurosea each year. social security tax would be increased by 1.7%. emmanuel macron was to make it easier for companies to invest by permanently lowering hiring costs, especially to low-paid workers. under macron, on a plummet benefits were no longer be financed by social security contributions. macron, unemployment benefits would no longer be financed. >> all employees will be entitled to unemployment benefits if they decide to resign. reporter: in exchange, the

unemployed would be obliged to accept job offers corresponding to their skills. in terms of taxes on wealth, he says professional assets would no longer be deductible and inheritance and property taxes would be increased. laura: let's get some businesses. kate moody is with us in the studio. reminiscent of that, cry drill, baby, drill. a new discovery of oil in alaska. kate: i think we will be hearing a lot more of that after a spanish oil, the announced it had found 1.2 billion barrels of light crude oil on alaska's north slope. one of the biggest offshore discoveries in the u.s. in decades. the company says it will begin pumping and four years time once it has got the infrastructure in place and could produce 120,000 barrels a day. it does have huge potential for alaska's dwindling oil interesting which is c --

industry. promptis likely to warnings from activists. after plummeting 5% on wednesday, u.s. wti crude dropping below $50 a barrel for the first time this year during this thursday session. the u.s. has reported record inventories of crude oil and fueled doubts about how effective opec's freeze would be in regulating oversupplied market. the energy sector has been weighing on the stock markets around the world. trade on wallflat street. the major indices dropping below the flatline as investors eye the february jobs report that will be released on friday, the last before the federal reserve decides whether to hike interest rates next week. the cac 40 closed up .4% and the dax managing some gains in the ftse 100 ending in a red. e.u. boosted by an upbeat statement from the european central bank. the ecb did keep its key

interest rates on hold at zero and committed to its quantitative easing program to the rest of the year. a monthly injection of cash will be lowered from 80 to 60 billion euros in march. the central bank raised its forecast for growth, and the eurozone saying the risk of deflation had disappeared despite concerns about the upcoming elections in france, germany and the netherlands, express confidence in the stability of the eurozone and called on member states to step up the pace of reforms. >> headline inflation has again increased largely on account of rising energy and food price inflation. underlying inflation pressures continue to remain subdued. kate: china's government says that followed the law when dozens of new trademark to the trump organization. it opened the debate about ethics at the white house. critics have called for the president to further distance

himself from his business empire and want proof that beijing did not give special to me to the applications. -- special treatment to the applications. reporter: new trademark for donald trump your china has granted approval to 38 applications from the trump organization. but critics are worried by response speedy saying that if he received special treatment, it could count as a competent interest. >> these trademarks raise the specter that the president theibly is beholden to approving officials in china. even more than to the american people. reporter: the u.s. constitution bans public service accepting anything of value from foreign governments. although trump has a scientist business interest to a trust overseen by one of his sons, democratic senators say the trump organization still should

have saw congressional approval. it is not always easy for foreign companies to secure branding rights in china. many high profile u.s. firms have struggled, like apple which was unable to secure the rights to the name iphone. but chinese authorities have denied granting any favors to the first family. theell, i can tell you is chinese authorities protect equally all lawful rights and interests in both chinese and foreign trademark holders. at the same time, the authorities review relevant trademark applications in accordance with the laws and regulations. reporter: trump applied for the trademark back in april, 2016, while still on the campaign trail. at the time, he was publicly railing against china, accusing beijing of stealing u.s. jobs. a cement, he has come in for criticism after saying it would be willing to supply

materials to the trump administration for his proposed wall. the latest controversy for this cement giant which admitted that some of its plants and syria had pay protection money to armed groups. hollande has advised caution while foreign ministers said the firm should think twice about doing the deal with washington because it could be construed as a political statement. >> this business needs to think this through. it can say it does not do politics but it has an economic and social and environmental responsibility for it on top of this, the business should think of its own interest. there are a lot of countries that will be very surprised by this move. reporter: nestle is getting close to a deal to open a new factory in cuba. it has been one of the biggest investors on the island. reporter: time for a well-deserved break for these workers in havana, just as their boss, the vice president of

nestle touches down in cuba to talk business. iant has produced ice cream on bottled waters on the islands of the 1990's and the collapse of the soviet, cuba's former ally, but there are new opportunities to be seized. >> tourism is going to double in the coming years. today, demand is only partially covered by local production. there i s a neeed. people rely on imports. reporter: nestle has announced a 50 million euro investment to build a third factory on the island and start producing coffee, biscuits and cooking products. foreign countries are required to form a joint venture with the cuban company. the deal is pending formal government approval. work on the new factor would begin in the port, some 50 kilometers west of havana. meriel has been chosen to host

cuba's first economic develop an zone, designed to welcome dozens of joint ventures and will be gon governed by special laws. the aim is to attract foreign investment turkey was government has set a goal of 1.8 billion euro in foreign investment to modernize the economy but has so far failed to meet that target. end with another a sample of robots perhaps taking over the world. a fast food chain in california has begun using new robots to flip burgers. caliburger helped develop the kitchen assistant named flippy. uses sensors to cook the meat and place it on the bun where a human worker as toppings and delivers the final meet. -- meal. it is a safer and more effective way of delivering food to their customers and a hope to expand it to 50 restaurants in the

coming months. laura: another area that looks to be taken over by the robots. kate: watch out. laura: we are taking a short break. stay with us.

03/09/17 03/09/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> my name is ravi ragbir. today am going into ice to be to deportation officer. what is going to happen when i go inside. be possibilities are a could allowed to come back, but the most scary is they will tell me to come into the offices and i family won't see me again. i