social media is critical critical to the food. supply. line on the street our rights are not coming from the sky. they are women in the market changing the world ready. digital. starts marching on g.w. . low oil prices and heavy sanctions have taken a bite out of russia's economy in recent years as has questionable policy making normal russians have been feeling the pinch to break down some of the country's economic problems and some areas of opportunity. and it's foldable but is it affordable samsung launches a smartphone that converts into a mini tablet but are consumers ready for its hefty price tag.

i'm stephen beard's in berlin thanks for joining us. economy ministers from germany and russia are set to meet today in berlin with lobbyists and industry figures for a conference on economic relations between the two nations overshadowing the events of the e.u.'s new sanctions on moscow announced following russia's latest escalation and its conflict with ukraine a further eight individuals will be added to the list of those subject to asset freezes and travel bans. now a survey conducted by moscow's economic development ministry claims sanctions imposed by a range of countries cost russia some five point seven billion euros last year the restrictions alone accounted for over one third of that number the us side of that cost russia nearly one and a half billion euros with ukraine's restrictions the third most substantial the surveys show that the heaviest impact was on russia's metallurgical industries as well as farming and chemical sectors. now for more on this let's go to our

correspondent in moscow erin tilton. erin what's at the top of the agenda for german russian economic relations. well that's certainly going to be the north three into pipeline which is currently be constructed between russia and northern germany now if you remember that's of course a pipeline designed to transit russian national gas to the federal public of germany of course germany needs that if it's going to see its climate goals through its pivot away from coal and also run the russian side. and gas of course its most major adam exports to its only real product that it actually has some success on the world market so of course it's going to be of critical importance for both countries. there what has been worse for the russian economy is that the sanctions or is it the low oil prices. it's certainly been some of the chaos we've been seeing in commodity markets in the most recent years i mean you have to remember russia is and for all intents and purposes a petrol state fifty nine percent of its economy is actually the federal budget i

mean is based upon the sales of a moil and gas to the rest of the world so it's really been hit hard by some of the turbulence we've seen of the commodity markets in the recent years but of course the sanctions have also played the part you know for years that insane but sanctions weren't really that big of a deal that they could muscle through them but we finally saw the prime minister dmitry medvedev recently at a conference in sochi and that that they had had an effect as well so basically it's been kind of a one two punch it would really kind of put them on the back foot has been the low oil prices but the sanctions certainly haven't helped either and what the russians themselves believe that they believe their problems are caused by external factors such as the oil prices such as the sanctions where they look and they see policy missteps by the russian government. i do think it's kind of more directed toward seen it as kind of a no homegrown problem in recent years we've seen vladimir putin's popularity numbers decline i mean they're still very good compared to most children or

american politicians but they're still low for his presidency only around sixty percent of russians say they currently support him and that has to do a lot with some of the economic troubles they're going through you have to realize real wages have been stagnant or declining in many regions of russia for the last five years at the same time prices are going up and consumer spending is dropping off and this really left a lot of people that i've talked to with the feeling that you know that they are trying having to pay for some of the misadventures both economically and politically of the central government here in moscow and as one person actually put it to me he said that your average russian has had to tighten their economic belt so much that it's starting to believe so i really do think most russians kind of direct their eye or towards moscow in this question. until joining us from moscow thanks very inside and thank you. one effect of the sanctions against russia is a noticeable decline in food standards across the country that's after moscow's food import bans on the e.u. and american companies in response to the sanctions russian companies rushed to

fill the vacuum but quality is often not at the top of their agenda. since the story. this is one happy cow she's allowed to go out regularly farmers. make sure of that there are five cows in his ban about seventy kilometers north of moscow in the coming weeks they will be more. and more this milk is very high quality because we only give the cow natural feed no chemicals no additives you know anybody. cultivates a total of ten thousand square metres of land which he bought fourteen years ago he and his wife produce curt's sour cream and cheese but also sausage they sell their products directly from the farm many customers come extra from moscow they appreciate the quality and they distrust their own commercial food industry

a wise choice consumer advocates have stated over and again just because cheese is written on it doesn't mean it's cheese dairy products in particular are often counterfeited they sometimes contain vegetable fat such as palm oil or even more dangerous additives food quality went downhill after the start of the ukrainian crisis in two thousand and fourteen at the time the west imposed sanctions on russia and the kremlin slapped an import ban on food from the u.s. and the e.u. . was clear. after the embargo food producers focused on increasing production quality was just an after thought. actually there was so you must question. consumer advocates track down the food adulterated through inspections in the meantime fraud has taken on a whole new dimension. experts estimate the economic losses to be several billion

euros a year but there's no political motivation to take action against the food swindle as. each year we need much stricter food controls. the two sticks proveably the situation has hardly improved in recent years you suppose and you see little. controls alone will not be enough overall russia must produce more high quality food law to me it is doing what he can on his small farm. u.s. president donald trump has confirmed that additional tariffs for european auto imports are still in the cards earlier this week european commission president john clarke said he believed trump would honor a commitment made last year not to impose more tariffs trump told reporters at the white house that the ultimate fate of the automobile tariffs depends on whether the u.s. can reach a wider ranging trade deal with the european union downplayed the recent commerce department report calling imports of european cars and auto parts

a security threat. now samsung is launching its highly anticipated foldable smartphone the galaxy fold is set to hit stores in april where it will cost are you ready for this almost two thousand dollars the device folds like a wallet when collapse it resembles a traditional smartphone with a four point six inch screen when opened it looks more like a mini tablet with a seven point three inch screen samsung is also releasing three versions of its new galaxy s ten in the coming weeks the global smartphone market has however cooled recently with newer models showing fewer big updates a bigger price tags. over to china well africa actually chinese national young fung line has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison in tanzania for her role in an international ivory smuggling ring young also has to pay the equivalent of around five million euros in fines the judge said that the senate

should deter poachers and smugglers. who sixty nine year old young from iran will probably spend the rest of her life behind bars for a long time the ivory queen was regarded as a respectable businesswoman in tanzania where she's lived since the one nine hundred seventy s. she was even vice president of the chinese african economic council until the long career of trading in ivory was discovered she said to have smuggled over eight hundred sixty tusks now she'll be spending the next fifteen years in prison in addition she's being fined the equivalent of five million euros. the judge's verdict is good for our country and for the whole world i want to warn everyone who makes money smuggling ivory we will get you and hold you accountable you will no longer benefit from the illegal ivory trade you know what. the elephant population in tanzania has fallen by almost half in the past ten years down to forty three thousand animals the government says the elephant herds are slowly

getting bigger thanks to the worldwide tough measures against smugglers. japan's exports have seen their biggest drop in more than two years as the u.s. china trade war put the brakes on demand for japanese electronics cars and heavy equipment in january japan export of goods worth fifty billion dollars that's almost nine percent less than the previous year on the whole the data paints a picture of an export oriented economy that shifting down to a lower gear of growth. cause one of the biggest export hits for the world's third largest economy but recently far fewer hundreds toyotas in a sands of being sold around the world the same goes for japanese electronics chemicals and machinery exports from japan were largely stable last year but in january of this year they were down eight point four percent on the same month in twenty eighteen that represents the biggest drop in two years and is bad news for

the export orientated japanese economy the main reason is the serious weakening of growth in china is japan's most important trading partner and a slowdown that inevitably leads to chinese companies and business people buying fewer japanese products exports to china have slumped by as much as seventeen percent and there's little hope of domestic sales in japan helping to counterbalance the decline from october the government in telecare is planning to increase sales tax that means for the japanese people every purchase is going to get more expensive. and more bad news for the japanese economy on the heel of those weak export figures a private business survey released today has shown that manufacturing in the country is also on the decline in february manufacturing shrank for the first time in two and a half years as managers reduce their purchases of raw materials economists say that this comes as no surprise given the international headwinds japanese manufacturers are facing such as that slowdown in china and the global trade cycle

losing further steam. that's it for me in the business team here in berlin i'm stephen beardsley thanks for watching as always for.

i'm skilled at the war that's hard and in the end is a me you're not allowed to steal in a more real sense of that. are you familiar with this. when the smugglers were lions of the b. what's your story. i mean when i was

a women especially are victims of violence. take part and send us your story you are trying in all weathers understand this new culture. or you are not a very little another girl you want to become a citizen. in for migrants your platform for reliable information. from. the. hello and a very warm welcome to arts and culture i'm david leavitt's coming up on this edition the history of the female body in advertising yes sex sells but your eight hours of an exhibition here in berlin are asking so that. and we're off to italy where a delicious boccaccio recipe will give you a taste of a bell the beautiful country. but

first it's a very special year for the netherlands two thousand and nineteen is rembrandt's year marking the three hundred fiftieth anniversary of the greats dutch painters death and amsterdam's rights museum is pulling out all the stops for the artist whose prolific seventeenth century self portraits some say laid the groundwork for what we see today on social media. selfie with rembrandt the old monster of self portraits tourists paying almost to an artist they see as something of a role model i've been to his house and museum and i've seen that in many of his paintings you can see himself in the back and it's very funny because he was kind of the inventor of selfies. this is a nice memory of a holiday family together with a great artist behind us. i think i have to thank.