:00:00. > :00:00.spending more than ever on flood management.
:00:00. > :00:18.Time for Asia Business Report, live from Singapore.
:00:19. > :00:25.Oil prices traded near a nine`month high as is a concern that the
:00:26. > :00:28.conflict in Iraq will hurt supplies. And thousands of Cambodians are
:00:29. > :00:34.fleeing Thailand over fears that authorities will crack down on
:00:35. > :00:40.illegal workers. Thank you for joining us on Asia
:00:41. > :00:46.Business Report. The United States plans to deploy up to 275 military
:00:47. > :00:50.personnel to Iraq. There are concerns the conflict is escalating.
:00:51. > :00:53.The government has been battling Islamic militants and there are
:00:54. > :01:00.fears the nation is moving towards civil war. Iraq has the
:01:01. > :01:06.second`largest oil producer in the organisation that governs
:01:07. > :01:08.oil`producing countries. While has been pushed to its highest levels
:01:09. > :01:24.since September 2013. Earlier I spoke with a
:01:25. > :01:28.representative from the fact profits at Sydney. I asked if we could
:01:29. > :01:32.expect more price volatility in the trading days ahead. When you look at
:01:33. > :01:37.the production profile of Iraq, the main producing fields at the moment
:01:38. > :01:43.are around the south of the country near the Persian Gulf and all of the
:01:44. > :01:46.exporting facilities are also down in that region. At this point the
:01:47. > :01:50.fighting has been confined to the north. The amount of oil that has
:01:51. > :01:58.come out of the northern part of Iraq over the past three months has
:01:59. > :02:05.actually been zero. We would expect to see a price rise, and we did see
:02:06. > :02:07.that happen. But it has been constrained because of that very
:02:08. > :02:16.reason of where supply is coming from. At what point will prices rise
:02:17. > :02:24.yonder current levels? If we see fighting starts to move beyond
:02:25. > :02:38.Baghdad that we were deceived a spike in the oil prices. `` would
:02:39. > :02:44.perceive. The world could probably deal with that. When you have a look
:02:45. > :02:51.at the history of Iraq's production, over the last 40 years it has been
:02:52. > :02:58.one of the most variable members. Logistics have gotten used to
:02:59. > :03:06.covering for Iraqi oil. What about Russia cutting its gas supplies to
:03:07. > :03:12.Ukraine? How significant is this? At this point in time, we suggest that
:03:13. > :03:15.the market is really focused on what is happening in the Middle East.
:03:16. > :03:21.There will be some movement in gas prices. Probably not a broadly
:03:22. > :03:29.across the world, certainly not in the US. There may be some impact in
:03:30. > :03:39.Europe. Gas prices went through the Ukraine. It might cut gas supplies
:03:40. > :03:42.into Europe. Staying in the commodities space,
:03:43. > :03:51.Shell is selling most of its holdings in Australia for nearly $6
:03:52. > :03:58.billion. The rest will be sold to institutional investors. It will
:03:59. > :04:03.reduce its stake to 4.5% from the current 23%. Military authorities in
:04:04. > :04:09.Thailand maintain there are not forcibly repair treating Cambodian
:04:10. > :04:12.workers despite more than 100,000 Cambodians crossing the border and
:04:13. > :04:20.returning home. They play a key role in the Thai
:04:21. > :04:25.economy. We asked which sectors would be most affected. Cambodian
:04:26. > :04:30.workers tend to occupy the lower rungs of the Thai economy. A lot of
:04:31. > :04:39.them work on construction sites, agriculture, fishing. Those are the
:04:40. > :04:47.main sectors hit. We have seen the economy contracting in the previous
:04:48. > :04:57.quarter. 0.25 percent. Will the exodus of these workers impact the
:04:58. > :05:04.overall economy? It does not come as a good time, as Thailand is dusting
:05:05. > :05:08.itself off from a recession. I think we will see an impact.
:05:09. > :05:15.Hopefully it will be limited. As you said, the exodus has been confined
:05:16. > :05:22.to Cambodian National 's at the moment. If it spread to the many
:05:23. > :05:26.more groups that make up the country's immigrant workforce, that
:05:27. > :05:30.will have a significant impact on the economy. With this exodus, what
:05:31. > :05:36.will be the employment situation be like in Thailand at the moment?
:05:37. > :05:46.It is an interesting confluence of factors. It seems to be a case of
:05:47. > :05:49.mass hysteria that has possibly met the good intentions of sections of
:05:50. > :05:55.the government trying to clean up its act in terms of human
:05:56. > :05:59.trafficking. Rumours have spread that this could be some kind of
:06:00. > :06:07.military crackdown. They have tried to pre`empt that by leaving the
:06:08. > :06:15.country. It is hardly surprising, given the information vacuum in
:06:16. > :06:19.Thailand at the moment. In other business News making
:06:20. > :06:22.headlines, General Motors is recalling more than 3 million
:06:23. > :06:29.additional cars because of a faulty ignition switch. It has also
:06:30. > :06:35.increased the money set aside to cover the recall costs to $700
:06:36. > :06:42.million. GM has recalled 20 million vehicles this year.
:06:43. > :06:47.The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast this year.
:06:48. > :06:52.It expects the world's lodges to grow by 2%, down from its estimate
:06:53. > :06:57.of 2.8%. It also predicts America will not achieve full employment
:06:58. > :07:02.until the end of 2017 am giving the Federal reserve scope to keep
:07:03. > :07:06.interest rates at record lows for a longer period.
:07:07. > :07:12.Argentina's president says that the country not default on its debt
:07:13. > :07:16.obligations. The South American country is being ordered to pay back
:07:17. > :07:27.billions of dollars to creditors despite its weak finances. Stocks
:07:28. > :07:31.falling more than 6% on the news. Greenpeace has lost more than $5
:07:32. > :07:34.million because of a bad bets on the currency markets. The group said one
:07:35. > :07:43.of its finance employees wagered that the euro would not strengthened
:07:44. > :07:49.against the all `` other currencies. Greenpeace has apologised for the
:07:50. > :07:53.incident. Pinewood has production facilities
:07:54. > :08:03.in written, Germany, the United States, Canada and now Malaysia. ``
:08:04. > :08:09.Britain. It is the first four `` Faure into the region. This is just
:08:10. > :08:14.an hour's try from Singapore. Pinewood has built its new studios
:08:15. > :08:18.here on an 80 acre site that is roughly the size of 60 football
:08:19. > :08:25.pitches. While you cannot see it, it is all happening down there. They
:08:26. > :08:29.are filming a television series. Cannot show you the filming of Marco
:08:30. > :08:34.Polo, because that is all in lockdown. I am on one of the sound
:08:35. > :08:42.stages where filming is being carried out. Why film here? Is this
:08:43. > :08:48.all about cutting costs? Finding good value in Malaysia has been key
:08:49. > :08:54.to our decision making. We could have gone to Thailand, Hong Kong or
:08:55. > :08:58.China. But a 30% rebate is saving us millions of dollars. By cutting the
:08:59. > :09:05.cost of filmmaking, is Malaysia effectively pressing out other
:09:06. > :09:10.studios? It is starting to. Hollywood is cost prohibitive.
:09:11. > :09:16.There are savings to be made, but there must be some challenges. You
:09:17. > :09:22.have to fly everyone here, Houston, feed them, give them something to do
:09:23. > :09:27.on a weekend. `` powers them. If the Malaysian tax incentive pays off,
:09:28. > :09:36.they will have an industry. That will take a decade before the skills
:09:37. > :09:40.level comes up. Keen to develop its local film industry, the Malaysian
:09:41. > :09:47.government joined forces with Pinewood to set up this $170 million
:09:48. > :09:51.facility. The government says new jobs and businesses have been
:09:52. > :09:56.created. What is in it for Pinewood? There is a growing level of interest
:09:57. > :10:00.in the stories told by south`east Asian producers, whether on film or
:10:01. > :10:07.television. If all the economic forecasts are predicting a
:10:08. > :10:15.doubling, these facilities in Malaysia will be part of a suite of
:10:16. > :10:18.studios to serve us in the market. Millions of dollars are being spent
:10:19. > :10:24.here. They can money is being made, whether it is stage crew, set
:10:25. > :10:30.builders, caterers or equipment companies. Hundreds of new jobs have
:10:31. > :10:33.been created. The opportunities are immense. Time will tell whether
:10:34. > :10:42.these studios will become global players in the film industry.
:10:43. > :10:54.Thank you for joining us. The latest World Cup news coming up next.
:10:55. > :10:58.Here are the headlines: Islamist extremists have extended their grip
:10:59. > :11:04.on northern Iraq, defying air attacks to seize another key city.
:11:05. > :11:11.I'm trained at Shia forces have joined up to counter the threat.
:11:12. > :11:13.`` untrained. The Somali militant group should is
:11:14. > :11:14.saying it can without