all right and just a reminder of the top story that we're following for you right now. pope francis has backed the two state solution for peace between israel and the palestinians delivering his christmas day message at the vatican he also urged dialogue to resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts. even marching to the news on the rock in berlin on behalf of all of us here thank you so much for spending this part of your day with us the news continues at the top of the hour. what does a football loving country need to reach its goals. we'll tell you our german soccer made it back to the top. you know web special on dot com.

football made in germany. it's all about the moments that right before. it's all about the stories inside. it's all about george chance to discover the world from different perspectives. join us and be inspired by distinctive instagram or others at g.w. stories a new topic each week on instagram. is the mad rush for bitcoin finally over mobile the roller coaster ride continue next year off to swinging wildly over the holidays we ask can the cryptocurrency ever become a sound investment choice. and cashing in on. and how the selves dale styles home

of father christmas in finland is drawing tourists from all over asia. also on the show china's new silk road come nine hundred billion dollars of infrastructure investment revive the oldest trade route in the world. and welcome the d.w. business i'm going out office bitcoin because wild swings continue over the holiday season prices have ranged between eleven thousand seven hundred and fourteen thousand seven hundred u.s. dollars just within the last twenty four hours bitcoin officially entered a bear market on thursday technically a bear market is defined as a twenty percent plunge some observers suggest that many investors were cashing in on massive gains across the board as they closed their books ahead of the holidays despite the recent sell off overall bitcoin is still rallied since the beginning of this year by around eleven hundred percent. we're going to have

a closer look at bitcoin for that i'm joined by laws house and from a business that is last full disclosure you recently bought bitcoins yourself when did you get in and how did it go or get i was unfortunately a little late to the game i'm still up a ball at fifty percent so i'm pretty happy with the way it is going yes but i was of course up a lot more just about last week because we have to just seen that correction over christmas so they are these really a wild swings but it's going pretty well and very low level that i'm in here are you comfortable holding on to it or are you nervously waiting to just get rid of it as soon as it kind of looks on this and i'm very comfortable with that but it has to do with very little money of course that i have put in i am doing this a little bit as an experiment too because i want to gain a little bit of experience with bitcoin to learn a little bit of how it works how they're liable and is and i've got to tell you from a purely financial perspective looking. at the value of bitcoin i'm very comfortable

because as i said i don't have too much money in there but i noticed a couple of things over the last couple weeks already and those have me more worried than the volatility in the value and that is technical stuff technical glitches the system is often down for hours you cannot place buy or sell orders or sometimes the executed only a day later or hours later and those are things that i have never seen happen on let's say a stock exchange or with a bank or so so there's a lot of factors here besides the higher volatility that make this a high risk investment for me i'm learning from it but i would not be comfortable holding a lot of money and bitcoin i mean this year twenty seven was mad regarding bitcoin . expect to go on in the next year it will probably go on if you look at it from the perspective of this being mad this being a wild ride because we have high volatility and this is definite going to continue

there's no stability in that what we will not see i'm pretty sure is another rally like we've seen in twenty seventeen up eleven hundred i think last time i checked was thirteen hundred percent this year that is insane and we will not see this the most optimistic analysts that i've heard so far has said that bitcoin could reach forty thousand dollars by the end of twenty eighteen so maybe we are indeed looking at a big con to triple or quadruple maybe in value but it will not go on like this ten fold twelve fold or so very briefly your long term perspective for bitcoin i don't see it as a currency long term i really think it might be more of a commodity an investment vehicle for high risk people but i really don't think it's going anywhere what's very interesting is the blocked technology and that will definitely influence technology a lot more lost out of your business this bitcoin investor thank you very much your analysis. now in scandinavian folklore santa claus doesn't live in the

north pole but in the north of finland in lapland small village that styles itself at the home of father christmas to try to or this sounds tacky you know what it is but most business from asia are just loving it for it so winter wonderland at santa claus village just outside the city of rovaniemi more than three hundred thousand tourists come here each year with high season in december here in northern finland they can enjoy a reindeer ride and join in the festive holiday spirit people from warmer climates are particularly fond of the snow. people here are very friendly and was here is quite different. be and it's really i actually knew this is like a holiday everywhere a few years ago many of the visitors came from neighboring russia they helped drive up revenue in santa claus village but times have changed in the last season alone

we did witness hundred percent growth of chinese markets and also the overnights from from singapore and they will they are big numbers from the others asian markets as well but those are the. snowslide snowman and us no bar there is plenty to please the tourists. you know i can sure. be said to. really love the road here because in the poison very very hot country nearby accommodations are convenient for the many guests this typical finnish style hotel cost six million euros to build and was financed by chinese investors they can turn a good profit in lapland with the help of asian tourists and some are likely to return next year after warmly recommending the finnish winter to their friends. china is of course one of the most important economies in the world today building

on a centuries old tradition as a great trading nation a thousand years ago caravans of camels brought porcelain spices and silk from china to the rest of the world following a network of trade routes called the silk road now china is reviving that tradition with a gigantic infrastructure project called the new silk road being beijing has earmarked nine hundred billion dollars for it the project includes all sorts of transport hubs intruding roads bridges railway lines ports and airports both in china and abroad this week we will have a closer look at the different stations and routes of the silk road project and we begin in the former imperial city of she on in the east of the country the starting point of the historic and the modern silk road from here it leads westward for three and a half thousand kilometers until it reaches hawkers at the border with cause us now and there's nothing historic about hawkers it's a new town founded only four years ago thanks to tax breaks business is brisk

twelve thousand companies have already settled there to cash in on the silk road project and that also means thousands of new jobs were created to help keep the goods flowing along the new silk road. on the outskirts of ceann three men are preparing for a modern day silk road caravan soon surely examines the assignment and says they'll take the highway for the entire route. they're going to deliver to dump trucks that have just rolled off the assembly line. seon is a city with millions of residents and was the capital of china during several dynasties. more than two thousand years ago seann was the starting point of the renowned silk road. camel caravans transported silk and other goods to europe

until the middle ages gold and jewelry were brought to china. if everything runs smoothly the men will reach whole gas in six or seven days it's a border city in northwestern china. that's where the kyrgyz is a client will pick up the trucks. there of course it's a long trip but i like traveling this route i've been doing it for the past four or five years i really like it. the truckers have a three and a half thousand kilometer journey ahead of them. china has expanded the route substantially in recent years beijing has earmarked some nine hundred billion dollars for its new silk road in tooting roads railways lines pipelines ports and airports. the route goes through breathtaking landscapes the colorful mountains were barely known until

a few years ago now there are tourist attraction. many people here hope to benefit from the new silk road. the oasis city of don juan is already reaping the rewards part of the desert is a national park and camels now transport tourists instead of goods. doesn't pay much attention to the beauty of the landscape he often thinks about his ten year old son or daughter after he frequently calls him since the two seldom see each other. on organization and become a truck driver it's too dangerous the army could be good for him because you can develop a strong character there. the last province on the route is shin jiang where the muslim turkic speaking wiggers complain of discrimination china is often accused of suppressing the ethnic group in its efforts to fight terrorism investment along the new silk road may help ease the situation and defuse the conflict. the

three drivers are close to that destination spending the last night at a highway rest area it costs two dollars cheap enough for their limited budget they can finally get some rest and have a smoke sit when he's not sure they get used to this life. the next day they'll reach their final destination on the border with kazakhstan and then return to ceann by train. we're going to have a closer look at the next stage of the silk road tomorrow and that's it for me on the business team and more news on the dow view for you at the top of the hour and in the meantime do check out our pages on twitter and facebook and before you go here's a real time check on global markets this hour thanks for watching bob. dylan

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