1st step of a 4 day visit mr. kerry is meeting with the foreign minister. elaborate to discuss joint cooperation carries also asking other governments to step up their fight against climate change ahead of the united nation summit. in november, the largest wildfire of the year in the us state of california has been partly contained firefighter's working in temperatures. nearly 40 degrees have been able to gain some ground late on saturday. the flames prompt the closing of a small town in less than county. there are some remote properties are still in danger. ah, updating your top stories here on 20, south africa's military has been deployed protests triggered by the jailing of the former president, jacob zuba. at least 6 people have been killed during days of riots. cuba president miguel diaz canal has blamed the us for stirring up on grass now to the biggest

anti government protests in decades. but the us president joe biden says america stands with cubans and their rights. the canal says, washington is solely responsible for cuba, economic woes. loafing, nancy, i mean to can, i'm a pull you are receiving. the lack of finance for governance is due to the aggressive policy of blockade and financial persecution by the us being maintained by the government. and we have not been able to maintain and fix the power supply planning and in england says it will go ahead with plans to live nearly all corona virus restrictions by next monday. the health minister says is the right time to get the country back to normal life. a court in jordan has sentenced a former minister and a member of the royal family to 15 years in prison on charges of attempting to destabilize the monarchy. they were accused of pushing the former at the throne, prince hamza as an alternative to king up when ben this bit. and would you remember? well regarding the 1st criminal bass and our dollar, the court has sentenced him to temporary imprisonment for

a period of 15 years. for the 1st charge and 15 years for the 2nd charge on the one of these 2 rules applies to him, which is temporary work for 15 years starting from the date of his arrest in april with, with regard to the 2nd criminal sharif hassan been said, the court has sentenced him to temporary imprisonment for a period of 15 years for the 1st charge. and 15 years for the 2nd charge, he shall be subject to any one penalty, which is 15 years of temporary imprisonment. the us government is wanting china that any attack on the philippines and the south china sea withdraw a response. andre mutual defense treaty, you have prime minister borders. johnson has condemned the online racist abuse against england. blackfoot bowlers, 3 players were targeted after missing penalty kicks and sunday 02020 final against italy. you are right up to date with all the top stories. the news continues here on alex's here. after counting the cost world back with more news in $30.00, we will see you then. bye bye. i

use hello. i'm sam is a, than this is counting the cost and i'll go look at the well, the business and economics this week, china band, bitcoin mining and trading, while salvador welcomes it, will the crypto county provide an economic bonanza, become a gangsters paradigm in the shadow of the silicon valley's tech giants and wall street money can europe deliver more multi $1000000000.00 companies? we talked to the ceo of one of germany's rising star, can gas counseling,

super cars, reinvent themselves for a green future. we talked to the chief executive of one of the world's most desirable. com. the news, as el salvador became the 1st country to make bitcoin legal tender. china was clamping down on trading and mining the crypto currency that took huge chunks out of its price and valuation. beijing says bitcoin disrupts economic order and facilitates illegal asset transfers in money laundering. but china is also concerned. it would undermine the role of own digital currency. so why is el salvador 39 year old baseball wearing president ny buccheri pushing the use of the crypto currency? well, here are 3 big reasons of salvatore is a dollar eyes country. it doesn't have its own currency interest rates and monetary decisions by the u. s. federal reserve have a huge impact on l. salvatore's economy. what does that mean?

take the pandemic and governments have been able to print money to fund support support families, but a country without its own currency can get its own. busy central bank to bytes debts. it has to resort to international investors all the world bank and i m f bit con, enables it to diversify its reserves. remittances may come almost a quarter of el salvador, g d p. but traditional transfer companies charge fees, which means it's losing out on money. what about the downsides? why wouldn't you consider it for daily use, for example? well, the huge fluctuations in the price of bitcoin is one reason. if your currency can lose so much value in a day, people will lose confidence when they see the value of the savings evaporating. it's not easy to cash out a bit coin to. although salvador is creating its own wallet and offering $30.00 to anyone who signs up to the at financial institutions will need to hold more cash.

just in case there's a ronald bank because of the volatility of bitcoin will. that means there's less cash in the economy to fund growth. there are many other concerns, credit rating agency fits said bitcoin would increase regulatory risks. there's the potential for violations of anti money laundering and terrorist financing standards . so how did this idea gain traction? manual report reports from the small salvador and beach town where crypto has been part of daily life since 2019. the this is a soon to know locally as bitcoin beach. this small salvador tours town is home to a variety of small businesses whose owners all have one thing in common crypto currency. to do this, i think, i think they were a tourist who didn't bring cash would come and say they wanted to eat something. and they asked if they could pain bitcoin. i said to myself, this is a good strategy. i'm going to use. and i'm going to start collecting. i downloaded

the app and i started selling a lot more. i'm doing. the success of the bitcoin beach project has boosted the popularity of crypto currency, and salvador the government announced big point would become legal, tender. therefore, the law of bitcoin is approved. supporters of the measure say the new law represents a vote of confidence in using block chain technology to bring informal sector workers into a 21st century economy. you know, lisa and banks are not necessarily, this is not the important thing. there are many salvadorans in this country that cannot use a bank because of thousands of requirements. el salvador now becomes the 1st country in the world to formally legalize the digital currency. the initiative was led by l salvatore's president. now you book kelly on twitter. he called the passing of the big coin law historic. in the short term, this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion, 20001000,

the formal economy and in the medium and long term, we hope that this small decision can help us push humanity at least a tiny bit into the right direction. there are also critics who ward of the risks of point price fluctuation, momentum. the moment bitcoin becomes a legal currency, problems appear, including and it must basic use which is a form of exchange. and this is related to the volatility of the price of coin. while some also ward that legalizing and decentralize digital currency could be wielded as a tool for corruption. bitcoin believers in uncertainty and across of salvatore, say the new law will only increase financial inclusion and has the potential to spur economic development. well, joining me now via skype from london is 9 i slam 9. is the chief market analyst with have a trade good to have you with us. so do you think the move towards bitcoin is good

for salvador, good fritz economy? thanks for having me. i think there are pros and cons money comes with this particular view because if you look at the dollar info and the daughter expert from the countries expert, you can see that the there isn't much of a reserve and the country is, is, is, are in the country because it doesn't have its own currency for live on the daughter as in terms of his currency. so i think in terms of pros, better, yes, you know, we could see as the economy growing, especially the mining sector really kind of taking off. but at the same time, you also have to think and factory and the enormous amount of a while until letty and right now the government is saying that it is great. just a fund of 150, with a 1000000 in or in around that particular mom. say you will, you will see you were things that

a k given the want to let you that we have seen around bitcoin. how quickly can that really shrink? i mean, if you are thinking of providing iniquity to bank refresher shows such a reserve that can shrink pretty quickly, or at the same time it can soho or matter me as well. if it turns to bitcoin for emission, says, might that threaten to dry off its pool of dollars? yeah, exactly. so this is the main issue with respect to coin because the higher volatile as he, as of is discuss i was discussing. so if we see another round of 2018 crash with respective bitcoin, we could easily see those liquidity pools which are being created by the country to running into some serious sort of trouble. and remember the debt to g d p ratio is already running at 90 percent and china at the same time,

of course is banning mining of bitcoin. could we end up saying, do you think those chinese mining machines end up in el salvador recruit certainly . see that because of an issue with hundreds of fish and see him and of course we do have evidence of chinese mining machines. i'm moving to are going to taxes as well. so, you know, we are seeing that outflow from trying them in terms of mining to various as well, but outside of adobe, the respective energy. i think that is the major figures among the bitcoin timidity. and if you look at the energy of issues currently being used from fossil fuel and from the renewable sources, you could clearly see from, according to several different ripples that have gone and sort of past that 51 percent mark, meaning 51 percent of the energy which has been used is coming from renewable

sources, not from the fossil fuel sources. so what would that do then to a country like l calvin door when it comes to its energy, consumption? patton, i think obviously a big coin is a very energy, kind of a high energy consumption from the, from, from day one in terms of its mining. but currently there isn't any strong evidence that the kind of the country chrissy or could face any of the black out issues. so that there isn't that there is no very clear evidence in relation to that. so we don't really anticipate that can really happen to help us through the countries a economy our country could face any of those trouble in the future. we're talking about el salvador, you know, as the 1st country that makes this move, can it be a model for other countries though, especially when you keep in mind? well, i think 80 percent of bit coins already been mind. the very intriguing question,

and i'm going to go back to my opening statement because that countries in any position because it doesn't have it has his own sovereignty, but he doesn't have his own currency for live on daughter. so i think that kind of very much answered the question, how many other countries can really adopt that? do you think it'll open up the economy there to money laundering and other issues? i think that particular aspect has always been very much associated bitcoin from day one. by remember, dollar money really comes to money is andre, and issues or anything like that. i think given the fact that we have a many regulators jumping into this price, we have an enormous amount of changes coming under the regulation. so that money laundering aspect isn't the really fast concern for any of any, any, any investors re, a final line. would you make of the i m s concerns about this move towards bitcoin?

like i am, i for isn't really going to say like, that's great. let's go ahead and then you start using your reserves in, you know, moving away from my daughter and i thought using bitcoin because if i am asking us the greenlight and then that goes back to your earlier question, a lot of other countries slip, i might say, that okay, let's do that, but you know what? that particular question by the, comes to us cor, press whether it comes to countries, by the way, it comes to portfolios, institutions, hedge funds, family offices, that is coming now. and there again, once again, theresa sufficient evidence, right? now, given where the big one qualifies are now, and none of that supply is being sucked up by the institutions and by part by some, some other sources for major other other players are really apply. why? again, because of diversification. so if i am going back to the original one,

if i mean i m f isn't ready when i get the glean lice from from day one. yeah. ok, go ahead and then do your recess in big coin. but i think the investors are very much keen because of the intriguing element, an upside, that big con really produces a tab, and they specially that it is being dumped as a digital gold. so i think every single matters, the particular lands or i name is in good talking to thanks so much the silicon valley has long overshadowed europe with its tech titans, but last year, europe registered. it's $281000000000.00 tech company that some achievement, but continental europe continues to lag behind the u. k. for funding and in some cases it cities are being pushed out of the top 10 funding rankings. according to tech nation, the u. k. is catching up to china on the tech investment front. venture capital investments reached

a record $15000000000.00 in 2023 c investment into london tank was more than paris . berlin and stock home combined at 10600000000 in 2020 u. k. cities made up 20 percent of the top 20 european tech cities. now that could change with the u. k. axis of the european union starting with investments like this. berlin based, we folks raised $650000000.00 from investors and what it called a record breaking ground for a so called insure attack. so let's find out more about we fox with its chief executive julian tyco. good to have you with us. so if you're looking usually for car insurance, home insurance, you'd go to a recognized insurance company, maybe a website, but you're actually now selling insurance through agents, right? i thought we've done away with that. what's happening? well, it's quite the opposite to be honest. many people say insurance agents are depth, we say opposite is true, and still today, 9 out of 10 insurance policies globally,

a sold by human agents. and instead of focusing on the one out of 10 policies and make it easier and better, what we say is the big potential isn't digitizing the 9 out of 10 policies and investors understandable the much bigger potential. i think our fundraising of 650000000 just recently announced as a signal for this approach being a very good approach to disrupt insurance on a global, on the global dimension. interesting. some of the biggest ensure is munich already allianz the german right is that helpful when raising money to be part of a specialist hub? there is a big tradition of european insurance companies making a global. and if we look at we fox, we have started off in germany, and we are now in more european countries. our ambitions essentially are global, and they are the same as that's also in the u. s. 9 out of 10 policy. so

sold via human agents, also in asia, 9 out of 10 policies are sold via human agents. we want to continue the tradition of european insurance company really shaping insurance on a global scale. but generally speaking, european capitals have lagged behind when it comes to raising money from venture capital. right. why is that this time is over? so the last 20 years and the u. s. and asia were clearly in front of your but what we see recently with amazing fundraising rounds from germany, but also from europe. the time is over, the capital is pouring into europe. europe is going to be the winner of the next 20 years. and with insurance, we have one of the biggest areas to disrupt and we believe that the disruption globally will come from europe. and we have at the right point in time, we have the right talent, we have the right to skills,

and we now have the capital to really make an impact globally. do you think britain's exit from the europe in union might change any of that forecast? absolutely not. so britain, of course, has made a decision and that slows down essentially the development in the u. k. we, for example, off, have the difficulty off and not having the advantage of selling our insurance policies under a single european license. now also to britain, we will focus on further european countries in the u. u. first before going to britain. of course, britain is an interesting market for us as well, but it makes things a lot more difficult capital. it's pouring into the u. less so to britain, the u. k. has kind of temporarily lost its crown is the biggest share trading hub. do you think momentum will suggest that the money will follow?

i do think that that's going to be the case for us. we well finance at this point and we really focus essentially on how can we and disrupt insurance and take the customer experience that has made us successful in europe and globally . what we're going to invest our capital in is essentially further geographic expansion. 8th and be we are going to offer not only a pnc insurance property casualty, we are today in motor house or, and liability insurance. we're also going to offer and life insurance and health insurance and create a single policy, a single coverage for all of our customers. and the 3rd piece i think is most important. it's really innovation of the core of insurance. and so we're going to invest into turning insurance from what it is today, a pretty boring product that we today made a little bit better by digitizing everything and making everything real time. but

it's still insurance. it's still a boring product. and what we're turning insurance into essentially is a pro active product that is going to help you prevent bad things from happening. and this is possible through the rise of i o t data. and we want to do that, but that's, you know, that's quite number's just target. absolutely. our target to 30 percent of all risks happening from our customers. if you look at the history of insurance and you see the same development and commercial insurance. so in factories, for example, ensure us have already taken a lot of preventive measures in the last decades and the same development now through the i o t data revolution. and by 2025, every human on earth is going to own around 15 devices that are connected to the internet. and this prevention will also come to personal lines insurance. so we

have a i team and that's working on what we call. we focus prevent, and that works on increasing your awareness about your general, but also your immediate risk so that you have an increased awareness about your risk situation and you reduce your risk and this is a win win situation. insurance is going to become cheaper because of reduced risk. customers are going to be happy. they're going to live longer and they're going to live healthier. and insurance is going to become more profitable. it's a win win situation for customer and the sure. and we want to be spearheading that development where we, fox, the only thing you left out there is we will all live happily ever after. thank you for that positive outlook. let's hope it comes through. thanks so much for your time. thank you very much. and finally, here's something we can all aspire through supercars or hyper cars,

but these manufacturers recognize they need to change as the world moves towards reducing emissions. a little known creation electric hyper car start up re mike will take control of one of the world's most storage brands. volkswagens begati remark began life in a garage in 2009. it is growing to become one of the industries leading technology providers. its electric and battery systems can be found in aston, martin and jango cars. it's upcoming remax navarro is expected to be the fast this car ever built a title previously held by the god tissue wrong. well my next guest is the chief executive of lam beginning, which is owned, of course, by volkswagen. stefan binkle man joins us now from santiago about a navy in italy. good to have you with us. so you are launching what's being described as the last of and todd or is that an acknowledgement that the world is changing that the future is for electric pallet cars. first of all,

we are celebrating allow them to lower because it's the last of our kind. we will have $600.00 units, only $250.00 groups and $250.00 rhodes are and then there will be a phase of hybridization and $23.24 for the entire lineup of won't be la maurine. so 1st, the event of the fall, what would be hybridize will be plug in hybrid, but it will, mundane our famous ve 12th engine. so there will be a new engine also in the hybridize chart. and that's the problem is we are making to our customers, is that the new generation of cars is always to be better than the one before. and especially when we speak about performance, this is a math. will they still found us good? yes, they would sound very good because they will keep our famous engine, as i said, with the v 12. that will be this incredible sound and also the feeling of

a real lumber i. so it sounds like you're saying, when you, you keep saying, i'm going to keep the v 12 that there's going to continue then to be a niche market for the petro purists like me. right? we're not a dying breed then. now because we are putting 2 things together because at the end of this hybridization phase, so when we launched also the car at the end of $24.00, we will cut the c o 2 emissions by at least 50 percent. and this is quite something . and then you generations, they want performance for one enzyme, but they also demand for sustainability. and i think that this is a good step that we have the words match together. and we will ask guys which are still fulfilling the dreams of their customers. as you probably know in on last test layers, introducing more and more autonomous features. is this something that hyper cause super cars are going to have to go down that road as well? right, as 3 mega range nowadays electrification digitalization and then there's

a lot of driving the 1st 2 are already on our table and they are very important for us in the future. if it comes to turn on was driving it if it helps in the traffic . if it helps for active and passive safety, but we will always have a steering wheel and we will have always feature that you can shut off. those helps because it's important when you step into a lumber again, if you sit in a mortgage, you do it because you want to enjoy the drive. but the situation where maybe this in the future is going to be boring and dropped it. so we will have a level of don't know me, all of them was driving, which is not influencing the joy and the fun of driving a car like this. so how will lam beginning evolve then given what you said in the future, how will you retain some of your, your key ingredients, especially as restrictions? greener measures become tighter and tighter uncommon factors. but as i said,

the 1st step is now hybridization. we are going to have a 1st full electric vehicle in the 2nd half of this decade. we think about 2027, which will be the 4th model of lumber gaining. we will continue to look into what is feasible with the combustion engine to look if synthetic fuel can be turned off the 2030. but the new line up, which is going to be launch in $23.24 is going to fulfill the regulations. and did the end of this decade and then as i said in the 2nd part of this, take it, we're launching of 1st of all electric car on do you think your brand will be independent within the v w stable going forward? but inside the, the folks one group, every brand has its own positioning, and the value of number getting grows immensely in the last decade. and i think that the business is very good and we have an order bank of 10 months

of production covered with customer orders. so also the outlook for this year and the beginning of next year is a very positive one. we investing the highest amount of invested in the future of this company. it's 1500000 euro until the end of 2024. and then we are looking into electrification. and i think that this is a good match for the folks lawgroup because we are covering for the old, the segments with the brands we have in the india group. i'm sure many young boys out, they'll be happy to hear that lum beginning will be around in the coming green the decade to thanks very much, stephan binkle. man, you're welcome. thank you. and that's our show for you this week. more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash p c. that'll take you straight off page, which has an entire view to catch up on time. time is

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