:00:00. > :00:00.in Syria. Mashudur Choudhury was found to have travelled there to
:00:00. > :00:00.join the training camp. Now for the business news live in Singapore,
:00:00. > :00:17.with Rico Hizon. China and Russia have yet to sign a
:00:18. > :00:26.400,000,000,000`dollar energy deal over a price dispute. Japan posts a
:00:27. > :00:33.trade shortfall for a 22nd straight month due to its dependence on
:00:34. > :00:38.foreign gas. 400,000,000,000`dollar energy deal.
:00:39. > :00:43.We are still waiting to hear if a huge deal will be signed for Russia
:00:44. > :00:48.to begin supplying gas to China. Russia's president, Vladimir Pugin,
:00:49. > :00:53.is in Shanghai as part of his first trip to the mainland since President
:00:54. > :00:57.Xi Jinping took office. Talks have been going on for a decade, but
:00:58. > :01:02.pressure from the West over actions in Ukraine have meant that Russia is
:01:03. > :01:06.keen to nurture a big new customer. China is already Russia's largest
:01:07. > :01:09.single trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two
:01:10. > :01:14.giants coming to 90 billion US dollars last year. But the
:01:15. > :01:21.neighbours want to double that to 200 billion the end the decade. I
:01:22. > :01:23.spoke to a member of the energy studies Institute, asking him
:01:24. > :01:32.whether he thinks China will pay for the gas deal. It can afford the
:01:33. > :01:38.price, it is already paying high prices from Turkmenistan, it is
:01:39. > :01:41.whether it is willing to pay the price. What are the other
:01:42. > :01:45.alternatives for China if they don't close this deal, which has been
:01:46. > :01:51.going on now for ten years? It can boost other sources of gas. Gas from
:01:52. > :01:55.Central Asia, and imported gas by ship as liquefied natural gas. At
:01:56. > :02:01.home, it is already building lots of cold gas plants, and it is trying to
:02:02. > :02:06.develop shale gas. What about for Russia? Of a desperate to sign this
:02:07. > :02:10.deal, and if the deal is not signed, what invitations will there be? I
:02:11. > :02:13.think politically it is very important for Vladimir Putin to show
:02:14. > :02:18.to Europe that it has other potential customers. But I think
:02:19. > :02:23.domestically it wants to develop these fields in the East, these gas
:02:24. > :02:27.fields, and it wants to develop the region in eastern Siberia. It wants
:02:28. > :02:36.this deal for political and economic purposes. In economic news, Japan's
:02:37. > :02:42.trade deficit shrank to $8 billion in April, after lower consumer
:02:43. > :02:48.spending and a reduced the man for imports. They rose by 3.4% from a
:02:49. > :02:54.year ago, the list in 16 months. Exports showed a pickup, rising 5.1%
:02:55. > :02:59.from earlier, compared to estimates for a 4.8% gain. Earlier I spoke to
:03:00. > :03:04.Japan economist to get his take on the numbers. The overall trade
:03:05. > :03:09.balance is more in the miners and the negative than expected, but for
:03:10. > :03:13.once, it is a good result, because it shows that imports remain strong
:03:14. > :03:17.in Japan. They have been very high, because people have been buying in
:03:18. > :03:23.March to fill up on anything that gets more costly without sales tax
:03:24. > :03:29.hike in April. Compared to last year, overall imports are still at
:03:30. > :03:34.plus 3%, that is a very strong result and shows that demand in
:03:35. > :03:36.Japan remains high on the economy is doing comparatively well. What are
:03:37. > :03:44.we likely to see from the main numbers? What we see so far is that
:03:45. > :03:48.exports are increasing as well. This has been one big concern, because
:03:49. > :03:53.demand the Japan has been boosted unofficially over the last year,
:03:54. > :03:56.with monetary policy and fiscal policy and the sales tax hike, but
:03:57. > :04:00.now we see that exporters are pushing forward, going into overseas
:04:01. > :04:04.markets again, as demand is lower in Japan so the overall result is
:04:05. > :04:09.balanced and positive. For Abenomics to be able to be successful in the
:04:10. > :04:13.medium to longer term, we have to see now the PM instituting
:04:14. > :04:19.structural reforms to sustain this growth. That is now one point. We
:04:20. > :04:23.will have an announcement from the Bank of Japan today, and many people
:04:24. > :04:27.have been hoping it would be pushing further, rescuing the economy even
:04:28. > :04:31.more, but there is no rescuing being needed so far. There might be very
:04:32. > :04:35.little extra on that site, and for Abenomics we are hoping for
:04:36. > :04:38.structural reform. Cutting corporate taxes, boosting sectors by
:04:39. > :04:42.deregulation, and the government going into a more relaxed mode,
:04:43. > :04:49.where discussions will come up with less than would be needed. That
:04:50. > :04:51.would be a negative. In other business news, General Motors is
:04:52. > :04:57.recalling another 2.6 million vehicles. This is because of
:04:58. > :05:01.possible defects. It includes faulty seatbelts, transmissions, airbags
:05:02. > :05:10.and fire issues. The US motor giant has recall 50 million cars in total
:05:11. > :05:14.this year. TGI Friday's has been sold to a private equity firm,
:05:15. > :05:21.according to the Wall Street Journal. Two companies paid more
:05:22. > :05:25.than $800 million for the fast food chain. TGI Friday's can be found in
:05:26. > :05:31.50 countries, and posted global scales of nearly $3 billion last
:05:32. > :05:36.year. Pfizer is still looking to take control of AstraZeneca, after
:05:37. > :05:40.the second takeover bid was rejected. According to reports,
:05:41. > :05:48.Pfizer is vying to get support for its 117,000,000,000`dollar offer
:05:49. > :05:52.from AstraZeneca shareholders. The offer was turned out on Tuesday,
:05:53. > :05:55.saying it was too low and did not account for the value of future
:05:56. > :06:07.medicine. A deal between the two companies would have created the
:06:08. > :06:15.world's biggest drugs group. Findings from the anticorruption
:06:16. > :06:19.group, transparency International, have found severe corruption in
:06:20. > :06:23.India. They are hoping that the new government will lead the charge in
:06:24. > :06:27.dealing with this. First of all, I believe that all of the government
:06:28. > :06:36.in Asia will need to send a strong message that politics will be kept
:06:37. > :06:43.away from the public sector and all the institutions. A clear message
:06:44. > :06:47.will need to be sent out to all the stakeholders. In India particularly,
:06:48. > :06:51.a new act will need to be implemented, and that is what the
:06:52. > :06:57.Indian people have been looking for for some time. It is time now to
:06:58. > :07:00.are a number of laws that are are a number of laws that are
:07:01. > :07:03.waiting to be passed in India, and these need to be put in place at the
:07:04. > :07:09.very first priority. Those will be some of the first few steps that
:07:10. > :07:12.need to be taken immediately, especially into the new Narendra
:07:13. > :07:23.Modi government, where people are looking forward to seeing changes.
:07:24. > :07:26.Asian nations are increasingly looking to Australia to help feed
:07:27. > :07:31.the growing populations. Beef and fresh vegetables make up much of the
:07:32. > :07:33.demand even though Australia is relying on growth in the
:07:34. > :07:37.agricultural sector to help secure its economic future. One product
:07:38. > :07:43.reflecting the increased demand is the export of live goats and
:07:44. > :07:46.goatmeat. Phil Mercer has more from Cobar in New South Wales.
:07:47. > :07:53.In Australia's rugged outback, vast numbers of wild goats. Feral
:07:54. > :07:58.herds have become part of a lucrative and growing industry.
:07:59. > :08:02.Australia is the world's largest exporter of goatmeat, and suppliers
:08:03. > :08:08.believe the industry is about to experience a boom. I can see a
:08:09. > :08:16.doubling. It has just got that potential to keep growing, with the
:08:17. > :08:18.amount of feral goats. They say the Western division has a population of
:08:19. > :08:25.anywhere between one million and 2 million. A huge number of goats can
:08:26. > :08:30.be supplied. 100,000 votes a protest at this depot in Cobar in New South
:08:31. > :08:39.Wales, court usually by farmers who consider them to be a pest `` goats
:08:40. > :08:42.are processed. It is either sold to domestic consumers here in Australia
:08:43. > :08:51.or to a growing international market. There is also a thriving
:08:52. > :08:57.trade in farm animals. These meaty specimens on a property near the
:08:58. > :09:00.town of Orange are a robust variety brought to Australia from South
:09:01. > :09:06.Africa in the 1980s. They are part of a growing business, sending live
:09:07. > :09:11.exports to Asia. We mainly sell to Malaysia and Thailand, but our goats
:09:12. > :09:16.mainly gopher breeding, so the people who come here to look at my
:09:17. > :09:18.animals are looking for a good`quality stud animal that will
:09:19. > :09:28.fit into what their breeding programme is `` go for.
:09:29. > :09:30.popular markets include Singapore and Brunei. It is a multi`
:09:31. > :09:34.million`dollar trade in meat that has risen sharply in recent years.
:09:35. > :09:41.Australian goat exports have doubled in the past decade. While much is
:09:42. > :09:46.sold to the US, there is a growing appetite in Asia. We have seen
:09:47. > :09:53.recent export orders coming from such countries, Malaysia, China,
:09:54. > :09:58.Maria, the Philippines, and prices have lifted up phenomenally. It
:09:59. > :10:04.seems to be getting bigger and bigger each week, each month and
:10:05. > :10:08.each year. The industry has had its problems with inconsistent supply
:10:09. > :10:12.and quality. But both suppliers here insist that their animals are among
:10:13. > :10:15.the best in the world, and are boosting not only the Australian
:10:16. > :10:25.economy, but are helping to feed and ever hungrier Asia.
:10:26. > :10:28.Before we go, don't forget to follow us on Twitter. Thank you for joining
:10:29. > :10:42.us. Our top stories: At least 118 people
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:10:49. > :10:52.market and a hospital, what is believed to be the latest Boko Haram
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:10:57. > :10:57.caretaker PM has called for fresh elections to be held