Footprint. The most valuable commodity in the world well for the past 100 years the answer to that question would have been oil or maybe increasingly water but with the likes of amazon googles Parent Company alphabet and facebook becoming the worlds most valuable listed Companies Big data is now king the rise has been rapidly even regulated scrambling to keep up with the changing environment and now one of those protecting us wants to write another chapter at facebook hoping to introduce a Digital Currency called leap or perhaps not surprising in the age of bitcoin but given facebook has abused the days or it has on billions of people and its failed to curtail the spread of online hate and generally has become a byword for distrust well many in policy circles are opposing the new crypto currency because its also a threat to National Economies a facebook currency used by its 2000000000 users could effectively create a new world currency a rival for the dollar maybe a yen or the euro and the loss of sovereignty is a huge concern for the likes of frances finance minister Bruno Lemaire in an interview with c. And b. C. He said quote we cannot accept a new currency having the exact same kind of power without the same kind of rules without the same kind of commitments and without the same kind of obligations. And even u. S. Treasury secretary steve has raised the issue of Money Laundering and funding of terrorism nations are already struggling to get Silicon Valley to pay its fair share of taxes too because social add growth slows facebook is now keen to tap into other areas you know revenues from Global Payments that is remittances electronic transfers all those sorts of things they will exceed 3 trillion dollars every year but the a 2022 according to mckinsey already person to person payments in china or topped more than 17 trillion dollars this is when you use an app or an Online Service to transfer money and although facebook will own only one percent of the new currency labor tapping into the Global Payments market will make it very very rich with us now on who is the chief markets analyst with think markets and name its great to have you with us i think just before we get into the real details that stay with the basics the difference between the likes of labor and say big coin which most people are well a little more familiar with labor is going to be the fastest major cryptocurrency will be introduced by one Major Corporate or and prize whereas bet coin has not been introduced by any enterprise or any government its not controlled by anyone theres no governing body behind good coin it is completely decentralized and it is driven by the Community Price and everything with that respect is completely determined by the user i mean the supply is very much fixed anyway the only element which is which moves the price is in demand one of the most important things you mentioned there on the bit one side of things is that theres no regulation and thats i guess what people were fans of bitcoin like about it theres never going to be a way to properly regulate this is there and they its not controlled by humans. And him or by any set of a bank or a central bank it is a completely decentralized solution for the community for the uses and of course. Cannot clamp down we all know theyre trying their best to regulate it but everyone just completely failed to do that so lets think frances finance minister has recently brought up this issue and talked about sovereignty what does he actually mean by that and again is that just well fanciful in the idea of protector and sees as youve just described them. Leg in at the issue of labor as it is just its been ponselle march and it got so much attention because all the central bank is the no one particular element that we were that we we we want able to regulate or control bitcoin and we dont want the same thing happen for a labor which is a current of currency by the Biggest Social Network and theyve been theyve been they already know that theyre find it incredibly difficult to find of regulations which can really surround this social media now because they know big corn has become a major success and it of course is a major threat to central bank is the way that they regulate Monetary Policy or that is the way that they regulate other aspects of their political system so they dont want another was one of the major bitcoin coming into the market and then that means they will complete they will lose the control of well whatever they have in that respect this is perhaps more a sort of social commentary question but the fact that it is facebook you made the point there is this massive social network 2000000000 users the fact that it is facebook behind this is that whats got people worried the fact that people feel facebook can be trusted anymore because of what its done with uses data in the past so when we say people unless you must be very clear. To these people that were really talking about their regulators right and yes they are concerned about this one that they cannot control because the news media or the way that we see news these days is not the same as it used to be back in old days now it is more open and its more transparent theres more element of being real and telling the truth and theres less censorship in this one i think the regulators wanted to make sure that yes the Money Laundering systems and Everything Else stays while in place but hair is a fact dollar is the biggest currency when it comes to Money Laundering and theres no doubt about that and then you cant even trace through is transactions of any comes to anything on a block chain or on it over the respective cryptography such as bitcoin everything is very much traceable you know where the transaction happened if you really want to camp down you can certainly clamp it down everything whatever you want so to answer your question precisely b. Yes they are concerned regulators are concerned that a cave with a facebook is coming up in the create a currency it is a major threat for the us system just a bit more on the back is if you like of labor yes facebook is the name there but there is this 100 member panel there as well which has the likes of visa are on board i guess thats understandable but then youve got the likes of you know the ride sharing apps the in the lifts for example what do they bring to the table was far as currency in banking goes yes when it comes to the narrative of crypto currency is it adopts ability its about usability of data that that particular these particular functions becomes are very important and this is why face very doesnt. Really want ok we started this particular area and then this is where its going to be excepted now they want every Single Person all the Different Enterprises to be part of the net bag so its just like them when i have a daughter when i have a pound i can go anywhere and then i can you know say they want to have the same concept they want to build an entire ecosystem around it and isnt that a good concept in a way you know were going to be talking about currencies later on this program particularly to do with with china. And the pound as well and the u. S. Dollars well the fact that there is all this volatility in the politics plays that role in all of that this idea or at least of a global currency which might be easier to use through facebook on the face of it maybe it is a good idea like innovation is always important for our ecosystem it always helps to make things more efficient so yes it is of significant importance that we should see these kind of innovative ideas this new no way to technologies and currencies coming and merging but a yes. There shouldnt be a wild wild west when it comes to then the should it have to some regulation make the entire regulator framework even more better rather than just going in a completely new land and then everything just kind of starts to blow up now and i so its a pleasure talking to you about this thank you so much for your time thank you. Now in the tit for tat trade war between china and the United States beijing may have landed a blow that even President Trump will find hard to counter after trump threatened to slap tariffs on 300000000000 dollars of its goods china let the Market Forces loose on its currency leading washington to label beijing a currency manipulator scott hardly has more from beijing on what that means for the worlds 2nd largest economy. A new battleground in the intensifying trade war between the worlds 2 largest economies currency valuation the Chinese Government eased its control over the yuan allowing the currency to surpass the 7 per us dollar level for the 1st time in more than a decade that prompted the u. S. Treasury department to designate china as a currency manipulator something it hasnt done in 25 years with the yuan worth less chinese exports become cheaper allowing to compete better in the u. S. And across the world partly offsetting the u. S. Tariffs imposed on chinese imports but it will come at a cost to chinese consumers they will pay more for imports Chinas Central Bank is denying the u. S. Accusation saying its a protectionist practice. Some economists think china allowing more u. N. Volatility can only go so far china is trying to say that were not going to be buoyed by the us and a small reminder to the escalation of the trade war and what china can do about a further escalation for china to use Exchange Rate as a weapon is highly unlikely because when a drops to say 7. 00 then it becomes a political issue. After share prices worldwide felt in reaction to chinas move some experts say the view inside china is not as pessimistic and a weaker you one was expected at some point in the past the u. S. Has been hesitating with the currency manipulator label over concern that it could trigger a trade war but were already in one so the consequences are low and the negotiations with the International Monetary fund could take up to a year and some feel that the i. M. F. Wont act against china despite the u. S. Accusation of manipulation when he started mentioning the i. M. F. The question is what could he do there the i. M. F. Is a consentual organisation theyre not going to take sides in fact 2 weeks ago they already issued their own statement about chinas currency and they said that it is and why with International Standards despite the arguments the us says its still planning for a visit from a chinese trade delegation in september. Now one better place to talk about all things currency then patel is joining us now effects and global macro strategist at i care a good to have you with us so lets just deal with the very basic simple situation 1st about currency manipulation it isnt easy. Name i guess to label the chinese with in your view of a currency manipulator i think if its a technical question and a logical question the know if its a literal sense of chinese officials actually intervening and work in the currency markets then yes they are but its more of a its more nuance than just labeling a country of china of chinas size as a currency manipulator i think the u. S. Have to sort of take a step back and realize sort of why in the history of sort of chinese currency and you know yes one could argue in the i. M. F. It said this is where the country of chinas size should not be having a managed currency or managed Interest Rate system they should be a fully flexible system but the approach from the us is completely wrong as soon as you apply tariffs as soon as you take a sort of more grass of stance on china they become defensive and i think you know it just its sort of his counterproductive to china beijing sort of 2025 vision of opening and liberalising the currency so it really becomes a political call them because actually didnt the us treasury report just a few months ago say they will buy it stands no china wasnt a currency manipulation exactly so from a technical perspective and you know even based on u. S. Law their latest 2015 act was nowhere near sort of labeling current china a currency manipulator you know how to dig out some really old trade law here in 1990 going back to 1908 using some of the similar sort of laws that were played when china was 1st named a coach in place or back in the early ninetys so look at think you know this is more of a political state. And the scariest signal for us from from this is actually the fact that the u. S. Administration and both if the u. S. Treasury are willing to sort of bend the rules here to make a political statement the question for us is like how far they wouldnt sit bend the rules and what could come next this is of course part of why this is a slight pivot but its part of a wider trade war which we know about between beijing and the United States when something is described as a war that implies there would be a winner and a loser im suspecting the more these tariffs are going on either side and then china saying were not going to be part of us our cultural imports either. Can anyone win a war like this the unintended consequences of this war and the longer it goes on could be quite damaging both sort of risky assets and equity markets and i think is fair to say that you know at some point someone has the euro to but theres just no end in sight yes so any thoughts they dont want might come next either trade wise or currency wise or actually is it a fools game trying to predict its yeah i think you know the last is pretty much the sense of trying to get into the mind of the u. S. Administration is always an unpredictable look weve got the terrorists potentially coming through on september the 1st theres always these sort of threats of us effects interventions accounts of the chinese sort of currency manipulation claims we put those risks is new quote you know these are policies that 12 to 18 months ago we thought were unthinkable and now were sort of coming to council and think about them for us its you know as long as these threats were made on the table is going to be pretty. Known benign scenario for Global Markets if heres a scenario excuse me that donald trump which you interviewed or the United States were to intervene in the currency markets and how do you think that might play out so it really depends on. The firepower that the u. S. Have. On its own if the treasury works intervene without the Federal Reserve then we put it we put it as a 0 effect sort of impacts we think about the 4 trillion dollar daily turnover in global effects markets the u. S. Have barely sort of 18000000000 worth of capital to play with is so you know on its own no chance about having having a more than a signaling effect in sort of curb in the top of the dollar with the backing of the Federal Reserve they may have great sort of. Impact on dollar markets you know if you think about the fed sort of buying more assets in sort of new fresh round of 20 states of easing but you know then were in the realm of losing in terms of political and u. S. Institution credibility so theres always going to be a cost to any sort of extreme policy like this whether its economics or politics but either way you know its just seems as if 1. 00 of those sort of illogical and irrational moves from the u. S. But weve been used to seeing some of these are an illogical and irrational moves in the past 12 months just a quick thought john your neck of the woods in london obviously breaks that is looming the pound is falling your broad thoughts on the state of the currency there and whats next yet it doesnt really seem to be much lower for the pound right now in the International Markets i think you know when we look at sterlings move there is a strong game going on in currency markets of guessing what the right probability for a new brics it is comforting 1st of october so we look at betting markets they put it about 35 percent we look at sort of the currency markets that we back out we think its around 50 percent or 5050. 00 based on positioning so a lot of negativity is priced in it makes me nervous when the market so one sided soon adds a fresh sort of standing shorts from here i cant blame the market for sort of being pessimistic on the outlook for u. K. Politics again no end in sight but it makes me very nervous in chasing sort of cable lower when youve had such. An immense and sentiment driven move historically when this currency is trading at this disconnect from fundamentals theres always a bounce back and maybe were seeing a bit of stabilization now were waiting really for the next move either from the you in you or the bush cabinet when it comes to the brics it sort this this requires maybe a little bit of opinion on your part but do you think theres a chance that some of this is deliberate letting the pound actually fall yeah i think ive misread sort of what the sort of johnson tactic would be post coming into power you know my my thesis was maybe theyd be running over city e. U. And trying to sort of get a deal and sure a pursuit of markets maybe this is a game of chicken and egg whos going to blink 1st whether whether its going to be the e. U. Kayo e. U. My baseline view is that really like you know the odds of a trading terms coming through in 1st of november seem much less than what the market is discounting right now i think the political cost of moving to that regime would be too high for either side of the the u. K. Or the e. U. So you know whether its a last minute save the day deal or something to kick the can down the road maybe thats where things that go in here but even then you know starting messes wont find much joy because what comes next for u. K. Politics do we get a general election do we get more sort of uncertainty theres just doesnt seem to be a a majority view on what happens come the end of the year when it comes to u. K. Politics plenty to keep you busy then viraj patel thank you for joining us live on the slopes of the most active volcano in indonesia obviously has its dangers 275 people in fact were killed when mount merapi erupted 9 years ago since them survivors have returned to their villages and farms and as for once they found out some have found new ways to make a living. When the weekend arrives so do the tourists hundreds of them by the bus quote pollin to off road trucks and head bumping along dusty trails Close Encounter with indonesias most active volcano the alert level for mt merapi is now low its 9 years since the last major eruption. Turrets allowed to go into the danger zone as close as 4 kilometers from the crater. Monteux used to be a cattle farmer but turned to off road driving after his neighbor persuaded him to give it a go. We know where theres been an interruption tourists are a bit weary and stay away but they come back when the government says that say a volcano is dangerous of course but theyre also being a fit. He sold some of his cows to buy his 1st utility. Now he has 3. This toll has become so popular that there are now about 900 jeeps that cater to visitors the highlight is that driving through a river and fans from the 2010 eruption. Its not just nature and the spectacular views that attract the tourists this museum of sorts is a testament to the power of. A collection of Household Items destroyed in the eruption in 2010 that killed 275 people. And doug is on his 2nd visit to merapi. Family i was very happy and excited my 1st time here but this trip i feel a bit sad thinking about the people who died but its a good tour it educates people especially for people who live in disaster prone add yes they know how devastating such a cure insists can be. I see knows just how deadly merapi can be. Hes the volcano spiritual guardian a traditional role going back generations. He succeeded his father who was killed in the eruption 9 years ago. People still come to pay their respects to him. Though. Take grass from a rap be we take rocks and sand to build houses we need to love more rapidly its terrifying when it explodes but when it comes down we need to come back and take care of it. The people of morocco know they live in the shadow of danger but have learned to adapt and even benefit from it. Now if you live in a big urban city youve probably noticed the increase in use of electric scooters in the past year or so they dont come without controversy there are accidents theres the how recent felt by pedestrians but the overarching theory is that this kind of tech can help move away from the conventional internal Combustion Engine and berlin for example authorities of approved the latest venture a sharing scheme for scooters which will augment existing electric powered mopeds can it help reduce the Carbon Footprint of the german capital from berlin dominic kane reports. This is the latest legal way to travel around the east scooter which uses no fossil fuels and leaves a very small Carbon Footprint but so far there are relatively few in the german capital instead there are lots of these electric mopeds which can reach from 45 to 50 Kilometers Per Hour and which can be hired on the spot for as long as you like and which increasing numbers of berliners are using to move around people like christoph hes an engineer living in the fleet of this area of the city for him having a vehicle he can use at the touch of an apple is very convenient he showed me how it works and the scooter thats there next to the. Big props and im here so its just 2 minutes walk 3 minutes walk once at the bike the principle is relatively simple but whats the whole experience like in practice there is maybe a one or 2 negative points so the one point is you just have one home at other. Companies they have 200 so if you try for a 2nd people you need a 2nd term and then its a problem if you just have one helmet. And the area regular you can use it its limited so it would be good if there if the area would be bigger but all in all its really cool coffee. For the firm running this this the green dividend is key yes so we really take care about offering Sustainable Services which are better ways with green energy and yet basically our customers dont need to worry about charging the school just because we do the job for them and which charge the batteries internally and then drive to each and every scooter with a lot better a level and exchange the battery with full budget for the moment these bikes are still unleashed market but its pretty clear that the companies concerned have major expansion plans and they see bikes the. These as their contribution to the overall fight against Climate Change dont want to aljazeera. And that is our show for this week but wed love to hear from you you can tweet or message me directly on that come all i need to hash tag is a j c c as well we can drop us an email accounts in the cost of aljazeera dot net is the address and there is more a few online as well al jazeera dot com slash c. T. C. Takes you straight to our home page with individual reports links and entire episodes for you to catch up on but that is it for this edition of come to the sons of maria from the whole team thanks for joining us the news on aljazeera is next. We understand the differences. And the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it aljazeera will bring you the news and Current Events that matter to you aljazeera. Its very difficult as a chef or restaurant or to buy shrimp with the confidence that what youre serving is going to be good seafood by nature is a hybrid commodity sometimes for it was raised using production drugs. That are not approved for use in the u. S. The f. D. A. Simply isnt testing enough on the imported market to really find all of these violent threats against take note at this time on al jazeera. Alarm is a problem and of the headlines on aljazeera hong kong later carry lambs as weeks of antigovernment protests are damaging the rule of law speaking to the media on tuesday the chief executive said hong kong are seriously wounded and warned the territory will take a long time to recover from the violent demonstrations. Violence no matter if its using violence or condoning violence will push hong kong down a path of no return will plunge Hong Kong Society into a very worrying and dangerous situation i believe that those who heard my words previously might have only half believed me but the situation in hong kong in the past week has made me very worried that we have reached