12/11/2012 World Business Report

The BBC has been criticised for the entitlements it has given its

outgoing Director General, who resigned after a Newsnight report

that incorrectly linked but Tory peer to start -- to child sex abuse

cases. A do giant international companies

paid enough tax? Google, Amazon and Starbucks will be answering that

question when they appear before MPs today. The Greek government

says it deserves the next tranche of bail out funds. Japan has led

economy is shrinking at its fastest pace in more than one year.

Today, senior executives from Starbucks, Google and Amazon will

appear before a parliamentary committee to defend their

companies' taxation policies. Starbucks has been under scrutiny

after a report said that they had paid no corporation tax or income

tax in the UK for the past three years. In its defence, Starbucks

says it pays its fair share of tax and is in compliance with UK tax

laws. Thank you for joining us. Explain how the likes of Starbucks,

Google and Alison get away with paying lower tax. -- Amazon.

most of all, we have to note that these companies are working within

the letter of the law. 5p in the overseas companies, -- because they

are international companies, they can get away with paying tax by

channelling their income through other sources. For those who

compete with companies like this, for example, an independent UK

coffee shop competing with Starbucks, this will seem

completely unfair. I think that with regards to the letter or the

law, whether it is moral or immoral... These companies do not

get into business for reasons of morality. Their moral duty is more

to their shareholders and, yes, it will be difficult for small

companies to stomach that but companies regardless of their size

mitigate taxation in one way or another. In the UK, financial

chiefs will speak with British lawmakers to discuss this problem.

The OECD is looking at this from an international perspective. What can

be done to change this? This is very difficult. This is more an

international problem than a regional problem. We could look at

taxing companies a small amount on overall turnover, as opposed to

profit, which can be mitigated by channelling funds overseas. Or we

could involve the G20. conversation has started. Will we

see change? I think it will be a long time before we see any change.

The government has the power to change laws in the UK. But I don't

think that will happen any time soon. Thank you.

Very grim news coming from Japan. The economy shrank at an annualised

rate of 3.5%, its worst performance since last year's devastating

earthquake and tsunami. We knew that Japan was heading back

into recession and this was what we will waiting for, isn't it? That is

correct. A contraction of 3.5% from last year's levels. And also, from

the previous quarter, the economy shrank by just under 1% and many

are forecasting it to shrink again. If that happens, Japan will be

officially back in recession. The Japanese economy has been

recovering somewhat resiliently from the earthquake and tsunami,

but it seems like external factors like the eurozone crisis as well as

the Chinese slowdown, Japan's largest trading partner, are

beginning to affect the economy in Japan. The strength of the Japanese

yen is also having an effect on exports. There was also the

territorial dispute between Japan and China, which resulted in anti-

Japanese protests in China. That has had an effect on the

performance of Japanese companies. Very dismal figures from Japan

today and it looks like there are tough times ahead.

Thank you. In Greece, the parliament has approved the

nation's 2013 Budget very late on Sunday night. It includes $12

billion of spending cuts, which will affect public sector wages,

pensions and benefits. Leaders hope the measures will satisfy

international lenders who insisted on further cuts before handing over

the next instalment of bail out funds worth $40 billion. Without

that money, the Greek government will run out of money this month.

Thank you for joining us. Explain how Greece will continue to operate.

It could run out of money this month. What is the situation?

According to the official statements of the government, we

will run out of money by the end of the month. The government has

approved the measures that are required for the conclusion of this

review. In the next few weeks, the Troika will address the outstanding

issues, particularly how to recover the funding gap in the programme.

We will be able to receive the next tranche by the end of this month.

In the meantime, eurozone finance ministers will come up with a

contingency plan to keep the country functioning. They don't

want to see Greece default. expect Greece will issue additional

measures to avoid default. Eurozone authorities have to address how to

respond to IMF concerns that it is impossible, legally, to release the

next tranche of money. At some point, they must accept some losses.

They've passed to the Budget last night. Last week, they passed a new

set of austerity measures as well. This all came despite a lot of

protests by the Greek people. What will next year be like for Greece?

It is going to be very difficult - make or break. The Greek economy

has gone through serious recession. The only thing that comes close is

the Great Depression in the 1930s. The government has to prove that

things will be different next year. They have to prove that they have

turned the corner. At the same time, authorities and the trigger have to

convince the markets. -- and the Troika. Thank you.

Shares in HTC jumped almost 7% during trading today in Asia, after

the company announced a global settlement with Apple over patterns

of lawsuits -- patent lawsuits. They have signed a licensing

agreement to end a costly legal battle. Hong Kong will have more

jobs in the financial-services industry than London by 2015,

according to a report by an economics consultancy agency. In

the future, Hong Kong will be the world's major financial centre. The

latest James Bond movie had a strong opening in North America

over the weekend. It was the best opening weekend for a James Bond

movie. It has taken more than $500 million locally since it was

launched in October. A Russian aluminium giant has posted a third-

quarter loss of $180 million, blaming troubles in the US and

China for the results. It supplies a lot of aluminium for the

automobile industry. Asian markets are mixed today. No surprise to see

that Japan is having a typical day. This follows the news that was the