Fed cuts Interest Rates by a quarter of one percent right in line with expectations but not exactly what u. S. President double trump one. Time bring coffee its good to have you with us we begin tonight with a clear no today germany rejected ever quest from the United States to join a Naval Mission to protect shipping in the gulf the u. S. Has asked allies to help protect vessels as they pass through the strait of hormuz because of heightened tensions with iran germany had already expressed skepticism about the proposal saying that priority should be given to diplomatic efforts to deescalate tension take a listen to what the foreign minister haiku must said about that earlier today. For. The German Government will not participate in the sea mission proposed and planned by the United States we are in close agreement with our French Partners in this regard we think the strategy of maximum pressure is wrong we do not want to military escalation we will continue to work with diplomacy. Or even more on this im joined now by our correspondent kate brady she is on the story for us here in berlin good evening to you kate so. Were getting a clear answer from the foreign minister germany will not join a Naval Mission in the persian gulf and we have to clarify saying it will not join a u. S. Led Naval Mission right yes exactly and as we discussed yesterday actually when this refer when this request 1st came in from washington germany is particularly reluctant to join a u. S. Led Naval Mission that in the strait of hormuz right now particularly given how fragile the situation is and is very much in favor of trying to find a diplomatic solution and although germany German Defense relies very much on the u. S. At the same time that simply is no appetite for some robust military action that in the strait right now particularly particularly when the situation could escalate at any time and that could even depend on something as small as the next tweet from the u. S. President. Indeed we are considering this request in close consultation with the United Kingdom and france. And were doing this with particular consideration of our political and diplomatic goals and from this overall assessment a decision will be made. So what is. The new German Defense minister what exactly is she saying. There basically there we just heard unquote come karrenbauer or a k k o shes known here she was in brussels earlier today meeting with some nato allies and shes been working closely particularly with friends in the u. K. As well who are also very important signatories on that very fragile Iran Nuclear Deal right now and contrary to a certain degree to what must germanys foreign minister was saying a. K. K. As shes known here as said that germany havent yet reached a decision on that request from washington to join that u. S. Led Naval Mission in the strait of hormuz but at the same time it has to be said she did reiterate like mass that germany is working closely with european allies and 1st and foremost wants to explore all possible diplomatic avenues and diplomatic means to try and deescalate the tensions there and what germany wants to avoid it of course above anything else is an escalation of that situation germany is very much aware of the risks that are at stake here so 1st and foremost is very much a diplomatic route thats what germany is in favor of the other key bridge on the story for us tonight here in berlin kate thank you. Afghanistan now where at least 30 people have been killed and 10 wounded by a roadside bomb in the province of iraq its the latest in a string of attacks as the president ial campaigning season gets underway security has been deteriorating across the country with both the taliban and Islamic State fighters mounting attacks daily. The victims were all civilians the majority of the dead women and children theyd been travelling in a bus on a highway linking the 2 key cities of kandahar and herat in western afghanistan the bus then hit an improvised roadside bomb. We were heading to kabul from herit with our vehicle was hit by a lot of mine i saw many people martyred and injured there was no immediate claim of responsibility Afghan Government officials blamed taliban insurgents who operate in the area and are accused of planting the explosives but a taliban spokesman denied the groups involvement in the bloodshed is expected to intensify now that official campaigning for afghanistans president ial election is underway on sunday just hours after incumbent president ashraf ghani kicked off his campaign at least 20 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide attacker and gunman targeted the Capitol Office of his running mate. Once again civilians bore the brunt of the violence. So you mustnt feel lection will cost the lives of our poor people the poor are the main victims are myself im affected by this attack there is no one to check on my situation. I cant go anywhere i have no shelter job or a job. With the taliban and other insurgent groups determined to undermine afghanistans fragile democracy many afghans worry about further Violent Attacks in coming weeks. Well that could be a groundbreaking development in science japanese officials have given approval for experiments that aim to create the 1st ever hybrids of humans and animals well the scientists here to. His team say they plan 1st to take embryos from animals. And implant human cells inside them next they will place those embryos in host animals starting with rats as the hopes the rats would carry the modified embryos to term if all goes according to plan then those red will give birth to a new kind of rat capable of growing human tissues inside the researchers would like to extend the study to other types of hoes such as pigs which could grow larger organs. The researchers ultimate goal here would be growing human organs to give to people needing organ donations but the plans raised many questions both scientifically as well as. Ethical questions Big Questions there in the book about the ethical questions im joined by our very own ethics expert Martin Jacques its good to see you again martin so i mean ok ill ask you something that is obvious but i mean what. What sets this apart from other scientific experiments both the main issue here its not so much the merest this is what theyre calling in genetics america. Are new was a matter of these kind of experiments had been done before including with human cells its just that they were never allowed to proceed beyond the 14th day of just station the friends here is that the Japanese Hotel already i mean given the go ahead to bring this to station 2 terms why are they saying yes well the main reason is. Standing is that there are enormous benefits for humankind if youll permit me the sort of. In this kind of experiments with worry about growing organs yeah i mean this is no small thing because the fact is that discus already been tried not with humans and rats or humans mice but mice and rats mice that could not actually produce how did the fission done koreas where essentially were essentially submitted to the same process rights actually grew the pancreas they were replaced back into the mice and the mice were diabetes that itself. Its such a powerful story in terms of what one could imagine that could happen would human beings that its hard to see that this is not technology that being already there should be explored now so go what i mean is all im saying the lead scientist says you know points exactly to what youre talking about and says that theres no ethical problem toast here well i think that thats an over straight i mean of course every single us that comes with a liability and indeed this is no different i mean there are many problems here one of them is that its a matter of fact if you do have a 90 mile of any sort an organism that has human nature. Then the question is that that or going to be some have rights is that entitle to rights for of lee not obligations we wouldnt talk about obligations but would think have rights and how close would it have to be to a human being for it to have rights i mean would it be a would a human pancreas have to have a human rights one generally would think no because the visual of the big would barely be enough for us to steer away from that but if we actually had for instance they instance in which say parts of they just of system were affected by this genetic experiment in which neuronal structures are actually breasts and now we begin to see things that have to do with brain like functions and human beings then do we have now a question about rights it obviously opens an enormous enormous fields of questions now it is important to keep in mind that. The technology is there and its not going away i was going to ask you i mean its going to primes that weve been talking about japanese scientists getting the green light i mean whos going to police this 1st of all and who can tell us that in some lab somewhere on the planet theyre not already doing these types of experiments on a higher level of change if you will we can on i mean nobody can tell us the one thing that we can assume sort of in an almost collated risk approach is that given the fact that the technologies there are given the fact that the benefits to be reaped from this are enormous quite literally enormous i mean it could be a complete change in the way we understand human nature because we could be actually talking about Replacement Parts for human beings that will in the long run which a lot of people who need i think were doing the important thing to underline is that given the fact that this already there it is probably better better that we actually begin to develop structures of regulation in places like japan that have a much stronger regulation but as opposed to countries that have very strong Technological Developments like china. Do not really have a strong regulatory structure so the point here is this is there and its already happening and we need the structure i think its very important to keep in mind that this not a frankenstein story and we should get her away from that all right mark because always we appreciate your insights thank you my pleasure. Are here some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world a new york court has held a hearing in the case of. Jeffrey epstein hes accused of sex trafficking prosecutors are setting a trial date next summer but epsteins lawyers requested more time the former high profile money manager is accused of paying girls to recruit under age victims for sex at his manhattan mansion and other locations wildfires are burning millions of pictures of land in the center and east of russia including siberia the military has been called in to aid thousands of firefighters experts say the blazes were caused by thunderstorms that hit during abnormally high temperatures and later spread by strong wind. In the United States firefighters in texas are fighting a blaze at a refinery belonging to the oil Company Exxon Mobil its the latest in a series of recent fires involving the petrochemical industry in the houston area authorities have warned nearby residents to stay indoors. But the u. S. Federal reserve has cut its key Interest Rate by a quarter point to a range slightly above 2 percent now this is the 1st rate cut in a decade and a step for the u. S. Central bank to counter several threats to the economy theres threats range from uncertainties that are being called by president Donald Trumps trade wars to low inflation as well as a not so good Global Outlook now the fed chairman Jerome Powell repeated the pledge to quote act as appropriate to sustain the expansion wording that the Financial Markets have interpreted as a signal for possible future rate cuts wall street did not immediately react to that rate cut and need to have been widely speculated. Stephen beers from our business desk is here now and so stephen the decision i mean it has consequences everywhere doesnt it not just in the u. S. Thats right brant what this does officially basically is make the u. S. Dollar cheaper it makes money cheaper it encourages lending it encourages people to take out loans to spend thats the ideas thats meant to boost the economy that is traditionally why you lower Interest Rates it ripples through the economy globally it does have consequences as well if you are a if you have debt thats in u. S. Dollars it makes it cheaper and also obviously if you are you can benefit from the Worlds Largest economy having easier money so its generally seen as something that will ripple across course in a people looking and this may be puzzled because weve been hearing that the u. S. Economy is roaring forward unemployment is at a record low so why does it need this boost and this is whats extraordinary about this i mean especially if you listen to the press or with powell the chairman after this happened job numbers are incredibly High Consumer spending is high and that the normal metrics of a Strong Economy are all there he says this is basically an insurance cut thats meant to be preemptive and keep the good times rolling essentially that has fed watchers scratching their heads because they say isnt the fed supposed to be data dependent the data is all good and yet youre still cutting rates why are you doing that and what he said was pretty interesting he said you know if you look at the markets twice this year as being the year we were against a rate cut times were going really well but then it got sort of rocky once we signal that we were changing our position things corrected again in may june its about signaling confidence is what hes saying yes so hes playing here with with market psychology what is the thats what seems to be happening it was it was really interesting what his presser is the question kept being asked 25 basis points what does that really do to the economy does it really injection of capital really free things up know is that it creates confidence and. So the fear is that there is sort of this headline reaction that youre trying to be reacting to the headlines about reacting to the u. S. President because the president wants a lot more done right and of course the president wanted a steeper cuts and hes already made himself known even before this it was announced that he wanted to see something more whats interesting though is that the trump in sort of ecosystem and sort of the 24 hour news cycle seems have taken its effect here and you people powell said do not look at the 25 basis points themselves but look at the fact that we are signaling something here and he said that trade for example the headlines its generated by the trade dispute thats something they have to react to essentially its a world its fascinating to see right a token act actually has teeth even as always thank you for the for news of the emissions the cheating scandal here in germany is all a bit of industry it may have broken 4 years ago but prosecutors they are still bringing charges against the people they believe are responsible the latest is rupert stop lawyer who used to head up the division of the vox weigand group. For more than 20 years Rupert Stadler was one of the top executives in the german Auto Industry today the former audi boss finds himself facing charges of fraud false certification and criminal advertising practices all consequences of his alleged role in diesel gas emissions cheating scandal which has rocked the car industry in germany since details 1st emerged almost 4 years ago that statler is accused of allowing sales of hundreds of thousands of folks like and all the models to continue after september 2015 thats when munich prosecutors say he already knew those same models had been fitted with Illegal Software that helped the vehicles Game Missions tests. Audi is part of the Volkswagen Group before joining audi shuttler was head of the board for the folks wagon group he served as audi chief executive from 2007 until october 28th when he was formally dismissed a few months after being arrested by German Police for his alleged role in the scandal he spent more than 3 months in custody before his release. The Public Prosecutors Office in munich says stadler and trio their descendants are being charged. Already says the case is separate from the wider investigation into the car makers role in the scandal which was settled last october with an 800000000 euro fine i will move to believe people in the russian capital moscow are protesting against plans to build a highway near a Nuclear Waste dump now Authorities Say the construction work poses no risk to the local communities but residents say they do not believe that the government has their best interests at heart they say theyre determined to stop the highway and abuse emily short reports if. They cant do that if you are that Dangerous Levels of radiation thats what Nuclear Physicist andre as hes radiation counter tells him every time here moscows pauli metals factory started dumping Nuclear Waste on this scale in the one 940. 00 s. And fiftys when the area in the south of moscow wasnt yet part of the city so far the Radioactive Material is contained under a layer of clay