:00:00. > :00:00.The Met Office said there was more rain snow and winds to come. Time
:00:00. > :00:15.for the latest business news live from Singapore with Rico.
:00:16. > :00:19.Talent is up for national elections on Sunday despite protests and
:00:20. > :00:33.unwilling calls for the opposition for it to be stopped. Myanmar begins
:00:34. > :00:37.to welcome to international telecom providers into its market. You're
:00:38. > :00:43.watching Asian business report. I'm in Singapore. As you have heard on
:00:44. > :00:45.Tuesday, elections in Thailand are scheduled to go ahead this weekend
:00:46. > :00:48.despite a boycott by the opposition and thousands of protesters calling
:00:49. > :00:52.for the polls to be stopped. In addition to millions of dollars in
:00:53. > :00:56.lost business, three months of demonstrations have also impacted
:00:57. > :01:01.the government's duties. The commerce ministry had to delay the
:01:02. > :01:04.release of its monthly trade darter as protesters closed ministries and
:01:05. > :01:09.government agencies. Earlier I spoke to Tony Nash about businesses and
:01:10. > :01:14.the worries around the election upheaval. Number of businesses are
:01:15. > :01:25.worried about exports, impeding the supply chain. The automotive
:01:26. > :01:31.industry and other in -- industries. In Bangkok we don't expect
:01:32. > :01:40.disruption. Outside of an extreme event. What they are still isolated
:01:41. > :01:43.in the capital, Bangkok, it has not spread outside of the country.
:01:44. > :01:50.Businessmen are still hopeful to see a resolution going forward.
:01:51. > :01:54.The resolution we will likely see from a political scenario is the
:01:55. > :01:56.military coming into force on the two parties to talk and come to talk
:01:57. > :02:01.and compass uncompromised. The election will go forward on Sunday,
:02:02. > :02:08.we don't expect a new parliament to start because there are a number of
:02:09. > :02:12.seats that are not being contested. The Parliament needs to have 95% of
:02:13. > :02:16.seats filled in order to start. We will likely have by-elections over
:02:17. > :02:22.the next three to six months, short of a military coup or judicial coup
:02:23. > :02:28.that the opposition is looking for, this will be a long, drawnout
:02:29. > :02:33.process. We will speak again on Monday after details of the election
:02:34. > :02:42.results. Consumer prices rose in December in Japan. Asian's Secker
:02:43. > :02:51.biggest economy -- a second is economy as suffered in the past. Up
:02:52. > :02:55.by about 1% from many expectations. Other new dart around today revealed
:02:56. > :02:59.that the country's job market is improving, with unemployment falling
:03:00. > :03:10.slightly in December to 3.7% from the month before. Shares in's big
:03:11. > :03:15.department store David Jones rose by 4.5 percent after rejecting a $1.2
:03:16. > :03:23.billion proposal from rival mire. -- mire. David Jones said the
:03:24. > :03:29.implementation of a transaction would have had business and
:03:30. > :03:37.revelatory risks. The two companies are no longer insults. My
:03:38. > :03:41.MRgovernment have signed contracts with to tell communications
:03:42. > :03:45.companies. Because you's Telecom allegations infrastructure is poor
:03:46. > :03:50.and investment is expected to be running into the billions of
:03:51. > :03:55.dollars. We caught up with the chief executive of one of the companies
:03:56. > :04:03.that won the Telecom contract. At the moment my has won mobile phone
:04:04. > :04:08.operator. -- Burma. The service is pretty dire. That could be all about
:04:09. > :04:14.the change. Two companies have signed a licensing agreement with
:04:15. > :04:19.the government, a Qatari company and a Norwegian company. I am joined by
:04:20. > :04:27.the Chief Executive Officer of one of those companies in my MR. It has
:04:28. > :04:33.taken six months to get that contract. Is that a sign of how
:04:34. > :04:37.difficult it is to get business? It is a sign of how professional they
:04:38. > :04:41.were. They wanted the rules in place and so we knew what the framework
:04:42. > :04:47.was. We have been busy. We have had 350 people on the ground. More than
:04:48. > :04:52.half of whom are local and we will hire more in the coming months and
:04:53. > :05:05.by the next few months we will be 70% me and more. At. For you,
:05:06. > :05:14.getting this contract, this licence must be almost a licence to print
:05:15. > :05:24.money. Is a historic occasion for us. For the people of Myanmar, it is
:05:25. > :05:31.great. We are building a three G network from scratch. There is a
:05:32. > :05:37.huge domains there. 16 million people in a country where very few
:05:38. > :05:40.people enjoy services. This is one of the world's last frontiers for
:05:41. > :05:44.building telecommunications and we are absolutely thrilled to be a part
:05:45. > :05:49.of it. You mentioned you are building a three G network yeah,
:05:50. > :06:00.people around the world are saying why waste your time on three G? When
:06:01. > :06:05.there is 4G. We are building a 4G capable network. When we have the
:06:06. > :06:11.frequency we can upgrade to 4G. They are calling Myanmar won the final
:06:12. > :06:14.frontiers for telecommunications and 2014 could be the year that
:06:15. > :06:17.everything changes. Two companies launching their networks in the race
:06:18. > :06:24.is on to get the networks up and running. Many companies in Asia are
:06:25. > :06:32.celebrating the Chinese New Year which starts today. Times are
:06:33. > :06:37.changing and demand for these handcrafted items is on the wane.
:06:38. > :06:47.One family business which has been going on for 80 years says the
:06:48. > :06:55.future is not looking so bright. It is mid-morning in Stephen is getting
:06:56. > :06:58.ready to make a delivery. The sticks take hours to make and not much
:06:59. > :07:03.longer to be reduced to a pile of ash as they burn outside of the
:07:04. > :07:09.temple gates. Each stickers made of the ground up branches of the
:07:10. > :07:15.cinnamon tree, formed into a clay, 15 years ago, they were individually
:07:16. > :07:21.handcrafted and hand-painted, today, the clay is put into a mould and the
:07:22. > :07:27.paint comes from the juice of a spray gun. It is all part of trying
:07:28. > :07:30.to ensure that an 80 -year-old stick making business survives. Stephen
:07:31. > :07:39.and his brothers, Albert and Amis, run the business. We love it.
:07:40. > :07:42.Something skilled that you don't find anywhere else. The brothers
:07:43. > :07:45.learn the trade from their father who in turn was taught by his father
:07:46. > :07:52.who came to Singapore from China in the 1930s. In its heyday, the
:07:53. > :08:01.business supported a family of 12 with all of the siblings involved.
:08:02. > :08:06.We all live together and everybody helped. You can see your parents
:08:07. > :08:12.working and you just think is none of my business. Even in school they
:08:13. > :08:18.start working. Now the rules have changed. The clay is mixed in a
:08:19. > :08:22.workshop far from the family home is and the more lucrative giant sticks
:08:23. > :08:27.the family used to be make have been banned on environmental grounds. As
:08:28. > :08:30.well, there are cheap imports to compete with. The family has cut
:08:31. > :08:40.costs and diversified but it is not enough. Amis's thought of wants a
:08:41. > :08:43.more comfortable life. -- daughter. We are not so interested and we
:08:44. > :08:51.don't have the skill to do it. Our parents and my uncles, if we
:08:52. > :08:54.continue this line, we don't have a guaranteed right future. The family
:08:55. > :09:01.business simply does not make enough for everyone to live on. No, I will
:09:02. > :09:06.tell my kids, don't do this, you're wasting your time. The family still
:09:07. > :09:09.makes a living out of a product that is designed to be destroyed. There
:09:10. > :09:15.are in business has endured for much longer. -- their own business. We
:09:16. > :09:23.have so many brothers, there are so many children, my niece and my
:09:24. > :09:27.nephew, it is a bit sad, really. We won't be able to carry it to another
:09:28. > :09:35.generation. After 80 years, the clock is now ticking on a dying
:09:36. > :09:41.trade. For Asian audiences, make sure you take a look at our revamped
:09:42. > :09:45.Asia News homepage that you can see right now on your screens. More news
:09:46. > :09:47.and features a specially from around the Asia Pacific region. Please log
:09:48. > :09:53.on to that. Before we go, here a the Asia Pacific region. Please log
:09:54. > :09:57.on to that. Before we go, look the market on the Asia Business Report.
:09:58. > :10:02.A few of them are open right now due to the lunar New Year holidays. They
:10:03. > :10:05.are currently getting a reprieve after US equities gained overnight
:10:06. > :10:10.as data showed the US economy grew strongly in the last quarter of
:10:11. > :10:17.2013. The Tokyo market is up by 22 points. That is after consumer
:10:18. > :10:25.prices rose in December. Australia is also in positive territory by
:10:26. > :10:26.five points. The US GDP numbers basically pushing Wall Street
:10:27. > :10:41.industries in the higher ground. Thank you for investing your time
:10:42. > :10:45.with us. Goodbye. The main news stories in London this hour. A fresh
:10:46. > :10:48.appeal hearing in Italy has reinstated the conviction of Amanda
:10:49. > :10:53.Knox and Raffaella Select chateau for the murder of the British
:10:54. > :10:57.student Meredith Kercher, found stabbed to death in Perugia in
:10:58. > :10:58.2007. American prosecutors are saying they will