15/01/2014 Asia Business Report

including rape. The jury has been told to judge the

man and not his character. Now time for the latest business

news. Grounded. Japan airlines suffers a

new battery problem on one of the Boeing 787 aircraft.

This is the biggest industry event. At one particular group will not be

attending. -- but. Welcome to Asia Business Report.

Japan airlines has grounded one of its early 787 Dreamliner aircraft

after it detect with white smoke outside the plane caused by a

battery issue. The incident comes nearly one year after Japan airlines

and Nippon Airways grounded their fleets after two batteries

overheated on two planes. There was a worldwide grounding of the fleet

which went on for three months. We will now go to Tokyo and get the

latest from our correspondent. Bring us up to date. As you said, this was

noticed yesterday afternoon in Japan when an inspection of a Japan

airlines 787 was taking place before a flight to Thailand. During the

inspection, the engineers noticed smoke coming from somewhere. They

went to investigate. Alarms went off in the cockpit saying the source was

the battery. They found that one of the eight lithium ion batteries

appear to have overheated and melted. It looks like it was very

similar to the problems that caused the grounding last year. At the same

time, the company is as saying that this shows the updated design, the

containment system, work and that the problem did not spread. Never,

new safety concerns. This is going to highlight issues. What it really

points to is that Boeing has still not got to the root of this battery

problem. We are a year on from the first incident and an investigation

still has not reported back. Although there has been a successful

testing of the design problem, these batteries still have a fundamental

design problem. It will be a worry for customers and it has affected

the share price. It could affect decisions about purchasing other

aircraft instead. And of course, a word about the people booking

flights on the carriers. What happens to this particular flight?

The passengers were not on the plane. They were immediately

transferred to another 787 and went to Bangkok. It did not affect the

operations. It is an issue of maintenance and cost. It will raise

concerns as to whether this plane is completely safe.

To the car industry. It wrote's famous motor show kicked off this

week. The focus has been on the big three US carmakers. But the country

with the biggest car market is noticeably absent. Walking around

the tour at auto show you will see brands from all over the world.

But one country is not here. For the first time since 2006, there are no

Chinese carmakers. That does not mean that Asian carmakers are

underrepresented. Toyota has been generating a lot of buyers. This is

a concept car that will not into production, but enthusiasts have

been excited by what they are seeing. Carmakers have been revising

brands like the Mustang and the Corvette. This is Toyota's offering.

I am joined by the man responsible for what we see. This is the Toyota

FT one. Our intent is to create a piece that sets the pace. We wanted

to create an exciting design that draws people in and allow people to

feel what the car looks like rather than think about it. What do you

have to include in a car like this to get people excited? People have

to see beautiful surfaces, beautiful proportions and excitement. Judging

by the reaction so far, there has been a lot of excitement. For a

company that has not traditionally been associated with that. But it is

a push to try and win over the American car buyer.

Earlier I spoke to a reporter who covers the car industry and asked

him why the Chinese car makers are not making their presence felt. The

biggest and critical aspect is how well you are placed on the

technology front. Unless you have something big to offer, something

that is technological, it is hard to offer. Chinese auto manufacturers

are catching up with quality and product design. There are lacking on

the technology front. Something that is new. That is what is required to

be at the motor show. How do they say against the big three? All of

them are using this show to say that the back in game. They are able to

play on that field? Compare apples to apples, we should be comparing

the top three to Japanese or Korean car manufacturers. Chinese and

Indian companies act is still not in that league. A snack manufacturers

are still. But when there are competing with the US

manufacturers, Japanese manufacturers are doing pretty well.

Bringing you some news that came to us in the past hour. The World Bank

has raised its growth forecast for the first time in three years. In

its latest estimate, the institution sees a global gross domestic product

expanding by 3.2% from 2.4% last year. The bank said the world

economy has reached a turning point as policy uncertainty no longer

weighs heavily on most of the major countries. They were expecting

growth to be strong in America compared to be that of last year.

What makes a global property a hotspot?

Our chief business correspondent is looking at what is driving property

prices. She reports from London on my some properties are becoming more

attractive. Potential homebuyers know all too

well that cities like London, house prices are skyrocketing despite the

tepid economic recovery. It is not just London. We have seen this

across global property hotspots. Here, prices have more than doubled

since 2005. In Asia, Singapore had seen house prices increased by more

than 230%. In Hong Kong they now have the most expensive homes in the

world. In New York, prices are up nearly 50%. Why are house prices

rising so rapidly? Part of the reach of most people, high and flats like

this one are a sign of how much demand there is for housing in

places like London. Record low interest rates and even government

schemes to help homebuyers are some of the reasons why house prices of

rising. And London is an attractive place to own property because there

is no annual tax based on the value of the property. If you own one of

these $50 million homes, you would pay an annual tax of $60,000. That

includes the local property tax. But such a property tax based on value

of property does exist in other global cities. Peter, who is buying

in London? Everyone is buying in London. The British are probably 40%

of our business. Next on the line is Russia and satellites. We have got

15% from the Middle East and Europe and then Asia. Different cities are

becoming concerned about foreigners coming in to purchase property. In

Asia there are new taxes foreigners buying and selling homes. In London,

a similar measure comes into effect from 2015. For all those worried

about and prices, we will be worried -- following those markets closely.

Good gains for Asian markets as a result of an increase in US consumer

spending. That is the latest from Wednesday's edition of Asia Business

Report. Back in an hour. Here are the headlines: Thailand's a

minister is insisting she will not resign as protesters continue to

paralyse parts of the capital for a third day. -- prime minister.

Israel is trained to diffuse an