being treated there, it's not just in austria that officials are facing questions over their decisions at the start of the pandemic. the form of french health minister and yes, is now under formal investigation for her handling of coven cases in france early last year. but so far, at least it is only in austria where those officials are having to account for their actions or inactions in court. dominant came al jazeera berlin. ah, look at the main stories. now, us officials have admitted that a drone strike and combo last month mistakenly killed 10 civilians and not iso fighters. an investigation found the august 29th strike killed an innocent aid worker along with 9 members of his family including 7 children. the strike was one of us military final acts in afghan is done before ending as 20

a military presence. that i am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to 7 children, were tragically killed in that strike. moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with cape or were a direct threat to us forces. i offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed. the strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces in the evacuees at the airport. but it was a mistake and i offer my sincere apology as the combatant commander. i am fully responsible for the strike in this tragic outcome. why in all the headlines france has recalled it's ambassadors to the u. s. austria sponsor of a massive diplomatic backlash against and use security pack that canceled a $14000000000.00 french deal. the u. k. u. s. now straightly announced the defense agreement on wednesday. what was widely seen as an effort to counter chinese

influence and the pacific. on that deal strange would, would get help to develop nuclear power it's submarines. the pact effectively cancelled a previous sale where france would provide the australian government with submarines french formulas to call it a stamp in the back and accused the bind and administration of having like donald trump. and apple and google has removed a smartphone out created by washes opposition, which told people who to vote for, to be candidates, backed by the ruling party crime. and had pressured the tech try to take me down as russians vote in a 3 day election for the state legislature. many candidates opposed to light in the future, have been excluded from the ballots. president himself voted online because he's isolating off to a coven outbreak. that's it for myself and the team here in london, we will see you tomorrow. counting the cost is the program coming up. next, i'll be more news from da har, off to that in about half an hour time with

government support, swindling russia. parliamentary elections take place in september, but as this leader electing of only remains in prison and just a band from taking part, could the due to the currently be wide open for another clean sweep pollution supporting the personal coverage on al jazeera. ah, hi there i'm getting. now this is counting the cost on algebra. you'll look at the world of business and economics. this week is the end of china's experiment with capitalism. presidents using ping launches, sweeping socialist reforms to address and the quantity in the world's 2nd biggest economy. and the party is over for the chinese conglomerate that roads, the property boom, hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, the implosion of grand could take down the banking sector. as traditional analog

watchmakers stand off the fashion industry and pick giants that eating into their business, we find out why sales of 2nd hand watches are taking off. the president, changing thing isn't afraid of letting everyone know who is the ultimate power in china since is elevation. 2012, he launched an anti corruption purge of what he called tigers and flies or high ranking. national and local officials. then came the internment of millions of weak is and so called reeducation camps and gym. john, you follow back out by crushing the hopes of democracy protest as in hong kong. g latest target is a huge segment of the economy that has powered growth in recent years. billionaires, celebrities, property, gaming and tech companies. she's reasoning the side effect of growth has been ever increasing inequality. it's time he says, for common prosperity. take

a look at this chart. this is chime is janai coefficient. basically, it's a measure of inequality. the closer you are to one, the more unequal society is in 2019, it stood at around 0.47. remember anything about 0.40 is considered destabilizing. and that is the one thing that the communist party fears, the most social unrest. she is concerned that the young and rule migrants to cities are being priced out of the property market and education isn't enough to improve the lot of the poorest. take a look now at this from the world economic forum. this is this social mobility tracker. we've selected a handful of countries out of $82.00. you can see china lags behind russia, the united states, and most of europe. and here's another play on the same thing. this study by the o e c. d shows how many generations it would take to climb out of the bottom,

10 percent into mean income stages. for china, you can see it's 7 generations compared to 5 for the united states. and just to at the top here, the denmark. and we're trying to creating to new 1000000000 is every week the top one percent are increasing their share of the nation's wealth. as you can see from this graph compiled by bloomberg and 989, the top one percent and board and 50 percent owned roughly. you can see there an equal share of the wealth, but move along here and by 2015, the share held by the bottom, 50 percent shrunk, and the top one percent increase their share to a 3rd. and there's so much more to talk about, but let's start with she's cracked down. i was told by l. corresponded katrina, you. she begins this report with aging ban on tutoring, which is hopes to ease the financial burden on parents. wall street english once or private tutoring session to chinese students,

keen to improve through extra steady ah, now it's one of more than $1000.00 companies forced to close their doors. following sweeping education regulation tutoring companies can no longer teach compulsory school subjects teach during school hours. not earn a profit. thousands of foreign tutors, like catherine peterson, has suddenly found themselves redundant, the american top english and critical thinking skills in china for 5 years. this is going to impact the industry a lot. and especially now with coven, it's so hard for foreigners to come into the country to. i think it might mean a huge downsizing of the industry. many parents invested in chooses to help their children boost their results in hyper competitive exams known as cow cow that they need to pass to get into universities. but many se, china's tutoring industry, that was one's worth an estimated $140000000000.00 is now decimated. can you shop

lost her job as an administrator in one of china's biggest tutoring companies? and is now struggling to find work? sure, yeah, i don't have time to go because anyway, she just because of the huge demand this industry was blooming, but it put a lot of pressure on parents because extra tutoring is not the chinese government. it's cracked on private shoes or reduce the cost of raising a child and ease pressure on family. china's birth rate is flowing and authorities are desperately trying to encourage couples to have more children. but analysts say this isn't the only goal. authorities also want to encourage investment in more innovative areas of china's i t industry's to create greater competition with high tech companies in the west. amazon is the mapping. how alina space technology is the company. mars budge knows the i t giants in china and they are making money of parents and diety. but some worry that the government may just lead to

a black market in private tutoring, just because the government has banned or is trying to come back on a certain kind of education. i don't mean that was thought parents from trying to pursue it. the government says it's offering support to thousands of people affected by the measures that that may not be enough to help all of those really from the shock of seeing that teaching career in china. suddenly, at an end, millions of young fans loyal to famous actors and singers or lucrative force in china's entertainment industry. now, celebrity san club had become the latest target of government regulators. authorities has banned activities, which encourage fans to spend money on their favorite stock. online celebrity rankings, and discussions about the salaries are also prohibited, state media and newspaper. the global times says fan clubs could be used to

manipulate lines and split chinese society. mega rich entertainers have been criticized and punished for tax evasion and other undesirable behaviors. to move the part of aging efforts to promote chinese socialist values among young people and cracked down on so called negative influences and entertainment culture. it follows the announcement of new rules limiting how much time young people can spend playing online. video game monitors can now log on for 3 hours a week, maximum and only on weekends. aging says the cubs unnecessary to call that gaming and internet addiction, the critic se it'll do the opposite. a prominent, i don't think the new regulation makes any sense to help teenagers or for the less access. you get, the more curious you will be on the surface. these changes seem like rules designed to stop unhealthy or obsessive behaviors among young people. but for the chinese communist party, it's much more. it sees the entertainment industry as an ideological battle ground

that needs to be kept in check. regulators have also been the portrayal of a feminine men. an online l g p t q i. communities has been censored. activists are mean says the government is actively trying to mold the identity of young chinese hash. you or even the government wants a traditional image for its people. not taught diverse one to one. i think this really limits the imagination and creativity of the young people. it shows the societies become less accepting to those who are different and others like him are worried. there are more changes ahead and the freedom of chinese youth will increasingly be replaced by the agenda of the communist government. let's take a deep dive into geez, common prosperity with iris. pang irises, the chief economist for greater china with i n g bank to join me from hong kong via skype. thank you for your time. so heating,

paying has called the common prosperity. how big of a problem is inequality? so, if we talk about inequality, we usually use that unique index. gina, index in china, back into 2000 was point 412, any reading about point 4 in the case and inequality issue. but after that, after 2000 happy know updates on that you need in the us in china. so we don't know the actual situation that as i have seen, ro side has in crease li being more wealthy than, than previously. so i think the inequality issue is that there are many people or culprits that are buried bridge. and although the rural science has become more

wealthy, the inequality that gap has widened. common prosperity though, isn't a new theme, is it? why is it that we're hearing more and more about it now? come on friday is, isn't new. as all, for example, we know that in some countries the tax rate is very high. does this because they want to narrow the wealth gap and reduce your bill? well, from the rich to the poor. so now china is experiencing, there are more rich people to be rich people, as you said. so i expect there will be more progressive tax rate system in china for culprits as well as for individuals. but if we think about why presidents using paying is pushing this common prosperity theme, i mean, is there a political element to it to does he want perhaps a 3rd term. i think he, he doesn't have to do anything for his, the term,

he has changed the system that he can rover, continue sleep. so i think it is not the ball. domestic politics is more about the missing quality of people, especially those in and in the base of the pyramid. they, the government wants them to live us in install. does this close to the rich china is the 2nd biggest economy. yeah, i believe $600000000.00 people, half the population lives on about $150.00 a month. so do you think these efforts to tackle that will have the sort of impact that's needed? it depends on how the government do it. so there are many reports that the government will do it through poverty. i don't fully agree, property taxes, just one chill to do this. i, as i said, i expect

a more progressive tax system on call protect as well as individual tax. the government can introduce wealth tax, but this is not really ideal because this will actually the incentive by the people to climb the wealth leather. so i believe progressive task is enough to balance the rich and poor more effectively. is this the end? do you think of the capitalistic spare experiment or an acknowledgment perhaps that we can't leave everything to the market? i think it's just the 2nd. we it in many places that are a kind of government controls government policies. for example, test asian is one of them in economic theory. if it is a purely market economy, we may not have transportation, i'll say that it's the 2nd. but of course,

how to do it is that in china it will be quite shoshua list methods. so we will hear a lot of slogan or jargon like come on parity in china, which we may not hear it in other economies, even they share the same idea with a huge population and in most endless pool of labor was this perhaps inevitable wealth gap is inevitable in, in or economies, i think. but how wide is the well got wealth got. if we can narrow it a little bit, it will be better for the, for the face in the pyramid and those are struggling to climb the wealth ladder. i think it's also important for the children in the poor family that can get access to quality,

high quality education and chances in the society so that they can move up the ladder. using thing has overhauled the $100000000000.00 tutoring industry taken on tank giants gaming, even hit out at celebrities. has there been any meaningful study as to what impacts that may have on the economy? first of all, the tuition senses. it's already created the pool of joplin young people, and those young people actually middle income class in china, just in beijing city a long day. more than 9 g k. young people being jobless because of the shutdowns of jewish incentives. so you can actually simply multiply it by 4 so that you can get the biggest cities, jobless people from to tuition policy. and in,

on the online game policies. i think it's, it's not a job. it is about how to switch to the business plans within the company, so they still need the people. so it's, it's not, not that the j, but it gives room for foreign brands to take into this game markets because some game consoles are famous in the world are made by japan. and they will easily get to market share because those don't need to be online at all. and the policy only pinpoints on online games. i just want to ask you quickly before we run out of time, we have this huge. if we look to the property sector, we have this huge property company ever grant, which is, i believe $300000000.00 in debt advisors are being called in to look at the structuring of the company, assess its quality. will that be allowed to go under? would that company be allowed to go on to and what kind of impacts would that have?

i think survival is the still the main theme because the chinese government doesn't want to create extreme competition in the market and extreme conditions in the financial sector. because they lend to the real estate companies also. so i believe that there will be solutions. that's a boy extreme conditions or a chief economist grated china with a i n g bank iris pang. thank you very much for your time. at the center of the inequality problem was china's policy for rapid urbanized ation, which meant building millions of homes contributed to break neck economic growth and created sprawling property giants. as we just mentioned, emigrant is now on the brink of collapse. after taking on debts of $300000000000.00, once again has katrina you ever grant is one of the biggest real estate

conglomerates in china. it employs 200000 people nationwide and even a chinese football team. but the hong kong listed giant has become one of the most indebted companies in the world with more than $300000000000.00 worth of liabilities. and it's struggling to pay back sparking fears of the default that could send trends through china's economy. it's not just the property business, so it also has a new energy branch. logistic branch. it has business in almost every major city and many county in china. ever grand has suspended interest payments to some lenders and delayed payments to others. this week, ratings agencies, fish, and moodies downgraded its credit status. company shares have plummeted by 75 percent since the beginning. the year. china can be said to have to property market in major cities like beijing prices are rising currency d, the average 2 bedroom apartment costs more than $1300000.00. but in smaller chinese

cities doesn't or just the 5 housing and one thing investing too much in those areas has led to many of every ground get tied to regulations in china's financial market. have also made it difficult for the 3rd to raise cash. the employees have protested outside ever grant offices, saying the salaries haven't been paid. chinese authorities met with company management last month, demanding their resolve its debt. but analysts say the government is unlikely to let every grant go bankrupt. they do not want to bill out all those bad behaviors, but still it will be too strong signal if it actually failed. so i think there will be some effort to go out at least a portion around the business. and maybe the strategic investors will be encouraged the private back trying to take over some of the business. every

grant is renegotiation payment deadlines at banks and other creditors. more than 1500000 home buyers waiting for their properties to be completed by the fab. holding their breath, the, the multi $1000000000.00 traditional premium to luxury want market is expected to see little in the way of growth of the coming years. the industry is under attack from smartwatch makers and fashion houses that are rolling out their own brands. apple has come to dominate the smartwatch market with the launch of its new apple watch 7, which both the biggest screen it hopes to see off competition from samsung and google fit bit. the smart watch market is expected to be worth $59000000000.00 in 2021. whereas the traditional market with valued at 49000000000 and 2019 and is expected to be worth up to 59000000000 in 2025. while the traditional market is under threat,

the pre owned or 2nd hand market is growing. it was worth 18000000000 in 2019, as is expected to be worth 32000000000 by the middle of this decade. the pandemic has sent sales online, and one of the companies taking advantage is a collected man. and i'm delighted to say that the founder and ceo thought is walton, is with me now from london. thank you for joining us. so is the traditional why watch make a business on the threat from smartphone makers and also from fashion houses? hi kim. thanks for having me. you know, i think it's a very valid question. i think when the apple watch joined the fray 5 years ago, i think much of the traditional watch industry was fearful about the consequences. i think that what happens is there's been a push for innovation inevitably, is that traditional response in the face of an existential threats to any markets? but i think what's particularly interesting is there's been a boom in the, the more traditional that stay under the market or because no watch making

everything that's complicated or little bit independent for high end. yeah. and to that, and there's been growing interest in the pre owned market, which of course you capitalizing on. why do you think that it's, i look, i think consumers are increasingly discerning value conscious. they have an interest in ability, many cases and equity. they're looking for something a little bit more interesting and if you think about it today, you can choose from a limited range of watches available on the market, new according to what the brand has an folio. but if you look at pre owned, you can pretty much have you pick from the last 50 years of watch making more of us who go through what kind of people are interested in pre owned watches. what's the demographic that you're seeing coming through? i mean it's, it's, it's a complete range and, and spectrum today it's young. be voice, people of all ages, all over the worlds. it's still native's people who are a little bit more of us. are risk of us to online all areas of the well it's,

it's an absolutely booming market and it's, it's really not specific to any particular demographic. i would say quite interesting though, that digital natives that younger people are interested in these pre owned traditional analog watches. i mean, you would think that they would be more looking at the smart watch sort of end of things. yeah, i think the, in many cases, smart watches open the door at the same time as information became more available and educational information more available online to or to a whole new generation. so once you heads remotes of h, it, people have a certain age to put a watch on their wrist. haven't thought about it before. what really interested suddenly they were thinking, well actually, i'm used to having this, as i tell my wrist the left. so i can, i can take the time, my wrist is convenient to me. maybe that's something else. and also i think that leads to subsequent discovery. mechanical watch making tells how did you come to start your business? what was your journey?

i mean, so i started to let demand 7 years ago and when we started pre owned was really a not a wild west, but it was a hyper traditional markets. it was not at all really online or social media friendly. you know, the, the, the prince black says protagonists were high, st retired as an auction houses. and to me it just felt like an inevitability. the, the direction of travel would be more digital. and so we focused on that. and so we've been a digital fasts, education centered social media, you know, highly present business from day one. and today, you know, where the market wants us to be. of course, i mean, as you say, you are digital from day one. but how did the pandemic change your business if at all? so i, you know, i, the pandemic obviously had an appalling consequences for so many people across the world. so many businesses, i think in all business was fortunate in the sense that we were already poised to

benefit from some of the changes in the the global pandemic. catalyzed. so people just became more or more comfortable spending higher amounts of money online, reaching out online without seeing and pass and reading about things online. you know, we have a journal where we publish articles 23 times a week that, you know, written by professional journalist and how to researched. and i think as results, you know, all those things came together as well as a growing acceptance of the online story of the pre on concepts and it, and it really say the dollar business model. the finally, how you manage to build up your clientele. i mean, these people who want to publicize who they are so it's a very, you know, some, some clients are incredibly discrete, incredibly confidentiality, sense sensitive captains of industry. you know, people and film industry and the music industry, et cetera. other people are,

you know, very, very comfortable with social media either because they grew up with it or because they were already adopters. you know, everyone has to be careful about how they present themselves and how they present the things they own. but, but most consumers, i would say today are increasing sophisticated and you know, they, they know they know what they're doing. they know how to handle it. or i thank you very much for your time sinus walton. their ceo of a collected man. my pleasure, january, and that is a show for this week. get in touch with us by treating me at kimbell. d, use the hash tag, a j ctc. when you do want us an email accounting cost, f l g dot net is our address. there's more for you online at al serra dot com slash 50. think that takes you straight to our page, which has individual reports, links, and in time episodes for you to catch up on. and that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm kim fidel from the whole team here and how thanks for joining us. the news on there is next. ah.

the news. the news news with me

ah. has become a dangerous one or one of those who refuse to be silent. oh now is there. i was a mistake and i offer my sincere apology. smith had killed civilians instead of ice officers and it's most air strike and i've got his phone. ah, i'm have a my and this is al jazeera life from joe home, also coming up.