I think both within the party and within South Africa more broadly as people consider opposer to be a breath of fresh air which I guess might become a liability because people are expecting a great many changes from him very quickly and might become disappointed if he doesn't deliver on that soon unemployment remains a big problem in South Africa how can see around the parties that address that well somehow in the next week he needs to solve this knotty problem Jacob Zuma left him by promising free to Sri education which the economy simply can't afford he needs to do that without dismantling what small little steps we've taken towards a national health insurance scheme which also comes from the Zuma era and at the same time he needs to at least placate those who have bought into the Zoomer a trick of radical economic transformation the side there that we need a 2nd revolution this time an economic one in South Africa in needs to do that in an environment where tax revenue is not bringing in the kind of numbers that are required with the tax service itself is dysfunctional where foreign confidence and foreign investment is not looking particularly bright the commodity prices are not playing in his favor and we're about Hof the country has now been declared at Drax disaster zone so I would say he needs pretty much a miracle where do we go with the possible prosecutions surrounding President Zuma is involvement with the group as we've seen already the group to family home has been raided and an arrest has been made what do we expect to see there there's a great deal of movement happening at the moment which is amazing in and of itself after literally years of inactivity by police and prosecutors none of those striking directly at President Jacob Zuma yet of course his son to design it was very closely associated with the corruptors and they dealings so we might see a family link there but we don't yet know if it will involve presidential. Zuma himself at the same time the older more historic corruption allegations against him are up for a prosecution decision now that will happen in the next couple of weeks those historic allegations relate to as many as 700 counts of corruption I believe relating to a $2000000000.00 deal much of it is centered in the arms deal and that's really been what's been haunting President Jacob Zuma we know that he was unable to manage his affairs and that he was effectively a kept man with his balls being paid by other people but he may be facing these charges of corruption relating to the arms deal they may then be further charges of corruption in terms of his dealings with business people in general and that's not counting the state capture allegations which he sits at the heart of journalist Philip Devitt speaking to me from Johannesburg Alexis what do you make of the change in leadership in South Africa do you think it will be enough to turn things around there I mean I think it's certainly a good thing that happened and that you know followed weeks of protests of people were asking him to step aside and so I was there think it's a positive development that but again I would sort of have the same concern like if he was the deputy president is it just going to be a sort of a repeat of the last administration right and David corruption is something that President Xi Jinping has also valid to fight against in China as we heard similar ram oppose a promising to do in South Africa has President Xi Jinping had much success on that front. Well that's interesting you should mention that because the South African situation sort of parallels the Chinese one in many ways too it's very much kleptocratic you have a small group of all the guards like everywhere else in the world. The relatives and sons and daughters of the leading families are often you know the beneficiaries of this and yeah I see a lot of similarities here and I see some of the same similarities with. You know trying to correct these corruption problems in a situation where you have a economy in flux and you also have high economic inequality and a public that is very much not in the mood to keep the same people in so you know there are there are a lot of comparisons of what she is doing right now and what what's happening in South Africa just quickly has the South Africa leadership change had much coverage in China I wonder because we know China has a lot of involvement in Africa the political changes they have followed very closely indeed this is a huge issue that China in Africa is one of the big stories of the 21st century in a minute we can talk about the spring t.v. Festival gala that had a huge African component to it but yes indeed South Africa China Africa in general is the recipient of huge amounts of Chinese infrastructure development and South Africa in particular is a big point of concentration for the for the Chinese government so what happens now will be very important to China Africa relations to China South Africa relations and yeah this is a very important development All right thanks both for that you know with business matters on the baby say Well at 7 let's get a reminder of the top headlines for this hour with say McDonald's a day off to 17 people were killed in a school shooting u.s. Democrats have criticized President Trump for refusing to discuss gun legislation the president reacted to the Florida killings by saying School Safety and. Mental health issues would be his top priority a report in the u.s. Says the former White House advisor Steve Bannon has how did intensive discussions with the special counsel looking into alleged Russian meddling in American elections people in Burundi say they are being forced to register to vote in a forthcoming referendum on a new constitution and Washington says there have been productive talks in Ankara between the Turkish president and the u.s. Secretary of state thanks. Listening to business mashes on the b.b.c. Well the service coming out more stories from around the globe Australia's prime minister Ban sex between senior politicians and their staff it's completely inside and he's going to Mike this ridiculous announcement of a totally ungovernable non-police the ball standard which traditionally conservative governments have never been able to mind it always comes back to bite them and how's this for a journey to work I used to work as often as I can my job can be quite tough to work playing it helps me fresh mind you know I would say I come up with the best thoughts while I'm out ice skating That's all coming up. Business loved certainty it opens that if you're a company boss then you have a clear idea what's coming down the line for ministers for example then you can make plans and invest for the future with some sort of confidence certainty though is in short supply in the talks so far over BRICs that last week the chief negotiator Michel Barnier made clear that Bracks that would have implications for the border between the north and south of the island once again it is a doctrine that is important to turn to try. Decision to leave the single market and to leave the Customs Union would make border shikse an avoidable. My colleague Mike Johnson has been discussing the latest developments with one of our regular commentators the British pro Brecht that economist Roger Bootle and 1st Vince Cable a former chief economist at the oil giant Shell and economic adviser to the World Bank he's now leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat Party in Britain and he campaigned against Brecht that so does the British government really want to leave the European single market one of the underlying problems is that there is a fundamental division within the Cabinet there are some numbers of the cabinet and indeed of the Conservative party who were submitted to remain very close to the single market because they see the benefits of the clean financial services sector but more generally and others who produce a more political reasons wants us to get as far away as possible and that's accounts for this language around diverges and convert do you think would be best then what sort of model I mean I know you're a reminder at heart you don't want to use a hard time and I think that potentially facing such a mess I mean I think a lot of the remain as would have accepted Bracks it's if it's had been done in a more pragmatic way and if the government said well we don't want to leave the European Union the public votes it'll be it narrowly because we don't write the political bits of it but we want to stay within the single market Customs Union I think that would have been a kind of national settlement around that I don't accept it's inevitable and indeed there is a growing evidence from the polling that's been growing majority of people would like to have a vote on the final deal but no I think to leave the Customs Union in particular is a very retrograde and damaging step repeat what about your preferred model a Canada style trade deal is a kind of fallback plan if all these arguments continue no sort of resolution can be found I don't believe in full backs I do agree with a very might have to do I do though no I do agree with the Vince that the government hasn't conducted itself in the best possible way nothing. Absolutely right Britain's position on this so I have some sympathy for Continental negotiators the Brits are pretty government's position is hunt clear and divided there I agree with him but beyond that I don't agree with him how you can vote to leave the European Union and somehow or other think you should stay in the single market and the Customs Union I think that's pure baloney if you vote to leave the European Union you're voting to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market that's the heartbreaks it it's a real bricks it that's what it's all about but economically what and what would that actually look like what would it be would it be along the lines of a Canada deal would it be to reason makes preferred bespoke arrangements combining the best of being inside and outside the thing what what would it look like I think the reason Mays ambition was a perfectly reasonable one and if it were to be achievable I think the great worry is that's not quite frankly in the sights of the e.u. Negotiators they want to punish Britain we're dealing with a malevolent bureaucracy that wants to inflict pain on Britain it's not in their interest by the way the interests of both the e.u. And the u.k. Lyonnesse forging exactly what Tories amazed talked about a very close free trading relationship it's nonsensical to say they just want to punish the British that they've made it very clear really from the outset that you know the phrase you can't have your cake and eat it you've been a member of the club and paid dues and you know you rather remember and you subscribe to the rules or you don't are snaps not punishment in any close organization is bound to have that but I fundamentally disagree with Roger on this idea that leaving the European Union necessarily involves pulling out of the single market the Customs Union no way amongst other countries is in the single market it's not in the European Union Turkey has a customs union it's not a member of the European Union has no prospect of being here I had we gone from. More pragmatic and less disruptive options I think there would be much more national consensus and support what about this issue of the land border with Ireland Michelle Obama I brought this up recently didn't he as as a break Zia I'm sure you've thought about how the problem is going to be resolved if the u.k. Leaves the e.u. All null and it's a difficult situation there's no doubt about it and I think the solution will be in its way messy but frankly the arrangements for the Hollande the been messy since 1923 and we've managed to make it work frankly the e.u. Is using this it's manipulating the u.k. Is manipulating the Irish issue in order to get what it wants the people who are concerned about the Irish really Arash they are potentially the biggest losers of the other European Union countries they're desperately concerned that the relative peace that's come to our lands for the Good Friday Agreement could be destabilized the Irish don't see an easy solution to this they desperately want one they don't want a confrontation with with the u.k. And their problems are very very real and they're both political and economic savings cable nadir of the Liberal Democrat Party here in Britain and Roger Bootle of Capital Economics. Now I use Snap Chat user it's so you could be among those unhappy with recent design changes to the social media platform the update separates posts by use of friends from posts made by celebrities and brands snap chat founder and c.e.o. Of parent company Snap Evan Spiegel says blurring the 2 had contributed to the rise of fake knees but 1000000 snapchat uses so strongly opposed to the change that signed a petition calling for it to be reversed we spoke to 2 lawyers snap is as then owing to their 2 year old read from Oregon in the us and James $26.00 from was done in the u.k. So what did I think I used snap chat I stream video games and I use that as a way to communicate with a lot of my followers and unfortunately since the f.a.a. It seems like it's so much more difficult to try and find someone's story on snap chat and it's just frustrating and I feel like it's just taking away from the social aspect and making it more that is I can guarantee that people are just not going to go into the news in the details and instead they're just going to talk to their friends tell other of the updates for us with the best interest after is that you can access the fun stories really quickly and easily and all that just lost the order and gone to pot a whole see things properly and there's a lot more a person on there as well and it's so hard to see my friends become a copy without message probably a month ago and then all the time what they are to really go on stop shop can use a search for want to go public the use of the medium for Twitter a link then for stuff charm just really focused on seeing my friends what I want to see on. The part of the market watch and watch Friends stories and stocking up in between all. Now thanks to red and James Well Ben Pa is an author and technology commentator at Ai and he told me so there's a couple of things here one generally users of social products don't like massive changes we've seen this before with Facebook when they introduce the new suite or make major changes it becomes an issue that caused an uproar and a secondary thing is a kind of really changes the course Knapp experience is really about the messaging and it's really about the stories and now it's kind of like all a jumbled mess and when you combine those things together of course you're going to make people angry the question is whether or not snap will change it back afterwards why did not make these changes in the 1st place snap has been having problems with user engagement so it hasn't been growing as quickly as the markets would want to and it's been having trouble getting people to adopt some of its new features like snap maps or even grow stories messaging is the thing that's growing but that's one of the hardest things to monetize and so I haven't Spiegel the c.e.o. To his credit is trying different things to increase and gauge when and to increase users this is one of those kinds of things but I don't think they expected this kind of backlash with a 1000000 people saying they wanted to scrap the update under these chains eases to 3 and interact with their friends post sense what right does the branded and the Liberty content do you think underestimated how much people actually enjoy following celebrities as part of their main fade with their friends absolutely there's a lot of this thing called the Paris social relationship that people have with the favorite celebrities one of the big things about Snap is you can go and have a conversation with d.j. Khalid or you can see what Rianne are what your favorite artists are doing and it's a big part of the experience splitting it up is really does change the experience you know from some people it's probably a good thing but apparently for a lot of the users who really like consuming the content it makes it more difficult because they had to swipe left in the neck to swipe right again and. It makes it more difficult this isn't the 1st time we've seen a social media platform face backlash over a redesign though I remember Instagram uses were upset when that platform changed the order in which uses woodsy part but I don't think Instagram last many uses either that change and really I don't think that will either will they I doubt it too people tend to stick with their products and platforms where their friends are that's the number one thing these millions of people hundreds of millions of people are using snap every day that's not going to change that kind of change is not going to like ultimately destroy the product and possibly came to me there from New York Alexis Firstly us not Paul not really my brother has tried to get me to use and I very rarely use the I opened it up for this segment and I was like it looks the same to me. Do you think it's not chat and other social media platforms they find themselves in a difficult position when they come to changing or updating their product because people spend so much time on them they feel so attached to them and they don't like change No absolutely and I'm one of those people I mean I'm just a big Twitter user and every time they change the interface or every time they get a new feature I'm one of those people tweeting about how much I hate it I saw a tweet on Twitter that I thought was pretty funny where someone was saying at the headquarters of any app the 1st thing they say in the morning is let's get started the 1st and only item on our agenda is how do we make this that worse and I just think that any kind of change is really disruptive to people who you know become accustomed to a certain thing maybe it's chronological maybe it's you know celebrities are together with your friends but yeah I say that change is about thing David how about you Are you a snapshot. No I'm I'm I'm like Alexis probably even worse if you want if you want someone to comment on that you need to get my daughter. What about this idea of Snap Chat needs is not liking the celebrity content being taken away from oh moved away from them just lately Well sure I can certainly imagine that especially when it was sort of lumped in with your you know your your other feed with your other friends of mine. I feel like it's all part of the same same world I guess I guess the problem is these things become a space that should begin to feel like home and if you if you open it up and it's all different feels like someone has come into your room in a rearranged your desk and of and of course you know it can work it could probably be better your task is probably the most optimal read through can possibly be but you're used to it is the issue so we resist these changes because they are the best software as my father said is the software that you are currently using So that's that's the problem there we go David Alexis thank you very much back with more business mashes in a moment. This is the b.b.c. World Service where nowhere minding the gallop they always say what they say is the right thing forget it but they don't. Have to listen to me 1st for the younger generation in China things are very different in the lives that parents have left you don't have to rely on Larry established sister while parents can find it difficult to relate to their children's more material and individualistic lives to this point too much money something not so necessary pining Lou brings us the real life stories behind decades of change exploiting others for flounder differences between generations and how that is changing the. Relations between Israel in Chinese families. And Generation again. Why do you look at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash documentaries. You're listening to business matters from the baby thing well it's with may be end you know coming up in the next half hour we'll hear from Australia where the prime minister has banned sex between ministers and their stuff we'll get the view from Melbourne also how do you manage your commute in winter we'll hear what some workers do instead wade in and comments from our guest David Moyes there in Beijing and Alexis Goldstein in Washington b.b.c. News a day off to 17 people were killed in a school shooting us Democrats have criticized President Trump and the Republican speaker of the House Paul Ryan for refusing to discuss gun legislation the president reacted to the Florida killings by saying School Safety and mental health issues would be a top priority Donald Trump's former special adviser Steve Bannon has been interviewed on 2 separate days this week but the special counsel leading an investigation into Russian meddling in the u.s. Elections has reported that Mr Bannon spent around 20 yards in conversation with Robert Muller's teen the u.s. Senate has rejected a bipartisan bill that would have extended protection to the so-called Dreamers undocumented immigrants who arrived in the u.s. As children 3 other proposals on the dreamers one of which was championed by the president were also voted down people in Burundi say they're being denied access to medical services if they do not have voters cards others report being dragged off public transport and beaten by members of the youth wing of the governing party. Washington says there have been productive talks in Ancram between the Turkish president and the u.s. Secretary of state Turkey wants an end to American support for Kurdish fighters in Syria while Washington is urging on Korea to limit its incursion into northern Syria Colombia's defense ministers as an increasing number of Venezuelans are taking part in attacks by Colombia's in and rebels the minister said he and his Venezuelan counterpart had agreed to meet to coordinate security plans the Brazilian president has signed a decree sending emergency resources to the Frontino with Venezuela he said health and education services in the state of Reimer were unable to cope with the huge influx of thousands of people migrating across the border b.b.c. News. Welcome back to business matters I'm Vivian Ernest And I'm joined by my guests Alexis Goldstein in Washington and David Moyes in. Let's turn to Australia now where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced that he's. Banning government ministers from having sex with their political staff as he is speaking at Parliament House in Canberra ministers regardless of whether they are married or single must not engage in sexual relations with their staff doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I'm making this chimes and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others and especially their staff the staff and other ministers or members of the Australian public service with integrity and respect. Well Mr Chambliss decision to make these changes to the ministerial code of conduct comes as he's deputy prime minister bonobo Joyce the leader of coalition partners the National Party comes under growing pressure to resign it's been revealed Mr Joyce had an affair with his former press secretary Vicky Campion for more on this I spoke to Guardian Australia columnist than bad and so what does she think of Malcolm Turnbull's new ban Well I've got to say I'm somewhat underwhelmed I mean this is the typical pattern with conservative governments like Malcolm Turnbull's in Australia that there's a scandal exists in a political context that they're finding inconvenient so we get a big announcement about a ministerial code of conduct that will suddenly solve all of these problems because people will just start behaving better there are no consequences there are no actions and we just keep pressing the way that we've continued to go on and this is just the way that it's always been under the Howard Government which was cause very long lasting conservative government in this trial when we used to fine people particularly helping themselves to the travel pool and you know all kinds of scandals involving conflicts of interest there would be a big announcement that the new ministerial code of conduct and the play would just keep going what's different in this case of course is that in this trial where not a country for having 6 scandals your private life is your private lives but of course that contract ripped up when this particular conservative government decided to go to war on the issue of marriage equality like many countries we had a huge activist groundswell around that issue the support of the public was one but you had the very conservative rump of the ruling the bill National Party Coalition decide that this was a step too far the governmental commission had been given to absolutely judge the quality of people's intimate relationships in their personal laws and so Mr Turnbull's real. Action today is has been to announce this ban on ministers having sex with their doctors but I suppose the obvious question there is how can Mr Turnbull possibly expect that to be policed well it's completely inside and that's really the problem that he has at the moment so he's going to make this ridiculous announcement of a totally ungovernable norm police the ball you know new ministerial standards which traditionally conservative governments have never been able to mine time whenever they go on the sort of ethics crew side it always comes back to bite them I mean I've worked in Canberra myself in like many centers of government I imagine it's a place where lots of people work long hours and the lines between work and socialising are sometimes blurred I mean is a ban like this really going to stop anybody having these sorts of relationships if they want to well I think you know people certainly on Turnbull enjoys the sort of politics will indulge these relationships at their own peril at this point now that so much attention has been drawn to these particular scenarios but of course let's be realistic way out olds and things happen and relationships break down Long distance relationships are very difficult to maintain you know the Parliament House itself is literally built as a bunker the could survive anything and what that does to the internal culture of course is Mike it very internal you know you are completely cut off from the rest of your social reality when you go to Canberra and particularly if you're engaging in the shenanigans of Polman House and the idea that we can just turn around and go are well there shalt not feel any attraction there shalt not make decisions about your own adult relationships in your own adult law of like is ridiculous I mean of course this government should be coming down very heavily on abuses of power on anything that looks like harassment sexual misconduct or coercion but when you have consenting adults acting on adult impulses I don't know why you would want to try and police that columnist than bad I'm speaking to me from Melbourne and Alexis what do you think about all this then do you think relationships should ever be banned between stuff. Well I think between staff it's different if it's between like the actual member of parliament and the staff or I think that's obviously like a different power imbalance and I don't know what the sort of typical age of a staffer in Australia is like at least here in the States it's typically pretty young and that's why we've sort of had a different problem here with around sexual harassment very explicitly and the u.s. Government is sort of trying to contend with a problem related to that like how do they police that what are the consequences for that how do you know they make a process by which people can actually report it in a way that safe which is not something that exists in the us today so no like if it is to truly consenting adults who both have like an equal amount of power like how do you police but I don't think you can and I don't think you should but anytime there's a power imbalance I do think it's at least good to have some guidelines in place yet David I mean policing this is such a big issue isn't it it really Company police cannot. Well it can be I suppose if they give it the force of law I think the problem here and I agree with everything that Alexis says about the us difference but I think one of the problems is that in the world in our in our current President Trump is is a sort of catalyst for a lot of this is that a lot of things happened in the old days by norms not laws or rules just simply norms that we agreed on and it was you didn't need to to make an explicit rule and nowadays Nowadays politicians are and and just people in government in general are sort of violating those norms and norms that were that were there for a reason you know at least at least a sort of an invisible line that that would be crossed with your peril and I think that's part of the problem with all this now they're trying to specify and put and put something into law which is heretofore been merely a matter of convention and then there's the other thing I would mention which is in the private sector this is done all the time of course I've worked for at least 2 companies that explicitly in the contract said you know no romantic relationships with anyone in the office or subservient to you you can do that in the private sector but in the government it's a it's a problematic issue Alexis Eastaway in banking Did you ever see any guidelines like that any bands of relationships between stuff Absolutely and it was also something that we were like heavily trained in like every year you had to click through the sort of training where you were presented with different scenarios and sort of evaluate whether or not it was it was all about harassment mostly but also inappropriate relationships and so people it was very much something that they focused on and tried to prevent And but I will say that it was the byproduct of many many lawsuits sex discrimination lawsuits where the banks paid millions of dollars so it's not the thing I think they did you know out of the goodness of their heart and started to cause the money and they were like All right we need to have some formalized procedures about how to deal with this but with a prestigious. About reporting abusive relationships as opposed to just advising people not to have consenting relationships that old. Yeah I guess that is an important clarification it was it was both about reporting abuse and about how not to abuse your fellow colleagues but no I don't know now that you mention it I think there was certainly bans between superiors and their employees I think that in and of itself if someone is a superior and they try to pursue a subordinate it's sexual harassment regardless if it is consensual or not I believe in the banks that I was at all on the other hand David I mean Mr Temple in Australia is in a very precarious position politically he can't afford to have any more scandals like this one so he needs to keep his minister is in line could this kind of band be the right way to do that of the band is a right way of appearing to do something to fix the problem and that's the way these things usually usually work I think he's trying to you know diffuse the scandal and give people the impression that we're on top of it we're going to pass a law which will fix it and of course as we've been saying it's not going to fix it this is going to cause it to go underground people or people in the romance is going to happen and you know frankly you know sexual harassment is going to keep happening to I think we're the new era now are really where these things are the me to where are these things are now no longer sort of politely sort of left off the table or unspoken in polite conversation it's now explicit it's in the open people got to find ways to deal with it and we're not quite sure how we want to approach this that draws a fine line between personal privacy and freedoms and you know workplace and and you know legal relations in the world in the workplace. Staying with you David in China it's Chinese media just about I think have you seen many celebrations taking place yet all of that still preparation marred. Ok yeah it's a big big change of topic here yes the Chinese New Year is on us I made it to the bay to the b.b.c. Studio here in about 10 minutes by taxi and it usually takes 45 so that gives you a sense of how you know empty the streets are this is the 1st spring festival after she Jinping is 1000th part of Congress and it's very much a reflex she's personality and his micromanaging of the economy we have a very transformed Beijing at least in all of China at least 1000000 rural residents have been either of forced out or of strongly cores to leave the city with their housing torn down demolished or their or their means of occupation being banned so it's the streets are very much more quiet some of the more interesting places are gone have been torn down there are no fireworks within the within the prescribed limits of the interior city there used to be used to look like World War 3 here around this time of year and now it's been really quiet in the streets people are not allowed to set off fireworks which And in China that invented fireworks and it's been such a big part of the New Year's that's a huge sort of change culturally was that controversial and people get angry about that very controversial they've tried to do this for the past 10 years or more with varying degrees of success most people ignore it it's not a country that really tends to law that much but under siege and ping this is a very very tightly controlled country now and it is a radical departure from from the past and the spring festival although having all the trappings of the usual Chinese New Year on the surface and of course very hyper commercialized. Very much happening in cyberspace these days it's also a very much more orderly much more sort of tepid much more conservative reined in kind of celebration with not the kind of messy excess corruption has caused there to be much much fewer huge banquets and use of state funds to celebrate the festival so a lot of the festivities of gone because of that and I could go on and on with this is this is very much she she did pings of personality and his affect on the economy and culture at large is very much in evidence here I was interested in something you mentioned earlier when we were talking about China's involvement in Africa and that's something that's been reflected in the theater Chinese media celebrations in a gala That's right the the annual Spring Festival gala on Chinese Central Television is usually watched by virtually every everyone in China and in the Chinese diaspora so it's usually seen by at least your t.v. Show watched by a 1000000000 or more people so it's a very very highly vetted and very very tightly controlled and this year they had a very controversial skit comedy skit involving Africa and. Controversial because I won't I can't scribe it in detail but it was basically set in Kenya supposedly and it featured Africans on the stage dancing with with the you know tribal costumes and drums which right away of course was a little bit uncomfortable but the basic essence of the skit had to do with Chinese with Chinese infrastructure in South Africa and the and there was a sort of a. The protagonists in the drawer in the skit were a Chinese. Chinese man who was the project. The African woman who was engaged to a Chinese man and a Chinese quote unquote Chinese mother who was very much interested in getting her daughter married off and the Chinese mother was played in blackface by a Chinese actress I mean the African mother sorry was played in blackface by a Chinese actress Ok so there were lots of uncomfortable overtones and the Chinese mother I'm sorry keeps saying the Chinese mother the African mother being played by a Chinese at one point shouted out Oh I now understand the misunderstanding it doesn't matter we love China China is great we all so much to China right and it was this sequence sort of sort of adulation of how wonderful China and Africa and you get Google it online you'll see a lot of uncomfortable comments about this skit that well that does sound something of a coach or a minefield but thank you for that David and Alexis let's get a recap of the business matters headlines his semen Gomery the newly elected president of South Africa several ram opposed has been sworn in shortly after his unopposed election in the South African parliament Mr on the poses said fighting corruption would be one of his priorities the u.s. Senate has rejected a bipartisan bill that would have extended protection to the so-called Dreamers undocumented immigrants who arrived in the u.s. As children it leaves the young immigrants nearly 2000000 a number in limbo and at risk of deportation the Brazilian president Michelle Turner has signed a decree sending emergency resources to the from tier with Venezuela to deal with the huge influx of people migrating across the border fleeing a deep economic crisis Mr Thomas said health and education services in this state. To provide we're overstretched after the arrival of an estimated $40000.00 migrants . It's that time of the hour where we check in with one of our reporters in Asia now we've already been speaking about Australia a little bit today we're joined by the B.B.C.'s boom in Sydney Phil we touched in our discussion earlier about Bonnie b. Joyce's position now given the scandal that's taking place there how safe is he as deputy pm and leader of the Nationals Well I think he's got at least another week to enjoy those titles given that he's going on holiday when ordinarily he would become Australia's stand in Prime Minister because the pm outcome Turnbull is going overseas convention is that his deputy he'll she would take over because of this scandal Barnaby Joyce is taking that holiday and all this really has served to prove that the government's message of its economic and social reforms for example Vivian have simply got lost in all the noise about this scandal involving Barnaby Joyce So I think he's sorry for a bit but in the long term it does look a bit perilous for him meantime as well there's another big story taking place in Australia and that's the Royal Commission into the banking industry this was something the government was really dragged to kicking and screaming wasn't the commission but it is taking place in Melbourne what have we learned so far. Well having a go criticising the banks is a bit of a national sports here in Australia it's hard to find too many account holders who aren't angry at some sort of fee or charge but if you dig a bit deeper by the big 4 banks in Australia have been accused of quite a serious breach of trust and that's what this royal commission its Australia's highest form of inquiry is investigating over the next 12 months or so this inquiry is examining misconduct by the banks and other financial institutions looking at dodgy financial advice we know the Commonwealth Bank customers many of them lost huge amounts of money because of bad advice by financial planners they've been dodgy mortgages alleged breaches of money laundering laws too and you're absolutely right the center right governments of Malcolm Turnbull didn't want this inquiry but really it has been forced into letting it go ahead and Mr Turnbull says that this royal commission is needed to restore confidence in the banking sector which is hugely profitable and finance is Australia's biggest industry so this is a royal commission that really does matter just finally feel I'm interested to hear what your answer is to this question because China has stopped importing waste from all around the world what's the straightly doing about that. Well it's worrying what it's going to do with mountains of ways that ordinarily would sell on to China China has been the biggest buyer of all the waste taking $600000.00 tons of recyclable items each year because of that ban from China various companies in the author it is here in Australia scratching their heads waters are they going to do where is that waste going to go at the moment Australia through their avenues does export waste to Indonesia Malaysia Korea and of course to China if it can't find more overseas markets it will have to deal with it at home but it's not all doom and gloom there are members of the industry here in Australia who see this is an opportunity for Australia to deal with its own waste and create more of a circular economy so that it doesn't throw out as many things as it has in the past and that could be great environmental and economic benefits although at the moment that ban in China is causing some concern you know I think Australia isn't the only country grappling with that question of what to do with its waste following that Bama thank you film in Sydney. Now temperatures in Northern Europe have plummeted in recent weeks causing some of the region's roads and railways to grind to a halt in parts of Sweden though I'm more used to heavy snow and ice many commuters embrace the winter weather they abandon more conventional modes of transport to cross country ski or even ice skate to work instead in following about 225 kilometers north of Stockholm a team of volunteers plows around 50 kilometers of track a day to help people take short cuts across the towns like many thought it went to take a look. It's minus $22.00 degrees Celsius minus 8 Fahrenheit the kind of weather where you really can't feel your hands unless you've got gloves on the sun's just come up it's giving a pinkish huge to the sky snow is piled up at the sides of the roads on the streets wooden houses in red yellow blue and they scream on. A welcome. So my name is David Alan some I use I skate to work as often as I can one of the biggest reason which also house we live in now is because it is close to the lake and we can use the trucks to get to work really fast if I didn't I was scared to work I would go by car probably people scratched the windows and you take away the snow you sit down in the car which is cold within the traffic and isto that I can go off an hour on the lake almost every morning for 4 months of the year he zips himself into layers of waterproof clothing and topped off by 2 thin hands the helmet and of course his new Dick ice skates which are $48.00 centimeters long. But then it's a 3 and a half kilometer journey to the hotel where he works in there he usually stretches it out into a 10 kilometer workout. My job can be quite tough while I was going to work I think it helped. Me and just me a fresh mind you know when you working out and their friends are rising and I would say I come up with the best thoughts while I'm out ice skating. David's commute is made possible by a team of 12 volunteers supported by the local council they use plows and tractors to clear snow from more than 50 kilometers of tracks around the area My name is Christiane from ductile and I'm head of the organization for the skating here but I actually started with a guy that made a track for his wife to get a shortcut to a job more and more people were starting to use Star Trek I'm only came on the idea Ok maybe people like this why do you do it we just love it you know when you're out here and here you get this nature feeling this crisply cold it's just exciting. He estimates that only around 20 people regularly use the tracks to get to the office but thousands of locals the week click on their skates in this 5th time and even during the working day you have a lot of business meetings on your team building activities so everyone is benefiting from it I'm now on my way to meet to see the alien tech from the region's tourist office which has also recorded a spike in both Swedish and international visitors keen to try out the tracks for fun yeah it has become like an new product experience for example some of the hotels they have a lot of guests during summer time and now they can be open also during winter the hotel where ice skating commuter David Allen son works is a prime example he's welcoming hundreds of global tourists and business travelers this month many from the Netherlands and Germany who are desperate to experience the Nordic outdoor lifestyle. I'm sure that more people than me could go ice skating if they just made the effort and if I could inspire more people I know for sure they would have a better day as well it is clear that David's passion for ice skating isn't just a commercial venture but a way of life he wants to spread the word about. Maddy Savidge reporting in Sweden that David you are in Beijing which is pretty cold I think but what about places like have been in the north of China to people I skate to what then do you think. I don't think so although there are some some people I've heard of use of sometimes like just to ski. I think the problem is that there's just not enough open space this is too much traffic it's be impossible to do to do that safely in Beijing I unfortunately am stuck with the taxi but I see a lot of people are using these what do you call them these little scooters that are self-propelled and even know the name for the ride of theirs maybe you put you know Boss Yeah it was those things yeah those things are getting more and more popular because they're there you know it's like ice skating is about that fast or not maybe not quite that fast but it's. A way to zip in and out of traffic so easily storable and the other thing I suppose he realizes the huge bike sharing industry that we have here now is revolutionized commuting and made it much messier in hard to negotiate but I bring my laptop and try to work in the back seat that's all you can do and it's not something you just do when it's cold in winter or do you always take a taxi. I live way too far away Beijing is a very big places like Los Angeles but but with you know 5 times as many people so yeah it is too far away for ice skating wouldn't work skating wouldn't work I'm looking forward to the to the future when helicopters will be more common or at Alexis what about you would you be interested in skating to the studio in Washington I would love to we don't really get enough ice that. Virtually I do much more boring things like walk the bus. Or yeah I would tell you I skated like a David he said the streets a pretty empty in Beijing at the moment is anyone taking advantage of that to do things they might not otherwise on the Reuter's it is that when you say empty the main just not quite so many cars as normal and not quite so many cars as normal but for us that feels like empty I thought there's a lot there's a huge ex-pat community here and a lot of the usual ex-pat haunts are still open for the Chinese New Year so I guess the few of us who are left here are having a great time in a living in a city that is suddenly you know feels much more like a home feels much more like the city should feel it's amazing it's great well happy Chinese media both Alexis Goldstein in Washington and David Moyes are in Beijing thank you so much for joining us on the program today to join us again you've been listening to business matches on the baby say well service with me. By phone now. This is the b.b.c. World Service Now here's Lawrence pollarded to tell you about the next World Cup We're reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno It's the story of a young boy growing up with his comedy can see Sest with science fiction continually falling hopelessly in love and dealing with the switches to. His generation. World with the general d.s. I just March. And in half an hour on assignments. Party the international pop stars in Ukraine the office block near London and the sky high ambitions of a disgraced ex-president the onset of requests for money laundering scheme how did it work find out in assignment that stopped at the new strain on the b.b.c. World Service radio station. It's 2 o'clock g.m.t. On Jackie learned this is the news room from the b.b.c. World Service and evening vigils been held in Florida a day after 17 people were killed in a school shooting amid the sorrow calls for tighter gun control we must hold other people. Out of. The former White House special adviser Steve Bannon has refused to answer key questions at a congressional hearing he had been instructed by the White House to invoke executive privilege on behalf of the president the breast of that claim is breathtaking and insupportable in a surprise move the Supreme Court in El Salvador has commuted a 30 year prison sentence for a woman jailed under strict abortion laws also in the program. Our man in Pyongyang Chang reports on the cheerleaders from North Korea those stories on The Newsroom. Hello I'm Justin Green with the b.b.c. News a day after 17 people were killed in a school shooting us Democrats have criticized President Trump on the Republican speaker of the House Paul Ryan for refusing to discuss gun legislation Mr Trump said school safety would be his top priority but failed to address calls from Congress for a review of gun laws the Democratic leader of the House Nancy Pelosi said it was yet another tragedy that could have been prevented 17 announced dead more wounded innocent children turning terrified texture and goodbyes to their parents be thank God for the heroism of the teachers the school leaders and our 1st responders running into harm's way to save them.