And also marking the one hundredth anniversary of the firth of Nelson Mandela exposing what mandela is vision was for the country well have more on this and the aljazeera news hour and half an hour to stay with us here. And the difference. And the similarities and cultures of the. Aljazeera. Hello im sam is a than this is counting the cost and ill just sirrah your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week oil hits its highest level since two thousand and fourteen we look at whats behind the rise of black gold. Also this week anger over all sterritt see we examine the economic reasons for the protests in tunisia and its all about china for a man who micron has been pushing for greater access for French Companies. Oil has hit seventeen dollars a barrel for the First Time Since two thousand and fourteen brant crude jumped after opec said it would continue to limit supplies the organization of course accounts for forty percent of the worlds output or joining me from london is name aslam dane is the chief market analyst with london based think markets good to have you with us so whats driving prices up. There are three major factors number one supplier cut we all know that number two stay billet in the demand but here is the most important one which is the here in rest is cannot underestimate the importance of. I. P. O. Because the entire reason saudi arabia is behind the price stability is mainly because of this i. P. O. The one of the biggest i. P. O. Which is going to hit the entire globe and i think because of that we have seen that supply occurred and the consistency of the supply throughout their. Supply her decision or a given getting that done is the most let me point is this is a trend that is going to continue i think it is highly likely to continue i think that the price could continue certainly to the upside why because i think there is a stay billet he in terms of a demand especially the chinese demand if you look at the growth for the chinese demand for two thousand and seventeen we have seen ten percent growth nearly over eight million barrel per day that is literally what the demand is from china be able to chinas economy or Economic Growth is still growing but its supposed to be slowing down thats not going to impact the situation with all prices i think the entire geo political stability and the massive growth sentiment that we have throughout the wall i think that is also pumping this sentiment and that that is also pumping this concept that ok we have a more stable grounds and then the growth will continue and on the back of this growth of the price stability would also help the price of oil to move to perhaps seventy five dollars or so how far can this go look in your crystal ball for us really i think its difficult to say because we have come a long way from the lows that we have seen back in two thousand and fourteen and most import. I do not think that or peg and the members of the pack wants to see more game in the price because certainly the more given that we see were going to see more rigs coming back online especially if you look at the numbers now were near enough to be four hundred on the rigs and if you look at the u. S. Crude put Shale Oil Production that is also can double also consistent rise with the Higher Oil Price so certainly we do not see too much of an upside i think its more of a consolidation from here what was the bottom line for consumers and were going to see i dont know transports flight goods and services all those kinds of things go up now i think these Higher Oil Prices will of course will feed into an inflation and that would have an impact on our daily life i mean over in the u. K. We have already seen that in a number of different factors but of course the currencies is an obvious factor as well but through it looking at from a global perspective yes Higher Oil Prices have already started to feed into different parts of the equation in our daily lives so you mentioned opec strategy a second ago is going to backfire on opec if they continue making these cuts in the sense that it will encourage more shale production in the u. S. I think what would happen perhaps the compliance part of the equation was started come down from a pack because certainly if so far we have seen a really good compliance from most of the members here from the your pick but Higher Oil Prices what by house or pact with do the compliance will start to go down and that food will once again hear of the bring of the resurface the issues around supply good because we still have over one hundred Million Barrels of extra supply so if opec all of a sudden starts it. All of a sudden they decide ok you know what were not going to have the same sort of compliance as we had before then certainly the production of will go up and its a simple demand and supply us all production is also now on track were told to rival that of saudi arabia how will that change the whole picture of global oil production. I think higher oil supply is not done much of an issue as long as the demand is there as are not as long as we have a stable bellotti so between if we have a balance between demand and supply thats not so much of a concern but if we only have a supply and not so much of a demand then certainly is going to have a negative or adverse impact on the price of oil then we wont see much of an upside but like i said we have come a long way from lows for many especially it comes to crude oil when it comes to brant so certainly i dont think theres a much of an upside here but remember a lot of traders are investors who have invested in black gold. Oil they are in for a longer term because they are looking when sardi arabia is going into the i. P. O. The biggest i. P. O. Of the armco and i think perhaps that is the triggering point for them when they will start taking profit off and that would have some sort of sell off on oil prices right now interestingly commodity linked securities also rose to a four year high when you put that into the mix whats the Bigger Picture message here. I think commodities have been and a valued in the past few years have seen consistently rally in the equity market but now going into two thousand and four eighteen in the entire trump list say that the big sentiment around the positive sentiment about what trump can do in terms of infrastructure that is going to perhaps play the tax equation would also come into play and that will also perhaps boost more equity values but i think both sides are equally looking brighter on the commodity and on the equity side right name thank so much planned price hikes and tax rises of led to mass demonstrations across tunisia the budget took effect on january the first its hyped up fuel prices and also introduced new food and housing taxes many are furious over the a stereotype measures that will see thousands put out of work tunisias Prime Minister yousuf tried to soothe antigovernment sentiment promising two thousand and eighteen will be the last year of Economic Hardship it follows protests in a dozen towns where demonstrators took to the streets angry over price and tax increases the hikes have been imposed as part of new austerity measures agreed with the International Monetary fund they have been protests in sudan to the cost of a loaf of bread that doubled after the government removed subsidies from the two thousand and eighteen budget the government says its in line with reforms agreed with foreign lenders jordans also causing state subsidies on bread prices could soon surge by one hundred percent and recent protests in iran were triggered by price rises for basic food items like exe and poultry. Has the latest from tunisias capital tunis although we havent seen large demonstrations across the country compared to two thousand and twelve thirteen fourteen and fifteen but the momentum is building there are young people taking to the streets across to the. What they describe to be pervasive graft culture and also impunity impunity the government is walking it a political tightrope because on one hand in desperately needs cash and therefore it would like to maintain the austerity measures whether the same time we cannot with the further see people upset with their government take into the streets more violence in tunisia is more uncertainty about the future of the country but just to give you an idea about the delicate task of this government faces. The three main sectors to nazir relies on for revenues are mining of the culture and tourism those sectors were in decline over the last few years so the government is going to the International Community and to donors for help but they are saying that wait a second we want to give you cash and tell you tackled the biggest problems in his year which is the Public Sector that consumes Something Like twelve percent of todays ears g. D. P. The government has decided to do the following cut the Public Sector and increase taxes but when you do this people are definitely going to go to the streets and if you see more protests youre likely to see more violence in the future more uncertainty about the future of tunisia and this is where the government now is facing this mounting pressure to try to implement the reforms maintain the austerity measures but at the same time convince that it is that those measures are for the benefit of tunisia still to come on counting the cost horse trading and deal signing will have more on what this nine year old golding has got to do with china and france. A highly classified u. S. Government satellite appears to have fallen into the indian ocean after being taken into space by a long lost space x. The military satellite hasnt been spotted in orbit since it launched on the seventh of january its a suspected the zoomer mission burnt up in the atmosphere after failing to separate from the upper part of the space x. Falcon nine rocket. French prosecutors are investigating apple over its admission it deliberately slowed down the older phone models the inquiry focuses on planned obsolescence a commercial practice forcing consumers to periodically replace products thats illegal in france apple says the slowdown is intended to extend the lifespan of phones by putting less pressure on aging batteries pfizer has decided to end its research into finding new drugs for old simers and parkinsons disease the Worlds Largest drug company says it wants to cut three hundred jobs and redistribute the money the u. K. Based all simas society says the move will come as a huge blow to the forty seven million global victims of the disease the president s of france and china have signed trade deals worth billions during a Partnership Building exercise the three day visit and the deepening economic ties and even so a man in micron a woo beijing with airbus planes and a horse both leaders promise to promote free trade and combat Climate Change a vision thats completely at odds with that of the u. S. President donald trump Robert Bryant has more china and france are hailing this visit as a new era for strategic partners. She didnt ping and Emanuel Mccraw signing multibillion dollar trade deals from aerospace to Nuclear Energy projects and reaching what they say is common consensus on a range of issues from Climate Change to international security. Sure we have made an agreement to improve global issues we are faced with Climate Change and terrorism china will be working together with france so we can have a win win situation and develop a new strategy that helps everyone in the world we have both agreed to have open and deep communications. Macross says his visit is a recognition of chinas role on the world stage and shes preeminent position as chinese leader. Live we will give it up but you dont see on the economic front we discussed it with president xi we know where we are going after a long situation of a symmetry we decided several years ago to rebalance i would like this rebalancing to translate itself into more Chinese Investment in france and into more access to the Chinese Market for French Companies its a right way to get out from the Current Situation were in this is mark rance first state visit to china as president and he wants the trip to become an annual event to highlight the deepening relationship between china and europe are growing stronger as their respective relations with the United States become more unpredictable and strained and i think. It is time for european leaders including the french president Jacques Rogge to really balance off their leashes against the United States with their relations with china macron began his visit in the ancient city of scheana one of the starting points of the ancient silk road his full support for what president xi calls his belton Road Initiative of new road and rail. Links seen as the modern day equivalent of connecting east with west hes popular here joining us from paris is phillipe vest half an ether is the chief economist of paris space and it takes this Asset Management bank good to have you with us so with briggs it looming is business with external markets like china looking ever more attractive to Europe Clearly it is not trying to markets you know we are in the Recovery Period and the brics it is just. Something we have to to to manage but we have strong growth in germany in france in and you know the. Eurozone so you are the euro yet and europe the. Main trading partner for many countries in the world so the recovery in europe is important for everyone from the u. S. To africa to asia and thats what we have to keep in mind all right but made it clear doesnt just want more business with china he wants more business and trade on a more equal footing does europe have the leverage though to force more equal access to Chinese Markets well i think that the it was the first step in the european strategy you know it when we when we look at twelve trades champions the u. S. China and europe and we have seen in recent months with donald trump the u. S. For follow not for those now or more if that is what our show needs to strategy so we have to. Draw a new a. Q. Berea between china and europe and such was one part of. Micro strategy in china to say europe is now an important trade partner for to sign off and we have to discuss to find a new way kubrick and so that was the first part. The second part it was about risky procedure the thing you you try you you export it all to you rob we want to. Have a more balanced trade we view its a complicated story it would be it would take time let me just jump in there because you talk about a european strategy is there rarely a common european approach to china other i think we we have to keep this in mind its something we have to. Discuss we have to think about because. We know that micron market on the other that does kids around that and we we want to. You know the discussion we weve seen in europe for the last. Was last year in both fifty thirty we have to replace threw up in the world and so that was one part of the of the Strategy First part is was to to recover rather stronger growth and second part is to say we have an important partner for everyone in the world because we are very high productivity level we are very rich very productive in europe so we have to. Keep our place are not being. As we saw in the past Strong Economy partner but very little partner for and put it on side out feeling like they are always saying this is our conversation were talking about the sort of ideas you talk about its not just a conversation European Countries are having were seeing real differences are we not in the approach to china some of the countries in the south of europe which are recipients to substantial amounts of Chinese Investments for example of a different take on china related issues than their counterparts in the north of europe right yes we i dont say we clearly are the. Country by country unified strategy but what we what we see from birth to bella and paris is to say we have to develop a more. Grow both prodigy. And specifically with the with asia china and clearly the support is to say we we know that in greece or in other countries there was a lot of investor Chinese Investment we have we need to have these investment but we want to be able to control them a little bit that was not the case until now and heres an interesting i mean just looking at some of the highlights of microns visit to china do you think he was trying to position himself as a no leader of europe no i think he is a target you know my post target is to russia for europe you know european unity and you want to transform your op not the other kind of country but ally of countries but like a Global Partner for everyone in the world thats what it is discussed with on get america out of june and thats clearly wired to what he wants to do out of the global levels all right philip vest of that thanks so much thank you for joining us from london now is tim mulligan ten is a Senior Analyst and Research Director at Media Research good to have you with us so what caught the eye of last vegas for you there are a number of things. What is of particular interest is the renewed emphasis on voice and voice is a particularly Interesting Technology as we move into twenty eighteen because of the implications for unlocking the older demographics who first far have been in many ways bypassed by the streaming revolution thats happened over the last decade the voice activation tim is not an entirely new technology is it would you say that this is the next big theme yes so if i carry out that agreed its not an entirely new technology but this is the year that it starts to really make traction towards the mainstream consumer so thats how you view a lot of money how technology is yes so. Yes i would say that voice is the most likely to unlock the all the demographics in cities streaming revelation look around at some of the gadgets from washing machines youll be talking to two suitcases that will follow you around on their own are we on the verge of of a new another revolution that is going to change life as we know it. Well maybe were actually reaching the realisation of the internet of things scenario thats been played out a number of years ago in my recollection i think it was the twenty fifteen c s where the internet of things was heavily pushed and you have things like. Toothbrushes that you could talk to you could personalize your dental hygiene now that was the bill a bit a little bit ahead of its time but we go to where we are now where we have for example in the us forty six percent of us consumers now stream netflix the use of Digital Content the use of digital experiences smartphone penetration these are all now i have at the name stream or right on the edge of becoming mainstream so this really is in many ways i agree this is the the Tipping Point where were entering into a new era the ever thing that significantly different is if you look at the key players who are pushing this technology the tech mages have an unprecedented level of control over both the contents the technology the audience and the pricing globally is that a scary scenario from the proposition of the end user initially no because you have economies of scale and you have much greater levels of convenience but if we fast forward a number of years you could well find that we are effectively operating under a number of companies which are able to do a number of things so traditionally monopolies are worrisome because they control prices if you actually think about companies that not only are able to control prices theyre also able to stimulate demand based upon the data which they know about you thats where the real concerned. Amas regulators at the moment and you mentioned data then im glad you did because all of this means a lot more possibilities for collection and storage and dissemination of data will data be the next. Gold rush data is in many ways its a its an easy way for companies who are in the process of digitize ation and for National Organizations to use lies the concept of big data as a way to become more efficient and more smart at delivering outcomes but were in a situation now where there is no shortage of data but there is a shortage of insight so you can have a snow stage if you want but if you dont know how to interpret that data if you dont know how to deploy learnings from that data that data is not can provide you with any additional value of a feeling Marketing Companies are going to come up with a solution to that one for now thanks so much tamara going there thank you and finally. My number of the week is three hundred seventy nine thousand thats how many hard copies and downloads of sold the new best selling book called fire and fury the account detailing the Trump White House in its first nine months has piqued our interest jump to number one on amazon good news for the author Michael Wolff well as have the internet would kill paper publications and thats our show for this week remember you can get in touch with us via twitter use the hash tag a j c t c when you do or drop us an email counting the cost of aljazeera dot net is our address theres more for you online too about zero dot com slash c. T. C. That will take you straight to our page which has individual reports links and entire episodes food to catch up on. Thats it for this edition of counting the cost im sammys a than the whole team here now thanks for joining us on aljazeera next. This is not good. Its business. Led me young river traders presume. They can neither read nor write but they know their costs bring teachers mug and gamble with their. Anything just to. Risking it all to destroy when al jazeera. Says. The sunday sun rule the thing is a promise. To. Transform the shah rukhs is the name one of which are important they recognize the regular music is really kind of trip for a very young age it may come from jamaica but i feel that. The talks about just the quality proximal colonialism are great in music as the rest of us to be relevant to this rather than especially for a good thing and this is kind of all in all the right wing assault on our freedom to os questions and generally all freedom of expression and people you know are being taught its like students teachers activists in their class rights its place all of the been intimidated that the number of people on the street see the protests has reached our doorstep solved in which i have a weird legs and attempts to contradict something and its. Its impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis its not just about the billions trillions of dollars of debt its not just about the banks its not just about the governments its about real people. This is aljazeera