very challenging and weighing in and the big metal. and of course good luck to them for that christoph is coming up shortly to take a look at the briggs a breakthrough in brussels and what that means for business you're watching news coming to you live from button and remember there's lots more on a website that's d w dot com you can also follow us on twitter and on facebook but stay now focused was coming up with business news shortly. when i'm traveling to be comfortable. but i also want to stay up to

date on the latest news events. and d.-w. makes that part of traveling easy that's because it's available and thousands of her talents resorts to ships worldwide. have you found the domain sign on the submit your pictures d w in your room you can mean a great price d.w. dot com travel quiz. if. the divorce is finally on track britain and the european union agree on general terms of the u.k.'s departure from the bloc now how difficult it will be to forge a trade agreement also on the program empowering women a school in india is helping women from all over the world to keep electricity

flowing in their villages and a fast track from munich to berlin a new high speed rail services drinking travel times in germany. this is a business i'm christopher. welcome because she ations about future trade relations between britain and the european union can finally kick off after both sides reach an agreement on the terms of the u.k.'s departure from the bloc u.k. prime minister theresa may and european commission president. made the announcement earlier today business leaders see the agreement as a major step to avoid a potentially disastrous hardbacks it in one of the most controversial issues both sides agreed there should not be a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland if seamless cross border traffic applies to goods and services as well still needs to be ironed out for the thousands of people crossing the border every day the news is

a big relief. john sheridan is used to crossing from northern islands to the republican back it's seamless there's no sign of an international front anywhere crossbow to commuters and business owners like john afraid of what breaks it could mean for them after all northern ireland voted to remain before the agreement was announced this morning john feared what a potential hardboiled could bring. it would have meant customs duties and vehicle checks slowing businesses down on both sides of the border. and of course that wouldn't have been for the first time mona flood is eighty years old she clearly remembers the old border checks you know and a customer kept calm at her request was for eleven o'clock at night. he would. and stamp the book to let you back in.

i wouldn't see the customs back again on either side of the border because there were north and south korea days agreement will come as a relief to border residents like mona and john for now it seems the status quo will remain in northern ireland it'll still leave for the rest of the united kingdom but will keep e.u. regulations to prevent customs checks so-called regulatory alignment both the republic of ireland and britain of praise the deal to avoid a hard border but for britain the greatest challenges over brics that are yet to come. so let's talk about some of these challengers my colleague daniel wynter joins me now daniel this deal that was announced today what does it mean for businesses it's really hard to tell though the assurances are very nice that they're not behind the border and the old the rights of been more or less locked in for e.u. citizens and british citizens as well but there's still very little detail now

wherever you chose a change in regulations between one country and another there needs to be border checks to make sure that the products that you are making fit those standards now at the moment it seems britain will keep the regulations from the e.u. and then they will make changes as they need to after that but then you would have to have a border you would have to have a hard border and make customs checks there's very little detail in this document in this deal which says exactly how they would avoid that they've committed to avoiding it but it's hard to see the logic behind that now businesses will be happy that they'll have a little bit more confidence that they've got these reassurances and no hard border in northern ireland between the northern and the republic of ireland would be in that local people don't have to fear for their livelihoods whether things really do turn out like that as promised remains to be seen what was the overall reaction by business leaders to the news today all a lot of the pro leave business leaders were very happy because they see this as

a step down the road to locking in breaks it to make sure it can't be reversed however one notable exception is the millionaire businessman and donor to ukip as well as a funder of the big leave campaign aaron banks he said on twitter theresa may has betrayed the country and the seventeen point four million leave voters now he's saying that based on the fact that there will be full regulatory alignment he says that that's a soft bricks it that's a copout and he has betrayed the people who voted early that's his opinion i guess what will companies be looking for are next. briefly if you may well that was all easy what's gone before now come the trade talks and so they'll be checking that they can be quite a quick resolution and that they can have an open access as possible because they want to be have what they want have certainty about the future then you enter thank you so much well the announcement of a general breaks the deal came as quite a surprise earlier today and here is our financial correspondent with the market

reaction. to the movement of the british pound was very metaphorical the pound jumped up woods immediately after the news of the deal came out but then the pound lost more or less all of those gains again it's as if investors were saying thank you for finally coming to an end with phase one of the brics it talks but who now phase two the german equity market is sticking to its gains the tax is up. conrad bosun reporting from the frankfurt stock exchange there now even in today's globally link to condom use women often remain the single largest untapped economic driver a college in the indian state of raw just on has made it its mission to change that barefoot college is training rural women to take control of their lives and the well being of their communities aid organizations are now even sending women from other continents to the institution to get empowered the sun is

a virtually infinite source of energy. these women have come halfway around the world to register on to learn how best to harness that power classes at the so-called barefoot college of just beginning while those who study here can actually afford shoes they can't afford much else and definitely not a house with electricity supply that's why the courses here are about solar energy systems in this particular class most of the students come from africa during a six month course the women learn how they can use solar energy to improve their lives in their villages. doing them and i will end badly in my village there are only a couple of houses with electricity. and the road well when i'm finished here my neighbors and i will finally be able to use electricity as well they got a proper look on. this man started the college nearly forty years ago.

a lot don't get. me wrong in the beginning we always are taught men but often they didn't pass their knowledge and skills on to others rather they took up new jobs and moved away from their villages women are more loyal and they have fewer opportunities and would charge women about gong addict out about what i mean what are. the colleges trained over ten thousand women now who have returned to their villages you won't find a connection to an electricity grid out here but you will find manna she graduated from barefoot college a year ago and is currently on her way to meet a customer who owns a solar power unit. the lights come and go there seems to be some sort of problem i don't know what it could be that. money gets to work she inspects the unit and after a few minutes she's figured out is the power storage unit with just

a few twists of her screwdriver the lights are back on. we didn't even the live in our village there are about forty five houses and in twenty three of them i've installed solar electricity systems there are occasionally problems with the power storage unit so that's why i'm here. with basically i'm at. the end of the day after the sun has gone down this village should still have electricity. two of germany's best known cities are set to move a lot closer and higher speed link between the capital berlin in the north east and the economic munich in the south is opening later today is one of germany's most profitable routes for business travelers so time is money. it was more than two decades in the making and now it's ready to welcome passengers on board the icy

east sprinter will cut two hours off the current travel time between berlin and munich with trains hitting speeds of up to three hundred kilometers an hour the mountainous middle section of the route features twenty two new tunnels. the six hundred twenty kilometer ride from berlin to munich will now only take four hours pushing competitive pressure on airlines and bus companies serving the same routes torture ban is confident the new link will have a particular appeal to business travelers. in total the project cost ten billion euros making it the most expensive railway project in europe the number of passengers on the bruce effect a double from one point eight to three point six million a year the standard second class fare will cost one hundred fifty euros. critics accuse the operation of giving major cities preferential treatment despite the making of only a quarter of the population passenger lobby group pro bond says smaller communities

are being neglected and has called for new infrastructure projects in rural regions . and finally germany's imports grew quicker than its exports in october narrowing the country's controversial trade surplus but the data is skewed slightly by bad weather and a dip in tourism figures i will say that germany more broadly is on a stable footing with exports driving overall g.d.p. growth germany is often criticised for its high trade surplus as it leads to income and balances within the european union. coming up at the top of the hour.

kickoff like we take football or simply. football clubs. it's a family. it's where you feel at home where you read it together in times of trouble

and always keep coming back. to. that. next double. quadriga the international talk show for journalists to discuss the topic of the week russia has been banned from the upcoming winter olympics in south korea made allegations of widespread state backed joke they now will most correspondent most impactful the announcement of on russia's hosting of next summer's so-called world cup final on quadriga. quadriga in sixty minutes on d w. to.

beat the germans new and surprising aspects of license culture in germany. us american keep newsa take a look at germany it is increasing at their traditions every day lives and language doesn't just come out of my lungs and so i'm young good. looking guy a d w dot com the germans. people fought.