30/05/2013 World Business Report

in court in central London later. Those are the latest headlines.

Time for all of the latest financial news.

Portugal's austerity row deepens as the government councils today's

public holiday. Unions called for a day of action. Can China bring home

the bacon? US regulators sue over a multi-billion-dollar bid for one of

the country's top meat producers. - - sue over.

Welcome. More volatility on the markets. The Nikkei is falling ever

per person at the moment. In Portugal, today would be a

normal -- a public holiday. But under austerity measures, the

holiday has been cancelled by the government. Two Mark Zuckerberg,

Portuguese unions are planning a day of action. -- to mark the start.

The protesters are accusing the government of treason, calling for

them to step down. Many think the austerity measures are not working.

On Wednesday, there was a 2.7% forecast for economic decline.

Worse than the 2.3% envisaged by the government.

Thank you for being on the programme. Today will be a tough

one. People need a break, they need arrest when times are hard. Good

morning. Yes. Iowa do not think it affects the competitiveness or

pocket -- productivity. This is a minor aspect relative to our

austerity measures that have taken place. Give us your perspective on

how the process of austerity is going. We hear from the outside of

that things are getting more difficult and worse in Portugal.

From your point of view, how is the process going? Disastrously. Our

country has regressed. Back to before we entered the Europe. In

terms of employment, internal demands, which is the level of

consumption of the Portuguese people. We are going back really

quickly. Investment is falling at very high rates. There is

bankruptcy, unemployment growth. Employment falls faster than

unemployment. Our young people are emigrating. Do you think the

austerity measures imposed by you or international creditors are not

working? When Portugal was first spelled out, the EU, the IMF, they

were pleased with Portugal's progress. And the Portuguese people

were kind of onboard. It seems sentiment is changing. Yes. It was

incorrectly designed from the beginning. The crisis was mistaken

by the policy makers. They identified it as a budget crisis.

One problem is the government is spending too much, the other is a

country is trying to match its supporters. Spain's budget was in

surplus when the crisis hit. But all of these countries, Greece,

Spain, Portugal, it is a result of external imbalances. It is

targeting the wrong problem. It is incorrect medicine to treat the

disease. It is not working, it is aggravating the problem. Thank you.

We will keep an eye on that story as the day progresses. Let's have a

look at the markets. In Asia, we are seeing turbulence and we are

seeing a big sell-off. We probably predicted this would

come at some point. Today is the day.

Very a rough day for the Asian markets. Worries that the US

central bank could face at his stimulus programme sooner then most

people expected. The biggest loser so far this Thursday is a Japan. It

is down by 3% in late trade, below it the key 14,000 level after this

drop in US stocks. The currency has been appreciating and it is hurting

export stocks. The Philippines is not having a

good day despite encouraging news about its economy.

Bad to right. Down by 2.5%. It the look at the GDP numbers, it

expanded by a robust 7.8%, compared to the same period last year. It is

Asia's fastest-growing economy, better than China. The strong

performance is basically being attributed to the manufacturing and

construction sectors, as well as an increase in government and consumer

spending. There is a downside. While the economy maybe booming,

poverty and unemployment remained big challenges. Critics say the

growth is not trickling down to the masses and the Danes are only

benefiting the country's elite. Thank you. It would be the biggest

ever Chinese take over of the US firms. Shares for this company has

surged almost 30% on the news it has agreed to be bought by a

Chinese rival. The Chinese company is offering a $4.7 billion for the

company, including debt. The deal would be worth $7 billion. What is

behind this? The Chinese eat twice as much pork, per tapper, then the

Americans. They have -- that had been frequent food safety scandals

example, the 2011 scandal about a band Chemical been found in the

pork. The deal maybe controversial in the US.

It does have to pass hurdles in the US. If you look back in the past,

this has not always gone smoothly. One example that stands out is back

in 2005, a Chinese oil company made a bid for an American company.

There was huge political backlash. That bid was withdrawn. This deal

is very different. Where you as seen here and what we're talking

about is giving Chinese consumers access to US pork. If these two

companies can convincingly make the case that this is about US pork

being exported to China, and not Chinese port coming into the US,

given that Bath have been concerns about through the security, this

maybe able to go ahead. -- Chinese pork. Other be as the stories - US

banks made more money between January and March than in any

quarter since records began, according to America's Federal

Insurance Corporation. Is comes despite less profit from a

loan, -- loan interest. Banks are facing if you're bad loans and they

are making more money from fees. She did beat the gears from Spain

are expected to show the recession has deepened in the first three

months of this year. -- GDP figures from Spain. Spain is struggling

with 27% unemployment. More than half of young people are out of

whack. John when Gebbie says his band will

play their performance in Madrid next month for free, in solidarity

for Spaniards who are suffering under the economic crisis. He says

any proceeds from reduced tickets will go to the workers to help