the european commission european central bank, and the international monetary fund known collectivelys the troika have agreed to provide greece with 240 billion euros in bailout funds. it is up to the greek government to convince the eurozone finance ministers that it's budget figures are accurate. >> the economic affairs commissioner says that extending greece's bailout program made today. that meeting also discussing the budgets for the rest of the eurozone. france and italy are particularly in focus. >> the commission has said to a number of countries that extra measures must be considered and that they will come back to italy and france and belgium in march to give a final verdict. these particular countries there are more concerns. the eurozone will return to those countries in march under the assumption that they will do everything they can to close the gap between where they stand now and where they should stand in their budget. >> the latest on that controversial deal to sell french warships to russia. >> the french government had said the sale of the two ships would not go ah

commission. because we don't think every problem in europe is also a problem for the european union and the european commission. there is a wind of change blowing, but it will not be a storm. >> there was a storm soon afterwards. , as newspapers detail the status as a tax haven for companies. the investigation. this was the responsibility of the prime minister. there were other problems. protest like this one in belgium shows peoples opposition to austerity policies. the economy remains stalled, and implement remain high. eurosceptic hearties found new support in 2014. in france, the far right national front actually one european elections. alongside the internal problems, there was a crisis and europe's door. the conflict in ukraine and the annexation of crimea. eu leaders ordered sanctions against europe. the chancellor saw this as a sign of increased unity. but despite all of the ed debate, i think we have dealt with it well. they count europe was in the face of the iraq war. it was split into. now come it is possible to stay united both within europe and with our transatlantic partners. that is

facing companies are something regularly highlighted by international bodies by -- like the european commission and the imf. >> they may not be used to taking to the streets, placards in hand, but these french business owners are doing just that. one explain to his employees why he is protesting. he has been making state glass windows in this workshops and's 1973, but keeping the business afloat has become more and more difficult. >> we have come to the point of no return. we need to stop this, because we cannot take it anymore. so as not to fire people, we are keeping workers in deplorable conditions. >> they believe that tax rises and increasing regulations in last three decades have heard the economy and suffocated businesses. >> in 2015, tax will of risen by 42 billion euros. 21 billion under sarkozy, 21 billion under hollande. >> they are protesting working in difficult conditions and the ban on hiring staff for less than 24 hours per week. the unions are wary of antagonizing the government. >> will be speaking to those chief executives in about 30 minutes time here on france 24. first, le

european commission and the imf saying the budget is too optimistic.here is a gap of at least 2.5 billion euros in greece's budget next year. >> okay. with creditors approving a two-month extension to the bailout let's go to brussels to find more. why just two months? what comes after that? >> the so-called technical extension is no doubt a success for the greek government. the eu initially wanted to keep the bailout in place for another six months. now greece will only have to bear the observers and their tough conditions for another two months. now within the extra two-month period, the eu and greece will still have to negotiate a deal and still have to find a way to put further o'sterity measures in place if greece wants to receive the last installment of the current rescue program. once that is settled and agreed, there is a possibility that greece will receive a so-called safety credit line for the future with less tough conditions attached. >> i doubt that is going down well with many in greece this . weekend saw violent protests at times. athens

start with a fresh round of protests in belgium, several thousand people demonstrating near the european commission headquarters but no one was inside the building, kate, by all accounts. >> that's right. european union leaders was supposed to hold a two-day summit and they wrapped up early and went home thursday evening. the crowds were demonstrating a proposed free trade deal between the united states and the union. it was supposed to cut tariffs make it easier for the u.s. and e.u. to do trades. >> protesting before an empty building, hundreds of farmers and activists gathered near the i. headquarters in brussels friday but leaders ended their duty meeting early and gone home. that didn't stop protectors from -- but their real target was austerity and the trans-atlantic trade and business partnership. >> you hear support the farms that is sustainable in the future. this treaty will put this into question by having european do quality work compete with u.s. breeders using totally different production methods. >> officials on both sides of the atlantic had been haggling over the terms of the ptip

that will help in france's budget battle with the european commission. >> in the tug-of-war with brussels over the budget, a piece of positive economic news. next year, the gap tween how much the french government is spending and how much it is taking in will be 4.1% of gdp down from this year's four 14% and less than the 4.3% -- this year's 4.1% and less than the 4.3% -- the french government is caught in a delicacy -- in a delicate balancing act. the 3.6 billion euros in savings will come partly from the fact that france's contribution to the eu budget is less than expected. with new, record low borrowing costs, interest payments are also lower. the rest of the savings come from measures announced in october, including cracking down on companies and intervals -- and individuals that avoid paying sales tax, the government also scrapping a system of -- local authorities will be able to raise taxes on some second homes. french finance minister -- the french finance minister reiterated the government's pledge that there will be no new tax hikes before 2017. a welcome announcement, and one o

it's earned the top spot on the european commission's euro barometer for well-being and happiness everye year since 1973. and when the united nations went on the hunt to find the world's happiest nation, their final report ranked, you guessed it, denmark number one. ♪ so, what makes a country happy? sure, it's things like life expectancy, gross domestic product, low corruption. but also things like generosity, social support, and the freedom to make life choices. choices, like following your passion or just laying low. you see, the danes don't put much value on job titles or status. a street musician and a lawyer hold the same social clout in denmark. as a society, their motto is this, you are no better than anybody else. you know, as we explored happiness in denmark, we realize it's not so much the temporary emotion of elation that we're talking about, it's something much deeper. much more profound, something that we arguably all want. it's happiness and the sense of life satisfaction. ♪ on a scale of one to ten -- >> yeah. >> -- how would you rate your happiness as far as life satisfa

and italy has to write their national budget in order to avoid disciplinary measures by the european commission. in france madam la penne is first in the polls, in italy the free opposition party and lega of norfa are change the return tot national currency. >> briefly what you are saying essentially grease is no longer the problem in the euro zone, the problem has moved to the center. >> exactly. because the center of europe even germany france and italy are risking a deflation spiral, a long recession like the japanese case, when japan suffered a long deflation recession and massive unemployment for years. >> we're going to have to leave it there yergos, thanks for your insights. barbara, back to you. >> jonah, thank you. >>> the number of people affected by ebola in sierra leone, liberia and guinea has passed the 20,000 mark, that's according to the world health organization. in liberia friern new cases were reported in december, a -- 49 new cases were reported in december. community health workers in monrovia have begun door to door campaigns to raise awareness about ebola. health minister

secondly, concerns about the european commission potentially firing an antitrust suit against google and seeing what happened to microsoft when that happened and lastly, google doesn't have strength in social and realtime communications. the concern is that there's google getting hit from one of these three factors. >> are those three concerns not valid? >> we ran a search conference not too long ago and talked to a lot of agencies and advertisers. they're staying with google, not moving elsewhere. people are pulling budgets from other sources. secondly, the antitrust thing could be an issue. it's still early, the u.s. tried to build a very big case against google. it came out to be nothing. we think google will probably offer a lot more concessions. and then finally, you know, on the social side, i think that isn't an issue and that's a concern, but it's still early days and i think the market is big enough for a google and facebook to survive. >> you've got facebook, twitter on the market. snap chat, all of these different apps out there. pair this though with the concern that perh

meeting where its creditors, the european central bank, the international monetary bank and the european commission will ask it to make good on its claim that there is no possibility of a so-called first call gap. that means a budget shortfall of 2.5 billion that greece's creditors thinks exists in next year's income. the government defended the budget here on the base that it is offering a little bit of tax relief at the present time, beleaguered greek taxpayers which is all that can be afforded. it's a small region of 30% in a solidarity tax which was essentially a surcharge on income tax, a small reduction in the tax on heating oil. the far left opposition had standed more social spending for the poor and health care and education, which have been gutted during the crisis, during the years of austerity. the government said if the opposition's measures had been included in the budget. it would have made government expenditure rise by the tune of $21 billion, almost by requiring a 50% increase in income and revenue from taxes that the government says would have undone much of the work of austerity

friday's decision came a day after the european commission approved its use.according to the national cancer institute, an estimated 14,000 american women died of ovarian cancer this year. for the latest about the murder of those two new york city poce officers, we are joined now by pervaiz shallwani. he is the criminal justice reporter for the "wall street journal." so what are the cops are you talking to saying right to you. >> the top brass at the police department are telling officers, that you know, they need to do their jobs and not to take to social media and to mourn in peace. but there are unions out there who are expressing, you know, a very different sentiment. >> so the police department's union or a couple o them actually even went out of their way say don't make arrests unless absolutely necessary. and don't go out anrespod to any crime unless you've got backup with another car. >> there has been some rumor, that hasn't come out as an official statement but there has been behind the scenes rumblings about that. >> okay. and so we've also seen for

now on behalf of the european commission, commissioner aramopolous. >> thank you. president of the council, honorable members of the european parliament, the commission which i represent here today for this matter is like you, appalled by the findings of the united states and the select committee of intelligence on the c.i.a.'s detention and interrogation program. part of which was released on the 9th of december. as you know, most of the yir inquiry remains classified. is is important as serious violations of fundamental human rights by the u.s. authorities and by other persons at the service of the c.i.a. between ate 2001 to january, twirne. as president obama rightly said this week, the actions taken under the c.i.a. program were contrary to the u.s. values, recognizing that one of the most affective tools to fight terrorism is to stay true to the valuesaged ideas the united states -- values and ideas that the united states stands for. this is what led him in the year 2009 to unequivocally ban torture and to that we applauded. because this is the real point about

we are going to talk to the european commission's representative in london.the relationship last? we will ask that question. check out the ruble, it fell --ow 55 chevelle the dollar 55 to the dollar this morning. we will get the next rate out at 10:30 u.k. time. expecting a big announcement from that central-bank later on this morning. ♪ >> welcome back. you are watching "the pulse." the u.k.'s unhappy relationship with the eu is our next subject. appears to be heading in opposite directions and the british prime minister takes a's tough stance on , we are just a smoother relationship. joining us to discuss these challenges, jacqueline minor. good morning. i read somewhere this morning that you are the woman with the toughest job in britain right now. that is probably an overstatement of the situation. but is it a tough gig you've got in london? think it is probably easier than some of my colleagues think it might be. , i find it-day basis fascinating, interesting, challenging. occasionally discouraging. lots of people i meet every day have much tougher jobs.

the european commission wants to wean itself off it's reliance on that gas, and has been trying to block that project. but bulgaria has virtually all of its gas needs met, and they are under pressure to finish this pipeline. >> bulgaria has, well, some specifics link with russia. the his amic people, and the reluctance, the rejection of russia never is that strong if bulgaria. now this pipeline is scrapped. not because of bulgaria but because russia decided to scrap it. explain the implications of this. >> this is unusual if you look at what has gone on between putin and ukraine, putin and europe, and putin and the west, of him throwing out the costs in the south stream pipeline. the logic behind it was to show the west, show the united states that it cannot pull one over on russia and build its lines without an answer from russia. at the same time it did want to skirt ukraine. the implications are for russia, what do we do now? this alternate pipeline that they're discussing into turkey is very much second best. it does not have the same geopolitical implications that nubuko did for eur

and, you know, we have -- i joke sometimes that i'm an honorary member of the european commission, and jack certainly is. tim geithner before him. we have spent a lot of time trying to manage through various crises that pop up in europe. and my concern is, is that because there is not a current financial crisis and the markets are relatively calm, that we are not paying enough attention to just the overall weakness of the european economy. and we keep on poking and prodding, suggesting to them that -- in our own circumstances for example, we were able to reduce our deficits in part because, yes, we raised some taxes. but in part because we grew fast er. and if you have just weaker demand chronically it is harder to get out of a hole than if you have stronger investment and stronger demand there. the emerging markets i think have been slower that be anticipated. china has a fairly good rash nenal for that. they are trying to shift from a mild entirely export driven to a model that recognizes they need strong ee eer demand inside of . and they have a nascent but growing middle class star

there's been a long-running case in the european commission over whether or not the company abuses itsd, that it's helping the sites out. the problem with the spanish law is that there would be no options for publishers. so google would have to pay them for yooers uusing their content publishers would not be able to opt out. >> i suppose google's fear would be that other countries would look at it and say it worked there, we'll take it. >> well, different countries have different strategies on this. in germany, google is now obliged to get permission before it can put their material up for free. now, one large german publisher did take on google over this. it said, okay, you can put our content on your news site, but only if you pay it each time. google said it wouldn't do that. so it removed the material, although material published by axle springer outlets from its news list. traffic to those sites went down. axle springer had to come back and say okay, we thought about it again, you can put our material up and you don't have to pay us. >> theo, that's great. thanks very much indeed.

according to a report from the european commission, there are more than 30,000 victims of traffickingmember states. most victims, 69% of them, are force in the to prostitution or sexual slavery. and 19% of people trafficked in to the e.u. are forced in to labor. that's more than 6,000 people. aidan mcquaid is director of anti-slavery international and joins us live from london. 10,000 victims of human trafficking in the youkilis aloneu.k. alone,thousands more . should we be surprised that wealthy nations haven't done a better job at cracking down on human trafficking? >> i don't think we should be too surprised of the for example the about the i can government is producing more heat at the moment. they are saying it's terrible there are thousands of people in slavery in the u.k., yet the u.k. maintain a system which is effectively like a system which is common across qatar, uae and the middle east which duh fax toe legalizessal trafficking for domestic servitude of migrant workers. whenever the government is refuse to go look directly at the policies which are facilitating forced labo

and we have -- i joke sometimes that i'm an honorary member of the european commission -- and jack certainly is, tim geithner before him -- we have spent a lot of time trying to manage through various crises that pop up in europe. and my concern is, is, is that because there's not a current financial crisis and the markets are relatively calm, that we're not paying enough attention to just the overall weakness of the european economy. and we keep on poking and prodding, suggesting to them that -- in our own circumstances, for example, we were able to reduce our deficits in part because, yes, we raised some taxes, but in part because we grew faster. and if you've just got weaker demand chronically, then it's actually harder to get out of a hole than if you had stronger investment and stronger demand there. the emerging markets i think have been slower than anticipated. china has a fairly good rationale for that. they're trying to shift away from a model that was entirely export driven to a model that recognizes they need stronger demand inside of china. and they've got a nascent, but growing

this is according to the latest european commission forecast.is compounds the fact that the italian economy has been stagnant since 2008. in fact, enduring three recessions since then. still in one right now. professor john weiss is at the school of economics in rome but today he joins us from our studio in sheffield. great to have you on the program. we're close to three and a half years in recession at the moment. it makes you wonder, when do you start calling it a depression? but italy, this is a chronic illness, isn't it? >> yeah, it is, unfortunately. you cannot get the economy back on its feet without pumping money into the economy. i think this is something that is one of the hard facts. you cannot demand a number of measures that restrict spending and at the same time expect that the economy is going to take off. this is a big challenge for renzi and anybody in power sitting on his chair. >> i guess you also can't get an economy back on its feet if you've got businesses and consumers who have no confidence in the government. they have no

line at the top according to european commission data. 27% is according to data with the automobile administration. that is the green line. the other line is european and gasoline, excluding tax. that shows a drop. the head of commodity strategy in cup and hagan sums it up perfectly. he says that two thirds of the price he pays -- we pay in europe is tax at the pump. he goes on to say that the changes are movements in crude oil. it is an outright level, rather than a price. here are the figures. four dollars a barrel. in the u.s., and amounts to $.49 a gallon, according to data. there you go. the oil decline, to use a phrase, is a distant dream for european drivers. you are looking at a live shot of the city of london. equities are set to open this way there you go -- this way. there you go. the stocks are declining across asia and fell in the u.s. yesterday. it is 14 minutes until the start of the tuesday equity session. after the break, manus on oil. he is going to go live. >> we will take a break. >> welcome back to countdown. taking a stance. prices and said prices lower. let's take a look. th

. >> the european commission has given france annexed to three months to seek their budget.they expect to be at 1.4% of gdp. are these going to help? issue is in the medium term. there is no way that you can correct this if you don't change the technology. they are saving money by small amounts. you end up with being able to cut spending. more to to do much much correct a look financing. you have the strategy of what the state can do. >> many thanks. the chief economist from paris. back to you. >> they tend to bloomberg, we will have more interviews throughout the morning including hub us chairman. >> coming up, james bond is , that is secret agent our pick of the day. a $1.2 billion round of equity funding. , more than double its valuation from june. they have a total of 200 dollars since his debut in 2009. the chief executive said the company is in a tremendous growth and could create more next year.ion jobs >> the bank has emerged from the collapse reported capital levels that exceeded requirements. the common equity ratio was 1.2%. , the ratio measures how well they can

the european commission has given france and extra three months to fix its budget. the deficit is still expected to be above 4% next year. back to you. >> caroline connan in paris, thank you very much indeed. we have more later on. we will be speaking to karine berger, one of the socialist mp's. we will talk to her later on. caroline connan will be talking to the ceo of havas as well. two great conversations coming up on "the pulse." let's go from france to france and germany. apparently the most cozy alliance that we talk about so often, very much in the history books. angela merkel has reportedly dropped nicolas sarkozy from addressing the annual convention. hans nichols standing by. this is a breakdown in relations? >> that may be a little too far. maybe this is just a matter of protocol. back in november, wolfgang scheidler looked for the finance minister to welcome sarkozy to the christian democratic union party summit. now, what we have heard over the last couple days is that it was made explicitly clear to sarkozy's party that they could send a representative

increase pressure on jean-claude juncker who is due to be sworn in today as president of the european commission. the u.k. government is due to an us the details of its so-called google tax. chancellor george osborne outlined his plans for a tax on multinational companies' profits that moved overseas. the buddies like google, amazon, and starbucks are expected to be targeted. the government hopes the new tax will generate one billion pounds over the next five years. more on google after the break. that brings us to today's twitter question. is google now a scapegoat for europe's troubles? join that conversation. tweet me. i'll let you die just that. you can tweet francine as well. break, i head into want to bring you what is happening for the equity markets in europe. bit of a black tuesday for the greek market. wednesday not shaping up to be that much better. 3%, but thatown by 3% on a fairly significant fall yesterday. we haven't bounced like the rest of the european equities space. athens down another 3.1% this morning. we are going to take a break. see you in a couple minutes. ♪ companies th

and we have -- i joke sometimes that i'm an honorary member of the european commission -- and jack certainlye trying to manage through various crises that pop up in europe. and my concern is that because there's not a current financial crisis and the markets are relatively calm, that we're not paying enough attention to just the overall weakness of the european economy. and we keep on poking and prodding, suggesting to them that -- in our own circumstances, for example, we were able to reduce our deficits in part because, yes, we raised some taxes, but in part because we grew faster. and if you've just got weaker demand chronically, then it's actually harder to get out of a hole than if you had stronger investment and stronger demand there. the emerging markets i think have been slower than anticipated. china has a fairly good rationale for that. they're trying to shift away from a model that was entirely export driven to a model that recognizes they need stronger demand inside of china. and they've got a nascent, but growing middle class start to have enough confidence to spend some money.

this european commission is real. it's a real pain in the butt for google.on strong. yahoo, they are the silver spoon. they were born with a silver spoon of owning some alibaba. you have to be careful selling google. it's an inexpensive stock. google has been cavalier. it doesn't seem to believe the portal is a logical way to judge a company. google is being hit for its arrogance. it has the ability to monetize whatever it wants to. >> doesn't have a very high multiple. >> when you bang out the cash it has a blowout multiple. this could have been written a while ago and have more gravitas. >> we'll hear from yahoo in the not too distant future. they told us about the plans for alibaba. a lot of speculation of things you could do including spinning off yahoo core business, leaving alibaba on its own. spinning yahoo japan, as well. it's talked about. doesn't mean they are going to necessarily say it. >> okay. i was talking about playing eli manning versus dalton this weekend. same thing. >> got it. same thing. whatever he said. we have jason furman coming up.

the german, french and italian finance ministers would like a quick move from the european commission. in a letter sent to the new commissioner for taxes and economy, they say that a strong incentive should be taken by the end of this year and that the new directive should be adopted by member states by the end of next year, which in european time would be quite a short delay. they would like a similar packa package. includes an automatic exchange of information between the countries on the cross border tax rulings, including a transfer pricings and globalistic measures against tax havens. they feel they should have the support of the new president commission saying he promised to tackle tax evasion in europe with an exchange of information. we don't know if he will be in an uncomfortable situation because juncker was the former prime minister of luxembourg and the company is defensing itself of allegations against low taxes with multi natural companies operating in europe. they want to go very quick on that story. over to you. >> stephane, thank you so much. >>> while the measures ex

i will talk about one of the specific initiatives we are engaged in with the iaea and european commission. clearly stimulated by the ukraine -- russia situation, the , with directu support and collaboration from the iaea started a process energy security and coming pretty rapidly to the don'tsion -- perhaps we say it enough, that energy security is a collective responsibility among allies and friends as opposed to a purely national activity. with our dramatically increased oil and gas production -- a 26% increase in oil, we are talking pretty big numbers. with our enormous gas supplies, we should not be complacent and thinking somehow energy security is not something in which we have a stake. we remain coupled to the global oil price, but secondly, the energy insecurity of any of our allies and friends is an issue for us. and ofthought was in itself an important focal point of a new discussion around energy security. , none of this is perhaps new but putting it notther, energy security is the discussion of the time when iaea was founded with the first oil embargo. , it involves diversific

france is less than -- to avoid a sanctions from the european commission because of its public deficit. back to you. >> stephane, thank you very much. >>> now, business sentiment among japanese firms worsen in october to december period showing lingering effects of the consumer tax hikes back in april. makiko has the story live from tokyo. >> the results came from a quarterly government survey asking large scale firms their positions. the index is at five for the final quarter this year, down from 11.1 in the previous quarter, which means less firms see business conditions as improving. a breakdown shows machinery and automaker res still suffering from the effects of the consumer tax hike in april. the finance ministry commented the data underlines the slow but steady recovery. the government survey shows consumer sentiment was down beat falling unexpectedly in november. and for indicators which include income growth and employment conditions fell for the third month in a row, which is a first since comparable data from ten years ago. and that is all from the nikkei. back to you. >> ma

i will talk about one of the specific initiatives we are engaged in with the iea and the european commission clearly stimulated by the ukraine russia situation, the g7 with the eu with direct support and collaboration with the iea started the process looking at energy security and coming pretty rapidly to the conclusion that perhaps we don't say it enough that energy security is a collective responsibility among allies and friends as opposed to a purely national activity. the united states with our dramatically increased oil and gas production, by the way, 26% increase in oil production in two years, 2012 the 2014, two years, 2012 the 2014, so were talking pretty big numbers. but even with that, with our enormous gas supplies we should not be complacent in thinking that somehow energy security is not something in which we have a stake. we remain coupled to the global oil price for one thing but secondly the energy and security of any of our allies and friends is an issue. that, i thought was in and of itself kind of an important focal.of a new discussion on energy security. furthermore none

president of the council, honorable members of the european parliament, the commission i represent hereer is appalled by the findings of the senate select committee on intelligence study of the cia detention and interrogation program. part of which was released on the ninth of december. as you know, most of the inquiry remains classified. this report raises important questions in regard to serious violations of fundamental rights by the u.s. authorities and by other persons at the service of to cia between late 2001 january 2009. as president obama said this actions taken under the cia program were contrary to u.s. values. recognizing that one of the most effective tools to fight terrorism is to stay true to the ideals the united states stands for. this is what led him, in the year 2009, to unequivocally ban torture. that we applauded. they did all this because this is the real point about torture. it is just wrong. totally wrong. it is a crime. a criminal act. it should never be used. while shopping, the senate committee findings are not a complete surprise. the existence of secret det

president of the council, honorable members of the european parliament. the commissionich i represent here today for this matter is, like you, appalled by the findings of the united states select committee on the cia's detention and interrogation program. part of which was released on the ninth of december. as you know, most of the inquiry remains classified. this report raises important questions in regards to serious violation of fundamental rights by u.s. authorities and by other persons in the service of the cia between late 2001 to january 2009. as president obama, rightly, said this week, the actions taken under the cia program were contrary to the u.s. values. recognizing that one of the most effective tools to fight terrorism is to stay true to the values and ideals the united states stands for. this is what led him, in the year 2009, 2 unequivocally -- to unequivocally banned torture, and that we applauded. this is the real point about culture. it is just wrong -- torture. it is just wrong. it is a crime. it is a criminal act. it should never be used. while sho

particularly highlight in this context the work that general breedlove and european command have done through our joint commission on defense and security cooperation which has partnered effectively with ukraine's military leadership and has developed a road map for security sector reform which is just as sweeping as what we have been talking about with ministries like energy and justice. and will be just as important over the long term in helping ukraine to restore the ability to defend its sovereign territory and to deal with the challenging security environment that unfortunately looks to be a part of ukrainian reality for the foreseeable future. last point and here i will close and turn over to ambassador herbst. as i was getting ready to go to kyiv in summer of 2013 i sat down with my predecessors and all said jeff, you have to deliver a speech about ukraine's unfulfilled potential. don't worry when it happensment open the drawer and on the left you will find the speech i gave and you won't have to change much. i don't think that's true anymore. in so many ways this is a different country. it is a different

particularly highlight in this context the work that general breedlove and european command have done through our joint commission on defense and security cooperation which has partnered effectively with ukraine's military leadership and has developed a road map for security sector reform which is just as sweeping as what we have been talking about with ministries like energy and justice. and will be just as important over the long term in helping ukraine to restore the ability to defend its sovereign territory and to deal with the challenging security environment that unfortunately looks to be a part of ukrainian reality for the foreseeable future. last point and here i will close and turn over to ambassador herbst. as i was getting ready to go to dy kyiv in summer of 2013 i sat down with my predecessors and all said jeff, you have to deliver a speech about ukraine's unfulfilled potential. don't worry when it happensment open the drawer and on the left you will find the speech i gave and you won't have to change much. i don't think that's true anymore. in so many ways this is a different country. it is a differe

more than 60 countries have anti-isis commission support iding military for our partners. europeanountries, countries and other have worked alongside the united states. we've made progress, but we're nowhere near stamping out the threat. talk what ay we can strategy of trying to close to the goal. it is critical that we engage with local partners. that cooperation is essential in stopping a set of isis. and to ensure that the u. s. have a t disproportionate share of the burden. congress voted overwhelmingly to get a program off the ground, and i look forward to hearing about this effort. secondly, we must ensure that assad leaves syria. assad is a dictator responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of syrians. horrific w the pictures. assad is also a magnet for extremism. the conflict in syria and iraq as he ever end as long remains in power. lastly, we must determine and understand that the u. s. takes role in this. i understand that the american are uneasy about getting more involved in the conflict around the world. this is another reason why working with local partners is

particularly highlight in this context the work that general breed love and european command have done through our joint commission on defense and security cooperation which has partnered effectively with ukraine's military leadership and has developed a roadmap for security sector reform which is just as sweeping as what we've been talking about with ministries like energy and justice. and will be just as important over the long term in helping ukraine to restore the ability to defend its sovereign territory and to deal with the challenging security environment that unfortunately looks to be a part of ukrainian reality for the foreseeable future. last point, and here i'll close and turn over to the ambassador. out to as getty to go kiev in 2013 i was careful to sit down with all my predecessors and all of them said to me in one form or another, jeff, at some stage you're going to have to deliver a speech about ukraine's unfulfilled potential. well, don't worry, when that happens just open the drawer and you will find the speech that i gave and you won't have to change much of anything. i don't think that's true a

european union should act effectively and together. >> opposition members have called for a section 30 order to fast-track elements of the smith commissioncotland, especially votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in the 2016 scottish parliament election. will he commit himself to going ahead with the section 30 order now? >> we will stick to the timetable that was committed to by all the major parties at the time of the referendum. we have stuck to that timetable religiously so far. in fact, despite predictions by the snp, we have over-delivered on the commitments regarding further devolution to scotland. as he knows, a lively debate is taking place about the franchise for 16 and 17-year-olds. my party has always believed that we should give them the right to vote. they took up that right with alacrity at the time of the scottish referendum, but it will clearly continue to be debated across parties in the house. >> mr. michael thornton. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i am a bit surprised. >> he was standing, so presumably he was standing in the hope of being called. [laughter] >> sometimes i worry i might forget where i am. the most heart-rending ca

commission and pge have long defended diablo canyon's safety. >>> earlier today japan launch add spacecraft to try and reach an asteroid. just a few weeks ago the european space agency land add spacecraft on a moving comet. japan's rocket will take 18 months to reach the targeted asteroid. once there the plan is to blast out a small crater on the asteroid to collect soil samples samples. >> does the rocket have its own twitter handle? >> it will. >> by the time it reaches the asteroid, it will have twitter and everything else it needs. what do today? >> a coat, raincoat early. tonight a cold front comes our way so enjoy the brief warm-up into the 50s for your wednesday. this morning it is not warm. it's still kind of nasty. 30s and 40s as we look at our temperature maps. 42 in town. we've got mid-30s to upper 30s in many areas. thankfully it's above freezing. if you see elkins in the far west, they're in the 50s so there's warmer air lurking and wanting to come in but we also have some showers that are falling across the i-95 corridor, especially d.c. and points south. in montgomery county and howard and northern prince george's. this is lighter stuff.

the catholic church through the commission of the bishop us conferences of europe to engage in a meaningful, open, withransparent dialogue the institutions of the european union. i am likewise convinced that a europe which is capable of appreciating its religious roots and of grasping their fruitfulness and their potential will be all the more able to resist the many forms of which are spreading in today's world, not least as a result of the great vacuum of ideals, which we are currently seeing in the west. seems it is precisely man's forgetfulness of god and his failure to give him glory which gives rise to violence. [applause] i cannot fail to recall of this connection the many instances of injustice and persecution was a daily affect religious minorities, particularly christians, in various parts of the world. communities and individuals are today subjected to barbaric acts of violence. they are driven away from their homes and native lands, sold as slaves, killed, beheaded, amidfied, or burned alive the shameful and complicit silence of many. [applause] the motto of the european union --"united endeavor city, unityd in diversity," but does not mean