:00:00. > :00:00.the biggest fall since 1997. A record 30 million people have jobs
:00:00. > :00:09.and the number of people out of work now stands at 7.1%. Time now for the
:00:10. > :00:18.latest business News live from Singapore.
:00:19. > :00:26.Pro or anti nuclear, energy policies take centre stage in Tokyo's
:00:27. > :00:30.governor race. Economic growth and renewable energy. Why Southeast Asia
:00:31. > :00:39.is becoming a destination for green investors.
:00:40. > :00:43.Welcome to Asia Business Report. We stuffed with Japan today where
:00:44. > :00:48.campaigning is under way for a new Tokyo governor, the vote is in two
:00:49. > :00:54.weeks time on one issue that has been brought to the fore is nuclear
:00:55. > :00:59.power. The main reason is because of the men that has surprised many I
:01:00. > :01:04.put himself in the race. A former prime minister who is backed by
:01:05. > :01:07.another prime minister. They are campaigning on an antinuclear
:01:08. > :01:16.platform. They are pitted against the front runner and he has the
:01:17. > :01:19.backing of the ruling Liberal Democrat party and the current prime
:01:20. > :01:28.minister. So many names and 70 prime ministers, earlier I spoke to
:01:29. > :01:35.someone who spoke about how they see the race panning out. The campaign
:01:36. > :01:41.kicks off today and what the former promised the hopes is that the
:01:42. > :01:46.nuclear issue, that has been around since the Fukushima accident, can
:01:47. > :01:50.really get traction. The mood of the country is split on the idea of
:01:51. > :01:56.whether Japan should restart of the -- restart its nuclear power plants
:01:57. > :02:02.but the movement has not coalesced. You silly country is split over the
:02:03. > :02:05.nuclear issue but what about the sense in Tokyo itself. After the
:02:06. > :02:12.Fukushima crisis, it seemed there were many people against the idea of
:02:13. > :02:16.nuclear power. I think Tokyo is the centre of the enzyme nuclear
:02:17. > :02:23.movement in some respects. Something like 60% according to a recent poll.
:02:24. > :02:28.That is still very much of a split. There are other people that say
:02:29. > :02:33.other issues should be the ones discussed in the Tokyo election, not
:02:34. > :02:36.nuclear policy. What should be policies be? Your Mac a more
:02:37. > :02:45.down-to-earth issues, healthcare, retirement, pensions, things like
:02:46. > :02:53.that that affect people 's lives. There is also the sense amongst the
:02:54. > :02:58.visitors community, that it will not be good for the economy. That would
:02:59. > :03:06.depend on how far the antinuclear aspect of the campaign goes and what
:03:07. > :03:09.that means. With all the nuclear plants shut, Japan is importing huge
:03:10. > :03:15.quantities of very expensive fossil fuel to keep electricity going and
:03:16. > :03:18.that has had an impact on the trade deficit and the broader current
:03:19. > :03:24.account deficit. Therefore, that can harm the economy and the other big
:03:25. > :03:28.issue is that if there are no nuclear plants, electricity prices
:03:29. > :03:31.for industry will rise and that could be a problem for the economic
:03:32. > :03:37.programme that the Prime Minister is pushing. Factory activity in China
:03:38. > :03:41.slowdown in January as the first contraction in six months as new
:03:42. > :03:47.orders decline. That is according to calculations from HSBC purchasing
:03:48. > :03:53.managers which came in at 49.6. Any reading below 50 indicates a
:03:54. > :03:59.contraction. A mild slowdown at the end of last year has continued into
:04:00. > :04:04.the start of the New Year. South Korea's Central bank says the
:04:05. > :04:09.economy recorded its biggest growth in three years. The economy expanded
:04:10. > :04:12.by 3.9% from the previous year due to an increase in capital
:04:13. > :04:24.expenditure. For all of last year, Asia's for the last --
:04:25. > :04:27.fourth-largest economy expanded. The e-commerce company, eBay, has
:04:28. > :04:32.rebuffed a suggestion arguing that losing the payment services would
:04:33. > :04:39.disrupt business synergies. If eBay and PayPal were to operate
:04:40. > :04:44.separately, it would encourage other online payments to adopt PayPal as
:04:45. > :04:55.their online service provider. EBay bought PayPal. The industrial action
:04:56. > :04:59.will start today and halt production at the world's three died as part of
:05:00. > :05:04.producers. The union says 70,000 members will begin indefinite action
:05:05. > :05:07.from the start of the morning shift. Mineworkers want their current pay
:05:08. > :05:13.rates to be doubled. The World Economic Forum is an event at Davos
:05:14. > :05:22.and attracts the Who's Who of global leadership. Thousands of guests are
:05:23. > :05:26.staying at the hotels and mingling and networking events and all those
:05:27. > :05:30.parties of which there are more than 300 to go to. Our correspondent went
:05:31. > :05:39.to one hospitality venue for a causal at the Darvel strategy. Let
:05:40. > :05:43.me bring you to the car park at the Belvedere Hotel. It is the
:05:44. > :05:46.cloakroom. Come Friday and Thursday evening this will be chock-a-block
:05:47. > :05:52.with people trying to hand over codes. This is essentially a
:05:53. > :05:57.function factory. It is wall-to-wall functions, receptions, there is
:05:58. > :06:02.another one going on down there. They are preparing for it at the
:06:03. > :06:07.moment and the night is going to be Korean night. Down the corridor we
:06:08. > :06:10.can see the souvenirs that the Koreans will be handing over. Stefan
:06:11. > :06:14.Brooks is here and he is the manager, the area manager for the
:06:15. > :06:18.hotel. That's going as the preparations are under way for
:06:19. > :06:24.Korean evening. How many functions do you have in five days? Over 320
:06:25. > :06:33.in five days. There are about 28 meeting rooms, 44 officers, three
:06:34. > :06:39.large sized meeting rooms like this. Hammy events will be having here in
:06:40. > :06:46.one-day? In one day, the main date is Thursday, we will have six. Each
:06:47. > :06:51.time you need to rebuild according to what the client wants? yes. It is
:06:52. > :06:56.a logistical challenge. It is a challenge. What about the normal
:06:57. > :07:04.hotel services, a coffin, hair styling, not tonight or tomorrow
:07:05. > :07:09.night. This is a massage parlour taken over by a consultancy firm.
:07:10. > :07:15.Let me take you to the swimming pool. Every single square metre of
:07:16. > :07:19.this hotel like every Hotel in Davos is being used up. This is the
:07:20. > :07:23.swimming pool and this is the Jacuzzi. All covered over. This as
:07:24. > :07:27.well, it is not the moment to go diving if you are feeling a little
:07:28. > :07:34.stressed at the World Economic Forum. There is one message that
:07:35. > :07:36.everyone needs to take away, we are all enjoying the drinking alcohol as
:07:37. > :07:43.well, way of surviving this is to just put something to your lips,
:07:44. > :07:46.enjoy it and move onto the next party because you need to be up 5am
:07:47. > :07:50.for breakfast the next day. More on those meetings and dealings
:07:51. > :07:57.and parties going on at Davos, you can go to the website. Now to the
:07:58. > :08:00.future of energy. Drawing and industrialising economies, some
:08:01. > :08:09.companies are looking to South East Asia to invest in renewable energy
:08:10. > :08:14.like biomass. We asked how a company's biomass project will be
:08:15. > :08:18.economic league stable. I would say the most important and most relevant
:08:19. > :08:23.would be the possibility to aggregate a large volume of biomass
:08:24. > :08:27.because of the brink -- the conversion process is industrial.
:08:28. > :08:33.There are economies of scale and there is value in having a rather
:08:34. > :08:38.large plans but that means that the biomass available to the plant needs
:08:39. > :08:47.to be available in large quantities at a reasonable, low cost. Biomass
:08:48. > :08:55.is not a real commodity. It is light, it is not totally
:08:56. > :09:02.interchangeable. It needs to be sourced or produced rather locally.
:09:03. > :09:07.If you take a look at the controversies surrounding biomass,
:09:08. > :09:12.it has been stated that it is taking away food from the mouths of people
:09:13. > :09:19.because this, corn products, you can use to feed the world. How much is
:09:20. > :09:26.actually true, how do you address the controversy? I think our
:09:27. > :09:35.technology address the issue under three different perspectives. First
:09:36. > :09:41.of all, cellulose in ethanol can be obtained by agriculture residue,
:09:42. > :09:45.that does not use land, that is a byproduct. Food versus fuel, it is
:09:46. > :09:55.not a fight at all. Secondly, the process can also use vacated crops.
:09:56. > :09:59.-- dedicated crops. In several circumstances those crops can be
:10:00. > :10:08.grown on what is called marginal land. That is not suitable for
:10:09. > :10:14.interesting food production. Let's look at the markets now because they
:10:15. > :10:19.are all lower at the moment. You saw Japan at a two week high earlier and
:10:20. > :10:23.it has lost those gains. That is mainly due to the fact we saw that
:10:24. > :10:34.Chinese manufacturing darter. -- data. As a result of that we have
:10:35. > :10:36.seen all these markets lower. They give are watching. -- thank you for
:10:37. > :10:46.watching. The main news stories this hour. The
:10:47. > :10:52.opening day of the Syrian peace conference has highlighted the huge
:10:53. > :10:53.gulf between as an aside's government and rebel troops. The UN