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all our pollution climate change and the turn. for movies check out. what should have been a defining day in the ongoing opioid crisis in the u.s. leaves many questions as a traveler mark trial in the state of ohio is settled for millions of dollars of the battle is far from over. also on the program the e.u. faces south palm oil imports from malaysia on environmental grounds book while the long for says it's accelerating sustainable development. and it's been one of asia's top travel destinations but now thailand. tourism industry is sounding the

alarm chinese visitors especially are developing a taste for other places. for business on the w. and for your guests it's good to have you with us monday should have seen the start of the biggest ever court battle in the ongoing opioid crisis in the u.s. but shortly before the trial began the parties decided to settle the case the 2 suing counties in ohio will receive $260000000.00 from pharmaceutical companies however thousands of similar cases are still open. these flags bear witness to an american tragedy they represent the 400000 people who have died of an opioid overdose over the past 2 decades. contend the drug makers doctors pharmacies and wholesalers all frivolously feel the excessive prescription and consumption of opioids while at the same time flagrantly ignoring the risks of addiction a total of $2600.00 lawsuits are pending throughout the u.s.

cities counties and states are suing for massive damages they say they need to cope with the epidemic the final bill could come to more than $450000000000.00 the hearing was considered an important test case only 2 counties were prosecuting israeli drug maker to river and u.s. distributors mckesson america and cardinal health but any ruling was expected to set the benchmark for trials across the country an attorney for the 2 counties explains why they settled at the last minute instead of going to trial. that was the problem with the national settlement that was proposed they were talking billions of dollars pay it trickles down even up start up money to help it's any $1.00 county started the program and that's why we couldn't recommend to the county that that was a good deal for the county or anyone else but we had to stand alone and say no to the national settlement. the full companies will now pay

a total of $260000000.00 to the plaintiffs it's money they allegedly need for preventative measures and health education but a national solution to the opioid epidemic appears distant. for more of the subject i'm now joined by the w.'s financial correspondent on wall street dance cause it's good to see you so we saw stock prices of most of the pharmaceutical companies involved tank today what does this settlement mean for the makers well it means that the uncertainty will remain with us recently there was talk about a countrywide settlement in a mound all for awfully $50000000000.00 so now we have this small deal but as i mentioned and as we heard there are thousands of more cases out standing those 3 companies by the way they've distributed roughly 90 percent of drugs in the united

states and we will see what this settlement now means for all of the other cases by the way it's very common in the u.s. that those. actually have never really got to go into trial but settlements are more than usual here in the united states now among those losses we saw in the stock prices shares in tevar which is an israeli maker of opiates did climb what's the reason behind that jump. yeah there we got 2 words from the company itself that they actually had to broader settlement which is a couple of states and here in the united states and they seem to have broader settlement they also are saying that they will actually donate drugs that are crucial to the fight against addiction in the amount of good to $23000000000.00 and that's always interesting to see here on wall street it's not necessarily about the amount itself but it's about the certainty and even if we're

talking about billions of dollars wall street has something to play around with so they have a concrete figure and so therefore we saw the stock price. increasing by 8 percent even if all there was a temper and not all the claims are settled at this point so this story is going to stay with us for quite some time but at least to have a was one of the bright spots at least speaking on wall street in terms of here at the beginning of the week is call to give us the perspective from wall street thank you very much. now to some of the other business stories we're following for you at this hour facebook says it has removed 4 networks of state backed fake accounts based in russia and iran which sought to disrupt elections in the us north africa and latin america in the past year it says the moves are part of ensuring it is not used as a tool to interfere in politics and democracies around the world. and office space

sharing company we work has reportedly been given a $5000000000.00 debt financing offered by japanese tech conglomerates soft that it would make soft bank a majority owner of the struggling u.s. started rework has been scrambling to raise cash after scrapping its i.p.o. plans last month chairman adam human can apparently step down as part of the deal. palm oil has been linked to rainforest destruction and climate change that has led the e.u. to face out imports of palm oil for biofuel that's bad news for malaysia the 2nd largest producer of palm oil in the world the government there now says it's taking efforts to accelerate sustainable development for the local industry. every single fruit is valuable yesterday the harvest helpers were here now sod the man hariri is gathering the fruits the fellow on the ground there very bright so he can get more money for them he's the proud owner of

a 5 hectare palm oil plantation. and i know. i know that europeans think badly of palm oil. but it has so many good sides that you people don't know about. the oil is healthy the trees are robust and we're much more environmentally friendly than people think. as he carries out his inspection round he gets some news that shocks him the e.u. plans to phase out palm oil based biofuels by 2030 hariri thinks the decision is absurd he says now his fast growing oil fruit will be replaced by sawyer rapeseed which he calls worse for the environment. palm oil has been called malaysia's golden crop. it's lifted farmers out of poverty and spurred the malaysian economy in recent years in the capital kuala lumpur at a meeting of big palm oil companies the e.u.

decision was the dominant topic the producers say war has been declared and they have lost. the anti bomb or lobbies are very very strong and very focused one of the problems we face with the empty palm oil lobby is that these lobbies do not make an attempt to differentiate palm oil coming from different from you so nations and we have already always stated that malaysia dusted differently at this oil mill the loads of palm fruits arrive by the minute this is production on an industrial scale malaysia is the world's 2nd biggest producer of palm oil after in unusual. the fruit pulp is separated from the kernel to be pressed then the oil goes to a refinery to be processed into cooking oil or bio diesel. on the outskirts of kuala lumpur a limb tech when takes a look at one of the sites that infuriates him this new home construction site was

rain forest just a few years ago a unique ecosystem. but although the forestry expert with the organization the rescue is committed to preserving malaysian's rain forest he's concerned about the ease attitude. unfortunately palm oil is a fact of life and forests are continuing to be developed now the question is whether or not the e.u. countries in the e.u. will work with the groups in malaysia who are like myself who are trying fighting to save the forests or whether you would just say sorry and disengage and say no the malaysian government has pledged to keep 50 percent of the land covered by natural forest but environmentalists like lim tech when believe that more forest is making way for plantations than people realize and before we go you may know thailand as a tourism hot spot with beautiful beaches friendly people a rich culture and delicious food but this year visitor numbers are on the decline

the holiday island of forget has been hit especially hard. the figure is was one of the most popular beaches on to catch thailand's island paradise welcomed millions of tourists every year but this season the beaches felt remain than usual . i think it's since june it's been the same every month and it's. coming here for a 5th day in close season should have never seen anything as bad as what it is at the moment local tourist associations say visitor numbers have fallen by up to 30 percent on the island in particular one of the largest groups chinese tourists one reason is the strength of the box another is the u.s. china trade dispute which hotel owners believe has made the chinese more cautious about spending money in terms of business it's not good. yeah because you know more business we we we have more tales more moves to say oh you have smartest alone

small coffee shop and that's me because i need a lady. now thailand is hoping to attract more tourists from other countries like india for example this year 25 percent more tourists came from there than usual thanks to a growing middle class and that could be the solution when it comes to filling those empty hotel rooms. i would mind filling those empty hole to rooms that's all for business thanks for watching we'll see you next time or whenever you want on the w. dot com. hong

kong people have speed they must fall and i say beautiful. to god michael hart we call the people in rebellion against their government. eyewitnesses and their video diary of an uprising my hamas posada missed last. week oh india.

it's the most basic human love. but more than 800000000 people worldwide don't have access to the slightest claim by. dismissing a modern crisis the deep dive into new solutions to protect the most important resource numbers. 60 minutes d w. morrow symbol of a long conflict in the philippines. between the muslim. and the christian coalition last night as fighters occupied the city center in 2017 president to church's response was. this is not the kind of freedom that we.

how did we become a gateway to islamist terror. an exclusive report from a destroyed city. in the sights of august starts october 24th on t.w. . it was unexpected but i think people have learned to x. that the unexpected during these protests.