watching friends twenty four and this is live from paris with me charlie james these aree heheadlines. us house of representatives hearing to historic lows. heat president trump democrats have the votes needed to making just the third president ever to be. french government says it is ready to compromise on inches engine reforms but it is refusing to give in to union demands that they dropped the plan completely. and on

international migrants day the u. n. urged nations to empathize human rights over nationalism. speak to a representative from doctors without borders state . the us house is marching toward a historic evening votes to impeach president donald trump debate is underway onn two articles of impeachment the first abuse of power the second obstruction of congress both pertain to trump's listing ukraine to investigate his political rival. and democrats to hold a majority in the house and are expected to approve the articles if that happens trump

would become the third american president to be impeached the statement of charges is seen as a stain on a president's record here is democratic speaker nancy pelosi opening debate on impeachment earlier. what we are discussing today is the established fact that the president violated the constitution. is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of ourr e elections the basisis ofr democracy. and friends reports international affairs editor philip turrell joins us now in the studio to further explain where this process heads from here. can we start by just breaking down a little bit the arguments on either side what democrats and republicans each say the motivation is behind this impeachment process well as you can see- adam shift aids- talking he's the chair of the house intelligence committee- in a very stinging attack he's democratic race

team to talk against. a donald trump saying basically that- he had inside russia to- in packing to hillary clinton's emails and as soon as wrote mimiller had. issued his report the next day he called on the phone. and was trying back mail ukrainians announcing an inquiry into hunter biden the son of joe biden one of his a potential rival in the upcoming u. s. presidential election in turn for giving. aid to him which was voted by congress and we only got eight until but- inquiry was announced and also white house meeting- so that's basically the line of attack by the democrats today that sad attempt from one interference attempts to another the us correct saying the- donald trump. has undermined security of the united states and that is an impeachable offense and that's why they are pushing ahead with. impeachment on the

other side you have the republicans you've been testifying for the loss. of ours also- essays actually the opposite saying basically well- this is- a hoax little by the by. the democrats ththis is a witch hunt. the only reason that. this is because they never likes donald from they didn't want to my elected and since he has been president of the united states have had one thing in mind and that is to get rid of him- by in people because they know they're not going to be able to beat him- in the next elections are coming out next year- so we have these two entrenched positions. a game of ping pong we fill out between the two sides- in the house at the moment but the end result is that it aren't you need is a simple majority vote on the pavement which is going to come up probably in about two or three hours from now- for the impeachment proceedings to go to- the said it- which is where they will start in january but the senate controlled by the

republicans- means it's pretty unlikely that donald trump will actually be. taken out of office the d democrats likely to pass these impeachment articles becaususe they control the us house but in the senate lasast corrrrect n not not likely thate trial will will it the eight needs a simple majority day in the house of representatives for this to go to the senate but once the senate hearing stop you need to thinknk georgi. of donald. trump to for being. and remove. will fit with what. mike pence who would be if i were to occur but it appears all my is virtually impossible- that this is going to occur because as i said the republicans control the senate and they all e. sticking together in their defense of donald trump saying that they're going to vote down this impeachment proceeding cultural thanks for helping break down the always intricate american

political process and you'll be back with us. later in the program as we get closer to this vote thanks so much. we're now fourteen days into france'ss crippling transport strike and holiday travel is fast approaching with that shadow the government and unions are back at the negotiating table. they're discussing the proposed pension reforor. and as of now president emmanuel macron is sayingng he is willing to improe but thehe pension refeform p pl. though droppingg thehe reforms s completely off the table union leaders are also digging in their heels as well. valerie to can brings more details on thehe negotiations happening at the prime minister's office. the much anticipated meetings were held behind closed doors in a bid to break the pension reforms deadlock prime minister it while he had said there was

room for negotiations but according to the e leader of the cgt union little progress was made during the talks. the food was the committed by the cacall we have come to the same conclusion that we don't agree with each other. we have two oppositete approaches to the welfare system on this individualistic it's about planning the pension system and an individual man a- case by case basis. and then there's our approach which is not improving the current system which is all about solidarity electric cheap les read it. but the reaction everyone was waiting for was from the more moderate cft t. union which is in favor of a single system for all but continues to pose a so called pivot ages sixty four for a full pension. and once again the bilateral talks were inconclusive. whwhen even you. e came here today to work on some proposals. i must tell you that we felt there was a well to have a discussion going to open up little did just you sure do have to. but we are still very

far from finding an agreement. although they have presented a united front. the unions remain divided over what needs to be done to break the impasse. several union leaders have vowed to continue their action into the new year. unless the government drops the reforms. while others including the cfd tea or calling for christmas truce. another round of talks will be held on thursday with all the unions combined and the fate of millions of travelers could be sealed later that day when the government needs with the sncf. . the national train cocompany. united nations is marking international migrants day w wednesday and is urging countries to put human rights at the center of theirr migration policies. global body says security concerns are being wrongly used to criminalize migrants into the people t ting to support them. according to the u. n. at t the end of last year there were more than seventy million people who had left their home countries because of conflict

and persecution. joining us now for more on the global migration crisis is michael newman he's director of studies at doctors without borders crash division which encourages debate and critical reflection on humanitarian action. thank you for being with us there are currently tens of millions of migrants and refugees in need of help around the world. where are ngos most needed and focusing their efforts right now. well i m mean not all migrants in the world are in need of you many ten assistance- there are approximately the two hundred and sixty million people actualally h have. left their country of origin to move to anotheher countntry- many of the are actually working and- andnd running their their their normal life- you mentioned the sixty millioion people that have fled persecucution conflictt the on the refugees- we eyes are you many doctors are critically

involved- these days- in crisis such as the. refugee of myanmar in bangladesh- t the refugees from south sudan ugandnda- but also or a lot. yeah and inn around the me generation. are well we tryo help- those migrants or kept locked in libya- war p presented to leave- by the- you politics- we also pretty much involved in i was in central america- on. in trying to accompany those migrants and refugees are trying to flee the violence in many of those countries. i want to t talk furthther aboutut the efforts in the mediterranean and doctors without borders began search and rescue activities there back in twenty fifteen in order to help fill the gaps left by nations. since then have you seen progress and

how countntries. are responding to migrants making the journey by sea. well unfortunately noto- the in the last two years- you know you were early talking about the criminalization of organizations- alpers and migrants and i think this is very crucial to the scene and the landscape. that we've seen. in europope in general. witha politics with policies trying to prevent people from crossing the sea- with- visual bureaucratic or concrete walls trying to prevent these people from moving and seek refuge- in in in places- our ability to work in libya- as the ability to work on the- of you in agencies is quite limited- we've seen in friends. attempt to criminalize- people who-

show an express solidarity to- migrants. and when we come back to the scene in the landscape. of search and rescue in the mediterranean. we must remember that around twenty sixteen there were around ten ngos. working in trying to rescue migrants at sea. but as the result of more and more- deals- judicial legal- bureaucratic or rules. only one or two votes are at any given time able to provide- rescue two people crossing the seat- today- on december eighteen as the international magnum day we are. accompanieied in support of the launch of a report by a- for in sick we see and what i see- a lab from the university of london the gulf miss college- showing how the u. member

states and eats a knee in particular. are delegated- there right before to a common vessels. are in an attempt to- encourage- the push back of migrants to libya where we very well know that the fate of these people is. incredibly precarious. lydia is still at war- we see in a detention centers of migrants being bombed actually- last string and- we know that many of these people are. on a daily basis confronted to violence and torture and this is where i actually today the e. u. member states are are pushing to think he's back. michael newman from doctors without borders thank you so much for joining us here on prince twenty four. thank you. nenext w we're going to brg you someme football news

barcelona and real madrid met tonight in the el clasico. and it was a draw a final score of nil nil when the two spanish giants squared off in barcelonon friends reports sports reporter simon h harding is here to break down the match yeah the record between t these two teams. had been split fifty fifty ahead of the match and it looks like it's going to stay that way isn't a disappointment. it's a disappointment in the tererms that usually also run around madrid is always- a game with plenty of excitement and plenty of girls so we got all the excitement via unfortunately. that that wasn't't the gulf- but in terms of actually what it was is a football match it was very interesting plan if chances on the side. real madrid actually scored goal in the seconond i'll send d then that was pulled off the our file that was of. offside from mendeecees cross and as you would and yes both teams went in and- jewel of a legal thirty

five points on every on thirty six point. if you look at it from a real helps point seven more three majid. many teams and not in that people go to the compound to the heart of boston in the home of got slammed football. and come away with something from the match and particularly in the- elementary. nate any up thanks the game day little crispell on the bold at the lock shop a busload of course would leave a message with luis suarez so always dangerous. on. the counterattack but certainly in this instance to a. more less it is a team that was almost away from home very much exploiting gaps left for omitted was rummaging tried to dictate the tempo of the game. and his indians on site how also had a little place coming back from injury coming back from layoffs. so it was ininteresting to see how they played and you could see that i would just running out a little bit of steam. towards t the end that game b but certainly as usual- clasico the most watched

football game in the world. didn't fail to excite the origins. france twenty four simon hurrying thanks much thank you down the match for us. when it crossed over to the other side of the table because the time for business with kate movie hello there and so we've seen the tech giant chinese tech giant wall way moved into other nations as well setting up- factories and offices around the world. and now they're on a bit of a charm offensive in europe yeah absolutely well they're trying to kick back at the trump administration's effective blacklisting of it- the company is hoping to set up its first production site outside of china somewhere in europe it's currently looking into just where. washington has effectively banned quality products from the u. s. it's only issued a few waivers for american companies to continue doing business with it. despite pressure to follow suit the jury's still out for most european governments that's coming up like explains. yeahah yay yay off what you don't youou don't call me once a slice of the european markets. the

telecoms giant has announced it will be building its first factory outside of china on the continent. no woman hey it's exactly one to make offal ikea quitman ten yards we're conducting a feasibility study. home just so i i think it's goig to happen very soon. so green there would be no cost. the move comes ahead of europe's five g. rollout but security phase over chinese technology being used by beijining for spying couldld holdd the brunch back. home we is already effectively blocks in ththe united states for notot very reason the firm's chairman strongly denies any risk. known to coach in the thirty years of walllleyes history we've never had any security incidents. so i guess clarity and the protection of our clients private data is our highest parenting soul and say. has the us pressures allies to follow its lead europe's leaders seem undecided. fronts is worrrried about the security of five g. but doesn't single out hallway. the uk government hasn't set a flaw will be part of the country's five g. rollout.

china is germany's top trading partner and a bun couould have consequences. about the german chancellor insists she isn't being pressured. by is. i have no knowledge of pressure. on the part of the chinese authorities. i am again the exclusion of any company in particular but i want everything possible to be done to protect security. disease diet that's wiwith the allies. o swing a deal hallwlway announced in november that it will be interesting some forty billion us dollars in europe over the next five years. with four billion marks for fronts. the ticket on the day's trading action now mixed close for the major european indices check out and frankfurt dax each in the red fifty one hundred rose slightly in london office pound sterling dropped once again. the spurs businesses continue toto worry about a a possible no deal or hard breaks it. wallstreet had been trending slightly higher- but we saw the dow jones and s. and p. five before the closing bell- they

were dragged down in part by fedex shares of the shipping company dropped 10% on disappointing quarterly eaearnings figures. investors ae increasingly anxious to see momore concrete details and progressss in trade truce betwen the us and china. french businesses a are contitinuing to susuffer as the strikes drag on into a second and now third week. the chamber of commerce for the paris region says the restaurant reserervations in the french capital or down 4250% in the last two weeks. foot traffic in the city center has dropped by a third. welll shopping malls in the suburbs are seeing a smaller to around six percent. officials from the finance ministry are planning to meet with business leaders on thursday. french competititin auauthorities announced fines in o major anti trust cases. six companies that make few rays like apple sauce of been slapped with a fifty eight million euro fine for alleged price fixing. for steeper four hundred and fourteen million euro fine it's been leveled at four groups which issue meal vouchers. accused of stifling

competition and exchanging information. the boards of fiat chrysler under the pleasure group has approved the details of a merger to create the world's fourth largest carmaker. talks over type were first reported at the end of october. the merger is. being seen as a boost for both psa which owns peugeot citroen and- bell and fiat chrysler in order to help deal with the global downturn in the car industry. under pressure to reduce carbon emissions french finance minister has welcomed the deal is good news for the industry as a whole and france in particicular. this is very good news for the fririend's car industry because it will make it possible to create the fourth largest car industry in the world. with just over eight million vehicles to be produced each year. why is this always importance of quite simply. becaususe it allows financial leeway to invest in autonomous and electric vehicles a kick. finally some of the biggest names in silicon valley are

joining forces to make your life at home a little bit easier. apple amazon and google have announced they'll be developing a common technology standard to make their smart home devices more compatiblble. essentially it means it should allow digital assistants like alexa and sciri communicate with connected devices even if they're not all from the same company. at charlie i think it's either either a really great example of corporate cooperation or a scary example of big brother and i'm wondering how much of our data they're going to be sharing which he- either has a lot. my mother or anything will be very streamlined and- he moved it with a look at our business news of the day thank you so much. and for a look at what's trending online and on social media we have emerald maxwell here and you're going to take us back to our top story of the evening the impending vote in the us house of representatives on trump's in huge meant are you looking at the reaction

online i'm sure people have a lot toto say yeah. yeah i thihik nonot only stronong who- he camo be watching the proceedings but he has been furiously tweeting a party posted forty five tweets before noon including this one where he still maintains he did nothing wrong- i and he this should never happen to another president again- areas- any us markets say prac- this is this is off the scent speaker the house not the place he a very long and angry left to last night's- when he- had his grievances about the impeachment. and it comes in a very big reaction a line of itt to be verery divided along party lines- and he you have a cartoon. by run deep dish which sorort of summed up the- the latter the sulky childish twins- meanwhile the times of checked it early today and they say that they it contains nineteen lies- but on the other hand you have- needs gingrich republicans like him

who have are a staunch defenders and they said actually. this letter should be essential reading for every american because it shows the dishonesty on full set an impeachment process and goes as far as a sane at that presidents and u. jackson and abraham lincoln would have been proud of it. i'm in a call to you we see of not too lazy tell donald trump we've been trying to teach you for two and a half years. made last july i'm wired and adult trump from beyonce's- him his account and merry christmas- this of course referencing his line in the sense that- that just trying to find the b. trying find any excuse to get rid of hihim at te since he was. elected so to be heating up on the. the house flew- we have republican congressman very loud and that. those very wrong on. our we- make all the milk says- that trump was being treated less value than jesus when he was crucified- which is commentator probably because many many

sizes completely insane- but- yes the people helping contrasting trumps behavior. with behavior the last president to be impeached- bill clinton. back in nineteen ninety eight- here several days before the vote to impeach. a a peach h impeach. the statements of let's take a liststen. what i want the american people to know. but i want the congress to know. is that i am profoundly sorry for all i have done wrong in words and deeds. yeah big difference there with bill clinton admitting somome fafault- in his actions he was impeached o over live. allying about an affair he had with the white house intern lying under oath of that was the actual charge- trump on the other hand is not admitted anything any fault perfect from call ups in the path of fan cool- how the conversation but- they have their very diffeferent personalities and actually you have some people on twitter like this. a democratic campaign a school who can kind

of try to appeal to trump card to- and he says- if you tweeted out your resignation it would be the most shat double time would not be worth it think of all the re tweets and likes do it- and me on the other hand you have a lot of republicans standing up. at this i is the heads of the hmo group trump students he said twenty one years ago to democrat congressman jerry naila so that that's never been impeachments to buy one of our major political parties and approved by the by the other and that today the house is voting the first of a partisan impeachment in u. s. history- and that opinion is widely shared among republicans. and particularly. well i mean this is the latest gallup poll. itit shows the overall support from peach mint has fallen by six points in america since the impeachment inquiry was first announced by- not to play see it's not 46% supports. but it's because she's very divided and where is 85% of democrats. remain

supportive and of impeachment and removal 35% of republicans agree and we're seeeeing that play out expected to play out in the vote later today as well with. all republicans l lining p behind trump and maybe to- democrats- not voting for impeachment but it is also expected to. divided just as the american public ice hockey and on the reaction pretty muchh very very very divideded there will be a lot to say online. emerald well l with today's meda watch thank you so much. take a quick break but to stay with us and france twenty four i'll be back in just a few minutes with more news you need to know. right now. two stories that appears to be news spread on the internrnet using all thehe media. trust when full our job is to provide you with information that's being

verified we check sources check facts we sold but it's true from what t is fake. but the front twenty four observers we verify photos and video circulating online if they're fake we let you know. and tell you how we spotted. in fact fake we dig into viral stories around europe to shake out the truth from the trash. every dating for migrants team scours social networks to fightht fake news about thehe reality of migration. france twenty full use a stone fax

12/18/19 12/18/19 12/18/19 12/18/19 [captioning madede possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. trump: they know it is a hoax. it is a witchhunt. >> charges for me are pretty terrifying. i am convinced. amy: as trump continues to deny he did anything wrong, thousands country tooss the call for his impeachment ahead of an historic vote in the house to accuse president trump of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. we'll go to capitol hill to speak with democratic