i'm blogging from our website at studio b. dot com and of course you can follow us on social media as well as t w news for. and also on the twitter and on instagram i'm terry march and you'll find me on twitter t.m. news stream thanks for watching. place. why are people forced to hide in trucks. place there are many reasons. there are many answers. the claim. and there are many stories.

playing make up your own mind. the claim. made for minds. it's a deal 7 years in the making today could be the day the e.u. and china announces a breakthrough for their massive investment pact we try to get some details from a china analyst in singapore also coming up thinking of switching the crops for something more profitable chinese farmers are branching out to make a pickup truck and it's only go. by without a very warm welcome to do that we have business on want to jones and berlin good to

have you with us the european union and china are on the brink of a historic deal regulating foreign direct investment or if the i mean the 2 major economic blocs a 7 years in the making the deal is a allowing e.u. firms to compete on a level playing field in china after years of struggling with protectionist and discriminatory behavior especially by local and licensing authorities the deal will also allow chinese companies more access to markets where they have been shut out of strategic sectors like energy and that's because the e.u. fear to that china could use such access to steal intellectual property as part of the deal china has also agreed to adopt higher labor and environmental standards the e.u. says the talks have concluded at a technical level and they'll be more details available at an e.u. china leaders' meeting scheduled for later today of a more let's bring in our china analyst fraser howie of who is joining us in

singapore if i'm not mistaken good to have you with us let's start very briefly with that needing later today can we expect an announcement will the deal be announced today. i think it will be a nice that all the signs indicate that there's been a little clique since then stories i think expectation is that it will be done so what do we know about it already i believe it was a press briefing yesterday but in terms of the detail certainly with a level playing field what do we know well that's right it certainly sounds that as you say this is a landmark deal china it's been a long time but there's been this completely arbitrary self-imposed deadline because the german president expires today so there was a rush to get it completed this year the details are still pretty lacking all the things strange and level playing field more equal access china's access to the markets labor rights all of those things are certainly going to be covered but

sadly i feel the timing is right bad and much of that will be quite vague and terms it's been very clear the direction of travel the chinese taken over the last number of years and i don't think this deal is ultimately going to prove that that bad about it will be beneficial or you'll be business will be done but ultimately holding china at time will be much much tougher because it's still so you just said i mean that this deal is somewhat rushed and the details if we can call those details a very way they can and it's all because of the ending germany you counsel presidency why was that important then for germany to get this deal done. well i also i would say indeed it was a really good moment because you have seen the thrill text i'm sure this will be a large saltsman with lots of details come at me just on top of the moment i think obviously germany has a lot of exports going to china china is a very important market for many german companies and so there's certainly be not a rushed as of the how this is

a trying jewel if you like off the shelf americans translation and china german business relations so i think it's why you know or isn't that as i say i think the timing has become very bad for this given china's recent track record and so while i fully i'm for engagement with china trading with china i think the timing of this deal is very bad it sends a very wrong message politically especially with an you might say goodbye to coming into the i.c. just a few weeks right right i mean and as you mentioned that i mean we know that in terms of business relations china is already the e.u. is a biggest trading partner and with this deal do you saying there's the danger that the e.u. will solidify shift even further towards asia and away from the u.s. well i think yes and quickly yes because the growth is in asia so therefore you're going to do more trade with our economies that are growing at those growing faster growing economies are unusual but i think there's been a very clear lesson this year and not a soloist really is being treated by china iron economic depends on china comes

cost and i think it would be far better for the democracy of the world to unite and our common and unified position on dealing with china in response to economic really and i think the e.u. has missed an opportunity to work with its allies here to get a better longer term deal with china it's somewhat rushed this deal to get the deal done but ultimately i think the timing is bad although in some ways that tension is a good one right trace to how we there with very mixed feelings about the upcoming china investment deal thank you so much thanks very much. cannabis used to have a bad rap yes and illegal narcotic but recently its reputation has been revived and a growing number of countries legalizing the drug for recreation all medicinal use the same goes for china where cannabis derived products are becoming popular while the state is granting licenses to pharmacy. joe chung young lives in

a village in china's southwestern new non province he's among the 1st crop of the country's new cannabis farmers. i planted 20 had tears in the 1st year but we gradually expanded today i plant 40 had parents of cannabis it brings in a lot more money than other crops. farmers jones business is entirely legal as long as he uses the seeds he receives from the government which contain very little of the psychoactive substances t.h.c. and he may only sell it to a licensed company michael one has invested in this type of business he's one of china's cannabis pioneers. people still can see their canopies this i'm a truck industry so you know my family and even those legal in here and they promise some priest do not get involved with chuck business. michael huang's business is

fully supervised by narcotics regulators he supplies the seeds to the farmers and buys their crops then he extracts the khanabad dial from the plants we had for his factory but while we're on our way the police send him a message he's not allowed to bring foreigners to his factory so far china and our governments do you want to want this industry to grow slowly and don't get too much attention from around the world i think. that is the one. there is a police station right at the entrance of his factory. the officers monitor how much rama tiriel has factory receives and how much can a big dial extract leaves. extracting can of a dial is the trickiest step in the production chain and small amounts of t.h.c. build up the police have installed cameras in the plant to ensure that the t.h.c. is destroyed. i will regulate your body understand that i'm the stand the

function of canopies and we also want to support the industry so actually even though we get these super why shorey procedure i mean why we have a really good relationship. michael who mainly produces for export but chinese consumers are starting to discover canada dial products one she cosmetics is one of the firms entering the market they produce skin creams lotions and facial masks which contain the anti inflammatory and soothing and really it. and after a brief look at some of the other business stories making news. spanish prime minister pedro sanchez says gross domestic product likely fell by over 10 percent this year due to the pandemic saying we are all 10 percent poorer than last year but he ruled out another increase in the minimum wage. beijing wants to shrink jack masa financial empire and take the largest stake in it that's according to the wall

street journal china is also dialing up regulatory pressure forcing mass payments venture and group to comply with banking regulations instead of being treated like a tax. a major explosion in beirut topple last summer destroyed large parts of the city at least 190 people died and more than 6 and a half 1000 were injured it was a disaster waiting to happen corrupt officials have allowed highly poisonous liquids to be stored in rusty containers a hobble for decades now the chemicals to be removed with the help of a german company there's a surprise in each and every container some of them have been stored beirut harbor for as long as 20 years there's no paperwork and no one knows who they belong to let alone what's inside the contents or dripping out forming noxious puddles the german company combi lift is now working to clean up the harbors toxic legacy. with

very very important for us that we have an overview of all and to make test of the different kind of substances because it's not completely labeled everything so if you mix some things in there could be that with a blast so fewer can hydrochloric acid acetone and now banned pesticide that's a bromide are just some of the chemicals they found there the p. rude port authority wants to get rid of the containers as quickly as possible but it's not easy. to structurally they cannot sustain the lot is the continuous and the container is falling apart we cannot leave that we cannot transport them all in all there are. 52 types of containers here in a cordoned off area of the port. the dangerous liquids are pumped into special tanks which are then shipped to germany for recycling.

it's a costly process which the lebanese port can't afford but an association of lebanese and german businessmen brokered a deal. we tried to squeeze through your mark simone to. $3000000.00 euro subsidy which is was city born $6000000.00 this was the lowest we could do and the insistence of. casey who is the president of the. board. he said look i've got a 4. door 1000000 company left is paying the initial cost itself while the port authority tries to secure a grant from the european union to stump up the remaining $1600000.00 but to rid the port of dangerous and destructive chemicals it's

a price worth paying. was new year's eve approaching pandemic weary folks are treating themselves to a bit of luxury to celebrate anyone for white kavya allston fish farmers are expecting big sales of precious white caviar from the rowdiness sturgeon retail remains a strong even though many restaurants shot each fish fillets just 600 grams and. $8000.00 euros 3 times the price of black caviar t.v. as the world's most expensive food the worldwide deal is just $450.00 tons. to each their own that's a business update for me in the team thanks for watching. because

india. telling tales with textiles. the tibetan designer tenzin succeeds in doing so as a child he fled to northern india and stay back. his creations are a multicultural mix of indian style to back new traditions. next. what secrets lie behind.

discover new adventures in the 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. world heritage 360 get me out now. around half of all textiles are made from cotton and although it's a natural product the wasps kalo which we call it and the alumnus and also water it needs often means that it's in bad mentally unsustainable and yet we need to cotton at least we think we do and the unsustainable textiles too so how do you make them better for.