:00:00. > :00:00.are lifted on Romanians and Bulgarians on January the 1st. Timer
:00:00. > :00:18.for business news live from Singapore. Under pressure.
:00:19. > :00:23.Executives face questions from unions over proposed job cuts. How
:00:24. > :00:33.one of the world's most iconic motorcycle brands as masking an army
:00:34. > :00:40.Asian market. Welcome to Asia Business Report. We start with
:00:41. > :00:45.Australia and its national flag carrier which is currently in
:00:46. > :00:52.financial dire straits. Qantas management is set to slash 1000 jobs
:00:53. > :00:55.and cut cost estimate. The cuts were announced this month after a profit
:00:56. > :01:00.warning was issued for the six months to December. Profits remain
:01:01. > :01:12.weak and credit ratings have been slashed by standard and Poor 's. --
:01:13. > :01:15.Standard Poor's. They have them pushing the Australian government to
:01:16. > :01:18.loosen restrictions that they have. They have a law that is peculiar
:01:19. > :01:28.that allows them to have only 49% foreign ownership. Virgin has been
:01:29. > :01:36.able to access foreign capital. Qantas needs to make changes. It
:01:37. > :01:39.needs to bring its costs down. It seems the government is indicating
:01:40. > :01:43.that they are open to things but it will take some time to do it. It is
:01:44. > :01:48.not like there will be able to access cash tomorrow as soon as the
:01:49. > :01:51.government says yes. And they have already basically stepped in and
:01:52. > :01:55.said they would pump in new investment into Qantas and indeed
:01:56. > :01:59.this is lifted. Exactly. It raises the question of if the cap is
:02:00. > :02:07.lifted, who will in best ? We don't know. What is the future of Qantas?
:02:08. > :02:12.There is competition from virgin Australia. The future, as they go
:02:13. > :02:15.through these times is going to get better over time. In the short term
:02:16. > :02:23.they are hurting. They are saying that the yields or their fares are
:02:24. > :02:26.down. Virgin's are growing. Qantas will have to add them idea of taking
:02:27. > :02:32.control of two thirds of the Australian market and leave Virgin
:02:33. > :02:38.to the last third. So, they have to be a mean organisation ? A thing
:02:39. > :02:42.that is inevitable. Terepo to be job cuts, restructuring which is going
:02:43. > :02:49.to lead to more pain and will be unpopular. They needed to survive.
:02:50. > :02:59.-- there will need to be job cuts. Tony at that an answerphone to help
:03:00. > :03:04.states affected by the closure of manufacturing facilities. Most money
:03:05. > :03:07.comes from the Federal Government. Victory and South Australia are
:03:08. > :03:10.expected to contribute. South Australia says the package is
:03:11. > :03:17.inadequate. The trade deficit in Japan has expanded 35% and net
:03:18. > :03:23.soaring power bills due to the nuclear crisis in 2011. Government
:03:24. > :03:31.figures show a deficit last month marking the 17th straight month of
:03:32. > :03:38.deficit. It runs off the back of car shipments. Hefty oil and gas
:03:39. > :03:43.purchases. The Central Bank is expected to raise borrowing falling
:03:44. > :03:50.a sharp rise in inflation. Surging vegetable prices pushed the
:03:51. > :03:54.inflation to a 14 month high, reinforcing expectations it will
:03:55. > :04:02.raise rates despite India's stalling economic expansion. The head of the
:04:03. > :04:07.US Central Bank is about to announce the winding down of quantitative
:04:08. > :04:09.easing. The Federal Reserve has been buying $85 million in bonds every
:04:10. > :04:18.month to keep down long-term borrowing costs. What will it mean
:04:19. > :04:22.as Ben Bernanke and is the processor pumping money into the economy?
:04:23. > :04:27.The flood of cheap money from America's Central Bank was supposed
:04:28. > :04:39.to lower rent costs and boost the US economy. Is the job done? In
:04:40. > :04:42.Virginian there's a of optimism. After this business, it is hard to
:04:43. > :04:44.not feel cheerful around the rainbow colours but they have another reason
:04:45. > :04:51.to feel good. That inventories running low. It is great news. Sales
:04:52. > :04:56.are up. People like product. Provided people like the product and
:04:57. > :05:01.we keep selling it, we will keep hiring people to make it. This week
:05:02. > :05:05.he took on another employee. He plans to add more in January. Hiring
:05:06. > :05:11.at businesses like this one has helped push down the nation's
:05:12. > :05:15.unemployment rate to 7%. Is it time for America's Central Bank to start
:05:16. > :05:20.turning off the stimulus taps? One reason it may hold fire is that the
:05:21. > :05:27.economy is still not back to normal. The economy is obviously not back to
:05:28. > :05:31.where anybody would want it. We have 7% unemployment and a very low
:05:32. > :05:37.labour force participation. The reason that unemployment has come
:05:38. > :05:41.back as well as it has is heavily because a lot of people dropped out
:05:42. > :05:44.of the labour force. Confronting economic challenges is nothing new
:05:45. > :05:50.to this group which included past and present chairman of the Federal
:05:51. > :05:54.Reserve to mark its 100 anniversary. With a world's largest economy
:05:55. > :05:59.gaining momentum, those inside the Spalding, America's Central Bank,
:06:00. > :06:03.had indicated they will move towards winding down their extraordinary
:06:04. > :06:11.stimulus measures. -- inside the Spalding. Whether the process begins
:06:12. > :06:21.on Wednesday will fall to the next chair. High traffic and fuel prices,
:06:22. > :06:26.that is one of the reasons people are opting for a motorcycle instead
:06:27. > :06:30.of a car. China and Indonesia are the biggest markets for motorcycles.
:06:31. > :06:37.One of the brands as trained to cruise into the market. Motorcycles
:06:38. > :06:42.are everywhere in Asia. They are usually Japanese, Korean, Chinese.
:06:43. > :06:49.Typically, they are cheap and small. Now, under the name wants to muscle
:06:50. > :06:53.in on the market. Harley Davidson. It is not like you and we threw
:06:54. > :06:59.traffic on and it has traditionally focused on its home market and the
:07:00. > :07:02.US. It has been expanding and the iconic brand is now forecast at 40%
:07:03. > :07:09.of its sales will come from international markets next year.
:07:10. > :07:15.Bill is the great-grandson of the founder. Use says the global
:07:16. > :07:19.recession promoted a new strategy. The great part of being a global
:07:20. > :07:22.company is that it allows us the opportunity to be flexible because
:07:23. > :07:26.we know that the world economy is not always going to be a consistent
:07:27. > :07:32.pinnacle. There is going to be ups and downs. Hopefully,
:07:33. > :07:36.Harley-Davidson can lean on the upwards side of that and continue to
:07:37. > :07:40.grow. Harley-Davidson has more customers and its home town of
:07:41. > :07:45.Milwaukee than it does in all of China. Why is that the case? 40 is
:07:46. > :07:53.the birthplace of Harley-Davidson. -- Milwaukee. 110 years of
:07:54. > :07:56.established business. It makes a difference. China is a new market
:07:57. > :08:04.for us. We have put a strategy to grow the brand in China and we are
:08:05. > :08:06.tracking to that strategy. Chinese authorities have put restrictions on
:08:07. > :08:11.to wheeled vehicles and quite a few of their cities will stop is the
:08:12. > :08:16.second set ? Not really. We have faced this and other parts of the
:08:17. > :08:20.world. Japan is a very good example. Users were not able to write to
:08:21. > :08:24.wheel heavyweight motorcycles in any of their freeways or interstate
:08:25. > :08:29.systems. Now you can because of our government affairs people going in
:08:30. > :08:38.and developing policies along with the Japanese government to allow
:08:39. > :08:41.this. Harley-Davidson has had famous riders like Elvis Presley and even
:08:42. > :08:46.the pub. These bikes don't come cheap. Whether it can adapt to
:08:47. > :08:54.Asia's different case and income levels remains to be seen.
:08:55. > :08:56.You searching the Internet for this year question at Google has released
:08:57. > :09:07.its most popular search terms. Vietnam is a late to the party,
:09:08. > :09:30.making that favourite search term 'Gamgnam Style'. -- 'Gangnam Style'.
:09:31. > :09:36.Psy is hugely popular in Asia. It is an indication that Psy is here to
:09:37. > :09:40.stay. It seems like in India and Thailand, the trend seemed to be
:09:41. > :09:50.more driven towards at the domestic market. That is right. Bollywood and
:09:51. > :09:54.cricket score high on the list in India and it goes to show what the
:09:55. > :10:00.cultural unifies are. In India it is all about movies and in Thailand it
:10:01. > :10:08.is all about comedy and song. Tell us, what were some of the unexpected
:10:09. > :10:15.transfer must hear? -- unexpected results from this year. The haze and
:10:16. > :10:18.Singapore, typhoons and Japan, the Typhoon in the Philippines. What is
:10:19. > :10:22.surprising is what people are searching for. People turn to the
:10:23. > :10:26.Internet as a first source. They see it as a tool to get real-time
:10:27. > :10:30.information on the crisis. In the Philippines, for instance, you will
:10:31. > :10:36.remember that there was a fight a few weeks after the hit of the
:10:37. > :10:41.Typhoon. The term for the fight was the region of Leyte which was the
:10:42. > :10:45.strongest region hit by the Typhoon. Even amongst the crisis, a polite
:10:46. > :10:55.turning to find out information about their favourite boxes. --
:10:56. > :11:11.boxers. That was Asia Business Report. Goodbye for now.
:11:12. > :11:14.Headlines: A British government ministers of the London surgeon who
:11:15. > :11:19.died in detention in Syria was any fact murdered by the Syrian regime.
:11:20. > :11:24.In Italy, secretly filmed footage it triggers an enquiry stopped