for power and profit plummeted an entire continent into chaos and violence. this is the journey back into the history of slavery. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 9th d.w. . markets in asia flirt with recovery after a brutal period of selloffs government stimulus plans helped calm investor jitters over the coronavirus but is that enough to look at china which is struggling to get back to full production. or opec oil cartel moves toward another production cut to bolster prices but it's facing resistance from its biggest partner. also on the show can europe's largest travel company survive an epidemic cuts cost as the corona virus spreads. this is your business report i'm stephen beardsley in berlin

it's good to have you with us asian markets were up on thursday on hopes that government stimulus could offset the economic damage from the coronavirus hong kong's hang seng index rose nearly 2 percent while in tokyo the nikkei index ended more than a percent higher meanwhile there are tentative signs that chinese companies are slowly grinding back to life after weeks of lockdown in quarantine but there's still a long way to go. after weeks of shutdown and quarantine these pictures from china's state news agency show the country is getting back to work it insists 3 quarters of private businesses are already back up factory owners are obliged to abide by a strict tie jean measures such as providing face masks and disinfectant for their employees workers have their temperature taken twice a day but getting the assembly lines rolling is often easier said than done i'm afraid situation underground doesn't look so optimistic though the chinese

government figures officer figures show that over 70 percent of all of the production has been restarted it and in some certain problems it's like wow it's more than 90 per cent but they are mostly big companies small business reported that only less than 30 post percent of them back at work but they do expect for production in april and almost all workers returning to their jobs in march more than 100000000 migrant workers are still stranded in their hometowns after the lunar new year's break and can't get back to work as many bus and train services have been suspended to help curb the corona virus outbreak it's hard to get back to china south eastern factory built to get or keep scarse employees some manufacturers are offering to pay much higher wages up to $1800.00 yuan on $250.00

a day for specialists despite the renewed activity many analysts say china's economic growth will be fled to negative for the 1st 3 months of the year getting back to normal will take time and let's go now to deserving financial correspondent in frankfurt only bards we were talking earlier about government stimulus boogying markets what about there in frankfurt are investors anticipating stimulus from the government in germany. well they're anticipating it they're waiting eagerly for details but they are not getting them an economist i spoke to was very critical of the fact that while other countries are floating numbers and are saying concrete numbers and have a package swept up there is nothing really coming in a coordinated fashion from the german government in berlin on the one hand the social democrat finance minister all unfolds promising economic stimulus measures when needed but his conservative colleague from the c.d.u.

peter all of his the economics minister is floating certain options like supporting short time work which work very well on the financial crisis for the economy and for the workers or tax breaks or making sure that small and medium sized companies have enough liquidity but there's no certain use and that's being seen critically and in many parts of germany and the business world. but only when we talk about the impact of this virus on firms in germany you've taken a look at continental which is a major firm there telus. you know one of the world's largest auto suppliers and continental has been going from hard times to even worse times and for 2019 announcing a loss of 1200000000 euros the worst result in 10 years and also having a quite a bleak outlook for this year not least because of corona but an analyst that has

covered the industry for years is very critical of continental and says it's not just a restructuring adjusting to eat mobility for the future what they're doing is far too expensive it's taking too long and it's yielding practically no visible results so far so people very critical and investors shocked the share tanking going down by over 10 percent stephen. rightly boards the force in frankfurt thank you. now british budget carrier fly b. has collapsed and canceled all flights amid its own struggles with the corona virus outbreak the airline was a major connector within the u.k. and face financial struggles well before the outbreak now it joins a list of recent failed british carriers which includes monarch airlines and 2017 and thomas cook just 6 months ago. it was a hard landing passengers were left stranded with no warning at airports across the u.k. and europe early on thursday morning the u.k. civil aviation authority announced that the airline had intended ministration an

announcement on fly b.'s website said all flights have been grounded and the business has ceased trading with immediate effect flight b. was a victim of weak demand and fierce competition the british government had tried to save the airline that led to allegations from competitors that flight he had received state aid. had really fly be household name people been flying in for 40 years and we really try to do everything that we possibly could back at the turn of the year and unfortunately though with the situation has developed with an already weak company and frank just hasn't survived the final collapse came hours after british media reported the airline had failed to secure a 100000000 pound state loan to stabilise the business a consortium of virgin atlantic stirabout and cyrus capital bought fly b. in february last year for just 2200000 pounds but pledged to inject cash into the

airline to turn it around fly b.'s failure puts 2400 jobs at risk and could also see some airport struggling to make ends meet. the opec oil cartel is considering further output cuts to offset weekend demand due to the corona virus outbreak representatives from the 14 nation group were gathering today in vienna the cartel has been hit with a 25 percent slide in crude prices since january. is having a devastating effect on factory output in particular especially in major consumer china that's also dampening demand for fuel and the sectors such as aviation but russia which has coordinated with opec in recent years appears hesitant over a further cut. and for more on this we're going to be business reporter ashutosh panday and bon ashutosh these proposed cuts what are they meant to achieve but even though up front they're expected to stabilize the markets calm nerves because

yes the demand has taken a big hit and been we don't even know when it's going to recover so firstly it is to stabilize the markets as far as oil prices are concerned we don't expect it to have a major uptick these further cuts because most of them have been know already priced . markets oil traders are expecting that perhaps. this alliance opec plus is going to agree to a 1000000 barrels per day in cut additional cuts that is in addition to the $1700000.00 already in place so as far as the oil price is not met much good change there the other thing is perhaps saudi arabia is also looking at maintaining inventer ease at these unlevel so that when the demand picks up that is if it picks up in the 2nd half the prices could rally from the oh. gosh why would rush be hesitant in this case for further cuts. well they've been hesitant since the very beginning i mean they fear they're losing market share fear losing market share to

. players from the united states which are not part of such a deal now they feel that perhaps with the oil prices that these levels would make much more make it much more difficult for shared players in the u.s. to survive they're already struggling to stay afloat at these levels and also russia is pretty much more resilient to low oil prices as compared to say saudi arabia which needs the oil prices to get $85.00 a barrel for its budget for its budget to be balanced so the russia is in a mall comfortable position there but then experts do say that this also russia would play ball and agree to further cuts because it knows that if it does not the oil price is going to for a fall to i mean levels like $30.00 a barrel best experts are putting it out that you are level and the other thing is that it does though want to put opec plus in jeopardy because opec plus has actually benefited russia more than any of the opec members are right something

we'll be keeping an eye on ashutosh pandit air force and beyond thank you a travel industry in europe saw one of its biggest shake ups last year when british tour operator thomas cook filed for bankruptcy opening up market share in an otherwise tight sector but the competitors best position to profit are facing a new challenge and the coronavirus which now has them focusing on their own survival. at least the fisherman and the harbor of where to dinner cruise look relaxed but for many the coronavirus is a major headache. tourism magnet tenor reef is popular with both the british and the germans but now the sun seeking holiday makers look worried each morning they wake up to gloomy headlines not exactly the recipe for a relaxing vacation. the koren team hotel may be far away in the

south of the island but weeks of bad news about the 7 infected individuals intent on reef is having a negative impact on the tourism sector but in and out but at the moment that's affecting the home market restaurants hotels we're seeing fewer guests at the moment compared with last year. we're really feeling the loss of the customers but of course we hope that it will all blow over quickly but in most cases the not that much. for the canaries the coronavirus panic is just one of many major problems rex it and the bankruptcy of thomas cook one of the biggest holiday bookers are making the crisis even worse the local office in puerto dela cruz has stood empty for months a list of excursions can still be seen and so can a notice about the company's sudden collapse thomas cook's insolvency presents a great opportunity for german travel company to eat the germans want to take over

thomas cook's market share they'll have to be well prepared for the coming summer season. and that's it for me and the business team here in berlin you can of course find out more about these and other business stories online at d w dot com slash business and be sure to check us out on facebook and twitter i'm stephen bears in berlin as always thanks for watching.

where i come from we have to fight for a free press and was born and raised in a new telling the painter should put just one to the shadow and a few newspapers on official information as attorneys i have worked on the strength of many cantrips and their problems are almost the same 14 the social inequality a lack of the freedom of the press. should work on the 4th to stay silent when it

comes to the fans of the human scene or microphones to hunt inside to put their trust. greetings from berlin and a warm welcome to the latest news from arts and culture i'm karen how starting here's a quick look at what's coming up on today's show. meet the germans that is back panda owner of international women's day my colleague rachel stewart gives us the lowdown on how it is to be females in germany today. and we'll be meeting up with a photographer on a mission to find the hidden and unlikely places that classic cars go to.

start with an explosion of energy in the form of one nicholas kurla he hails from fire in southern germany and even though he's only 15 years old he's got star quality on stage as a dancer all at the recent world dance cup in baja guy in portugal he was named dancer of the year from a field of 6000 participants not poetry in motion doesn't come easy. you let go you let your body do what it wants. to do everything to take the audience with you. when you.