11/12/2015 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with

Yes, they are still talking: We bring you the latest from the big

This here, India's love affair with trains: But

for these people they may want to rethink of the way they travel

because the Japanese are in town and India is about to sign a landmark

Over the last two weeks Paris has played

host to more than 150 world leaders and several hundred diplomats,

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is expected to announce its purchase

of a controlling stake in Hong Kong's South China Morning

Rico Hizon is in our Asia Business hub in Singapore.

So Rico, why is Alibaba, which basically an online

marketplace, so interested in buying an old fashioned newspaper?

Alibaba, this is an interesting one. I was telling our friends around the

world earlier that it is Google, Amazon on and eBay combined. Why is

it interested in such a traditional form of media? It all boils down to

gaining control of an influential English publication that has been

there for more than a 100 years. It is known in journalism circles and

to many readers for its excellent coverage of China over the past

decades, but now analysts are saying that since it was acquired in 1993

by a billionaire, it has been less hard-hitting. So, this purchase

would mark the first acquisition of a non- mainland China news property

by a Chinese internet company, and now many are concerned that the

critical China papers could be watered down, and Jack Ma is a

beneficiary of the Chinese system. It has a readership base of about

350,000 people, but its influence is greater than the numbers suggest.

Every month its website attracts 4 million unique visitors, with two

thirds of them coming from Hong Kong and China. It is mainly non- Chinese

speakers looking for views into the Chinese story. That is basically

what Alibaba and Jack Ma want from the South China Morning Post. We

will wait and see on that announcement.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is kicking off his India visit later

today, where he will meet with his counterpart, Narendra Modi.

During the visit both sides are expected to

sign a nearly $15 billion deal that will see Japan build India's first

The project is being touted as one of the biggest foreign

investments in the country's ageing infrastructure.

Everyday, 23 million people use India's rail network. Many of them

travelling on long-distance trains. Picking is often need bookings

months in advance for the privilege of travelling in these carriages,

which are usually old and fairly rickety. Narendra Modi has said that

by 2020 it will invest $170 billion in the nation's vast antiquated

railway system. Japan is expected to land India about $8 billion at low

interest rates. And, with Japanese technology, expect Japanese firms to

win to build the trains. They will be under pressure to create jobs

here as well. In just seven years, some of us could be going from

Mumbai to Ahmadabad, a 500 kilometre journey that today takes at least

eight hours, but could be in just two. So why this route? Why not

Mumbai to Delhi? Ahmadabad is the capital of Gujarat, the state that

Narendra Modi was at responsible for, but it is also one of the city

that India hopes to use to help its economy. Last month, General

Electric and France -based Al Strom won multi-million dollar contracts

to supply contracts to India's railways. All of these developments

are little way off, but they are the kind of infrastructure investments

at PM Modi needs to keep his plans on track.

Over the last two weeks Paris has played

host to more than 150 world leaders and several hundred diplomats,

But as the climate change summit draws to a close, has anything

In an attempt to unblock the talks on Wednesday,

the Obama administration pledged $860 million to help poor countries

But according to Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister,

there are still three big stumbling blocks to a new climate deal.

First, it is still unclear the size and nature of the money that wealthy

countries will stump up to help poor nations cope with climate change.

There also continues to be a dispute on what temperature

Many developed nations say that the two-degree target should be

And thirdly, no deal has been made on how much

of a lead rich nations should take when it comes to combating

We were going to speak to Andrew Symonds, but he didn't show up!

Now, cricket. The cricket that industry has been suffering after

floods in India last year. We went to an area about 40 kilometres

south-east of Srinagar. In even the smallest of open spaces

there is always time for a game of cricket. And down a dusty highway in

Kashmir, a proud industry that produces one of the sport's most

essential accessories. That's made from the willow trees that grow in

this region are sold around the world, conceded second in quality

only to those made in the UK. But despite the reputation, the

factories here are struggling to survive. These bats almost ready for

sale lay underwater for a week. This maker says that people like him have

lost goods worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. TRANSLATION:

We need help, we don't want aid. Give us loans without interest,

otherwise it will take at least ten years to recover. Even the wood is

now harder to come by because willow plantations were also submerged.

These trees that are bent over are relatively young, about 10-12 years

old. When the floods came, the area filled with water, the soil became

loose, and now everytime it is windy a few trees fall over. And the trees

need to be 30 years of age if their wood is to be cut to make a cricket

bat. You can look at this stump, and see how broad the circumferences. A

young tree like that falling over is a big loss. This man's family have

earned its living from this generation for several generations.

He started attending these trees when he was just a little boy, but

he wonders if the famous Kashmiri willow has much of a future. We

prefer to planned poplar trees instead of the willow, because it

only takes six or seven years to mature. We don't get as much money

as we do from willow, but it is not as much of a loss if a tree falls.

Kashmiri willow bats were used by some of the finest cricketers in

their early days. They are still very popular in national

tournaments. A legacy in need of preservation, and livelihoods in

need of protection. Don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some of Adele has dominated the second BBC

Music Awards, winning Best British