global markets suffer the u.s. russian tensions over syria at the new round of sanctions to that and you've got the perfect storm for the russian ruble. also on the program china says it wants to open its financial sector to foreign investors but will it be just another broken promise. and the german electronics chain sets up a retail tech to steer it towards the future of high tech advertising. and so on for business on the w. . welcome to the show tensions between russia and the u.s. are not only dragging down the global markets but also the russian russia's ruble is falling fast as new sanctions hit russian businessmen and their companies the ruble has plunged to just over fifty u.s. cents that's a level that we haven't seen since eighteen months ago since news of the sanctions came on friday currency has dropped about twelve percent. the sanctions

washington announced on friday against russia are already beginning to be felt on the streets of moscow the ruble seems to be losing value by the hour the us said the sanctions are in response to charges of russian meddling in u.s. elections and other ongoing issues but the russian prime minister continues to say they are really designed to give us an unfair advantage. u.s. administration decision on sanctions is an attempt to fight us through unfair competition to limit our development to create tensions on the economy and the currency markets. for the time being though the plummeting euro is a more acute problem that's because every day russians know that a weak ruble means trouble is just around the corner but the. sanctions will have negative consequences and the growing exchange rate of the dollar and the euro is

a first indication that our economy will experience a drop of president in the week which is and as the rhetoric heats up over the conflict in syria where russia and the u.s. support opposite sides the ruble continues to slide. from russia to the neighboring azerbaijan where authoritarian leader has been voted in again and snap elections that was no surprise since he has been in power for fifteen years and the e.u. has not condemned the elections partly because it economically depends on his or by john the country's vast reserves of oil and gas are key to less dependence on russia. drilling rigs as far as the eye can see azerbaijan's wells nice beneath the caspian sea in the form of oil and gas reserves foreign companies like b.p. own and total have invested billions here using technology and know how from around the world these german built cranes for example are used to construct further

drilling platforms gas from the caspian sea is now set to make its way to europe via a stream and a half thousand kilometer long pipeline the pipeline will run through turkey to greece and italy and then northward toward central europe the bulk of the forty five billion dollar project is still under construction europe is keen to reduce its dependency on russian gas and yet azerbaijan is widely viewed as an autocracy president multimillionaire. owns assets in the oil business and his vice president is none other than his wife of clan loves buildings and clearly wants to appear cosmopolitan and western oriented azerbaijan's capital baku is modeled on dubai many of its new buildings were built by friends a few years ago one human rights organization voted most corrupt man of the year but he's not without supporters at the turn of the millennium fifty percent of

azerbaijanis lived below the poverty line now only six percent do despite alleged corruption many see him as a guarantor of stability but those who dared to question his power all suggest the country might be better off without him calm in the face imprisonment protests and open criticism a rare in this nation with its cult of personality a combination of oil based wealth and the whip swiftly eradicate any potential demands for greater democracy. facebook is and will always be free that's what the company has promised users since it began but everything comes at a price and that became clear today as c.e.o. mark zuckerberg faced the second day of hearings before the us congress questions asked by congressional members have been mocked at as their lack of understanding of how the company works became very clear but they still told zuckerberg that his business model will have to change dramatically to protect users privacy however

sucker brook won't give our data away let's listen it one yes or no will you commit to changing all the user default settings to minimize to the greatest extent possible the collection in user and use of user's data you make that commitment congressman if we try to collect and give people the bill that likely answer yes or no if you could will you make the commitment to change all the user to changing all the user default settings to minimize to the greatest extent possible the collection and use of user's data that's i don't think that's hard for you to say yes to unless i'm missing something congressman this is a complex issue that i think is deserves more than a one word and well again that's disappointing to me because i think you should make that commitment and maybe what we could do is follow up with you on this possible we will certainly follow up china wants the world to know that it's making

things easier for foreign investors after strug quota system for unfair conditions the people's bank of china says it will allow non chinese companies to compete in areas including financial leasing and consumer finance in the coming months but some analysts think this is just words and no actions to avoid a looming trade war with the u.s. . the linking of stock exchanges in shanghai and london will allow investors in both markets to directly acquire shares in the other also foreign investors will now be allowed to take majority shareholdings in companies in the securities fund management and insurance sectors the initiatives were announced by china's central bank governor egon at the ball while forum for asia taking place in china but he suggested chinese regulators would be keeping a close watch. way he specially. opening up a venue make the market more competitive it should strengthen the

regulation and make that the level playing field being. more fair and allow and. domestic and if we need to compete. china has a long record of promising to eventually open financial markets but these changes are scheduled for the end of the year the moves could take the wind out of the sails of u.s. policymakers they're calling for higher import taxes on chinese goods and this beijing does more to open its markets to american companies. here in germany the leading retail chain of consumer electronics media as a tool in almost failed and going digital so now the company is trying to get ahead of the competition it just set up a retail tech consisting of startups in hopes they will steer the company in the right direction when it comes to the high tech advertising solutions of the future . it looks like something from

a comic but this is advanced technology anyone approaching the elektra next door appears on a huge screen and then receives a speech bubble that's surrounded by carefully positioned advertising. this is just one of twelve different effects developed by the start up track says it's now testing some of them in berlin. and in front of the screen for a while they start to have fun and that gives the retailer and the advertiser far more time for promotion. then if all goes according to plan they go in and shop and hopefully buy more than just the advertised products the electronics giant. has more than one thousand stores worldwide most of them in europe but unlike many international chains it relied too long on brick and mortar retail then came the realisation that startups usually react more quickly to change the corporations and

bring in new ideas from younger generations now the electronics dealer has a retail tech hub where it provides office space advice and support for innovative pilot projects. definitely slow off the mark when it comes to digitalisation we didn't get going with their online shop until two thousand and eleven but now we're very clear we want to play an active role in the future of trade. ten startups have been given the opportunity to develop ideas for the digitalisation of shopping one of them is we view an online video review platform. we want to learn something new we go to youtube and watch some videos but we can't do that when it comes to shopping instead we have to read a thousand lines of text which is no fun at all and some of the reviews are fake and so we thought it must be possible to use videos for shopping to. we view of

israel used as a platform for a video project reviews and if someone buys a product based on the review the reviewer gets the small commission we've used founders think their idea has huge potential twenty five billion videos a watched each day on the world's three biggest platforms. but what do consumers think of the digital innovations some at least seem skeptical. now something on the latest rage among wealthy collectors before we go dinosaur bones auction house in paris sold to fossilized skeletons for more than one point seven million dollars each it turns out diana's skeletons have become trendy interior decorations for people who probably have too much money the auction house targeted private collectors because they typically pay more than museums the specimens for sale wasn't soros and diplodocus and if you don't know what they are just ask your kids. i guess i'll have to google it then thank you for watching the

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