17/05/2016 World Business Report

Doctors have described the operation as "a surgical milestone".

Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

Now for the latest financial news with Sally

France is braced for fresh strike action today as workers reject

a law that aims to loosen the country's stringent labour rules.

And the price of oil is within striking distance

of $50 a barrel - we ask the boss of energy giant Total where next?

Also in the programme, Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple,

has been checking out its latest investment in China.

Rico Hizon will have the details in a moment.

Let's start with the events in France.

Lorry drivers are expected to put up roadblocks around France's major

cities, and unions are calling for a strike on the Paris metro today.

It's all aimed at rejecting measures to loosen the country's

The disruptions have been prompted by the government's decision last

week to use a special measure to pass the legislation without

The new laws are about the length of the working week and employers'

Rail workers are expected to join the strike on Wednesday

and Thursday, and air traffic controllers will

So as the week progresses, the disruption will increase.

With me is Dr Ashok Kumar, fellow at Queen Mary University of London.

Good morning. So first of all, these laws, as they almost there in terms

of becoming a reality, or is there still a way to go? Francois Hollande

and his party have effectively used emergency measures to circumvent

Parliament, and neither is a vote potentially. The only mechanism to

prevent this is to ascend the vote, but it will probably not pass. It

has been going on for months, this whole attempt to reform labour law

in France, and yet it has been incredibly difficult. What do you

think the likely outcome will be in the end? It is difficult to say. In

2006, they passed a series of laws to deregulate Labour in the country.

It was a milder version of this. There were mass protests in the

street and they reversed the decision. What we see now is two

thirds of the country opposing this fall, a majority of the country

supporting the protesters. So Francois Hollande is the most

unpopular sitting president in the history of France. I think people

recognise there is a high possibility or potential for the

reversal of this decision. What evidence is there to show that

reform of labour laws help to boost economic growth and also reduce the

plan levels, which in France are pretty high? The evidence is pretty

tenuous. If you look at from 2007 until now, unemployment in France

has increased by 30%. In that time, and before that time, it had nothing

to do with making the labour market more flexible. Two events occurred,

the financial crisis, and austerity. Those could be a great impetus

rather than duality and flexibility or rigidity of the labour market.

And the generous social benefits which in fact have absorbed economic

shocks more than anything. In Spain, they have changed their labour

laws, probably under pressure from others, but they have done that.

What extent has that helps main? Spain passed a series of laws that

mirror this poor and the rhetoric used about how will change or

increase investment and an implement. An implement has remained

negligible. -- unemployment. Vicarious Des and short-term

contracts and casualisation have gone up. It is very difficult. Thank

you for your time this morning. As the week progresses in France, we

will keep you up-to-date on where their strikes are taking place and

how you may be affected by that. Earlier this year,

a vast gas field off the coast of the Shetland Islands

in the North Sea was opened by Developed at a cost of about $4.75

billion, the field is now running at Conceived at a time

when energy prices were high, the price of oil has been rising

steadily in recent days. It's now back up to

around $49 a barrel. Our energy correspondent John Moylan

spoke to Total's chief executive, Patrick Bouyanne, and asked how

much more volatility is still The price of oil is never stable. It

is only the dream of politicians for it to be stable. We think it was a

sort of floor. There is no ceiling, no floor. It will move up and down.

It is very difficult on the Showtime. -- short-term. We still

have huge inventory is. The market is diminishing because all

production in the US is going down. But again, our job is not to plan

for short-term volatility, it is to be serious about the assets. There

was a big researcher in and push into renewable energy for the

future. Some people look at the big oil chines like Total and say the

traditional model of the big oil company is broken and dead. Don't

misinterpret it. We are very proud to be a major oil and gas company.

In 20 years, Total will always be a major oil and gas company. Energy is

a question of planning medium and long-term. We need to think of that.

Oil and gas companies are under scrutiny and accused, and it is

partly true because some of the products we put in the market, but

I'm convinced that we can be not only accused but a positive force.

We have energy firms and want to be part of the solution. When we look

to the energy world in 20 years, we are convinced we will have oil and

gas but also more growth in renewables. I think we have the

capacity in a major oil and gas company like Total to be an active

participant to this new energy. A Ukrainian man has pleaded guilty

to his role in an insider trading scheme that netted more than $30

million in illicit profits. Vadym Iermolovych admitted to

hacking into news wire agencies and using the unpublished information to

gain advantage on the stock market. 32 people have been charged in

connection with the global scheme. US drugs giant Pfizer will acquire

the maker of a new eczema treatment The firm announced a deal with

the board of California-based It comes weeks after Pfizer

abandoned a $160 billion merger with Irish

drugmaker Allergan for tax reasons. Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook,

has been in Beijing, where he's met the head of China's

largest taxi-hailing app. Here he is, taking a Didi Chuxing

car to visit an Apple store, just days after the tech giant

invested $1 billion in the company. So tell us more. They are obviously

very keen to now down this investment. Absolutely. A big splash

for Tim Cook and Apple, visiting Beijing, investing 1 billion US

dollars in China's largest taxi hailing app, and he even took a car

to visit the Apple staff. Didi Chuxing has over 40 million drivers,

many analysts are asking the question right now, how much of

Apple's $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing is motivated by good

business sense and how much of it is an effort to smooth things over with

the leadership in China where Apple has faced a series of setbacks this

year? One of them, sales plummeting 26% drink the first three months of

this year, making it one of its worst quarters ever on the mainland.

Secondly the firm lost a legal battle over the iPhone trademark,

and thirdly, in April, Chinese regulators shut down movie services.

Everyone is hoping with this $1 billion investment, though services

from Apple will be back without the restrictions. Thank you. We will

watch this space. See you soon. Let's look at the markets quickly so

you have a sense of how things are going. Let's look at the price of

oil, $49.23. As you can see, markets across the board doing well, and the

big winners are the energy shares. I will see you soon.

Police have voiced concerns that officers could be

"sitting ducks" in the event of a gun attack by terrorists.

The Police Federation says that in spite of plans to increase

the number of firearms staff, officers in rural and coastal

areas, where some of Britain's power plants are based, are vulnerable.