and on single use plastic bags. this is b.w. business i'm told now the milan and berlin welcome carlos cohen spectacular escape from japan where he was under house arrest facing trial for financial misconduct remain shrouded in mystery one escape theory says the former nissan c.e.o. hid in a musical instrument case that was taken on board a private plane headed for turkey where he boarded another private jet for a flight to lebanon on meanwhile prosecutors raided goals tokyo residents to find out more about his disappearance and interpol has now set lebanon on a warrant for arrest but it's still not clear if japanese authorities in their search of goans residence found anything to explain how he slipped through the net the lebanese capital of beirut though camera crews have laid siege to the home of the former nixon chairman after his arrival there go explained that he believed the japanese court system was unjust and that is arrest had been politically motivated

go on scene here in archival footage plans to speak to journalists next week lebanon has now received an official request from interpol to arrest him as a fugitive but neighbors don't believe he's a criminal. he did help innocent and renard to achieve his stature. as a businessman he did well. in deed as a lebanese man we are proud of him a. journalist ricardo carvalho is a close friend of call the scone he spoke to him after his escape. he was confident about the future he's got a lot of plans and that's the most important thing he's surrounded by his family and friends he's at home here in his country. goans escape to lebanon is a stunning twist in a roller coaster journey that saw him fall from boardroom to detention center here

he spent more than 100 days in spartan conditions far removed from his sometimes extravagant lifestyle the auto tycoon stands accused of i'm reporting his salary to the tune of $85000000.00 prosecutors also allege he skimmed off millions of dollars from the company for his personal use tokyo has no extradition treaty with beirut japan's justice department is left holding guns bond worth around 12000000 euros. isn't shares started the new decade higher on thursday pushed up for it by china where blue chips have began the new year at their highest level in nearly a year the people's bank of china is reducing the cash reserve requirement for banks raising hopes that for an economic boost before a lunar new year celebrations in 2 weeks investors were also encouraged by the announcement that phase one of a u.s. trade deal would be signed by mid month. let's bring in our markets correspondent only bartz and frankfurt we have

a new happy new year 1st of all and the 1st trading day of the year has some optimism on asian markets so it's resulted in some optimism on asian markets now is that cheer universally shared along investors. i don't know if it's universally shared but you can see it universally basically across the european markets they're following the trend set and asia all the markets were trading in the green in the afternoon making gains of just under one percent to well over one percent here in germany the figure was pegged at about one percent and that's not small potatoes when you consider that in germany for example the docs already gained 25 percent way more than people expected and 21000 so this news from china is helping investors to add on to that you know small potatoes indeed but what impact do you see the planned signing of the phase one trade agreements having on markets for the

rest of the year what kind of tone does that. it's setting exactly the right tone this is what people were hoping to hear and i think they heard it today earlier than i thought they're still bracing though for disappointments there there were all sorts of back and forth mixed signals coming 2019 in the end mostly positive the outcome but people are bracing for disappointments and it'll be a bumpy ride probably for 20 for 2020 for that reason people won't believe deals before they're actually sign it before people see the signature of donald trump now speaking of disappointment there are fears that the chinese economy may slip below 6 percent growth this year are investors around the world worried briefly if you can. yes they are worried china such a big stimulus for growth when it slows the world economy slows they're also worried that today the stimulus from the central bank was seen as positive but that

the central bank is doing too much and the chinese debt at some point could become a huge problem for world markets only parts in frankfurt thank you very much. it may be the start of a new decade but most vehicles still run on petrol or diesel the world doesn't appear to be winning itself from fossil fuels just how long can that carry on economists jerry jeremy rifkin has a proposal for a solution in his book the green new deal but before you go and read it here's an extract of an interview rifkin gave to our correspondent all over solid and washington i think what people don't understand is the entire civilization is made out of fossil fuels are fertilizers and pesticides are construction materials are synthetic fiber are packaging. food additives and preservatives are power to transport our eat our light everything so what's happened now ever is that we are now in a pivotal turning point for this fossil fuel based industrial civilization. we have

now spewed so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to maintain this industrial way of life that we are now finding ourselves in wheel time climate change frigid winter of 70 below 0 and blockbuster winter snows massive flooding across our land masses in the spring summer droughts and wildfires on every continent hurricanes and typhoons across the entire autumn every year around the world our scientists are now telling us we are in the 6th extinction of life on earth so you are essentially describing a situation where the change will come from the economy rather than from politics is that right and which role will the markets play this year the level lies cost of solar and wind has just plunged below natural gas and way below nuclear and coal so what's happened is we're seeing trillions of dollars of fossil fuel assets all the pipelines that will never be used all of the exploration rights they've been paid

for by their own industry which will never amortize out all of the fossil fuels in the ground which we never taken up because they're more expensive so what we're seeing here is a massive collapse of the fossil fuel civilization because the market is speaking in spite of germany's weak economy employment numbers were up in 2019 the federal statistics start to stick spear with skin as nice as the yearly average showed 45300000 people in germany were in work a point 9 of a percent increase on the previous year that marks 14 straight years of jobs growth and is the highest number in employment since reunification in 1901 the overall unemployment rate was stable for the year at just over 3 percent. california boasts one of the world's largest economies ranking close to the u.k. in total annual output or g.d.p. that's why multinational firms pay close attention to regulations in the state and it's why the world is watching the state's new gig economy law which went into

effect in the 1st of january the measure aims to protect free loans and contract workers by requiring many to be reclassified as employees but there's a lot of controversy around the law. the new california law says some independent workers will have to be treated as employees that means they'd be entitled to minimum wage overtime payments and benefits including health care before the law took effect workers for companies like it were classified as independent contractors as a result right hayling company uber and korea company post might launched a joint legal action against the state of california they argue that the law is unconstitutional and will kill the gig economy which makes their business models possible by all sides say they can't afford to pay social security and health plans for those who work for them meanwhile some contract workers have complained that their clients have dropped them as a result of the new law kept deiced jobs were 1st tiled as

a wife or workers to pick up a little extra to make ends meet but for many workers there now the sole source of income despite the long hours low pay and lack of security or benefits high retailers have joined the battle against ocean pollution by banding single use plastic bags the move will see customers instead paying a small fee for a reusable bag made of cloth like fabric thailand is one of the largest contributors to ocean pollution where citizens go through an average of 8 the supposable bags every day. plastic waste in the last 2 decades it's become the norm on beaches across asia much of the plastic despoiling places like this is from single use bags as the new year begins stores in thailand are trying to break a national have it in a country where citizens goes through an average of 8 single use plastic bags every day several major mall operators and $711.00 convenience stores are asking

customers to pay a small fee for reusable bags but ultimately the fight against pollution comes down to a change in public attitudes and some people are reluctant to change. how i got to get the word if we pay at least $500.00 baht and then they give us a free cloth bag it's not much if we use these bags they'd be better off and richer but other people will suffer you have to give the consumers all the plastic use a time. you can not just change it over let's say in a while to months it will take some time but eventually it will go away thailand is one of the largest contributors to ocean pollution with plastic bags that are regularly turning up in the stomachs of dead marine mammals like do gongs. and that's it from me and that the w. visiting here in berlin for more ado check out our website that's the

w dot com slash business you can also find us on social media or on facebook and on twitter believe you over the pick look at the markets i'm going all the milan thanks for watching.

maz.

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this is d w news live from scrambling to escape the flames massive accusations are under way in australia as people flee the deadly ball clients thousands are on the road others are waiting to be ferried to safety by boat on the hall to try and windy conditions are expected to get worse well there to sydney for the latest also.