:00:00. > :00:00.warnings for England and Wales. There are three severe warnings for
:00:00. > :00:19.Dorset. Now it is time for the latest news from Singapore.
:00:20. > :00:23.The US Central Bank has a new chief of the majority of US senators
:00:24. > :00:28.confirm a Janet Yellen as the first female chair. You ongoing political
:00:29. > :00:42.demonstrations and Bangkok start to rise and Thailand. Welcome. Asia
:00:43. > :00:46.Business Report. We start off in the United States where as you heard,
:00:47. > :00:49.the majority of senators have confirmed Janet Yellen as the first
:00:50. > :00:53.female chair of the Federal Reserve. She will be succeeding in Bernanke
:00:54. > :00:58.who steps down at the end of the month after eight years in office.
:00:59. > :01:01.Janet Yellen is not to be an advocate of the aggressive stimulus
:01:02. > :01:08.policy also known as quantitative easing which began in 2008. Despite
:01:09. > :01:13.the amount being pumped into the US economy every month, it will be
:01:14. > :01:18.reduced by 85 earlier dollars to $75 billion US. One of the main
:01:19. > :01:22.challenge is to reduce the amount is also known as tapering will be in
:01:23. > :01:26.the months and years ahead. America is dealing with a mixed economic
:01:27. > :01:33.picture as it takes off for the New Year. Janet Yellen's task would be
:01:34. > :01:38.easy. I spoke to our correspondent earlier.
:01:39. > :01:42.On one hand you see the unemployment rate falling to 7%. That is a
:01:43. > :01:51.five-year low. However, it is still high. Parts of America sees people
:01:52. > :01:55.unemployed for more than six months. This is a concern to Janet Yellen.
:01:56. > :02:03.She mentioned a star in her confirmation in November. --
:02:04. > :02:07.mentioned this in her. The economy is recovering but the recovery is
:02:08. > :02:11.still tepid. This is why there are still move for this kind of
:02:12. > :02:16.stimulus. Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen have both said that the
:02:17. > :02:20.economy is seeing recovery but it is not functioning at its top level.
:02:21. > :02:27.They are Central Bank's role is crucial at this moment.
:02:28. > :02:32.In Thailand hundreds of thousands of NT Government protesters are
:02:33. > :02:36.preparing to taken the streets to oust the Prime Minister Yingluck
:02:37. > :02:43.Shinawatra and put in an unelected council. The country's vast tourism
:02:44. > :02:50.industry are starting to feel the heat. Our south-east Asian
:02:51. > :02:57.correspondent reports from Bangkok. Thailand's pot of gold that keeps on
:02:58. > :03:02.giving. Tourism has continued to grow through political and economic
:03:03. > :03:08.upheaval. It accounts for more than 7% of the entire economy. Visitor
:03:09. > :03:16.numbers were up 20% last year. That is, until December. A sudden drop.
:03:17. > :03:22.Anti-government protests continued in Bangkok week after week. The
:03:23. > :03:27.group also and were able to challenge and at times trace of the
:03:28. > :03:35.police. Nobody can guess now how this will end. -- able to chase off
:03:36. > :03:41.police. Until now, protests have been a bit more than an
:03:42. > :03:44.inconvenience and sometimes even an unexpected attraction but the total
:03:45. > :03:49.shutdown planned for next week will have a far more serious impact on
:03:50. > :03:53.the city's economy. What is more worrying is the country's steady
:03:54. > :03:59.drift into a more violent and protracted conflict that could drive
:04:00. > :04:04.big investors and manufacturers to reconsider their commitment to
:04:05. > :04:08.Thailand. Electronics, for example, are worth $20 billion a year. That
:04:09. > :04:16.is more than one quarter of the X was that Thailand depends on
:04:17. > :04:23.heavily. -- exports. They are not easy to move elsewhere. If they do,
:04:24. > :04:27.they won't come back quickly. Outside Bangkok, the turmoil is
:04:28. > :04:34.scarcely visible. There is no reason yet to avoid the beach resorts. Even
:04:35. > :04:42.they can't be completely insulated from an intractable conflict which
:04:43. > :04:49.is threatening to tear the country and how.
:04:50. > :04:54.South Korea Samsung Electronics has forecast its operating profit for
:04:55. > :04:58.the three months to the scene last year fell by 18% to about $7.8
:04:59. > :05:03.billion. This is compared to the previous quarter. We got this report
:05:04. > :05:13.from the biggest maker of mobile phones and TVs. Four other news, log
:05:14. > :05:23.on to the BBC website and click on the business index will -- business
:05:24. > :05:26.index. An effort to slow growing debt in China and regulate the
:05:27. > :05:30.lending practices will stop shadow banking is a channel in which an
:05:31. > :05:34.actual institutions provide formal sources of loans for businesses will
:05:35. > :05:40.stop earlier I spoke to a correspondent about China's debt
:05:41. > :05:44.concerns. Total debt to GDP in China is
:05:45. > :05:51.running at about 200%. This is very high for a developing economy. There
:05:52. > :06:01.is concern for financial instability particularly as a lot of the debt is
:06:02. > :06:06.in the so-called shadow sector designed to circumvent the normal
:06:07. > :06:13.banking regulations. In this report, it aims to tackle this and the risk.
:06:14. > :06:17.It is all a part of China's strategy to get away from a model of growth
:06:18. > :06:19.based on this very high level of borrowing and investment and moving
:06:20. > :06:23.to something more sustainable, a model of growth based on consumer
:06:24. > :06:28.spending. How do these guidelines Capecchi
:06:29. > :06:35.shadow banking rules and other nations ?
:06:36. > :06:43.-- compare to shadow banking rules. Since the financial crisis, shadow
:06:44. > :06:48.banking, more conflux products have come in for concern. There is
:06:49. > :06:55.concern that this lending can compose risks of instability. China
:06:56. > :07:00.is bringing itself into line with other economies. People have pointed
:07:01. > :07:05.out that the tone of the regulations is evenhanded. It is not trained to
:07:06. > :07:07.do away with a shadow banking, it is trying to regulate it and bring it
:07:08. > :07:16.into a more formal setting, recognising that in a diverse
:07:17. > :07:20.economy, you need diversity and the ability for people to go to other
:07:21. > :07:25.sources if they can't get money from the banks, for example. This is
:07:26. > :07:30.China's way, some people would say, of moving towards economic reform
:07:31. > :07:40.which is all geared towards the shift to a consumer driven economy.
:07:41. > :07:45.CSX is a taboo subject in Malaysia. It is a conservative country. --
:07:46. > :07:57.safe sex was up it is home to the world's this condom maker.
:07:58. > :08:04.For every ten condoms produced in the world, at least one comes from
:08:05. > :08:08.Malaysia. It is likely that you have never heard of the company before.
:08:09. > :08:12.Karex. They merely produce for international brands. Here, for
:08:13. > :08:17.example, they are producing chocolate flavoured condoms destined
:08:18. > :08:21.for Brazil. A third of the condoms and leave this factory go to the
:08:22. > :08:24.United Nations and governments. The promote safe sex and they want
:08:25. > :08:29.condoms that are as attractive as possible.
:08:30. > :08:34.Even countries like Indonesia have requested flavoured condoms.
:08:35. > :08:41.Durian flavoured? Yes. That is stinky fruit. We also have one
:08:42. > :08:46.client and Amsterdam that wanted a narrow one flavoured condom.
:08:47. > :08:50.Marijuana ? May I ask how you got that extract ?
:08:51. > :08:59.It as synthetically flavoured. You don't get any tax from that.
:09:00. > :09:05.Karex has to be innovative. Its costs are low. It cannot directly
:09:06. > :09:08.advertise to consumers in its country.
:09:09. > :09:16.Today, young people are very connected to the Internet. The
:09:17. > :09:23.access of smart phones has made it their way. We can look into getting
:09:24. > :09:25.greater information about our products.
:09:26. > :09:29.A sense of humour has also kept this family firm in business for four
:09:30. > :09:33.generations. It trickles down to the factory floor. Here, workers check
:09:34. > :09:38.every condom for calls before it is sold.
:09:39. > :09:45.Is it fun? Yes. What about customer feedback ?
:09:46. > :09:49.People like to tell me, your condom doesn't fit me. I say, you can come
:09:50. > :09:53.to my factory and I will fit you. If you look at the size of the condom,
:09:54. > :09:56.the thing is, it will fit practically everybody, even your
:09:57. > :10:06.whole body. That is something I hope not to try!
:10:07. > :10:14.That was Malaysia. The fully go, here is a look at the markets. As
:10:15. > :10:17.you can see, most Asian stocks are trading higher in mid-morning
:10:18. > :10:21.Tuesday trade after activities are slightly higher in the US overnight.
:10:22. > :10:30.Janet Yellen was confirmed by the Senate as the Federal chairwoman.
:10:31. > :10:33.South Korea's currency is up by ten points. But in the upward trend is
:10:34. > :10:51.Japan, down by 80 points. Headlines: Millions of people across
:10:52. > :10:54.large parts of the United States and Canada are being warned to stay in
:10:55. > :11:04.doors to avoid extremely cold weather. Cabbages are forecast for
:11:05. > :11:06.-40 degrees. There are fears that militants linked to Al-Qaeda could
:11:07. > :11:07.establish