german away start of a few hours ago is set to last for 3 days of more laughter business news with mark and. don't forget there's more of these and other stories as well or website dot com you can also of course all of our you tube i'm brian thomas helena humphreys will join us again the top of the hour for the entire news team backstreet. carefully. to get.

discussed. the book. subscribe to the documentary. forget the season off for good will when it comes to workers' rights all things ground to a halt tons as locals carry a euro wings class canceled more than 170 flights due to a 3 day strike by cabin crew meanwhile francis nationwide strikes against the government's pension reform plans on the longest in the world. 30 years and many

provisions have just about had enough of it. also coming up china's new silk road comes hundreds of millions into infrastructure projects in the balkans but who's profiting in the end. i want to get jones and his d.w. business live from berlin welcome the cabin crew of german wings began a 3 day strike at midnight kicking off a wave of industrial action that looks set to affect 180 flights over the new year period german wings is a tons of subsidiary and it operates flights for europe and most of the flights affected by the strike are domestic but some links to austria and switzerland will also be disrupted the cabin crew union has called the strike demanding higher wages and pension entitlements the walkout is part of a wider dispute between the union and move to answer and it follows a failed attempt at arbitration. for more let's cross over now to our financial market correspondent ali bartz was done in by for us in frankfurt of course the

aviation hub here in germany only how does this latest walk out impacting the carriers bottom line. it will cause further losses although 3 days strike those will be in a measurable sort of way not impacting the balance sheet of those times in a huge way but if the strike continues and of course if it ends in the end and concessions that are more expensive than love tons of thought and it will impact the balance sheet investors had already showed themselves to be worried about this as this spot was brewing right now the share is holding steady but investors are worried because love times as had such a terrible year this year the profits are drastically down and that's part of the reason why i love times is putting so much pressure on you tariffs for its cabin crews and for restructuring the group you just mentioned arbitration failing does

not all of your well there are 2 very high power arbitrator's that work and even they couldn't bring the 2 parties together with so much at stake here for both of them well given that this terrible year is coming to an end just suddenly in the aviation sector what's a 2020 going to be like. i fear it's not going to be much better for the aviation industry you have an overcapacity basically worldwide but also in europe and that's part of the reason also of course that there is a restructuring going to be going on at lufthansa and you have also fridays for future people facing travel shame if they take an airplane we'll have to see how that impacts and boeing 737 max is grounded also a reason for concern for many airlines well i actually bought in frankfurt thank you so much. things aren't much better for those traveling by train at least not if you're traveling to and through france the country is nationwide

strike against mccall's pension reform plans are now the longest in more than 30 years paris is at the center of the strike action which has become a strain on residents and tourists alike. transport strikes in france are almost routine but for a long strike action like this is rare as the strike enters its 26th day the strain is showing she didn't offer to do this and that i was so tired of this strike that i had to quit my job so now i'm going to look for a job closer to the gallon or not because i couldn't take it anymore. perez's public transport network has been badly affected and long distance t.g.v. trains have seen 4 out of 10 services cut tourists to feeling the effects on this occasion perhaps even the parisians would be prepared to accept some belgian wisdom . from today's or. everybody's a little bit right those who strike and those who don't you have to know when to

stop in time. at home when this happens we talk 1st here you make a mess. you don't talk you wait until it's rotten and then you talk as if you've got the system backwards some of these could be if it was just them a little bit the french transport minister has accused the c g t trade union of obstructionism and intimidation tactics c g t in turn accuse the government of deliberately delaying negotiations in the hope that prolonged strike action would turn the public against the union. now both sides appear to have lost faith in the negotiations and are hoping that president emmanuel mccall will intervene when he gives his new year's eve address to the nation on tuesday. meanwhile another high speed rail way is going in service today in china connecting the cities of beijing and china cool co-hosts of the 2020

winter olympics the trip used to take almost 4 hours and has now been shortened to under one hour with trains reaching speeds of up to 350 kilometers an hour the train which serves as 10 stations along the ride is a crucial element of china's olympic project connecting all major sports science. now is a doorway to a blossoming trade and prosperity or a major dead trap that jeopardizes a country's sovereignty with a new silk road china office smaller countries major investments but financially weaker countries could be risking their independence take montenegro where china is financing a 1000000000 euro highway it runs through an environmentally vulnerable area and that doesn't seem to bother the local authorities. a gigantic construction site part of a highway said to run 170 kilometers across montenegro financed with the help of a 1000000000 euro loan from china. this stretch of construction is along the

charles river part of a unesco world heritage site some environmental activists say the decision to build here was a mistake there had been. the facts and why is there a question none of these is just considering that this is the site and. if it should be taken. about 100 kilometers downstream is where the chinese financed highway will run directly across a tributary of the tower a river. building on this terrain is complicated and expensive the activist believes that the valley route was chosen because it's the cheapest option. up to $4000.00 construction workers from china have been working here during peak construction phases chinese companies are raking in the profits but paying precious little in tax plus all the construction materials and equipment imported from china are exempt from customs duties the new highway will connect montenegro's adriatic

coast to the north of the country in the capital part greta a state agency is responsible for the construction work the director insists that everything's being done in accordance with e.u. norms and standards. are on the right path because we want to develop north montenegro that helps the country and europe as a whole. the north of the country is under developed compared to the south. but the north has enormous potential in the areas of industry tourism and energy. months is an anti corruption watchdog that keeps a close eye on the montenegran government day on melo but is investigating the financial impact of the 1000000000 euro loan. it's a difficult task because the government is keeping the financial details under lock and key. miller vox's research shows that construction contracts to domestic firms

are only going to companies with close ties to the government he's also discovered that under the terms of the loan an arbitration court in china would have jurisdiction over any legal disputes and if montenegro can't repay the debt in time china would be able to make collateral claims. montenegro is a small country with a population of just over 600000 the average income is around $500.00 euros a month the chinese alone is worth almost one 5th of montenegro's g.d.p. whether the new superhighway will ever reach neighboring serbia is very much an open question. china expert clifford coonan from business joins me in the studio now hi cliff it is chinese investment a blessing or a curse from want to make well i think it's a blessing and a curse in this case i mean clearly montenegro needs the infrastructure it's a small country that's trying to fight its way and to. raise its status within

europe at the same time it is a curse and that like any loan it's got a risk elements where if they can't pay back the land montenegrin land could become collateral so it works in both ways why is china so generous china's generous because china's trying to build influence it's looking for for china sitting on quite a lot of cash that it needs to invest. and so the silk road is very much part of the us i think so it's trying to build up infrastructure as part of the silk road but it is also trying to build political influence i was interesting in the report we had that china basically came to the rescue with the e.u. just didn't manage to invest the money and a lot of experts say the 2020 will be a critical year for china relations how come well i think we've got this investment treaty that's going to that's coming up to see whether that gets signed at the moment is a lot of pushback against china against china as an investment. because of china

trying to export influence as it's perceived in many places so it is going to be a crucial year the balkans is going to be particularly central to this i mean i remember when i lived in beijing it was always because of the links between the former yugoslavia that people from the balkans were very active in the investment community and in in development and that's not translating as we see here the thing is now whether these countries go towards the e.u. or whether they go towards china so i think that's going to be essential as well to e.u. china relations so i think is going to be a lot going on in this area this year and just yes you know we see china making more inroads into europe i think we will definitely ok clip it going in there china expert and also from v.w. business of course thank you so much. how do you force of a good new year's resolution for most people it will likely be along the lines of live a more healthy life exercise more well here are some gadgets now that might help

you follow it through health center fitness professionals surveyed by the american college of sports medicine call wearable tech at the top 2025 in a strand and that includes sports watches ranging from fit bits to the app in which they monitor fitness and exercise to hock levels and calorie consumption while of course doubling office phone texting devices absent rushmore and some are cheaper some are quite expensive and while they may help motivate you i'm afraid you'll still have to do the hard work yourself. there's a business update here and d.-w. for me and the team as always thanks for keeping us company.

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