the u.n. climate summit in traits this past decade is on track to be the hottest on record. this is being dumped into the gulf is this africa was the beardsley it is up next to more world news on the top of the hour and then it's in the meantime of course as always the web site of the w. a good. post and now completely affectionately but as affectionately as you can. be true to him in the middle of his election campaign 2000 the documentary was filmed for russian television. to turn the camera back on of course the film secretly

chronicled the power grab actually everything was precisely planned instruction. featuring top supporting role. to the freedom of russia. and featuring a lead role like you've never seen before. for the mere fact of marriage to the ends justify the means. to teens witnesses starts december 13th on t.w. . south africa's economy continues to real g.d.p. growth turned negative in the 3rd quarter the 2nd contraction this year in the country turn its fortunes around before received another junk bond rating. also on the show zimbabwe is in the middle of a hunger crisis it's not just economic mismanagement behind it but increasing droughts. and it was

a showcase project for china in africa so why is the most awesome nairobi railway struggling to attract business. this is your business after report i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for watching. south africa has slipped back into negative economic growth latest figures showing g.d.p. shrank by 6 tenths of a percent during the 3rd quarter of this year that's well below the small amount of growth that analysts had predicted and it continues a volatile trend that has seen south africa yoyo between expansion and contraction over the past few years and this time around the economy was let down by certain industries in particular namely mining manufacturing storage and communication now add to that rolling blackouts and unemployment of 29 percent and you have a worrying picture of south africa's economy. now earlier i spoke with bronwyn seaborne about these figures she's business editor of south african broadcaster bt t.v. and she joined me from johannesburg. infrastructure underperforming

industries there are a lot of issues here but is there one overriding problem afflicting the south african economy or is it a kind of perfect storm. it certainly is a perfect storm and you can see how that storm is affecting the economy if you take a look at today's growth figures that were released the economy contracted north point to 6 percent in the 3rd quarter and if you drill down into the detail of it you can see that it was largely broad based mining agriculture and manufacturing output all coming under pressure if you take a look at manufacturing specifically the sector is a big contribution to growth in south africa but it's really is a story all week demond and it's quite a circular story if you think about it because we grow it leads to weak demand which leads to weak. and usually in that situation we have global demand come through and help the sector with the u.s. china trade war that is ongoing we're seeing weak global demand as well demand in

the mining sector also coming to bear and that's coming under pressure and then dropped the leading to a lot of pressure points in the agricultural sector as well and then amidst all of that government unable to spind in the economy and that potentially spearing growth but we're not seeing it happen because the government's finances are in such a precarious position they're having to bail out a lot of state owned enterprises or state owned companies and so they just don't have the room to spend in the economy and that all coming to bear and that's why the economy is in such a tough position that it is in at the moment. and of course looming over everything is the threat of a 3rd junk bond rating how critical is it for south africa to avoid that. it is quite critical moody's is the only ratings agency at the moment that rates us at investment grade fitch and both have us on a jew. status and moody's is running out of patience they have been quite

understanding up to this point but they have said that south africa needs to get the ship in order and if we don't they all going to lower our investment grade rating they're going to look at the budget in february specifically to decide whether that will happen or not a lot of analysts say that we are going to see that john great to come through in the 1st quarter of next year if it does happen and the investment grade rating is the people here like to say we will see south african government bonds fall out of the footsie global bond index and funds that track that will have to sell out so we're going to see quite a lot of flow and for for some that's a major concern others however all saying that a junk status by moody's wouldn't be the end of the world because it could be a wake up call to government that it needs to do something to spur growth. business editor at p t v. thank you. well it was

a prestigious project for both china and kenya a chinese finance $3300000000.00 rail line between nairobi port city. suppose a boon for business but it hasn't worked out that way just as companies aren't too keen with the line many still using trucks now can use government is forcing them to use the new railway. when the mombasa nairobi railway line opened 2 years ago the president hailed it then as. he. is. but many freight operators have shunned it moving a container between the port and the capital $800.00 us dollars with a truck the train costs $1200.00 making food and other goods more expensive it also

takes a lot of time for importers to get their goods cleared at the congested nairobi train. they might have to get used to the us because now they will have to use the train service kenya owes the chinese lend the ex-im bank $6500000000.00 for the railway and of the projects that's about a 10th of its national debt kenya rel ways says the high of freight charges are necessary to meet the loan repayments china has sought to allay fears that its infrastructure projects overload some countries with debt last year a degree to restructure more than $12000000000.00 in repayments owed by ethiopia whose chinese funded role is also struggling now some kenyan politicians are asking whether their once a promising railway was worth the cost. and let's go back to southern africa now zimbabwe end's have speculated for years about the extent of robert mugabe's wealth

now there are some answers following his september death according to the herald newspaper mugabe's daughter sent a letter to the high court listing 4 houses in harare 10 cars one farm his country home an orchard and $10000000.00 u.s. dollars in a local bank the list however appears incomplete it does not include several farms a dairy business he ran with his wife or overseas holdings. contrast that wealth with the current state of zimbabwe it's in the middle of a hunger crisis a country that was once a net a net exporter of wheat and corn has been rocked not just by economic collapse but by an ongoing drought and that's left millions of zimbabweans in a situation the u.n. describes as tragic. this is what africa's breadbasket has become a place where children and the elderly must queue to receive food aid. zimbabwe's economy has been more basket case than bread basket for most of the last 20 years

but on top of rampant inflation and basic shortages drought has exacerbated the situation to a level that has prompted u.n. intervention. we have facing the worst hunger crisis in more than a decade half of the population 7700000 is food insecurity and that b. of p. will nearly double its current assistance to reach 4100000 people next year as much as zimbabweans have already endured the drought has made things much worse things this is all part of an unprecedented climate driven disaster gripping southern africa the country has experienced normal rainfall in just one of the last 5 growing seasons already many animals have died as a result of starvation worse is feared in the same year as the death of the

country's long time ruler robert mugabe it is a brutal reminder of his grim legacy. u.s. president donald trump has alarmed investors by saying that a trade deal with china may have to wait until after the 2020 u.s. presidential election one year from now during a visit he's making to london trump claimed that china was keen to agree to a deal but that he was in no rush and was happy to wait markets have been hoping for a conclusion to the trade war by the end of the year. the north stream 2 pipeline is nearing completion the project is designed to bring gas from russia to germany and it has a lot of critics among them the european commission the u.s. and poland and some fear the e.u. will become too dependent on russian natural gas while others feel that they're just pawns in russia's larger power game. loop mean in north eastern germany this is where the 1200 kilometer long north stream to pipeline reaches the german

baltic sea coast soon natural gas from russia will be flowing towards western europe circumventing ukraine. gas market expert heiko loman says there's a very clear reason for building the pipeline. naturally the russian side always insists that nord stream 2 wasn't built to bypass ukraine like nordstrom one but i believe that's exactly why work to do as special ships lay pipeline sections just a few kilometers off the german baltic sea coast resistance is coming from the u.s. they're planning sanctions possibly to include those operating the vessels instead of natural gas from russia the usa wants to sell its liquid gas there's also opposition to the pipeline in poland its antitrust authority has led to $20000000.00 fine on north stream to financing company reportedly because the

proper documents went submitted my opinion notion to cannot be stopped because it's so. it's. in the way that actually make it impossible to put a halt now however there is a chance to take the profit that ability over to project down to gas from a well to operate north into harder. pay day and let you a near the baltic country gets its liquefied natural gas by ship from cutter poland has signed contracts with the us for liquefied gas both countries want to free themselves from dependence on russia. but taking climate change into consideration the north stream to pipeline could also be used to transport hydrogen instead of natural gas experts like heiko loman say climate killing greenhouse gases can be avoided that way. when you're. supposed to use natural gas long term

and i'm supposed to split hydrogen and carbon dioxide the russians are working on a process for making solid carbon so there won't even be a need for carbon dioxide storage and. that means large volumes of liquefied hydrogen could be transported by not stream to replacing climate damaging natural gas it's only a dream for the future but climate change is accelerating the process. and that's all for me and the business team you can find out about these and other stories online at www dot com slash business stay tuned for business news for news africa with eddie mica coming up right next after a quick check on global markets. a

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16. secret supply behind small. discover new adventures in the 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage site. w world heritage 3. 16 get kidnapped now. this is news africa coming up on the program the on suspects were shipped into slavery from our forgot to america now after 400 years they are returning to where it all began searching for traces of that history and i'm not going back to the u.s. . from a very young age i felt like i never belonged to the.