additional charges, some of the more serious charges one can face. and he has also been, he will also face all of the year, not investigations that has been ongoing in this past few months. middle, so by the same prosecutor. but you know, years one day press charges that are the former president a see has 13 witnesses. he has a series of investigations against the york germany. he says it's foiled a plot by a far right group to overthrow the government rating a $130.00 sites across the country. the prosecutor general's has 25 people from a group, but wanted to build a new german army, have now been detained. russian president vladimir putin has warned that the risk of nuclear war is rising. putin says russia would defend itself by any means, but insist nuclear weapons would be used as a defense mechanism against a nuclear strike and its territories. britain prime minister is threatening to introduce new laws to limit the disruption caused by strikes border force workers at several u. k. airports are the latest to take action. walking out between christmas and new year. china says it's rolling back key parts of it. strict 0 cobra policy following widespread protests. it's a major reversal, a country that's impose some of the toughest pandemic measures in the world. people showing mild symptoms will be allowed to isolate at home. government also reducing mandatory testing requirements. chinese president, she should ping has arrived in saudi arabia for 3 day visit. king solomon wants to deepen relations with beijing, china as the gulf nation's largest trading partner of goods worth $87300000000.00 exchange last year. so those are the headlines. it is continues here now to 0 after counting the cost stage and thanks for watching life now. what happens in the. 1 yard has implications all around the world to make these stories resonate requires talking to everyday people, the mayor of the city. and i was sitting doing way with the current view that was and wanted to get everybody on it's international perspective with the human side doing way in and then pulling back out again. ah, [000:00:00;00] with hello, i'm adrian said again. this is counting the cost on al jazeera, your weekly look at the world of business and economics. this week, the growing number of strikes and blame of protests is threatening industries all over the world. but is the cost of living crisis, causing the pay crisis, or a government's failing to tackle inflation. also this week, china has been battling a record number of corona virus infections, but furious growing over its strict virus cubs. so will the 0 cobit policy continue at, at what cost to china's economy? plus, we take a ride to pull the transporter, the future. flying taxes are expected to be zipping through the skies in the not too distant future. ah. energy, food and mortgage costs are at the highest in decades in many countries. and the rising cost of living is eating into work as wages. this means that many people are forced to cut spending or run down their savings. others who are less privileged are going without food, rapidly rising prices of already pushed more than $70000000.00 people into poverty . mainly in the developing world, one, at least $1.00 and $4.00 people is struggling financially in the developed world. employees across the globe downing tools out of the marketing better pay deals that keep up with inflation. among them, a workers at amazon cost $40.00 countries who walked off the job during the black friday sales, one of the busiest days of the year for online shopping. the strike included employees in britain, which is seen a series of protests disrupting train travel, mail deliveries at aviation services. a more strikes planned. it went up to the christmas holiday period, including nurses for the 1st time. workers squeezed by the soaring cost of energy. have protested across europe. trades unions representing more than $800000.00 public servants, protested overpay, outside hospitals, ports and at government buildings in south africa, peruvian truck drivers and farmers blocked roads as part of ongoing process of the high gas prices and a shortage of fertilizer. and truck drivers in south korea have gone on strike to their 2nd. it's less than 6 months and it's disrupted supply chains across the country. now let's hear what some of the workers who went on strike had to say, gearing him by truck with a small amount of money. it was celery that you earn, you can't live in this time. like i have 3 children and we both work and we have a huge problem because the costs have risen so enormously that you can't live with what you earned. but muslim, i cannot have got anything i can look. i want to take made you want any more so much we haven't had a descent pay for over a decade now. and nurses work really hard, not just nurses, dna chess and we're all under pressure aren't more men of ones. we're kinda hands off and really, really difficult, so it's not just about clapping forester independent make. and i think we need to be respected and appreciated for what we do. johnny is not from london, is human blanco, research director and head of america's risk insights at various maple cross co chevy with us again. at jimenez from truck drivers to teachers, nurses to train drivers. there seems to be a lot of industrial action around of the moment. are we seeing a revival in labor activism and in unions? well, i think what we're seeing right now is the reaction to the cost of living crisis. and uh, you know, people taking what would be more extreme measures in demand for pay raises. and of course, you know, we're, we're noticing now is in developed economies in emerging markets. labor activism never went away. if you look at countries that have been struggling with inflation for many years. but we're now seeing is in western europe in the united states that workers are facing double digit inflation. and this is something that hasn't happened for decades. and this, you know, the strikes you're talking about is just a symptom of the economic situation that families are dealing with day in and day out. but all strikes affective. they come at a cost not only for the workers who are striking, but her customers, consumers to the tend to have an impact on good will delay. yes, absolutely. they have an impact on the economy and overall, i mean, of course, we also have to take into account that certain parts of the economy can continue operating despite strikes. because we of course have a very digital economies the in, in parts of the activities. but that, of course, you know, doesn't apply to areas like you were mentioning, say, for example, healthcare, where, you know, people need to physically be present to treat patients. now, a key thing to keep in mind is that the legislation in developed economies are incentive. ice is dialogue, but it does them force dialogue and it doesn't force conciliatory solutions as it does in some emerging markets. and so i think we're, we're going to continue seeing is this discussion where workers are demanding for something. but industry chambers are not necessarily responding or sitting down at the table in the same way that we would see an emerging markets where legislation forces consensus to be reached in order to resolve a labor disputes. we're in the midst of a cost of living crisis. there's no end of sight in sight. just how much worse can things get. i mean, very in london in particular where you all the talking about the nation suffering another winter of discontent. the likes which hasn't been seen and since fighting seventies. of course. and, you know, i think the crucial thing to look out for the sign post we'll need to watch is energy costs and what happens not just in the u. k, but in europe overall in terms of energy security during this winter. the u. k. of course is suffering a lot of strikes, but you know, this week i was traveling for business. i was traveling on an air line that was striking in spain. i was on a rail strike in belgium. there were, you know, there postal strikes in the u. k. at the moment, so this is not something affecting just one nation or one sec turn. and the cost of fuel is feeding into all of this. what happens in with the war of russia's invasion of ukraine and the impact that that has on the cost of living will be crucial a rest solution to the conflict which at the moment we consider unlikely. in the short term, we assign a 16 percent probability to that happening by march. that would be something that removes a pressure from the inflationary cycle that we're in. but unfortunately, we have not seen the peak of inflation in europe quite yet. and things could get slightly worse before they begin to improve. people are understandably angry with the governments. but to some extent, governments are ostrich between a rock but a whole place on pay. right now, whatever they do, it's going to upset someone with the cost of living as you say. so high, do 2 things that are out of their control. yes, well, i mean, one thing that governments can look into is segmented policy decisions. because one of the biggest mistakes governments can make and we have seen it in different countries around the world, is for example, blanket measures say blanket tax increases or blanket subsidies to specific items like fuel. and if the hardest part is not necessarily designing the policy to address the cost of living crisis for the most vulnerable, the hardest part is implementing it in a way that makes it a temporary solution. but one that's easy to lift once economy's begin recovering, because of course, we're now facing the potential for recession across western europe as well in conjunction with inflation. and that is quite a concerning picture for people who are not being able to make ends meet. but these are extraordinary times of people, right? demand for their salaries should rise along with the cost of living alone along with inflation. well, i think there is center one answer fits all kind of response from the private sector from governments. the 1st thing that we need to look at is the people on the lower end of the income spectrum, the vulnerable incomes, who are feeling the head of inflation most. and i think, you know, of low salaries, basic salaries, minimum wage will need to be adjusted for inflation because those are the households that are in working poverty. and more and more households are entering that category right now. whereas it's a different situation when we're looking at, you know, the middle class or high income wages that are less likely to rise at the same rate . and again, you know, if we were to apply a blanket approach to inc, comes across the board. that in itself is an inflationary pressure that could keep prices rising faster as companies need to adjust for the price of the goods and services that they sell in the economy. but generally, we've been talking about the impact versus having on people living in richer developed countries. what about countries and people in the developing world? well, the, the hit double hit. the double whammy of the pandemic, followed by the cost of living crisis, is increasing poverty. and inequality across emerging markets. we have seen it across latin american, sub saharan africa as well. households are struggling and the most vulnerable are not just in terms of income, but also minority groups are those suffering the most with women across many of these countries are taking an additional burden or additional head are in terms of having to care for relatives or take a digit, additional jobs or being able not to get help that they would need in order to progress in the workforce. and so this, you know, the, the double impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis is going to be in those generations for some years to come here. but it's always great to have you on counting the cost. thank you very much. indeed for being with us again. thank you. well, wasn't true prices and record high inflation or making life more difficult for people in baldwin. the countries facing a hunger crisis and poor harvests of left more than 3000000 people in need of help . international agencies have started to deliver food to vulnerable families. there has had am a tougher reports from butera. it hasn't rained much in this part of zimbabwe for several months. this food from international agencies is appreciated. people here in bullhead, i say they sometimes have to borrow money to feed their families. and what it often means is that people will s 8, few amused. they will eat less food. they will prioritize within the family who gets meals and who doesn't get meals. and they may also resort to other other coping strategies. so it's not an easy time when you were among those vulnerable households. who areas in zimbabwe this time of the year is always challenging in some bobby's draught prone regents a report from the countries on the pretty assessment committee is made some $3800000.00 people will not have enough to eat during this lean season involving experience of the lean season every year is the dr. period before the rain starts from october. when many poor households sometimes run out of his dogs to march when harvesting begins, and as if there isn't another drunk. it started raining in some parts of the country, but not out here. saturday when nancy is worried, if it doesn't rain, life or her family will get tougher. will go toto you. i think the day when hope the donors will keep helping us. because if they stopped coming, people could to day international agencies are working with them. bobby's government to feed millions of families, climate change, rising food prices and inflation rate of more than 260 percent make things worse. families will try to make their rations last at least 2 months, but with many mouths to feed. that may not be possible. had him a tougher al jazeera border, zimbabwe. ah, them a rare protests in china too, but for very different reasons. people took to the streets to vent their frustration over almost 3 years of strict covered controls. infections of recently risen to a record high in the country fronting more locked downs nuts. despite a 20 point plan that was announced by the government early this month to try to ease corona virus rules, the renewed curbs highlight once again the delicate balance, the beijing is trying to strike between easing its 0 cove. it policy to revive the economy and curb new outbreaks. while the potential, the economic consequences were felt after angry protests broke at the world's biggest i phone. assembly plant in the city of jang jo, thousands of workers left the site of the chronic food shortages. while a mass quarantining of employees depleted capacity on assembly lines, apple warned that shipments of high and i phones would be lower than expected because of those disruptions will around a quarter of china as total gdp has been affected by lock downs. after the recent rise and infections, the measures are expected to be a further drag on an already slowing economy. g. d p grew by 3 percent in the 3rd quarter, and that's far below the official target of around 5.5 percent. factory activity fell for the 2nd straight month in november, hitting a 7 month low. many sectors saw overall profits decline in the 1st 10 months of the year. exports and in ports both unexpectedly declined in october as the 1st civil tenea slump since may 2020 home sales. in the top 4 cities fell more than 30 percent in the 1st 3 weeks of november and car sales, which have been a bright spot for china's economy due to government subsidies are also struggling. while there are now fears that problems caused by locked downs and whitening cove infections could spill into globe markets, to unpack all of this with joins out from hong kong. bye call us casanova, senior economist at asia union bank, pre k. will you be p, carlos? it's good to have you with us. once again, china is 0 coded policy, has not been sufficient to curb infections. china seems intent on persisting with it while the rest of the world opens up. just how costly has it been to china's economy. can china afford to keep on with it 0 cobit policy? the policy is costly on multiple front in terms of g d, p. we estimate that it could have us china about 3 to 5 percent of g d p growth in 2022. so that is a significant amount. by that i mean that in the absence of dynamic 0, cobit, the chinese economy could have grown at a pace of around 8 percent this year. so definitely something to consider. but of course, it's also cost be in terms of social stability and the protests over the weekend with tensions around some locked downs in a few cities boiling over. it shows just how frustrated the population is with not being able to resume their normal lives and go back to work. and lastly, it's very cost the also at the local government level because local governments are taxed with shouldering the cost of all of these regular p c r test. and of course for tier one cities or, or rich provinces. this is an issue, but in smaller parts of the country, it is starting to become unsustainable. given that we have dwindling revenues from the housing like the slum and an increase in inexpensive church as a result of the requirement to do testing. so it's definitely not something that is sustainable going to 2023. now the government has introduced a series of measures to try to prop it slowing economy, including lowering the, the amount of cash that the banks have to hold in reserve. these measures going to be enough to assure up the household and business confidence there in china. well, the market seems to be pricing in some form of recovery, so they are definitely quite instrumental in at least signaling that the direction is correct. on the housing front, we saw 16 measures to support housing demand. they're quite broad base. so they include everything from ensuring that developers of access to working capital to complete the you know, pre sold units that are currently delayed, to allowing local governments to lower down payment requirements. first time homeowners, this whole array of policies that have been put in place on the covert front. of course, there are 20 measures to try to reduce the impact of 0 corporate on the economy. so we are not yet talking about full reopening. we're talking about restricting the impact of 0 coverage on the economy. and so, although both sets of measures constitute a step in the right direction, in our opinion, they will fall short because, you know, this reopening is a process and it will require, it requires for the economy to be reopened for people to be able to move around by houses and, and regain sentiment. so unfortunately, we are not quite there yet, but the measures announcement in the last few weeks. so at any point in the right direction, in the short term, we think they will have to lean on to score monitoring, to try to edge that what impact is all of this having on china's international reputation. and i'm talking in business terms here rather than political times. a lot of multinational companies rely on china for their supply chains and this spells punch potential disruption for them, doesn't it? well there's, there's a long term trend around supply chain relocations out of china for a myriad of reasons, including higher costs you know, and other advantages in other manufacturing centers. the disruptions that many international companies have enjoyed as a result of the recovery. it only accelerates this tendency, and we have seen that very clearly, for example, the joe with the disruptions to the i phone assembly plant run by fox called there . so it is a fact that the industrial companies will have to consider, and i think it is going to weigh heavily on those board meetings when they discuss their china strategies going forward. and what about the chinese economic slowdowns impact upon other economies in the rest of the world global markets? and is there anyone who would see a slow down in china economically as a positive, could it, could it help other nations? or do you think it's something that could spark a general malays across the world? i think the latter, we really need china to reopen and pick up, or we will be in the global recession scenario in 2023. so currently our baseline is that we will experience the region and many other exporters around the world will experience a declining demand from europe, north america, as rising risks, pre sessions, right? start to crystallizing these regions. and so there's this hope that economic reopening in china will be able to pick up some slack from that decline and external demand from develop markets. so we really do hope that china can regain some momentum into next year. of course, judging by the performance of some of the economic indicators this week, q 4 is still going to be very weak. so we are still in the midst of a recession, per se in china. and that is going to continue to add on exports of countries that have exposure to demand. in particular, in asia, we see some downside risks in case it takes longer to reboot the chinese economy. but given the direction that things are taken with authorities being more keen on easing and also reducing some of the restrictions around cobra 0. we do think that it's possible that that demand from china next year is going to help you say, how long it will take to reboot the china chinese economy. what's the timescale we're talking about here? the reopening process is not a point in time. there is no one date and after that, things are going to go back to normal. the reopening process is going to be a gradual theme for the entirety of 2023. and that in else there is going to be 2 a volatility, both in terms of economic performance and of course for market. our understanding is that between now or, or the communist party congress in october until march, which is the national people's congress. it's a critical period in which they will try to reduce the economic impact and shift the narrative around covert they will start to reopen in march. hopefully, if vaccination rates amongst the elderly reach their threshold of 80 percent recovery at 60 percent, so it's still a little bit of a while to go. and also remember that there's 3 months between the 1st and the 2nd dose. in many cases, given the lower efficacy of the sex scenes, you need more than 2 doses to achieve immunity. so we are looking at a protracted process that will take the whole of next year to, to be completed. so it is going to be a gradual affair. always good to talk to you on counting the cost call us when he, thanks and have been with us now just a few years ago, flying cars for the stuff of science fiction to data a number of companies are building electrically powered aircraft, a promise to make journeys faster and cleaner by rising above the traffic terms along the way to launch an air taxi service in paris. it's hope that the campus will be in the skies in time for the 2024 lympics. the tasha butler went for a test flight at a purpose built air terminal on the outskirts of paris, a glimpse at what could be the future of taxi services. the german build follow captures a vertical takeoff and landing drone. the speak enough to carry passengers, either as it will be open to at the full community. any one that wants to take an over to day out. there's no reason why they shouldn't contemplate taking am a velocity across the cross and urban urban landscape or across a city forum to, to get from a to be a lot quicker. paras transport officials plan to have to operational follow up to routes for the 2024 olympics as the air craft a fully electric and quieter than a helicopter. they say that then ecological alternative to fuel powered vehicles. pool is certainly very comfortable and spacious. here at the moment, there is room for a passenger and a pilot bought the manufacturer, but follicle de says that in the future this service could be pilot freely. several cities in the world are testing, similar aircraft, has competition steps up in a potentially multi $1000000000.00 market. once we have started a mass production, it will be definitely available for everyone. and so also the affairs will go down over time and we will definitely see it all over the world for now. fairs are expected to be around a 100 u. s. dollars for a short ride. a price few ordinary people could afford. yes, i would say so in twentyish market, of course you always have some rich people wanting to saving some time, but i think it will be the over of for more of their taxi. definitely. it's for a target like this of customers. it's unlikely that flying taxis will replace regular cabs any time soon. but in a city where heavy traffic is common, some will certainly welcome the chance to skip the bottle legs on the ground to gain precious time in the air. time for us to fly, that's i'll show for this week. if you'd like to comment on anything that you've seen, you can tweet me. i'm at a finnegan on twitter. try to remember the hash tag a j c t c. when you do tweet us, you can drop us a line counting the cost of al jazeera dot net is our email address. as always, as plenty more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash ctc, that takes you straight to our page, and then you'll find individual reports links at in time episodes to catch up one. but that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm adrian finnegan for the whole team here. thanks for being with us. the news on al jazeera is next ah ah ah, to inculcate a culture of knowledge, openness and pluralism, world wide had to reward merit and excellence and encourage creativity. the shea come out award for translation and international understanding was founded to promote translation and honor translators, and acknowledged a road and strengthening the bonds of friendship and co operation between arab islamic and wild coaches. after more than 2 weeks of intense competition, where now down to the final 8 we've witnessed and 5 meg upset, but many of the world's top teams still remain pattern 2022 on al jazeera ah peruse president pedro castillo is out impeached and arrested after trying to dissolve the nation's congress. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is al jazeera life and dough also coming up. please carry out an operation across germany to foil a plot to overthrow the government. russia vladimir putin has been talking tough warning. the threat of using nuclear weapons is still an option of the ongoing war in ukraine. and the u. k. border force announces a work,