14/04/2014 Asia Business Report

to give patients extended operating hours. Now on BBC News all the

latest business news live from Singapore.

Asian markets are falling, after big losses in New York. We look ahead to

economic data which could send stocks tumbling again this week.

And baby steps for new businesses in Sri Lanka's former war zone. Hello

and welcome to this Monday edition of Asia Business Report. We start

with a look at the markets. Asian shares have started the week lower.

They are taking their cues from Wall Street. We saw Wall Street see a

sell`off in technology shares. Indicate stock average has climbed

just a tad after opening lower. Last week, it saw its biggest weekly fall

since the March 2011 tsunami. And nuclear disaster. In the US, the

NASDAQ closed lower. We have a series of big market moving news is

that could influence investors. This includes Chinese growth data for the

first quarter of the year, due out on Wednesday. We are seeing more

political uncertainty brought up by the situation in Ukraine. A market

analyst is expecting volatility. The Chinese data has been pointing lower

and missing estimates over the past six months, that is why it has set

such a global total. Relative to where the growth rate has been in

the past. We think it could come in at 7.5 which is slightly better than

expected but still below the last quarter. I think any thing above 7.5

will be a benefit for markets, particularly for Asian markets.

Industries like Japan have been dragged down recently by Chinese

data. So seven and half an upward would definitely be positive.

China's biggest oil company has been linked to a contamination scare

affecting the dripping water of 2.4 million people. The leak has been

blamed on a pipeline owned by a subsidiary of China National

petroleum Corporation. Let's go live to our corresponded in Beijing. On

Friday, we saw panic seems, people rushing to stores, buying up bottled

water. Is that sense of panic now over? Things have come down a bit to

a certain degree. The government announced that the water was now

safe to drink. However, we are hearing reports that many people

simply aren't believing that stop they are choosing to continue

drinking bottled water. Many people are very upset with the government.

They have heard reports the government took 18 hours to report

there was a problem with the dripping water. This is on top of

reports that back in March, people were smelling strange odours in the

water. The government at the time said that water was still treatable

but many people are questioning whether the water supply in the area

is safe at all. The finger`pointing is safe at all. The finger`pointing

now begins on who is to blame? It seems the government has already

admitted that the leak is due to a leak in an oil transmission pipeline

that is owned like China's largest oil and gas reducer and the player.

That is the China National Petroleum organisation. Back in 2005, there

was a similar problem, also linked to that company. When a chemical

plant owned by the corporation had an explosion and led to water

contamination. So this seems to be a continuing problem with this

corporation. So far, when we look back to that incident, there don't

seem to have been a slew of charges laid against the corporation in

connection with that problem back in 2005. A big concern there for the

people living there, thank you so much for that update from ageing.

The $6 billion deal is one of China's biggest mining acquisitions

in years. It underscores the Maylands continued demand for

commodities in China's push for industrial growth. It is one of a

large `` largest mines and is expected to churn out 450,000 tonnes

of copper when production begins next year. Sharp is reportedly

planning another public share offering to raise $2 billion in

capital. Japan's largest display maker aims to launch the sale after

a restructure aimed at convincing potential investors. The strategy

will focus on cutting reduction cost is, as Sharp expands into the market

for lower`priced smartphones. Their shares are the sharply lower

today. The world must rapidly move away from carbon intensive fuels and

it is to triple the energy it gets romp renewables to avoid dangerous

levels of global warming as findings of scientists from the UN panel on

climate change in the third part of its most comrades of study on global

whining, the panel wanted late in cutting back rising greenhouse gases

will limit the chances of reducing global turbojet increases. L'Oreal

is undertaking a major overhaul of its operations in China. They pulled

their Garnier label off the shelves off the shelves. I asked our

correspondent why they seem to be struggling.

Chinese women are trying to express more creativity and individualism.

They do not want to buy the same brands as everyone else. You are

starting to see the big luxury houses, cosmetic companies, they

have too offer many different sub have too offer many different sub

brands. You are no longer going to see everybody wanting to buy

L'Oreal. So the smarter brands will have to do something like what Louis

Vuitton are doing, where they have ten different brands to offer

consumers. Politically, Sri Lanka is under fire

from the international community over its human rights record. One of

the government's responses is it is fostering economic development in

the north, formerly a war zone. Our correspondent is looking at how a

shopping centre is transforming the city.

Much of the jaffa still lies in ruins at the result of years of

neglect and dilapidation all of Bob Ludwig in the city was being fought

over by the government and Tamil Tigers in the 1990s. Until recently,

people would say that visiting Jaffna was like stepping back in

time. But parts of the city are now changing. Irrevocably. Here in the

town centre, its first ever traffic light has been brought into

operation. Cargills, a popular chain has arrived. This brand in the city

is the biggest in the whole of the island. Once you have stocked up on

food, pop on Sri Lanka's only escalator. The mall is still small,

but set to expand. There is also a food court. And a triple screen

cinema. They say they have created 300 permanent jobs for young

northerners and the economic benefits stretch beyond the town 's

boundaries. We have a land 5000 farmers, we are reducing a

proximally eight or ten times as day. Beyond retail, the town has a

building boom. This is one of many new flats. Sri Lankan Tamils have

flocked to buy them. Much of northern Sri Lanka is still

suffering from the devastating consequences of civil war. But amid

the greenery, economic change is afoot. Many see that is offering the

seeds of hope for the wider region. Where are the best cities in the

world to live and work? Five of the top ten emerging cities with the

greatest potential now sit in south east Asia. In the next two decades,

could places like Jakarta and Manila be competing with New York and

Paris? Our correspondent explains for us the highlights of the

company's research. For Asia at the interesting thing is

you have four cities in the top ten. Tokyo, Hong Kong, which have always

been there, and then Beijing breaking into the top ten, for the

first time ever, and Singapore returning to the top ten after a two

year absence. In addition, of the top ten cities

and emerging cities, there are five from Asia. So Jakarta is at the top

of the list of the countries, of the city is likely to challenge the

established leaders. And then you have Manila, followed

by Delhi, Kuala Lumpur. How does all this differ from the others out

there? We had the world's costliest city, Singapore, that caused

consternation here. So what is the purpose of a list like this? We

don't look at single factors such as cost or single metric such as

economics or business activities. We believe the list we have is

well`balanced. We look at business activities, human capital,

political, information exchange, as well as cultural experience.

These are the things which make the city attractive for businesses and

talent. This is how cities will compete with each other. How

attractive we are for businesses to come to.

Thanks for watching. You're watching BBC News. I'm Adnan

Nawaz. Our top stories this hour. The UN Security Council is

discussing the