:00:00. > 3:59:59character, Ken Barlow. Now on BBC News, all the latest
:00:00. > :00:21.business news live from Singapore. Grounded. Japan Airlines suffers a
:00:22. > :00:27.new battery problem on one of its Boeing 787 aircraft. The Detroit
:00:28. > :00:33.auto show is under way. But one group is not attending.
:00:34. > :00:45.Welcome. As you may have heard from our previous bulletin, Japan
:00:46. > :00:48.Airlines has grounded one of its early 787 Dreamliner aircraft, after
:00:49. > :00:51.it detected white smoke outside the plane, caused by a battery issue.
:00:52. > :00:54.The incident comes nearly one year after Japan Airlines and Nippon
:00:55. > :01:06.Airways grounded their fleets after two batteries overheated on two
:01:07. > :01:10.planes. Global regulators issued a worldwide grounding of the 787
:01:11. > :01:22.fleets, which went on for three months. Our correspondent brought us
:01:23. > :01:24.up to date. Yesterday afternoon in Japan, when
:01:25. > :01:27.an inspection of a Japan Airlines 787 was taking place before a flight
:01:28. > :01:30.to Thailand. During the inspection, the engineers noticed smoke coming
:01:31. > :01:36.from somewhere. They went to investigate. Alarms went off in the
:01:37. > :01:39.cockpit, showing the source was the battery. They found that one of the
:01:40. > :01:49.eight lithium ion batteries appear to have overheated and melted. It
:01:50. > :01:59.does look like it was very similar to the problems that caused the
:02:00. > :02:02.grounding last year. But, at the same time, the company Boeing is
:02:03. > :02:06.saying that the updated design, the containment system, works and that
:02:07. > :02:18.the problem didn't spread. Nevertheless, new safety concerns.
:02:19. > :02:22.Is this going to highlight issues? What it really points to is that
:02:23. > :02:25.Boeing has still not got to the root of this battery problem. We are a
:02:26. > :02:30.year on from the first incident and the investigation still hasn't
:02:31. > :02:33.reported back. Although there has been a successful testing of the
:02:34. > :02:44.design problem, these batteries still have a fundamental design
:02:45. > :02:46.problem. That will be a worry for customers and it has affected the
:02:47. > :02:56.share price. It could affect decisions about purchasing other
:02:57. > :03:02.aircraft instead. This might, for example, help Airbus.
:03:03. > :03:05.And of course, a word about the people booking flights on the
:03:06. > :03:13.carriers. What happens to this particular flight?
:03:14. > :03:21.The passengers weren't on the plane. They were immediately transferred to
:03:22. > :03:24.another 787 and went to Bangkok. So, it didn't affect the operations
:03:25. > :03:31.greatly. It's an issue of maintenance and cost. And, again, it
:03:32. > :03:37.will raise concerns as to whether this plane is completely safe.
:03:38. > :03:44.To the car industry. Detroit's famous motor show kicked off this
:03:45. > :03:50.week. The focus this year has been on the big three US carmakers. But
:03:51. > :03:54.the country with the biggest car maker and market is noticeably
:03:55. > :03:57.absent. Walking around the Detroit Auto
:03:58. > :04:00.Show, you'll see brands from all over the world. But one country is
:04:01. > :04:08.not here. For the first time since 2006, there are no Chinese
:04:09. > :04:11.carmakers. A sign of how hard it is to break the American market. That
:04:12. > :04:15.doesn't mean that Asian carmakers are underrepresented. Toyota has
:04:16. > :04:20.been generating a lot of buyers. -- buzz. This is a concept car that
:04:21. > :04:29.hasn't moved to production, but enthusiasts have been excited by
:04:30. > :04:31.what they are seeing. American carmakers have been reviving brands
:04:32. > :04:34.like the Mustang and the Corvette. This is Toyota's offering. I'm
:04:35. > :04:49.joined by the man responsible for what we see. This is the Toyota
:04:50. > :04:56.FT-1. Our intent is to create a spiritual car that sets the pace. We
:04:57. > :04:59.wanted to create an exciting, heart-tugging design that draws
:05:00. > :05:03.people in and allows people to feel what the car looks like, rather than
:05:04. > :05:06.think about it. What do you have to include in a car like this to get
:05:07. > :05:10.people excited? People have to see beautiful surfaces, beautiful
:05:11. > :05:14.proportions and excitement. Judging by the reaction so far, there has
:05:15. > :05:24.been a lot of excitement, for a company that hasn't traditionally
:05:25. > :05:31.been associated with that. But it's a push to try and win over the
:05:32. > :05:33.American car buyer. India will release its latest
:05:34. > :05:39.inflation figures in a few hours. Forecasters say the nation could see
:05:40. > :05:45.the data edged down from a four-month high. Consumers have seen
:05:46. > :05:50.persistently high inflation. The key question is whether it is whether
:05:51. > :05:58.it's a long-term change. More from Mumbai.
:05:59. > :06:02.I've just bought some tomatoes and the price I paid is about one
:06:03. > :06:07.quarter of what it cost in November. The price of most vegetables here
:06:08. > :06:12.are soaring. Many have become cheaper. The reason? The winter
:06:13. > :06:17.harvest has been good, the reason why the supply of vegetables has
:06:18. > :06:21.gone up. This has reflected retail inflation figures, which touched a
:06:22. > :06:24.three-month low over December. This is great news for Indian consumers,
:06:25. > :06:29.who have been battling for high food prices. Some people, did you leave
:06:30. > :06:36.those from low income families, say they almost stopped buying
:06:37. > :06:40.vegetables. -- particular goes. Inflation number is also expected to
:06:41. > :06:47.have gone down generally. They say it will probably come down to about
:06:48. > :06:52.7%, after 17.5% in November. But even at 7%, it's still quite high.
:06:53. > :06:57.The central bank has been focusing on inflation. It has increased
:06:58. > :07:03.interest rates twice as its -- since September. But during the last
:07:04. > :07:05.review, rates have been unchanged because they believed inflation
:07:06. > :07:09.would go on a downward trend and that's what we are seeing at the
:07:10. > :07:13.moment. But the central bank is unlikely to announce any cuts off
:07:14. > :07:17.interest rates, unless we see it go substantially lower. Stay with us.
:07:18. > :07:29.We will bring you those figures as soon as we get them from Mumbai.
:07:30. > :07:32.The World Bank has raised its growth forecast for the first time in three
:07:33. > :07:35.years. In its latest estimate, the institution sees global gross
:07:36. > :07:38.domestic product expanding by 3.2% from 2.4% last year. The bank said
:07:39. > :07:41.the world economy has reached a turning point, as policy uncertainty
:07:42. > :07:52.no longer weighs heavily on most of the major countries. It's expecting
:07:53. > :07:54.strong growth in America compared to that of last year.
:07:55. > :07:57.What makes a global property a hotspot? Our chief business
:07:58. > :08:00.correspondent is looking at what is driving property prices. Today, she
:08:01. > :08:04.reports from London on my some properties that are becoming more
:08:05. > :08:07.attractive. Potential homebuyers know all too
:08:08. > :08:13.well that, in cities like London, house prices are skyrocketing,
:08:14. > :08:20.despite the tepid economic recovery. And it's not just London. You see
:08:21. > :08:30.this across global property hotspots. Here, prices have more
:08:31. > :08:33.than doubled since 2005. In Asia, Singapore had seen house prices
:08:34. > :08:39.increased by more than 230%. In Hong Kong, they now have the most
:08:40. > :08:42.expensive homes in the world. In New York, despite the housing crash,
:08:43. > :08:55.prices are up nearly 50%. Why are house prices rising so rapidly? Out
:08:56. > :08:59.of the reach of most people, high end flats like this one are a sign
:09:00. > :09:02.of how much demand there is for housing in places like London.
:09:03. > :09:04.Record low interest rates and even government schemes to help
:09:05. > :09:09.homebuyers are some of the reasons why house prices of rising. -- are
:09:10. > :09:12.rising. And London is an attractive place to own property because
:09:13. > :09:17.there's no annual tax based on the value of the property. If you own
:09:18. > :09:27.one of these $50 million homes, you would pay an annual tax of $60,000.
:09:28. > :09:34.-- $16,000. That includes the local property tax. But such a property
:09:35. > :09:39.tax based on value of the property does exist in other global cities.
:09:40. > :09:43.Peter, who is buying in London? Brits or foreigners? Everyone is
:09:44. > :09:56.buying in London. But the British are probably 40% of our business.
:09:57. > :09:59.Next on the line is Russia and a few other states. We have got 15% from
:10:00. > :10:01.the Middle East and Europe and then Asia. Different cities are becoming
:10:02. > :10:05.concerned about foreigners coming into purchase property. In Asia,
:10:06. > :10:08.there are new taxes foreigners buying and selling homes. In London,
:10:09. > :10:14.a similar measure comes into effect from 2015. For all those worried
:10:15. > :10:24.about and prices, we will be following those markets closely.
:10:25. > :10:27.You can see more on that report this weekend. This is Asia Business
:10:28. > :10:46.Report. Thanks for watching. The main stories: Anti-government
:10:47. > :10:51.protestors are still paralysing parts of Bangkok. The Prime Minister
:10:52. > :10:52.insists she won't do is -- resigned. Israel has