:00:00. > :00:00.to give patients extended operating hours. Now on BBC News all the
:00:00. > :00:12.latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:13. > :00:17.Asian markets are falling, after big losses in New York. We look ahead to
:00:18. > :00:25.economic data which could send stocks tumbling again this week.
:00:26. > :00:31.And baby steps for new businesses in Sri Lanka's former war zone. Hello
:00:32. > :00:36.and welcome to this Monday edition of Asia Business Report. We start
:00:37. > :00:41.with a look at the markets. Asian shares have started the week lower.
:00:42. > :00:49.They are taking their cues from Wall Street. We saw Wall Street see a
:00:50. > :00:56.sell`off in technology shares. Indicate stock average has climbed
:00:57. > :01:00.just a tad after opening lower. Last week, it saw its biggest weekly fall
:01:01. > :01:06.since the March 2011 tsunami. And nuclear disaster. In the US, the
:01:07. > :01:13.NASDAQ closed lower. We have a series of big market moving news is
:01:14. > :01:17.that could influence investors. This includes Chinese growth data for the
:01:18. > :01:21.first quarter of the year, due out on Wednesday. We are seeing more
:01:22. > :01:28.political uncertainty brought up by the situation in Ukraine. A market
:01:29. > :01:33.analyst is expecting volatility. The Chinese data has been pointing lower
:01:34. > :01:37.and missing estimates over the past six months, that is why it has set
:01:38. > :01:43.such a global total. Relative to where the growth rate has been in
:01:44. > :01:45.the past. We think it could come in at 7.5 which is slightly better than
:01:46. > :01:52.expected but still below the last quarter. I think any thing above 7.5
:01:53. > :01:58.will be a benefit for markets, particularly for Asian markets.
:01:59. > :02:02.Industries like Japan have been dragged down recently by Chinese
:02:03. > :02:08.data. So seven and half an upward would definitely be positive.
:02:09. > :02:12.China's biggest oil company has been linked to a contamination scare
:02:13. > :02:17.affecting the dripping water of 2.4 million people. The leak has been
:02:18. > :02:21.blamed on a pipeline owned by a subsidiary of China National
:02:22. > :02:29.petroleum Corporation. Let's go live to our corresponded in Beijing. On
:02:30. > :02:34.Friday, we saw panic seems, people rushing to stores, buying up bottled
:02:35. > :02:42.water. Is that sense of panic now over? Things have come down a bit to
:02:43. > :02:45.a certain degree. The government announced that the water was now
:02:46. > :02:49.safe to drink. However, we are hearing reports that many people
:02:50. > :02:52.simply aren't believing that stop they are choosing to continue
:02:53. > :02:56.drinking bottled water. Many people are very upset with the government.
:02:57. > :02:59.They have heard reports the government took 18 hours to report
:03:00. > :03:02.there was a problem with the dripping water. This is on top of
:03:03. > :03:07.reports that back in March, people were smelling strange odours in the
:03:08. > :03:11.water. The government at the time said that water was still treatable
:03:12. > :03:13.but many people are questioning whether the water supply in the area
:03:14. > :03:21.is safe at all. The finger`pointing is safe at all. The finger`pointing
:03:22. > :03:27.now begins on who is to blame? It seems the government has already
:03:28. > :03:30.admitted that the leak is due to a leak in an oil transmission pipeline
:03:31. > :03:37.that is owned like China's largest oil and gas reducer and the player.
:03:38. > :03:43.That is the China National Petroleum organisation. Back in 2005, there
:03:44. > :03:51.was a similar problem, also linked to that company. When a chemical
:03:52. > :04:00.plant owned by the corporation had an explosion and led to water
:04:01. > :04:03.contamination. So this seems to be a continuing problem with this
:04:04. > :04:08.corporation. So far, when we look back to that incident, there don't
:04:09. > :04:10.seem to have been a slew of charges laid against the corporation in
:04:11. > :04:16.connection with that problem back in 2005. A big concern there for the
:04:17. > :04:27.people living there, thank you so much for that update from ageing.
:04:28. > :04:30.The $6 billion deal is one of China's biggest mining acquisitions
:04:31. > :04:33.in years. It underscores the Maylands continued demand for
:04:34. > :04:39.commodities in China's push for industrial growth. It is one of a
:04:40. > :04:42.large `` largest mines and is expected to churn out 450,000 tonnes
:04:43. > :04:47.of copper when production begins next year. Sharp is reportedly
:04:48. > :04:53.planning another public share offering to raise $2 billion in
:04:54. > :04:58.capital. Japan's largest display maker aims to launch the sale after
:04:59. > :05:00.a restructure aimed at convincing potential investors. The strategy
:05:01. > :05:02.will focus on cutting reduction cost is, as Sharp expands into the market
:05:03. > :05:15.for lower`priced smartphones. Their shares are the sharply lower
:05:16. > :05:18.today. The world must rapidly move away from carbon intensive fuels and
:05:19. > :05:23.it is to triple the energy it gets romp renewables to avoid dangerous
:05:24. > :05:27.levels of global warming as findings of scientists from the UN panel on
:05:28. > :05:32.climate change in the third part of its most comrades of study on global
:05:33. > :05:35.whining, the panel wanted late in cutting back rising greenhouse gases
:05:36. > :05:43.will limit the chances of reducing global turbojet increases. L'Oreal
:05:44. > :05:49.is undertaking a major overhaul of its operations in China. They pulled
:05:50. > :05:52.their Garnier label off the shelves off the shelves. I asked our
:05:53. > :05:56.correspondent why they seem to be struggling.
:05:57. > :06:03.Chinese women are trying to express more creativity and individualism.
:06:04. > :06:12.They do not want to buy the same brands as everyone else. You are
:06:13. > :06:13.starting to see the big luxury houses, cosmetic companies, they
:06:14. > :06:16.have too offer many different sub have too offer many different sub
:06:17. > :06:20.brands. You are no longer going to see everybody wanting to buy
:06:21. > :06:24.L'Oreal. So the smarter brands will have to do something like what Louis
:06:25. > :06:25.Vuitton are doing, where they have ten different brands to offer
:06:26. > :06:34.consumers. Politically, Sri Lanka is under fire
:06:35. > :06:39.from the international community over its human rights record. One of
:06:40. > :06:43.the government's responses is it is fostering economic development in
:06:44. > :06:46.the north, formerly a war zone. Our correspondent is looking at how a
:06:47. > :06:56.shopping centre is transforming the city.
:06:57. > :06:58.Much of the jaffa still lies in ruins at the result of years of
:06:59. > :07:01.neglect and dilapidation all of Bob Ludwig in the city was being fought
:07:02. > :07:07.over by the government and Tamil Tigers in the 1990s. Until recently,
:07:08. > :07:10.people would say that visiting Jaffna was like stepping back in
:07:11. > :07:14.time. But parts of the city are now changing. Irrevocably. Here in the
:07:15. > :07:20.town centre, its first ever traffic light has been brought into
:07:21. > :07:27.operation. Cargills, a popular chain has arrived. This brand in the city
:07:28. > :07:31.is the biggest in the whole of the island. Once you have stocked up on
:07:32. > :07:41.food, pop on Sri Lanka's only escalator. The mall is still small,
:07:42. > :07:48.but set to expand. There is also a food court. And a triple screen
:07:49. > :07:52.cinema. They say they have created 300 permanent jobs for young
:07:53. > :07:57.northerners and the economic benefits stretch beyond the town 's
:07:58. > :08:06.boundaries. We have a land 5000 farmers, we are reducing a
:08:07. > :08:11.proximally eight or ten times as day. Beyond retail, the town has a
:08:12. > :08:19.building boom. This is one of many new flats. Sri Lankan Tamils have
:08:20. > :08:21.flocked to buy them. Much of northern Sri Lanka is still
:08:22. > :08:24.suffering from the devastating consequences of civil war. But amid
:08:25. > :08:28.the greenery, economic change is afoot. Many see that is offering the
:08:29. > :08:36.seeds of hope for the wider region. Where are the best cities in the
:08:37. > :08:39.world to live and work? Five of the top ten emerging cities with the
:08:40. > :08:43.greatest potential now sit in south east Asia. In the next two decades,
:08:44. > :08:49.could places like Jakarta and Manila be competing with New York and
:08:50. > :08:51.Paris? Our correspondent explains for us the highlights of the
:08:52. > :09:01.company's research. For Asia at the interesting thing is
:09:02. > :09:04.you have four cities in the top ten. Tokyo, Hong Kong, which have always
:09:05. > :09:07.been there, and then Beijing breaking into the top ten, for the
:09:08. > :09:09.first time ever, and Singapore returning to the top ten after a two
:09:10. > :09:16.year absence. In addition, of the top ten cities
:09:17. > :09:24.and emerging cities, there are five from Asia. So Jakarta is at the top
:09:25. > :09:25.of the list of the countries, of the city is likely to challenge the
:09:26. > :09:42.established leaders. And then you have Manila, followed
:09:43. > :09:45.by Delhi, Kuala Lumpur. How does all this differ from the others out
:09:46. > :09:49.there? We had the world's costliest city, Singapore, that caused
:09:50. > :09:53.consternation here. So what is the purpose of a list like this? We
:09:54. > :09:59.don't look at single factors such as cost or single metric such as
:10:00. > :10:05.economics or business activities. We believe the list we have is
:10:06. > :10:07.well`balanced. We look at business activities, human capital,
:10:08. > :10:11.political, information exchange, as well as cultural experience.
:10:12. > :10:18.These are the things which make the city attractive for businesses and
:10:19. > :10:23.talent. This is how cities will compete with each other. How
:10:24. > :10:36.attractive we are for businesses to come to.
:10:37. > :10:43.Thanks for watching. You're watching BBC News. I'm Adnan
:10:44. > :10:44.Nawaz. Our top stories this hour. The UN Security Council is
:10:45. > :10:45.discussing the