Browse content similar to 04/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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care for vulnerable soldiers. It came after the suicide of Anne-Marie | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Ellement. Time now for Asia Business Report. | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
Up in the air. Will changes to ownership structure help turn things | :00:15. | :00:22. | |
around for Qantas? And, the world's most expensive city is in Asia, but | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
it is no longer Tokyo. It is much closer to home. Welcome to Asia | :00:31. | :00:44. | |
Business Report. We start with breaking news: the reserve of | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
Australia has decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 2.5%. | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
The Australian government, which has decided to relax foreign ownership | :00:57. | :00:58. | |
restrictions on Qantas Airways, days after the national carrier posted a | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
record half-year loss. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
cabinet ministers have agreed to repeal legislation that prevents | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
other airlines from owning more than 35% of Qantas. And any single | :01:10. | :01:19. | |
investor from owning more than 25%. The government could struggle to | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
pass the changes through Senate, where opposition parties have raised | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
objections to any reforms that could send Qantas jobs overseas. Earlier, | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
I spoke to our correspondent in Australia. I asked him whether | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
suitors would be lining up for a stake in the airline. The Qantas | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
management says it is being hampered by current restrictions. They do | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
limit the amount of foreign ownership in the airline. They have | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
always said that if the rules were relaxed, foreign investors could | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
come in, and Qantas could be extremely profitable further down | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
the track. If you look at the events of the past week or so, that record | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
half-year loss, about 5000 jobs being lost, it certainly looks | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
pretty grim. The Qantas management team is insisting it can turn things | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
around, but there are many people here in Australia who fear for the | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
future of the iconic national carrier. The airline's request for a | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
guarantee on its debt from the government has also been turned | :02:13. | :02:25. | |
down. Where else and whom else can Qantas turn to? That is why they | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
have been relying on the changing of these laws. Qantas had hoped for a | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
line of credit that would make it easier to get hold of cheaper loans, | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
and that that would help the struggling airline. There has been | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
an enormous debate here in Australia. Many Australians view the | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
Flying Kangaroo with a great deal of fondness and a sense of | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
sentimentality. They believe Australia should have its own | :02:55. | :02:56. | |
airline, but many Australians view it as another business that should | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
just stand or fall on its own merits. A large profit coming in at | :03:01. | :03:16. | |
$62 million last year. Only a 50% jump from 2012. 80 yard said its | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
investment had been key to last year 's growth. -- Etihad. It allows | :03:22. | :03:30. | |
multiple carriers on a single ticket. You'll Gates has returned to | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
the world richest people least as compiled by Forbes magazine. It | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
ousted the Mexican telecommunications mogul. The list | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
also showed that the US has the most billionaires - 492, followed by | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
China and Russia breaks third. -- ranks. Speaking of wealth and cost - | :03:59. | :04:08. | |
Which city is the most expensive and cheapest to live in? Singapore takes | :04:09. | :04:16. | |
on the title of the world 's most expensive city followed by Paris and | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
Oslo. The cheapest city goes to Mumbai, Karachi and Delhi. Singapore | :04:23. | :04:38. | |
has been moving up quite rapidly. It was 15 five years ago. And now it | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
takes the number one spot. The number of factors behind that - | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
structural is, high costs of cars, entitlements, and also energy and | :04:51. | :05:01. | |
water supplies. Utilities? Utilities costs. These structural factors are | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
behind the rise. The currency strength makes the city more | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
expensive, relatively in US terms. The cost of living in places that | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
have great infrastructure - is this a factor must make this isn't one of | :05:21. | :05:30. | |
the points. -- this is one of the points. It is a reflection of | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
success but it does raise the question of livability. Would people | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
reconsider if they can afford to be based in Singapore or Sydney and | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
begin to look at other locations. Those at the bottom of the list - | :05:49. | :05:57. | |
why? This reflect a different stage of economic development in the | :05:58. | :05:59. | |
cities. Lower incomes, lower wage environments. There are more | :06:00. | :06:01. | |
moderate levels of household spending. Levels of demand a much | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
lower than you will see in the Asian cities we have been talking about. | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
There is not the spending, and pressure on prices. As you may have | :06:12. | :06:20. | |
heard from a previous bulletins, Russia has tightened its military | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
control of Ukraine's Crimea region, with thousands of troops. The US has | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
put trade agreements on hold as a rebuke. Stock markets plunged, here | :06:31. | :06:38. | |
is the reaction in the They are fairly mixed, after the losses that | :06:39. | :06:52. | |
we saw on Monday. Investors considering global recovery against | :06:53. | :07:01. | |
that. Why are investors nervous about what is happening in the | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
Ukraine? There is more stress in emerging markets. Especially in | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
deficit countries about whether the recent disruption to capital flow. | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
If you look across the region, there may be countries stressed. There is | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
the issue of energy supply and costs will stop that would effect any | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
country. Looking at the energy supplies, Russia is the largest | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
producer and top exporter of national gas in 2012. Do we expect | :07:40. | :07:49. | |
this to rise? The concern for Asia is that if we have a repeat of 2007 | :07:50. | :07:58. | |
2008, it puts our lot of stress. It stresses that the government budget | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
and it may spiral with wages going up. The reason a lot of risk for the | :08:05. | :08:17. | |
region. In Sri Lanka a severe drought is affecting the country 's | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
main rice harvest and it could also affect it quality. This irrigation | :08:23. | :08:32. | |
channels have been dry for weeks. Paddy fields have been left fallow. | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
The crops depend on one short monsoon, and it just didn't happen. | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
This should be a reservoir, three metres deep and capable of | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
irrigating for 40 farmers. Now look at it pitiful state. The failure of | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
the range from October to December mean that only seven of the 40 | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
farmers felt able to plant anything, and only two of them are likely to | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
get any paddy at all. Farmers have tried to channel the scarce water | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
into pools, but it has been almost useless. This man planted four | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
acres, and all was lost. These may look green, but there is no grain, | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
just husks. TRANSLATION: We have borrowed from banks. We are at track | :09:14. | :09:23. | |
rent and are heavily in debt. We have lost our livelihoods. Because | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
of the drought, we can't find labouring work. This man is tending | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
his seedlings. These are watermelons. He gives them a little | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
water from a makeshift dam, but this is an emergency crop. He has fallen | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
back on it, because thanks to the drought he can no longer grow rice. | :09:38. | :09:45. | |
Three quarters of the seedlings have died as well. TRANSLATION: We just | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
can't plan for the future because rain is so unpredictable. It is the | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
same story in the upland key country. This tea is dead. Workers | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
have become water is, a highly unusual move. -- waterers. The owner | :10:00. | :10:08. | |
says it is the worst drought since 1993. Two thirds of our crop has | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
come down very badly, and we used to bring 35 or 40 kilos per day, it has | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
come down to 12 or 13 kilos. The plants are wilting. Sri Lanka is the | :10:21. | :10:32. | |
fourth largest producer of tea. People are praying for rain in the | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
few weeks time. While in the drylands, even the wildlife is | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
nothing to it. That brings us to an end to this | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching. Headlines: | :10:44. | :11:00. | |
Russia is denying claims its troops are preparing a full-scale assault | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
on Premier but says its forces will remain in Ukraine so now. After | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
top-level | :11:07. | :11:07. |