max hoffman there for us in brussels. china says it wants to build bridges and in this case it has literally this fifty five kilometer bridge connects china and hong kong and it's the largest of its kind in the world rather the longest china says the bridge is more than a prestige project but others dispute its usefulness. the mega structure crossing the pole river delta links mainland china to an economic zone that is already one of the most dynamic in the world. it will cut the commute to and from hong kong from four hours to one. i declare the hong kong macao bridge open. the chinese president xi jinping officially opening a bridge two years behind schedule the structure includes a seven kilometer long underwater tunnel and was built to withstand earthquakes typhoons and collisions with ships but the project is not without its critics especially in hong kong some point to the project going fifteen billion euros of a budget while the territory has a deficit of affordable housing for others it symbolizes beijing's ambiti

we asked our correspondent in brussels max hoffman what happens next and how defiant the italians really can afford to be. it's hard to predict with this government we've never had a populist government of this nature in a big country in the euro zone so predictions like i said are very hard and what's coming out of rome or in this case out of bucharest from the head of the right wing populist league on north isn't very encouraging he made it very clear they're not going to change a thing of course he's not the finance minister and then you have a thing called the spread now the spread bear with me a little complicated is the difference between what italy has to pay for its debt and what germany has to pay for its debt obviously german debt can be acquired much cheaper or the germans have to pay less to to borrow money and you have to pay much more because there is a greater risk involved so the higher the spread the more the italians have to pay and it's no surprise that with this new government the spread has gone up continuously and experts expect this to continue now even more that t

all right in the european commission has been talking to the media and our brussels bird chief max hoffman is covering the story for you max i'm going to start sounding like a broken record here but the e.u. once again finds itself in uncharted territory. it is because it is like you just mentioned the first time that you commission uses it's what some call the nuclear option in rejecting. a budget but not only a budget but the draft of a budget so at a very early stage preventively you could call it and that is something they haven't done before in the past they usually said to the country like france or germany listen this is not going to work so they started negotiating but there was goodwill on both sides to make it worse and that's why it never felt compelled to trigger that excess this excess deficit procedure that's the big difference and that's why someone would only say this is a declaration of war all right now italy hasn't been budging from its position it's very defiant have we heard from rome. was very quick so the interior minister also the head of the league on north the rig

was the german chancellor angela merkel speaking there let's go now to brussels our correspondent max hoffman is covering the summit force good evening to you max you know we've heard the positive spin from european union leaders tonight cautious optimism but the fact remains there's not going to be a summit in november at least as far as we know tonight so are we looking at a case of them just kicking the brakes it can deal the road. here those sound bites were before the summit all of them and but the verdict after the summit which ended hasn't really changed now as for the november summit it hasn't been shelved completely yet they just didn't want to confirm it because they say it will only take place a sufficient progress in the negotiations has been made and they say that this is not the case it could still happen of course because the technical crews will continue to negotiate this deal so kicking the can down the road yes you could say that but they're adding something to it every day every week while the negotiating approaching that boiling point where something will have to give and

has a lot of work ahead of it max hoffman is trust but for us. analysts say deutsche bank's new boss on saving is doing a great job saving reducing costs but he's not saving the bank yet another restructuring is failing to halt the revenue slide it ship price also slipping this wednesday posting a sixty five percent decline in your own unit profit for the third quarter all of the land is divisions recording low yields with revenues in its fixed income business government and company bones down significantly but in a letter to the banks employees the chief executive said is on track to a profitable year for the first time since twenty fourteen once one of europe's a leading financial institutions has struggled since the financial crisis. economist and noted joins us from the university and both in in the past decade has shares have lost nearly ninety percent of their value is the bank beyond saving. yes it's going through a difficult period it's the trade and your loss and the fall of enron plan started by a c.e.o. in the beginning of this year ze

speaking in brussels of the two day summit of presidents printed up loser brussels bureau chief max hoffman. hearing a lot more positive sounds from from both sides but as we've heard there is going to face a problems at home trying to sell the idea of an extended transition period. yes this has been floating around the summit and even before to extend the transition period so the period of time between when the u.k. leaves the european union scheduled for the twenty ninth of march of next year. and when they actually enter the new relationship that still has to be defined so far this transition period is scheduled in for two years and now the idea is to extend it to three years but as you just said phil there will be a lot of bragg's appears in the u.k. who think this idea is bad because they want to get out of the e.u. as quickly as possible of course if you look at the facts negotiating something let's say like a free trade agreement in the past has taken a lot more time than three years so most likely they will need it we had in the press conference comments about to a you unity which h

max hoffman there for us in brussels. the curtains officially opened today on a saudi investor conference despite the turmoil surrounding the killing of dissident journalist. riyadh has sought to convey a message of business as usual as you've already heard the saudi crown prince made an appearance but the reality on the ground is a bit different. kid in. russian investment trying an idea. the old and i just had launched a charm offensive to ensure the conference met. with a high profile roll call of business names to to attend but the reality on the ground as the conference opens is a sobering mon dieu. among those giving the event a miss on the u.s. treasury secretary the head of the i.m.f. and the c.e.o. of industrial conglomerate siemens joke asia he cancelled only at the last minute prompting further criticism back home in germany. saying the business of business is doing business business has. a responsibility is this leaders also moral leaders in our well. ford j.p. morgan and likewise dropped out of the event. the

european union and we don't expect this to be resolved within the next months or years all right max hoffman for us in brussels max thank you very much now some other stories making news around the world britain's defense minister said russia is behind a series of indiscriminate and reckless cyber attacks around the globe gavin williamson called the alleged hacks the actions of a pariah state british and australian officials have now for the first time blamed the russian mill military intelligence agency known as g r u for the incident. the us senate judiciary committee has received an f.b.i. report on the sexual misconduct allegations against brett kavanaugh senators are examining claims made by two women against the supreme court nominee the report was ordered by president trump last week a full senate vote on cavanagh's nomination is expected after the review. u.s. authorities have arrested a navy veteran suspected of mailing suspicious on the lopes to the white house and the pentagon the f.b.i. is now investigating why william clyde allen the third allegedly sent castor seeds in the mail

was the german chancellor speaking there let's take this story now to brussels our correspondent max hoffman is covering the summit for is good evening to you max you know what michel barnier said there we need more time that is the takeaway tonight isn't it everyone seems to be in agreement that they simply need more time to work on the brakes a deal are they simply kicking the brakes it can down the road. i think they're not just taking it they're trying to solve some issues but it appears brant that they've come as far as they can technically i don't know if you remember last weekend it seemed like we had all the elements for a deal at hand in brussels there was a real feeling that the deal could be concluded at this summit until it became clear that theresa may would be unable to sell it back home in the u.k. the front line has shifted it's no longer between the e.u. and the u.k. it is within the u.k. the real question is what can to recently sell a home against the braggs of two years for example also against the socialist it's going to be a very very hard sell for her and one strategy

i hear more of their speaking with a job as max hoffman after receiving the soccer uprising twenty six day stay of course she shares in the nobel peace prize with that he's well quite good. to the united states not where the status is how do i first procedural votes on president trump supreme court confidence sinuses voted not only to advance the nomination of judge broadcast what brett kavanaugh fifty one votes to forty nine without he's a step closer to a lifetime appointment to the country's highest court a second final vote to confirm his nomination is expected on saturday this comes after several women accused him of sexual misconduct one of those women christine lacy fought testified about and i had sexual assault for the senate judiciary committee last week is. now the house on communist confirmation straight down party lines but the final decision could be thrown into doubt by several key senators on the republican side who seem to be wavering one of them is senator susan collins and she has revealed how she will be voting on saturday the facts presented do not mean that presid

for earlier we asked our correspondent in brussels max hoffman what could happen next in helmand defiant does he think the italians might yet become. it's hard to predict with this government we've never had a populist government of this nature in a big country in the euro zone so predictions like i said are very hard and what's coming out of rome or in this case out of bucharest from the head of the right wing populist league on north isn't very encouraging he made it very clear they're not going to change a thing of course he's not the finance minister and then you have a thing called the spread now the spread bear with me a little complicated is the difference between what italy has to pay for its debt and what germany has to pay for its debt obviously german debt can be acquired much cheaper or the germans have to pay less to to borrow money and have to pay much more because there is a greater risk involved so the higher the spread the more the italians have to pay and it's no surprise that with this new government the spread has gone up continuously and experts expect this to contin

max hoffman has the story from stress but listening to the radio this morning in my bathroom when hisstory was using a cotton bud and thought what i'm not going to be able to use it anymore. well i hear paper clips work pretty well but i do not recommend that to anyone here this is not official recommendation but of course it's all about alternatives you know and already big companies have started moving even before the european parliament did this for example replacing plastic drinking straw is with paper versions of that and i understand that's probably going to happen to your to your utensils as well that you use but remember this is not over yet so what we have at the moment is the european parliament haven't demanded aid going forward which is important there was an overwhelming majority for this legislative project but now it's up to the member states to negotiate their port and if everything goes as planned we'll actually have this ready by the time the european elections start next may what we do sense though is overwhelming support across the aisle so that the sense really is

well our brussels bureau chief max hoffman is covering this summit force and i asked him how extending the post breaks a transition period how that will help solve the irish border issue. very good question because of course they're not directly linked they are indirectly linked because if you have more time to actually negotiate the future trade relations that's what it's all about let's say for example of free trade agreement then maybe that's the think you have to reset may according to the nature of that agreement the whole problem of the hard border between northern ireland and ireland might just go away but no illusions will really only go away if the u.k. are part of a customs union for example or even of the single market in the european union and that is something that the u.k. has more or less ruled out because they don't want to accept to a baby e.u. rule in this case that is something the brics it's years have said so really the pressing question is not how long the transition period will be but what the withdrawal agreement will look like because if there is no deal no dea

is rescuing but in international waters and the ngos think that's just not enough right max hoffman reporting for us from brussels max thank you for your analysis. now to some other stories making headlines around the world turkey has summoned saudi arabia's ambassador over the disappearance of a dissident saudi journalist in istanbul. had entered the saudi consulate on tuesday but has not been seen since kingdom officials just do turkey's claims that he is still inside russia he has lived in self-imposed exile since last year he was worried saudi arabia was seeking his arrest. the u.s. senate judiciary committee has received the f.b.i. report on the sexual misconduct allegations against brett kavanaugh senators are examining claims made by two women against the supreme court nominee the report was ordered by president trump last week a full senate vote on cavanagh's nomination is expected after the review. u.s. authorities have arrested a navy veteran suspected of mailing suspicious on follow ups to the white house and the pentagon the f.b.i. is now investigating why william clyde allen the

european commission has just been talking to the media and brussels bureau chief max hoffman is covering the story for us max we've both had this phrase time and again over the past decade but the e.u. finds itself in uncharted territory again. it is because it's never ever rejected a budget proposal for a budget that hasn't even been voted yet by the parliament in this case but the commissioner in charge. said that this was just too big to ignore he said that italy failed to answer any of the questions that the commission asked last week and italy answered in a letter on monday and also said this is not a borderline case this is a clear intentional deviation from commitments made in the past and the commission just could not ignore that so now italy has three weeks to work things out with the commission and the language from the commission sounds quite haas what about the italian so far they've been standing firm what's their reaction going to be. some say the commission is going to war with italy year the commission of course says our doors are open we are here to talk to the go she at

technical aides will work out all right all eyes on that summit there in brussels do you have news max hoffman for us thank you. and ben has more on the business have implications of brands that there are many in here. many all right the final spokesperson for the british labor party says if the break the deal is a fudge even more companies will stall investment in the lead up to this week's talks we've heard about companies holding investments in the u.k. pharma firms stockpiling medicines on both sides in the u.k. and continental europe in a case of a major trade breakdown other manufacturers stockpiling parts and everyone's making a point no one wants to go back to that's it's not something london wants to return to either but the border between the republic and the north remains a huge point of contention in bragg's negotiations feathers are getting ruffled partly because the united kingdom itself is divided on the issue of brags that the complexity of the negotiations are little understood. this computing you don't know it's going to happen in one day they say that one day they say that i

hoffman. welcome max why. well thank you very much phil you know what the question is suppose is better placed with the man who actually had the idea to nominate and that is the man standing next to me which is he's a member of the european peoples party and he went forward and said we need to nominate this man successfully in the end why did you come up with but i'm deeply moved and grateful that this decision has been taken i think. the first european laureate since ten years deserves this prize because it is closest to the spirit of understood her off he stood for freedom of expression and i like sense of peacefully expressed his opposition to the illegal. occupation of his home crimea and therefore was sentenced to twenty years so i think he is the one who should get the price you remember the moment when you said this man really deserves it this is enough we need to do something well it was the time when he had. been already sentenced and then started his hunger strike and. for us it was important also to