challenge in minus 20 degree weather before hitting the outdoor pool. in hyde park in london the serpentine swimming club its annual christmas day race. and here in berlin are revelers in santa outfits and jumped into a lake at the city's edge but some complained that at 5 degrees celsius the water was too warm. definitely not too warm for me they're up to date now on d. w. news up next is business with stephen beardsley thanks for watching. carefully. to the.

discount. documentary. markets wake up to the final trading week of the year all eyes are on that trade deal between the u.s. and china the questions linger we'll take a look at the movers and shakers. also on the show rising rents have sparked anger in european cities from barcelona to berlin now real estate markets are bracing for the backlash. and we'll look at an extreme case of

a rental market gone bad by we're told the glutted buildings are at risk of collapse. this is your business report i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for joining us well many markets around the world remain closed for christmas asian shares opened on a higher note with optimism optimism over a trade deal between the u.s. and china stocks and japan's nikkei and the shanghai composite advance around half a percent each on wednesday both u.s. president donald trump and a spokesman for the chinese government signaled the 2 nations trade deal was ready for signing a so-called phase one agreement is expected to ease the friction that has roiled markets over the past year. now it was one of the biggest stories in europe this past year rising rents investors desperate for yield in europe 0 interest markets plough their money instead into urban real estate but property markets in big cities have tightened pushing up rents and threatening to push out middle class

families the counter-reaction is now intense berlin is preparing to freeze rents for 5 years beginning in january and some are calling for even tougher measures. tenants in berlin have been fighting for their rights last summer he led an initiative calling for the nationalisation of some of the property owned by real estate companies they wanted city to hold a referendum on the issue that 1st began that seem a referendum question is based on article 15 of the german basic low it states the property may be transferred to. ownership for the purpose of socialization the article has never been invoked. in view of the shift in terms of history and basic low and also the market economy we see this is utterly unthinkable can we call upon the city government and the federal government to put an immediate stop to this whole affair. the german capital is witnessing a battle over affordable housing between tenants real estate owners and politicians

there's an acute shortage of living space berlin has a deficit of tens of thousands of apartments. and speculation is on the rise in the last decade the scene rents double. at the same time there's a construction entire neighborhoods sprouting up like here in the district of friedrichs hine this housing complex is brand new tenants are paying up to 16 year olds per square meter a studio apartment cost 350000 euros making it financially out of reach to many but they are just and enough affordable apartments for rent owned by public housing associations like this one a 54 square meter apartment for 500 euros a month in the heart of the city a place like this will always attract a lot of interest there's like $14000.00 people sometimes you have more than $100.00 indeed it really depends on like dilatation price everything contribution

that i used to live in paris and i thought 1st of paris what it was difficult but now i know it was easy and there is finding a balance is the motivation underlying this construction project at alexanderplatz in berlin the former east german house of statistics is a prime piece of real estate with a steady 50000000 euros it's undergoing an extensive renovation when it's ready it won't be a shopping mall or a luxury hotel it will contain $300.00 affordable apartments small businesses as well as facilities like childcare centers and studios for artists. the property was bought by the city and it is renting space to the district of mit is housing authority and an artist collective among others. there mark. property market is defined by profit but in this case that just doesn't work what we need in berlin is affordable housing but what's being billed as expensive if it

goes on like this we won't have any culturally diverse spaces and not the necessary social infrastructure we need to put a stop to the situation which is spiraling out of control on the. political efforts must be made to ensure the market remains fair in berlin. and for more on this let's go to marcus burnished he's a correspondent for spain and portugal and he joins us from his home in germany. marcus we just saw a piece on a policy in berlin to catherine's there you look at similar measures planned in spain and portugal how do they compare well just to make it clear how the pressure on the rent housing sector is still growing just in lisbon portugal capital there are more than 800000 apartments designated to

short term rental and such a b. and b. there the government is trying to convince property owners to make a cut of around 20 percent of the average price and compensate this with texas. after 6 months working this program contains less than $100.00 houses there is also a plan to build more social housing but this will take of course a lot of time same in spain they are also trying in different areas of the country such as catalonia madrid to build more social housing and there are also plans for rental cap but these plans are still depending on if there will be a new left wing government in january. the marcus you said there that spain is considering a red cap is there discussion about how property markets might change in the long term if rents are kept. there's

a lot of debate especially in spain where the country was suffering 11 years ago a crisis a crash of the real estate market that affected the whole economy so there is still a fear though the reasons no are totally different it will take a lot of time and a lot of debate and discussion and there will be fierce agreement measures against a rental car if the new government if it comes into power will put it in place. and markets briefly these are still increasingly popular policies of seams. without any doubt because there's just one figure in the last 667 years the property prices while the renting prices rose in spain in barcelona and madrid almost 50 percent and this puts the governments of of course under pressure right correspondent marcus burnished there for us thank you.

let's go to india now for another side of that red cap question perhaps an extreme . has seen a string of building collapses the most recent was last month when a 4 story building caved in killing more than a dozen people and despite the repeat tragedies many citizens continue to live in old dilapidated buildings at risk of collapse and landlords have no incentive to make repairs or india correspondent sonja phonic sent us this report. young people has lived here for much of her life this building i think was built just as world war one ended in the one dream that yankee shares with the family cracks run through the wall the plaster. and bamboo sticks prop up the ceiling. the monsoon rains make the structure riskier each year young pieces she's repeatedly complained to the landlord with little success. you know there was no way that i live in fear

that the building will collapse my children are away at work all day so at least they're safe my husband and i stay at home we could be killed but the way i see it where old we've lived our lives. leaving the place isn't an option for young whose family owns a modest living tenants like b. just $10.00 a month here ingrained some pay even less. that's due to a colonial era law that limits rents for old buildings like this one but that also means owners get little money to invest in repairs leaving the structures to rot many parts of mumbai like your income a home to old rickety properties data shows that are more than 14000 buildings in the city that are groups of collapse due to a lack of maintenance and government apathy. only of the c.e.o. of 4 story building collapsed at the spot killing more than

a dozen people and injuring many more disasters of this kind aren't uncommon in the city. one buys chronic housing was also linked to its dense population and scarcity of land the city is surrounded by water on 3 sites and has no space to grow. more than 40 percent of its 18000000 residents live in slums and shantytowns experts say at the heart of the problem of the city's sky high real estate values and a powerful builders lobby b.-l. estate market has sort of in the last 20 years for the situation will be a collapse of a building it will mean that there will be an option off redevelopment for the private developer and also because then they have much on most of these buildings out in the island city and that. the prices of property are compared to all.

the cities for young key home is a much loved but dangerous place option would be to get out and lead a much better life in a far flung suburb either way it's not much of a choice. could russia finish construction on the controversial nord stream 2 gas pipeline president vladimir putin told russian businessmen that the country has a pipe laying vessel to complete the project connecting russia and germany the comments reported by russian newspaper commandants came days after swiss dutch firm all seized this then did pipe laying following new u.s. sanctions against the project putin said he expects a delay of several months which could push the start of operation into 2021. where it is is europe's lost also gained well that's what tourism australia is hoping with its new $15000000.00 campaign which pokes a little fun at bragg's it. with

a mate song sang song by australia's biggest pop star column and tourism australia aims to lure brits down under and potentially away from europe the ad was aired ahead of queen elizabeth's yearly christmas message in the u.k. and while it appeared to go down well some people on social media pointed to australia's ongoing bushfires as one reason to avoid visiting the country. and that's it for me and the business team here in berlin you can find out more about these business stories online at the dot com slash business i'm stephen beardsley as always thanks for watching.

searching for identity and recognition. turkish citizens african groups. their forebears were brought to the ottoman empire as slaves. even today their descendants are true. just like i'll side. you know you're demanding

change the elite. of. the us and it's a surprise you don't need to keep every day you've got other people to vote for over a mention on the fortunately most recent at the columbus zoo that missed the boat on misuse of and ease at the national dragons and which warner has called the haunted house reviews. on. hello and welcome to focus on europe i'm glad you could join us today we want to introduce you to extraordinary europeans regular people working to overcome hurdles to improve the lives of others take for instance paris there is no shortage of

luxury in the french capital. and hotels are abound and it's images like these that have made paris beloved.