:00:00. > :00:00.time and date of calls was brought to light by Edward Snowden. Those
:00:00. > :00:24.are the latest headlines. Now, for the latest financial news. Christmas
:00:25. > :00:30.postponed? Amazon staff strike in Germany in a row over pay. An
:00:31. > :00:43.ambitious plan to avert the next banking crisis in the eurozone.
:00:44. > :00:46.Welcome to World Business Report. Also in the programme, we will have
:00:47. > :00:59.a report from China on the rise of the virtual currency bitcoin.
:01:00. > :01:04.Workers at Amazon's warehouse in Germany have entered a second day of
:01:05. > :01:11.strike action. The country's biggest trade union is calling for higher
:01:12. > :01:15.wages for its workers. Yesterday, supporters rallied outside the
:01:16. > :01:24.company's headquarters in the US. Germany is Amazon's second-largest
:01:25. > :01:32.market. Their banners read, today, strike. And, for more money. This is
:01:33. > :01:37.the busiest time of year for Amazon. The run up to Christmas in
:01:38. > :01:42.the land where Christmas giving is big. This worker says that he just
:01:43. > :01:46.about makes it but it's impossible to save anything or pay back any
:01:47. > :01:52.loans. It's really very difficult. This man says that he thinks his
:01:53. > :01:56.boss Jeff Bezos has such large private wealth that he might as well
:01:57. > :02:05.share it a little with the employees. Germany is the company's
:02:06. > :02:08.second-biggest market after the US and its German workers know that
:02:09. > :02:13.this is when they have the most industrial power. The union has
:02:14. > :02:18.called them out in two major centres. The dispute is over money.
:02:19. > :02:29.Amazon classifies them as low-paid warehouse workers. They say they are
:02:30. > :02:32.high paid staff in retail. The union official says Amazon should sign a
:02:33. > :02:36.new deal based on what these people do. They are in the retail business,
:02:37. > :02:43.he says, and recognising that would mean an extra 7000 euros each. He
:02:44. > :02:49.says they should be treated better. Amazon said in a statement that it
:02:50. > :02:54.was not impacted by the strike and that most employees have not walked
:02:55. > :02:58.out. The company has had some negative publicity in Europe
:02:59. > :03:02.recently, with a focus on conditions in some of its British distribution
:03:03. > :03:09.centres as well as these ones in Germany. The unions say that the
:03:10. > :03:13.workers are poorly paid and that the work is monotonous and relentless.
:03:14. > :03:16.The contracts are short-term as well. The problem is that once
:03:17. > :03:22.Christmas is over, their industrial power will fade. Amazon is planning
:03:23. > :03:27.new distribution centres in the lower paid Czech Republic. The union
:03:28. > :03:32.plans a demonstration at the headquarters in Seattle in the US.
:03:33. > :03:49.It may be that their strongest card is publicity rather than industrial
:03:50. > :03:55.muscle. Every day, we trust our life savings to them, and when everything
:03:56. > :03:59.goes wrong, they have the potential to bring the world's biggest
:04:00. > :04:03.economies to their knees. We are talking about banks. Today, euro
:04:04. > :04:08.finance ministers are aiming to thrash out an agreement to unify
:04:09. > :04:14.banking rules. They hope to give the European Central Bank new powers to
:04:15. > :04:20.oversee and wind up banks when they get into trouble, in order to avoid
:04:21. > :04:24.the next crisis. The eurozone finance ministers meet today. The EU
:04:25. > :04:30.finance ministers get-together tomorrow. Heads of State at the end
:04:31. > :04:34.of the week. They have got to get everything sorted out today. Yes.
:04:35. > :04:40.They had a meeting last week. We sort of know what they will talk
:04:41. > :04:47.about. What happens when the bag falls or fails? What will they do?
:04:48. > :04:52.We have had the eurozone crisis and the financial crisis and we do not
:04:53. > :04:55.want to repeat it. This lays out the procedure of who will pay and what
:04:56. > :05:00.will happen should things go wrong again. What we have been told is
:05:01. > :05:05.that when a bank fails, it will initially be the home country for
:05:06. > :05:10.the first year at least that must cough up the money. In the eurozone
:05:11. > :05:15.countries, every year, the banks will put money into a fund, which
:05:16. > :05:20.will be the part that will be used to help those banks out. As that pot
:05:21. > :05:24.grows, eventually after ten years, it will become more unified and
:05:25. > :05:30.eventually within the eurozone, that money won't just be domestic money,
:05:31. > :05:37.it will come from the unified pot. The devil is in the detail. Lots of
:05:38. > :05:44.bureaucracy to overcome. That is exactly right. The Financial Times
:05:45. > :05:48.says that if a bank with branches in different countries fails, it could
:05:49. > :05:53.take up to 146 votes to decide what to do. It could be bureaucracy that
:05:54. > :06:04.poses the problem in this plan. Thank you. For a short time, it was
:06:05. > :06:09.more valuable than gold. 2013 has certainly been a rollercoaster ride
:06:10. > :06:14.for the virtual currency bitcoin. In January, one single bitcoin would
:06:15. > :06:20.set you back about $14, but it has increased in value in recent months
:06:21. > :06:31.and is currently worth $850. China has moved to regulate the market.
:06:32. > :06:37.Just to be absolutely clear, this is not a bitcoin. Bitcoins do not exist
:06:38. > :06:43.in the physical world. That means you cannot put them in your pocket.
:06:44. > :06:48.What are they? Just as the US has the dollar and China has its own
:06:49. > :06:53.currency, think of bitcoins as an online currency but not tied to any
:06:54. > :06:59.country. It's like having money but for the online world. This Beijing
:07:00. > :07:03.cafe has been at the centre of the bitcoin revolution in China. Part of
:07:04. > :07:08.the attraction for investors like this woman is the gobsmacking
:07:09. > :07:13.returns in recent months. She owns an astonishing $100,000 worth of
:07:14. > :07:20.bitcoin and she says her investment is just a bit of fun. TRANSLATION: I
:07:21. > :07:26.thought this was a new thing and I had to invest. I would rather make a
:07:27. > :07:34.mistake than miss an opportunity. No matter what happens, I can at least
:07:35. > :07:36.say I was a player in the process. Investors in China have limited
:07:37. > :07:42.options where to put their money and many analysts believe that
:07:43. > :07:47.short-term speculation is fuelling the bitcoin markets. It could yet
:07:48. > :07:54.all end in tears. TRANSLATION: I think that bitcoin is a real risk. I
:07:55. > :08:01.have not bought any. I'm inclined to think it's a bubble. As a computer
:08:02. > :08:07.programme, I believe in the power and idea of bitcoins. I'm optimistic
:08:08. > :08:12.about their long-term development. Are bitcoins a load of financial
:08:13. > :08:17.frosts? Believers believe what they represent is a new way of doing
:08:18. > :08:22.business. Chinese authorities are not entirely certain. They have not
:08:23. > :08:27.banned bitcoins outright but say that banks can no longer carry out
:08:28. > :08:36.such transactions. As for critics, they say what we are seeing is an
:08:37. > :08:40.online bubble. Decision time again for the Federal Reserve committee,
:08:41. > :08:45.deciding whether to cut back on the billions of extra dollars they have
:08:46. > :08:50.been pumping into the US economy. It may be time for the Central bank to
:08:51. > :08:55.take the world's biggest economy off life support. Some will feel that
:08:56. > :09:00.the extra money will push up prices and stoke inflation. 59 bootleg
:09:01. > :09:07.recordings and demo takes from the Beatles have been released today. --
:09:08. > :09:16.demo tapes. The release is not just a treat for fans. The record company
:09:17. > :09:25.has to make them an official release in order to keep making money. This
:09:26. > :09:28.is the information coming out of the Asian markets at the moment.
:09:29. > :09:33.Yesterday, it was completely the opposite story. The market has
:09:34. > :09:46.already priced in the negative side of drawing back on stimulus and is
:09:47. > :10:00.looking forward to what happens next. Thank you for joining us. A
:10:01. > :10:01.?27 million