i got my license to work as a swimming instructor. and now our 2 children wanted us to just push. your story take part cherish info migrants caught. up the. profits at a dime learn fall for the 2nd straight year is it just another bad stretch or is the german auto power falling behind in an industry under pressure. also on the show chinese firms are struggling to stay afloat as the corona virus spreads many are now snapping up cheap credit from beijing. and its drone versus drone we'll take you to a competition in rwanda to find the best rescue drone for world regions. this is

your new business report i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for joining us di miller has reported that its profits fell by 2 thirds and 21000 compared to the prior year it's the 2nd year of the climbing earnings for the german auto giant and it comes despite an uptick in car sales under its flagship mercedes-benz brand and eating away at those revenues were new investments and growing penalties from a wide ranging scandal over diesel emissions the mercedes s. class convertible used to be celebrated as the future of automobile 80 but it could soon be a thing of the past the company is discontinuing the model along with the s. class coupe and it's be class models according to the german newspaper honda's plot . but it's not just car models that might be lost thousands of jobs are on the brink to the company's works council described the mood among employees at diner as somewhere between anger and disappointment with $15000.00 of the

company's 300000 jobs worldwide being cut after 3 profit warnings c.e.o. . is under pressure. the diesel scandal is still affecting sales at dyner while the company's electro division is suffering from a lack of high quality battery cells and its van division is in the red mercedes is the least profitable of germany's premium car manufacturers with a return of barely 4 percent in 2019. and for more on this i'm joined now by martin friedel he's a business professor at the university of bomb bag here in germany professor phrasal is this result from dime of the result of a bad year or is there some deeper structural problem with this company yet they still have me. i do think there is also the research that they are due to structural issues. there are number of points that they're actually

doing quite strongly in the tradition of your american markets also go you. know what we do see. on new video there is so stench of costs related to the legacy of the diesel and also the. technical issues related to. their using that pulls them down substantially. if you're a shareholder with dimer what do you want to hear today from c.e.o. all of the lameness. so shareholders will be disappointed they've seen shepherdess declining and now only have to swallow the bit of a quite disappointing dividend compared to previous years so as a shareholder i want to use reassurance i want to be a clear strategy alan dial is going to not just take cost out but this is actually

growth in electrified world. how hard are the coming years going to be for dialer given that sales revenues are already falling right now and these investments are getting higher and higher. densities of criticism and claim you still have 3 profit warnings and that is falling into the job and i think investors in the market have to cut you some slack he is at the helm of a fairly massive company with mass comes inertia and he has started to pull the rightly busiest complete company. more autonomous jumps in his last initiatives last year collaboration such as you know you know with g.e. and d. the fruits can only be reached in a few years' time it's also early to see so it's a wait and see approach. that means that there are massive investments being made right now for returns that are going to come years in the future that's going to be

hard for a lot of companies as car sales are falling are we entering an environment in this car industry that's right for consolidation for mergers for takeovers. so the old lotus has been a radical sedation for quasi live to happen over the past year all too many it's as you pointed out is quite rightly margins a recession so there is scope for conservation we see that already with rooms with volvo in g.t. you see the sea is cross the ts a view so we might see a number of mergers tony a lot of questions on what side of the steel is really dying to be leaders if you consolidate all of the going to be consolidated all right martin phrasal business professor at the university of bamberg thank you so much indeed. and let's take a look at some of the other business stories making news around the world. chinese car maker geely is planning

a merger with its subsidiary valvo healy has held the swedish company at arm's length sense acquiring it in 2010 the chairman lee shifu says he wants to accelerate the sharing of financial and technical sources between the firms to create a quote strong global group. energy related related c o 2 emissions across the globe flattened in 2019 despite expectations of another rise and that's according to the international energy agency more a new about energy and the switch from coal to natural gas lead to less emissions from developed countries global warming and slowing economic growth in emerging markets also played a part. amazon and sony have joined the list of companies not attending the world rather the mobile world congress in barcelona later this month sweden's ericsson and l.g. from south korea are also withdrawing citing fears over the coronavirus. of

china is bolstering its economy from the outbreak of the new coronavirus the central government has already freed up tens of billions of dollars worth of government stimulus and cities like shanghai are cutting loan rates and increasing lending businesses are now snapping up that cheap credit suggesting the need remains significant. cities virtually deserted shops closed transport links at a minimum. customers nowhere to be seen. with economic activity at a standstill in many parts of china hundreds of businesses are now seeking billions in loans to keep them afloat banking sources in beijing have told reuters that around $300.00 chinese companies have sought loans worth more than $8000000000.00 u.s. dollars to try and soften the impact of the crisis that comes at a time when the chinese economy is already going through a difficult period of transition the government has already pumped more than $200000000000.00 u.s. dollars into the country's financial system to avoid volatility president paying

has made little comment since the outbreak began but he visited hospitals this week and talked up the government response. let's fight this defense war this war against the epidemic with full confidence let's fight this people's war we must build up our confidence we will eventually win. fighting talk. but a report published on shoes day by a senior member of a chinese government think tank says the outbreak could take at least one percentage point off china's entire g.d.p. for 2020 more bad news for the chinese economy which will inevitably impact the wider global economy. now the coronavirus has also pushed down oil prices to around $50.00 analysts say that's because chinese demand is waning due to the outbreak a technical group of the opec cartel of oil producers recently called for output cuts to stabilize those prices but it remains unclear whether members will follow

the committee's advice the price of crude has heated more than 20 percent so far this year. over to africa now where emergency services remain a luxury for many with reliable roads hard to come by in rural regions especially question now could drones potentially fill that gap that's at least the idea behind a competition now taking place in rwanda the winner gets a business contract design across since this report. in each case is a request that comes to the team and then the team has to know it the kabul make sure it's package according to many standards and in this way we're trying to simulate as best as possible. real scenarios.

right apologies for some technical issues with that piece let's move on to another one looking at japan it's the world's 2nd largest per capita producer of plastic waste after the us a tokyo says it's on the case introducing a plastic bag fee for later this year but entrepreneurs are impatient and coming up with their own solutions. first is rarely a problem in tokyo with drinks available on almost every street the problem is pretty much all of them come served in plastic. bottles make up a big chunk of the 30 kilos of plastic waste produced by the average person here each year fance why the my muse you exists it tells people where they can refill their used plastic or reusable bottle with water for free you can just search the map for the nearest water fountain or business that's agreed to let you fill up.

and surprisingly the offices of the company behind it are a plastic free zone. kind of messaging to people is that you can have a fun and very prosperous life if you just shift your basic consumer behavior in a positive direction one of the businesses signed his stock home roast in central tokyo the baristas here will refill your water bottle for free whether you're buying a coffee or not the cafe is hoping to contribute to a change in japanese drinking habits. i think japan has a cultural problem and i think big companies need to push for a change but of course if we start making changes on a personal level it will also have an impact that it will cause the storm. through the cooperation of cafes and restaurants and wider water fountain use japan could begin to kick kits plastic habit one bottle at

a time. and a quick recap of our top stories profits at dime were falling for the 2nd year in a row despite record sales from its mercedes-benz car line and more business is china seeking loans to fight that outbreak of the corona virus and that's it for me and the business team here brillant you can check us out online at the w dot com slash business and on facebook and twitter i'm stephen beers in berlin as always that's watching.

i'm david and this is climate change. happiness increase book. for you. martyr for free. to use crime fighter are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech prevention and sustainable charcoal

production. all of a sow's are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters to mindanao. history was made at the oscars in hollywood when the 1st non english language film ever won best picture and pulled off a sweep of the top awards also coming up. snow and ice are transformed into frozen art at the annual ice sculpture festival in the dutch town of. having its biggest year ever. and in our series 100 german must reads the architects by stephane hi i'm is

a novel of political intrigue and betrayal that illuminates the early years of communist east germany. and welcome to the show well it only took 92 years but the academy of motion picture arts and sciences finally looked beyond its own backyard on a grander scale and despite falling back into old ruts of oscars so white and oscars so male it granted a few historic moments for both the oscars and for south koreans and the oscar goes to paris. the 1st ever english language movie to win best picture. since.