♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, waiting for the ballots to be counted. british prime minister theresa may is about to find out if she has survived a confidence vote. it comes after rebels in her own party tried to oust her in protest over her brexit plan. also coming up, a massive manhunt in the french city of strasbourg. that's after the deadly shooting at a popular christmas markeket. police say the suspect was on a police watchlist for radicalism.

and a new york court sentences michael cohen to three years in prison. the u.s. president's former lawyer once said that he would take a bullet for donald trump. now he has directly implicated the president in criminal conduct. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. the british conservative party is said to announce the results of a confidence vote in prime minister teresa may's leadership this hour. rebels within may's party want to oust her over the brexit agreement she negotiated with the european union. reports say she told her fellow tories that she would stand down before the u.k.'s next planned general election in an attempt to win over skeptics tonight. reporter: theresa may is defending herself with all her

might. this morning she responded to a potential leadership challenge by saying that kicking her out would put brexit at risk. she elaborated later in the afternoon. >> the public voted to leave the eu. they want us to secure a deal that delivers on that result. we should not risk handing the control of brexit negotiations to oppositition mp's in parliamt because that would risk delaying brexit or even stotopping brexi. none of that would be in the national interest so i think we need to get onon and deliver a good brerexit for the country. reporter: opposition leader jeremy corbyn was having none of it. furirious and passssionate, demanded an immediate vote on her deal. >> the prime minister and her government have already been found to be in contempt of parliament. her behavior today is just contemptuous of this parliament. there can be no more excuses, no more running away. put it before parliament and let's have the vote.

reporter: outside parliament, young people frustrated with the whole prococess were r raising r voices in favor of taking the decision back to the people. >> i think that as we have watched politicians scrambling around arguing amongst themselves about who they want to be their leader while our nation is in a complete political crisis and we are catapulting towards exit next march, i think young people are here responsibly today to say that we expect more from them and everyone has been really disappointed with how politicians have handled this crisis and really expect more from them in this time. reporter: in london street markets, some older voters express sympathy towards may and frustration at the whole process. >> she has all the ideas in place, she has done all the hard work. and then someone else is going to come along and start the process all over again, and it is going to cost more millions just to try and get this brexit in order. reporter: as conservative mp's

circle around may and her brexit plans, the prime minister for now is fighting for her political survival. brent: and dw's barbara wesel is on the story for us tonight and she joins us from london. good evening to you, barbara. this vote of no-confidence is finished. when can we expect the results? within this hour, right? barbara: within an hour, really. they seem to count, maybe twice to be quite sure of the result. everybody here says that she is going to survive because there were enough tory mp's who publicly said they would support her. others who have been watching the scene here for longer say that they are notoriously duplicitous because they would just say something out front and then do something else in the back. so, we don't really quite know, but then the expectations are that she will win it relatively comfortably.

some commentators say if it is below 100, she is in trouble. people who are against her, she will be fine. if it is far more than 100, 130, 140 against her, she is in dire straits. so yes, there is a certain amount of tension here. she might live to see another day as prime minister. but how well she does, we wait. brent: like you say, it is a secret ballot and there are plenty of examples in british history where the secret ballot, it told us one thing before the election and the results were something completely different. theresa may, she addressed her fellow tories today before the voting took place. what did she tell them? barbara: she told them several things. she of course told them they should back her deal because it was the only one, it was the best thing for the country, and so on and so forth, we have all heard this about 50 times

throughout the last week. she has sort of like her stump speech, really. also she obviously did show, as some observers told afterwards, that she has further tricks up her sleeve because she then got emotional. now, that is hard to imagine because she always comes off as robotic. they don't call her maybot for nothing. but she became emotional, even tears were shed. so yes, we would have liked to have been mice under the table in that room. it supposedly was quite fun and interesting to watch, but we are just hearing what people said who have come out. and so she really tried everything to sway people and she also promised she would not have the intention to run again in 2022, next elections. but one of the brexiteers afterwards said, hmm, that is a typically political expression,

because things might change and then the intention could be different. brent: what does all this mean for brexit itself moving forward? and if it is true, what theresa may promised, if we know that she is not going to run for office again, doesn't it make her somewhat of a lame duck in the eyes of european union negotiators? barbara: i mean, the european union is looking at this and is aghast. i mean, what a shambles. how can a country run itself down to a point where the politics, the whole system more or less implodes and you don't really know what is up or down anymore. they really run in circles bringing up the same arguments. because what she also said was, in that room over there in parliament, that she would bring back a legally binding backstop . now as we understand, that will not happen, full stop. so again, she tried to peddle

illusions and win over her own side. whether they believe her, we do not know. we have to wait for the result for that. but it seems like a game, but it is deadly serious. brent: that it is. our correspondent barbara wesel on the story for us tonight. we will be checking back with you throughout the evening waiting for those results to come in. thank you. tonight, a massive manhunt is underway in the french city of strasbourg after a gunman opened fire at a famous christmas market on tuesday. two people were killed, 13 others injured. cherif chekatt, the alleged attacker, was well known to police and had more than two dozen convictions for robbery and other offenses. chekatt's parents and two brothers have now been detained by police for questioning. government officials say they are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack.

reporter: an ordinary french housing block, home to the 29-year-old suspected terrorist. one stop in an intense manhunt. and today, he is nowhere to be found. prosecutors say he vanished after attacking his hometown. the tragedy began unfolding around 8:00 p.m. the gunman opened fire near a packed christmas market, killing and injuring indiscriminately. a firefight broke out, but the attacker got away, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. as strasbourg went into lockdown, fans at a local basketball arena were united in defiance. >> ♪ [singing in french] reporter: today, a heavy police presence remains in strasbourg.

one witness s caught up in tuesday's attack spoke to dw. >> i didn't realize at first what all the commotion was about. i did see people running, but i thought they were just panicking in some general way. but then i turned around the corner and immediately saw a man lying there with an apparent gunshot wound to his head. reporter: he was still alive? >> he was in a state, yeah, he could have been alive or dead, i can't confirm. we started resuscitation, first we started with cpr, first outside then into a restaurant that was close by. kept going at it for 45 minutes. reporter: french authorities have raised the terror alert to the highest possible level. >> terrorism has again struck our country. in strasbourg we have been given a dramatic rememinder that d dar is still a reality.

reporter: france has borne the brunt of some of europe's worst terror attacks in recent years. now the country finds itself yet again in the crosshairs. brent: for more on the situation in strasbourg, dw's helena humphrey joins me now. she is in strasbourg tonight. tell us, what do we know about the suspect, cherif chekatt? helena: the 29-year-old suspect cherif chekatt is now a man on the run. brent, he's clearly a very troubled individual. this is a man with 27 criminal convictions relating to criminal common-law offenses. according to the public prosecutor, those offenses began at the age of 13 years old. now, he's served prison time in both france and in germany. it is believed that he was radicalized whilst he was in prison.

and in 2015, in fact, he was believed to have radicalized others. as such, he has something the french call an s-file, which means he is on a terrorism watch list. yesterday prior to the attack on the christmas market, authorities went to his residence trying to arrest him in connection with robbery and homicide charges. he wasn't there. what they did find were grenades and weapons which linked him to the attack which took place in the streets behind me. brent: that took place, and now there is a manhunt going on for him, correct? helena: that's correct. it is a manhunt which is now at the level of a terrorism investigation, according to the paris public prosecutor's office. france is now on the highest level of alert. the highest level of alert means that authorities can carry out border checks. now remember of course strasbourg is very close to the french border. as we came into the region this

evening we saw a lot of traffic snarled at the border, presumably as those checks were being carried out. german authorities say they are also cooperating. over 700 french officers including highly specialized sentinel counterterrorism officers are involved in this hunt. we understand five arrests have taken place, including members of his family as well. brent: and this shooting taking place so close to that christmas market in strasbourg. the city must be in shock today. helena: brent, strasbourg is a city in shock, in mourning. this is the self-declared capital of christmas. it is home to the largest christmas market, in fact, in france. and despite messages of defiance from the european parliament, french president emmanuel macron, people here are on edge.

people i spoke with said tourists simply left the city this morning. they left as soon as they could. another taxi driver i spoke to said their phones were ringing off the hook. people were too scared to walk outside. brent: our very own helena humphrey on the story for us tonight in strasbourg, france. helena, thank you. from holding the title "go-to man" to receiving the order "go to jail." michael cohen, the former personal attorney and confident the u.s. president donald trump, was sentenced to three years in prison today. cohen was sentenced by a federal court in new york over his role in the payment of hush money to women who claimed to have had affairs with mr. trump before he was elected president. cohen was also charged with lying to congress about a proposed trump tower project in russia, a project that was being discussed while mr. trump was running for president in 2016. the sentence was reduced due to

mr. cohen's cooperation with prosecutors. dw's alexandra von nahmen is in washington on the story for us tonight. good evening to you, alexandra. what should we read here? what does michael cohen's three-year prison sentence tell us? alexandra: it tells us that the judge was convinced that michael cohen committed serious crimes that warranted considerable punishment and as the judge said, that these crimes were motivated by personal greed and ambition, and that as a lawyer, michael cohen should have known better. and he is going now to prison. however, we have to add that it could have been worse, because he got less than the maximum sentence. in this case it would be five years and three months. he still has time to spend christmas with his family. and even in prison, he can cooperate with prosecutors to reduce his sentence.

brent: yeah, that's an important point you make. we said at the beginning of the story that he used to be the go-to man for mr. trump. remind us, what role did michael cohen play in president trump's business? alexandra: he had worked for donald trump and his organization for many years, for 12 years to be exact. he was trump's personal lawyer, but he was more than that. as you said, he was a close confidant, a fixer to fix trump's problems with a great knowledge of trump's personal and business dealings. and once he even said that he would be ready to take a bullet for donald trump. and this loyalty was a topic today in the courtroom, where michael cohen said that what he did, he did on behalf of the president, and that he was led to believe that it was his duty to cover up donald trump's dirty

deeds. brent: yeah, and with that he is implicating the u.s. president in federal crimes. how is this likely to impact donald trump? alexandra: well, i would say that this is not a good day for donald trump. this is the first time that a member of his inner circle got a prison sentence. and as you said, the president is fully implicated in this case. so, we have seen so far some democrats already talking that that could be an impeachable offense. however, we also have to add that the president still seems to have the support of his fellow republicans, and he himself denies any wrongdoing here. brent: all right. our washington bureau chief alexandra von nahmen on the story for us tonight. alexandra, thank you. here are some of the other stores now that are making headlines around the world.

u.s. president donald trump has threatened a government shutdown in a heated exchange with democratic party leaders over funding for the border wall with mexico. you see it right there. the president needs democratic support to pass any spending legislation, but the democrats are offering much less than the $5 billion trump wants. there have been messages of solidarity from around the world for two reuters journalists in myanmar on the first anniversary of their jailing. wa lone and kyaw soe oo were given seven-year sentences after exposing a massacre of rohingya muslims. their trial was widely denounced as a sham. oleg sentsov is a ukrainian film maker who was imprisoned by russian authorities over claims of an arson plot in crimea. he has been honored by the european parliament as this year's prestigious recipient of a prestigious human rights

prize. the sakharov prize is an award given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the fight for human rights. reporter: european lawmakers stand as one to applaud an empty chair. the award's real recipient, ukrainian film director oleg sentsov, was denied the chance to attend the ceremony. reporter: today is a sad day for all of us. we would like to pay tribute to oleg sentsov, film director from ukraine who has been imprisoned for political reasons. reporter: sentsov was jailed in russia in 2015, convicted by a military court of plotting acts of terrorism. sentsov, who denies the charges, is a fieierce critic of russia's annenexation of the crimean peninsula. earlier this year he spent 145 days on hunger strike calling for the release of all ukrainian

political prisoners. his cousin says he is on the mend, but still not fully recovered. >> o oleg is still being kept in vevery hard coconditions.. it affects you very badly. even without any hunger strike, russian gulags have never added to anyone's health. reporter: russian authorities sentenced sentsov to 20 years behind bars. he is being held here in this arctic penal colony. the eu is pressing for his release. brent: the english football star raheem sterling is hearing praise from teammates and coaches in wake of his comments blaming certain media for fueling racism. the manchester city coach was among the supporters. sterling took to social media after a game in which he allegedly faced racist abuse from chelsea supporters.

such abuse sterling says is due in part to the way newspapers portray young black athletes differently from white ones. reporter: raheem sterling is one of english football's biggest talents. he was a key part of the manchester city side that won last season's premiere league title. yet many believe his success and skin color have made him a target for abuse. this is the moment chelsea fans allegedly hurled racist insults at sterling during a match last weekend. the incident has prompted a police investigation and led to sterling's coach saying more has to be done to tackle racism. >> it isis everywhere. the problem with racism is everywhere. it is not just in football, unfortunately. we have to fight. not strictly for human rights, but for everything to make a better society for future, for everyone.

not here in england. everywhere. absolutely everywhere. reporter: sterling was widely praised for an instagram post after the incident. in it, he compared how the media treated two of his teammates when they bought expensive houses for family members. a black player, said to have splashed the cash. a white player seemed to be taking care of his mother. sterling wrote, look how the newspapers get their message across for the young black player and the yououng white playayer. >> thihis is probay ththe firstt time the media has had it really focused back on them. and that i think has made the media a a little bit uncomfortable. the media often scapegoat fans and point to fans as the problem without taking any responsibility for themselves. reporter: sterling also has the support of his teammates. >> he's a strong guy, a good guy. he knows how to handle it.

he is not letting him down from the stupid stuff. reporter: raheem sterling has started an uncomfortable but necessary public conversation on the media's role in perpetuating racism. brent: we want to get back to our top story now. we are still waiting for the results of that no-confidence vote in british prime minister theresa may. that vote, the events surrounding it in london having an immediate impact in the world, especially in the world of business. javier: they are keeping us on edge and also keeping investors on edge. if we take a look at the british pound of course it has been rallying after british prime minister theresa may said she would fight that confidence vote with all she has got. the currency is coming out of a 20 month low against the euro that we saw on monday after may pulled a vote on a draft brexit agreement. the pound jumped on may's response today, making up for some of those losses, as you can see here.

traders apparently believe may will win and the u.k. can still avert a no deal brexit. on that topic earlier today we asked our correspondent konrad busen in frankfurt what the consequences would be if theresa may does not survive that confidence vote. konrad: everywhere, whoever has to do with business or with the united kingdom, everywhere people are getting involved in preparations for a no deal brexit, and those preparations have gotten a bit of a boost because of the events of today and the last few days. today the german government, for example, announced that it has introduced legislation which will allow british banks to continue to do business here in germany, even after march 29. those are the so-called passport rights which are to be extended until the end of 2020. rolls-royce, the large engine

maker, announced that it is talking to the european safety aviation agency over shifting design approval here to germany. not somethining rolls-royce reay wawants to do, but something it has to do if it wants to stay in business here in europe. javier: that was konrad busen in frankfurt. the brexit saga has overshadowed another dispute in europe. the italian prime minister made an offer to the european commission to lower his country's deficit to 2.04% gdp nenext year. let's not forget that was following a meeting with eu commission president jean-claude juncker. he said additional financial resources had given italy more room to negotiate on the budget. that i is the totopic of the dispute. brussels rejected italy's previous proposal for deficeit 2.4% gdp which exceeds the eu's limit of 2%. a canadian court has granted bail to the chief financial officer of chinese telecom giant huawei.

meng wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder, now awaits a hearing for extradition to the u.s. meng was arrested earlier this month at the request of u.s. authorities over allegations she was involved in violating u.s. sanctions against iran. reporter: huawei's chief financial officer was granted bail at $10 million after three days of hearings in vancouver. meng wanzhou will have to hand over her passport, wear an ankle bracelet, and be confined at night in her home in v vancouve. meng is often viewed as aa national heroine in china, so her release is a relief for many in beijing. >> i feel happy about meng's release on bail. although it is only bail, i still hope the sanctions on huawei could be canceled. sanctions only on china is not fairness. reporter: still, the prospect of meng being used as a bargaining

chip increased as u.s. president trump said he would intervene in the case if it was in america's interest. hours before the bail hearing, a former canadian diplomat was arrested in beijing, presumably in retaliationon for meng's arrest. canada's government is still collecting details. >> we are aware of the situation of the canadian detained in china. we have been in direct contact with chinese diplomats and representatives. we are engaged on the file which we take very seriously and of course are providing a assistane to the family. javier: that is all for business. we are keeping an eye on london, brent. brent: will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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