:00:00. > :00:00.given to more than 180 Irish Republican paramilitary fighters
:00:00. > :00:00.showing there will not be prosecuted. Time for the latest
:00:00. > :00:25.business news. Qantas announces 5000 job cuts in a
:00:26. > :00:29.loss of more than $200 million. Australia's trade ministry gives the
:00:30. > :00:37.BBC an update on the stalled transpacific partnership
:00:38. > :00:41.negotiations. Welcome to the Asia Business Report.
:00:42. > :00:46.We start off with Qantas and it announced that it is laying off 5000
:00:47. > :00:52.employees as part of cost saving measures worth about $1.8 billion.
:00:53. > :00:56.Alan Joyce says that the company is facing some of its toughest
:00:57. > :01:01.conditions it has ever seen and has been competing with other airlines
:01:02. > :01:09.with one hand tied behind its back. It announced a loss of some $211
:01:10. > :01:13.million before it tax and plans to cut its fleet by more than 50
:01:14. > :01:21.aircraft. With share is in the carrier at sliding, I spoke to an
:01:22. > :01:28.analyst to see how things are for the airline. Things look pretty bad,
:01:29. > :01:32.but what they are doing will set a platform going forward that should
:01:33. > :01:38.make them more sustainable. 5000 job cuts is a big proportion for them to
:01:39. > :01:43.be cutting. But from here on end they should be more efficient. So
:01:44. > :01:51.you are saying that the worst is over? This could be the worst is
:01:52. > :01:58.over. It is said that it is still tough for a lot of airlines. There
:01:59. > :02:03.could be further cuts. In a couple of years they may start to grow
:02:04. > :02:09.again. Could the problem also be on the leadership front? Could Alan
:02:10. > :02:16.Joyce B replaced as a result of these results? That might be a
:02:17. > :02:20.possibility in the long-term. The board has put their confidence in
:02:21. > :02:26.Alan Joyce and feel that he is the right man to lead them at this time.
:02:27. > :02:32.But if the losses keep on happening, questions will be asked. With these
:02:33. > :02:35.losses, will this intensify the issue about increasing the foreign
:02:36. > :02:41.ownership in Qantas? It certainly will. They have been pushing to have
:02:42. > :02:48.the cap lifted to access overseas money. They will be pushing harder
:02:49. > :02:55.and harder. Canberra is open to that idea. With all of these problems
:02:56. > :03:03.that Qantas is facing right now, what will it mean for those who fly
:03:04. > :03:07.Qantas? In terms of services we may see some reduction of services. They
:03:08. > :03:11.are going to cut one route and there may be further along the way. In the
:03:12. > :03:18.short term there will probably not be that many cheap airfares from
:03:19. > :03:23.Qantas. In other business is making
:03:24. > :03:28.headlines, Credit Suisse says it deeply regrets that some of its
:03:29. > :03:32.bankers violated US tax laws on all but the bank's chief executive said
:03:33. > :03:38.there was only scattered evidence of improper conduct. It is alleged it
:03:39. > :03:47.helped US clients hide billions of dollars from US tax officials.
:03:48. > :03:57.Japanese authorities have launched an investigation into MT GOX. A
:03:58. > :04:00.Japanese government spokesperson said the police, the Finance
:04:01. > :04:05.Ministry and others are gathering information on the case. Reports
:04:06. > :04:12.have emerged that it has also been subpoenaed by US prosecutors. Thanks
:04:13. > :04:19.in part to China, Portugal's government is banking on almost $619
:04:20. > :04:27.billion of investment. That should FastTrack residency for
:04:28. > :04:32.wealthy foreigners. The permits have gone to citizens of the mainland.
:04:33. > :04:35.You can keep up-to-date with business news from this region and
:04:36. > :04:42.around the world by logging onto the BBC website.
:04:43. > :04:46.It is not just Qantas that has put Australia in the news. The country
:04:47. > :04:51.is one of 12 nations trying to negotiate a transpacific partnership
:04:52. > :04:55.trade deal. The latest round of talks ended in Singapore without an
:04:56. > :04:58.agreement, Australia's trade minister says he is confident there
:04:59. > :05:05.will be a deal by the end of the year. He gave his take on when
:05:06. > :05:13.negotiations are heading. I feel that we are probably 80% of the way
:05:14. > :05:17.they are on the decisions. Nothing was really done on market access.
:05:18. > :05:23.That was until the rest of it was agreed to. There are some
:05:24. > :05:31.significant issues. But a lot of the countries I have dealt with, I feel
:05:32. > :05:36.that there is a willingness to go a long way. But with all the
:05:37. > :05:43.willingness in the world, how close are Japan and the US to any sort of
:05:44. > :05:49.compromise to market access? I do not know. I have got a sense of it.
:05:50. > :05:56.The thing is that you put the 12 countries together, they are 40% of
:05:57. > :06:02.the world's GDP. 70% of that 40% is made up of the US and Japan. They
:06:03. > :06:09.are fundamental to how much space is created for everyone to do some
:06:10. > :06:14.serious liberalising. Is your sense that they have made progress? They
:06:15. > :06:19.have had some difficult moments, but I think that they are making
:06:20. > :06:27.progress. Negotiations always end up like this. You end up with the hard
:06:28. > :06:33.yards and everyone has to take a deep breath at some stage. We are
:06:34. > :06:38.heading towards that. You are Australia's trade minister. But you
:06:39. > :06:41.know better than most that what happens in one area of government
:06:42. > :06:46.relations will impact on other areas. How much damage is
:06:47. > :06:53.Australia's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats to Indonesia and
:06:54. > :06:58.the issues of Manus Island, how much they doing to Australia's
:06:59. > :07:05.gravitational? I am travelling the region and talking to ministers. No
:07:06. > :07:13.one is raising the issue with me. Even in Indonesia, my counterpart, I
:07:14. > :07:18.met with the trade Minister, he has just resigned to run for
:07:19. > :07:27.presidency, I met with him five times. We have the live cattle trade
:07:28. > :07:36.re-established. It has climbed back to its highest level ever. While a
:07:37. > :07:43.lot of these comments are being made publicly, any trade sense, no
:07:44. > :07:51.impact. In fact, an improvement. The relationships, not a problem. That
:07:52. > :07:56.was Australia's trade minister. Businesses in Thailand have for some
:07:57. > :07:59.time expressed concern that the political crisis will have an impact
:08:00. > :08:09.on the bottomline. There is now evidence. Chinese automakers are
:08:10. > :08:17.postponing plans to build a pond facility. -- plant. I would expect
:08:18. > :08:23.so given that there is no sign of any breakthrough of political
:08:24. > :08:30.deadlock. The immediate impact has been felt I hotels and retail
:08:31. > :08:34.businesses in this area. And by the depression of domestic demand. There
:08:35. > :08:40.has been a steady scaling down of predictions and forecasts for GDP.
:08:41. > :08:46.The economy has depended heavily on foreign investment. People have been
:08:47. > :08:52.watching carefully for signs of nerves by the big investors, the
:08:53. > :08:57.Japanese investors in particular, as to whether they will look for
:08:58. > :09:04.alternatives to Thailand. These bits of news should be worrying. It is an
:09:05. > :09:07.ambitious bank. It has looked at Thailand for some years as a
:09:08. > :09:12.potentially profitable market. Banking has been profitable. The
:09:13. > :09:20.fact that they have postponed suggests they are nervous about
:09:21. > :09:26.market conditions. The decision by the automaker, desperately looking
:09:27. > :09:33.for markets outside China, South East Asia has potential. Thailand is
:09:34. > :09:36.the natural base. They are postponing a $300 million investment
:09:37. > :09:43.in a factory that would have produced 100,000 cars per year. That
:09:44. > :09:49.had been very worrying. We have heard warnings from Toyota that they
:09:50. > :09:55.were considering looking at alternatives for future investment
:09:56. > :09:59.given the political uncertainty. Before we go, a quick look at the
:10:00. > :10:13.markets. Share prices are currently mixed. Investors are hesitant to
:10:14. > :10:25.make a big move before comments from the Federal reserve chairman.
:10:26. > :10:34.You have been watching Asia Business Report. Thank you for investing your
:10:35. > :10:50.time with us. Sport today is up next.
:10:51. > :10:53.Before that, the menus. -- Main stories. The man who would become
:10:54. > :10:59.the next Prime Minister of Ukraine is says that the country is dealing
:11:00. > :11:02.with a political disaster. Two Islamist accused of murdering a
:11:03. > :11:03.British soldier on the streets of London last year