:00:00. > :00:00.she was attacked at Corpus Christi Catholic College. Those are the
:00:00. > :00:14.headlines, let's go to Singapore for Asia Business Report.
:00:15. > :00:20.As Asia celebrates Labour Day, what is the region need to do to improve
:00:21. > :00:27.worker's writes. And, the king of fruit. One of India's key exports is
:00:28. > :00:33.being banned in Europe. `` workers' rights.
:00:34. > :00:41.Welcome to this edition of Asia Business Report. As I mentioned, it
:00:42. > :00:46.is May Day, and many people around the world are taking the day off. It
:00:47. > :00:50.is to celebrate the achievement of workers' rights, like an eight`hour
:00:51. > :00:53.day. In Asia, experts say there is still much work to do. China has
:00:54. > :00:59.faced a rising number of labour disputes, the latest at the biggest
:01:00. > :01:04.shoemaker, over security benefits. In Bangladesh, safety came under
:01:05. > :01:08.scrutiny after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garments factory. In
:01:09. > :01:19.Cambodia, there have been protests calling for a higher minimum wage.
:01:20. > :01:24.They pay lip service to these issues, and they can't really do
:01:25. > :01:28.much. You hit the nail on the head, you brought up two main issues. One
:01:29. > :01:33.is safety standards, and the other is minimum wage. These issues have
:01:34. > :01:36.been there in all these countries, and no country is willing to take a
:01:37. > :01:47.strong stand and have some minimum wage requirements. They can't
:01:48. > :01:51.guarantee workers that they won't end up in a hospital somewhere. You
:01:52. > :01:53.can look at this across`the`board, because it is something we are
:01:54. > :01:57.seeing in many other countries in the region. Is raising the minimum
:01:58. > :02:03.wage possibly one of the best ways to address the issue? It is a
:02:04. > :02:09.necessary condition, not sufficient. We know that labour supply is
:02:10. > :02:12.affected by many things, if you raise minimum wages people feel more
:02:13. > :02:18.secure, they feel they can go home and eat something. Beyond that, what
:02:19. > :02:22.is happening, this is a mixture of three players. The capitalist who is
:02:23. > :02:27.providing capital, which they want a very high return on, and for that
:02:28. > :02:31.high return they want no safety standards, no minimum wages, because
:02:32. > :02:38.that gives them low cost of production, and profits that are
:02:39. > :02:48.very high. They go to countries that guaranteed no such standards. We are
:02:49. > :02:51.seeing wages rising in China, so do you think with wages inevitably
:02:52. > :02:55.rising that will put Asia's low manufacturing model at risk? Not
:02:56. > :02:59.really, there are a billion people in China. There are lots of places
:03:00. > :03:06.you can move manufacturing to. You can move it away from Shanghai,
:03:07. > :03:10.inland, and raise the cost of production. They will keep moving,
:03:11. > :03:14.they will move to India and other countries. It is a slow`moving
:03:15. > :03:17.train, eventually they will move to Africa, which is where the cheapest
:03:18. > :03:23.labour will be. I don't think this is going away for the next 20 years,
:03:24. > :03:28.it is here to stay. I was just reading, this is a model where
:03:29. > :03:32.capitalist want high return, and when it is higher than economic
:03:33. > :03:37.growth, you will see inherited wealth outstrip earned wealth, and
:03:38. > :03:40.the earned wealth is the labourer. He is not earning as much, and the
:03:41. > :03:41.capitalist is earning, so you will keep seeing the divide between the
:03:42. > :03:52.capitalist and the labour. There will be a meeting in
:03:53. > :04:02.Kazakhstani this week for the Asian development bank's annual meeting.
:04:03. > :04:11.We have a strategy that says we want to see the Asia`Pacific region
:04:12. > :04:16.eradicate extreme poverty, which is $1.25 per day income. Based on their
:04:17. > :04:25.strategy that we have done now, we see the potential to eradicate
:04:26. > :04:29.extreme poverty by 2025, five years ahead of the global agenda. It also
:04:30. > :04:33.means that we have a lot of challenges ahead of us, like if we
:04:34. > :04:40.take to dollar a day poverty, we will still have about 1.6 million
:04:41. > :04:45.people to deal with. We are also questioning, as Asia becomes an
:04:46. > :04:54.middle income country, whether this indicator of $1.25 per day is
:04:55. > :04:58.relevant. US stock soared on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones
:04:59. > :05:01.hitting a record high. The Federal Reserve signalled it was more upbeat
:05:02. > :05:05.about the world's largest economy. It will keep cutting back its
:05:06. > :05:10.monthly stimulus programme, decreasing its assets by 245
:05:11. > :05:14.billion, as the fourth straight cut of $10 billion. More signs of
:05:15. > :05:21.weakness in China's economy, with less growth than expected. The PMI
:05:22. > :05:28.for April edged up slightly, by just 0.1%. Growth was forecast at double
:05:29. > :05:33.that number. One country that will be watching China's economy is
:05:34. > :05:36.Mongolia. Its boom has been fuelled by foreign investors looking to tap
:05:37. > :05:41.into its minerals. But disputes among mining companies and erratic
:05:42. > :05:54.production has crippled it. We are trying to make significant
:05:55. > :05:58.changes in the legislation area, so that we could become again a
:05:59. > :06:04.favourable destination for investors. Countries that have
:06:05. > :06:09.experienced sharp economic growth, because of commodities, tend to grow
:06:10. > :06:20.very quickly for a short period, and then snap back. How does Mongolia
:06:21. > :06:27.deal without? We have quite a large market, China, on our doorstep.
:06:28. > :06:37.China's man for up commodities has not yet declined. Pan's two largest
:06:38. > :06:43.airlines have reported before. Profits are Japan Airlines have
:06:44. > :06:48.slipped 3%, but ANA reported the biggest hit. Higher fuel costs have
:06:49. > :06:52.been blamed for the sharp drop. Richard's biggest drugmaker,
:06:53. > :06:59.GlaxoSmithKline, had a tough start at the beginning of the year. ``
:07:00. > :07:04.Britain's biggest drugmaker. This was following a damaging bribery
:07:05. > :07:13.scandal a year ago. About $4 billion worth of food festivals and other
:07:14. > :07:19.agricultural products to Europe. The mango has been banned by the EU
:07:20. > :07:24.coming from India. This was because of discoveries of shipments infested
:07:25. > :07:31.with fruit flies. Across India, tens of thousands of
:07:32. > :07:36.people do this job. Picking mangoes is tough work. This is in the short,
:07:37. > :07:40.and there are only a few weeks to harvest the fruit and get it to the
:07:41. > :07:45.customer. More than half the world's mangoes are grown here in
:07:46. > :07:49.India, and at the moment just a small fraction are sent overseas for
:07:50. > :07:52.sale. Of those export markets, Europe is one of the most important,
:07:53. > :07:59.but now it has a new challenge. Last year, pests like fruit fly, similar
:08:00. > :08:02.to these, were founded more than 200 shipments of fruit and vegetable
:08:03. > :08:08.sent to Europe from India. Because of the risk they pose to crops, the
:08:09. > :08:13.EU has now banned imports of five Indian products, including mangoes.
:08:14. > :08:17.For farmers, things are OK for now. Most have contracts for this year,
:08:18. > :08:22.but the surplus fruit is a logistical and financial headache
:08:23. > :08:25.for wholesalers like this one. It specialises in Alfonso mangoes, the
:08:26. > :08:31.so`called King of fruit, and the type most in demand in Europe.
:08:32. > :08:35.TRANSLATION: We are hoping that if we can't export to the EU, we will
:08:36. > :08:41.find another country to buy them. ABB US or the Gulf. India has a lot
:08:42. > :08:45.of buyers. The curse there are so many mangoes, the price in the
:08:46. > :08:50.market is already falling fast. `` maybe the US. Figures show that at
:08:51. > :08:58.least 5% of Indian produce is affected. For this British importer,
:08:59. > :09:01.that is little consolation. It relies on Alfonso mangoes that it
:09:02. > :09:05.can sell at a premium to get through quiet months. It has been
:09:06. > :09:10.stockpiling, and has started an online petition to try to overturn
:09:11. > :09:16.the ruling. Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan, they all allow the
:09:17. > :09:21.import of these products, even though they are known to have strong
:09:22. > :09:25.borders. The EU should be doing the same, rather than putting a ban in
:09:26. > :09:30.place. The fruit here is salty shops around the UK, especially in cities
:09:31. > :09:34.with large Indian communities. So, what the customers think about not
:09:35. > :09:39.being able to get their Indian mangoes? It would be a shame, we
:09:40. > :09:44.look forward to it all year. It would be not good, not having that
:09:45. > :09:48.many more. If we can't get them here, I will have to wait to go to
:09:49. > :09:52.India to have them. The EU is in talks with authorities, and they say
:09:53. > :09:57.the ban can be lifted in time for next year's mango season, if they
:09:58. > :10:00.are satisfied. With no immediate prospect of a more immediate
:10:01. > :10:05.solution, that is an outcome most Indian mango farmers would happily
:10:06. > :10:10.pick. A quick look at the markets. We are
:10:11. > :10:14.seeing the Nikkei supported by that record close we saw on Wall Street
:10:15. > :10:18.with the Dow Jones, and that is after we saw upbeat sentiment about
:10:19. > :10:24.the US economy from the Federal Reserve. All the markets that are
:10:25. > :10:29.currently lower. That's Chinese manufacturing data that came out
:10:30. > :10:37.earlier was setting a precedent for others.
:10:38. > :10:48.Our top stories: Police in Northern Ireland arrest the Sinn Fein
:10:49. > :10:51.leader, Gerry Adams. He is being questioned about the murder of a
:10:52. > :10:53.woman over 40 years ago. The White House says the botched execution of
:10:54. > :10:54.a prisoner in