04/07/2014

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:00:00. > :00:00.identified the location of shale`bearing rock. Now on BBC News

:00:00. > :00:25.all the latest business news live from Singapore. After a strong jobs

:00:26. > :00:28.report spurs a record rally on Wall Street. And, from living room to

:00:29. > :00:33.boardroom, research is claimed playing videogames can help improve

:00:34. > :00:40.your business skills. Welcome to this Friday edition of Asia Business

:00:41. > :00:42.Report. We are seeing positive gains in Asian stock markets this morning,

:00:43. > :00:47.following encouraging news from the US jobs market. Japan, Korea,

:00:48. > :00:50.Australia, they are all flat to higher after the US reports that its

:00:51. > :01:00.unemployment rate fell to a six`year low of 6.1%. It spurred US stocks to

:01:01. > :01:02.new highs, with the Dow Jones industrial average breaking through

:01:03. > :01:13.the key 17,000 point level for the first time ever. But is the rally

:01:14. > :01:26.sustainable? Our reporter was in New York. Not everyone expected this

:01:27. > :01:29.kind of a jump. Most estimates were around 200,000 jobs added to the

:01:30. > :01:32.economy, and many didn't think the unemployment rate would change much.

:01:33. > :01:35.This comes as really good news, and we have been looking for the Dow

:01:36. > :01:39.Jones to go up about 17,000 for a couple of days, but it was the very

:01:40. > :01:48.positive jobs report that pushed it up into that territory. Despite what

:01:49. > :01:53.we are seeing in the economy, a lot of jobs have been created. A lot of

:01:54. > :01:56.the jobs that are being created are in fact part`time jobs, and there is

:01:57. > :01:58.still the problem of what Janet Yellen, the chairperson of the

:01:59. > :02:05.Federal Reserve, called the shadow unemployment. That is people who

:02:06. > :02:09.aren't looking for work at all. They have dropped out of even searching

:02:10. > :02:17.for a job, and that is a particular problem here in the US. Although we

:02:18. > :02:20.are seeing a lot more people that are being employed, we are not

:02:21. > :02:25.getting the kinds of jobs that they want. Earlier, I asked an economist,

:02:26. > :02:31.Tony Nash, for his take on the data. I think it is more of a cause for

:02:32. > :02:36.relief than celebration. It is very good news, and hopefully the start

:02:37. > :02:40.of a good trend in the US economy. It is a cause for relief, but we

:02:41. > :02:43.know that the first`quarter GDP contracted 3%, so there is a real

:02:44. > :02:46.concern, particularly here in Asia, with a lot of investors watching the

:02:47. > :02:49.US and manufacturers counting on US markets, so to what extent does the

:02:50. > :02:58.US continue to influence what happens here? It still does in a big

:02:59. > :03:09.way. Exports from Asia still go to the US as a large share of the

:03:10. > :03:12.export market. Many companies contribute a lot in terms of direct

:03:13. > :03:16.investment, and things for the large economies in Asia. There is a huge

:03:17. > :03:20.overlap between the benefits for those countries. Unfortunately, but

:03:21. > :03:24.what we are seeing is the rate of growth in countries like China to

:03:25. > :03:31.the US declining, while it grows almost 10% in the other direction.

:03:32. > :03:40.It was something like 14% last year, it is 6% this year. Those rates of

:03:41. > :03:45.growth of exports from Japan, China and other places are slowing this

:03:46. > :03:54.year. Tony Nash from Delta economics. In other business news,

:03:55. > :03:57.China and South Korea's presidents have agreed to sign a free`trade

:03:58. > :04:00.deal by the end of year. They also plan to allow direct trading of

:04:01. > :04:05.their currencies in order to deepen economic ties. The announcement came

:04:06. > :04:27.during a trip by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to South Korea, which

:04:28. > :04:30.ends today. Sharp electronics may stop producing LCD TVs in Europe.

:04:31. > :04:33.Sharp is expecting to focus on Asian and American markets. They recently

:04:34. > :04:39.posted their annual first profit in three years. Next week, air India

:04:40. > :04:42.joined a coalition of more than two dozen carriers around the world,

:04:43. > :04:45.Star Alliance. It is a big move, given it was previously turned down

:04:46. > :04:49.for not being scratch. It continues to deal with huge debts and a

:04:50. > :05:08.history of labour unrest. It also faces a rising number of competitive

:05:09. > :05:11.rivals. The importance of the national carrier is that it provides

:05:12. > :05:13.connectivity that others don't. Look at the biggest airline of this

:05:14. > :05:16.country, they provide connectivity to about 30 destinations in the

:05:17. > :05:20.country. Air India provides connectivity to 63 places in the

:05:21. > :05:33.country. If there was no national carrier, who would connect these

:05:34. > :05:37.places? You are the only airline where the government has pumped in

:05:38. > :05:40.so much money to bail you out. Critics have asked the question

:05:41. > :05:43.repeatedly that you have got a lot of taxpayer money, and why should

:05:44. > :05:46.Air India be entitled to that? What is your reaction? All owners of

:05:47. > :05:50.companies pump in money, somebody's money has to go into a company for

:05:51. > :05:53.it to run successfully. In this case, it is government money that is

:05:54. > :06:02.being pumped in, after all the transport companies. Whether it is

:06:03. > :06:05.railways, whether it is a state transport companies, look at the

:06:06. > :06:08.power companies which are run by the government. It is taxpayer money

:06:09. > :06:14.ultimately that goes into it. Too much is made of this in the case of

:06:15. > :06:24.Air India. What is your turnaround plan for Air India? How do you plan

:06:25. > :06:28.to restructure the company? Costs are the most important thing. If the

:06:29. > :06:32.company does not cut costs we cannot keep going infinitely. We have been

:06:33. > :06:34.trying to do that, and we have made substantial savings as far as

:06:35. > :06:44.employee costs are concerned. Our productivity has gone up 29% in the

:06:45. > :06:47.last three years. The second important thing is the 787, which

:06:48. > :06:50.will cut down on fuel bills. That should make a difference to our

:06:51. > :06:54.economics. The third important thing is basically that we can see that a

:06:55. > :06:57.network is rational. You can catch more of that interview with the

:06:58. > :07:09.managing director of Air India this weekend. For those of you out there

:07:10. > :07:12.who love plain computer games, you will are probably sick and tired of

:07:13. > :07:15.people telling you you are wasting your time. Researchers in Singapore

:07:16. > :07:18.have found that some games could help you develop the skills you need

:07:19. > :07:20.for a successful career. Problem`solving, planning and

:07:21. > :07:22.decision`making, these are highly sought`after skills in any

:07:23. > :07:35.boardroom. You can learn these by going to business school or climbing

:07:36. > :07:37.away up the ladder. But a new study done here at this technological

:07:38. > :07:42.university suggests playing videogames can develop these skills

:07:43. > :07:45.as well. With the now is Michael Pattison, the senior author of the

:07:46. > :07:49.study. You have highlighted this game. How does this develop your

:07:50. > :07:52.mental abilities? Unlike most games, in this game, before you start you

:07:53. > :07:59.need to plan what you are doing next. Most games, you fire when you

:08:00. > :08:03.see an enemy, but in this game I have to plan, OK, what is the

:08:04. > :08:16.sequence I can do in order to get the candy into the creature's now.

:08:17. > :08:19.`` mouth. In the business world we often have a steel where we plan

:08:20. > :08:24.what we will say next. The situation may change, we need to be more

:08:25. > :08:28.reactive to situations. This is a game in which a strategy that worked

:08:29. > :08:31.in the previous level won't work in the next level. How relevant is this

:08:32. > :08:34.when there are not the same pressures you face in a boardroom?

:08:35. > :08:37.One element of this game is that if you keep trying you will be

:08:38. > :08:40.successful. Try different methods. That can work in business. If you

:08:41. > :08:43.are designing a new product, and the manufacturing didn't work the first

:08:44. > :08:46.time, you can try a different approach. Sometimes it may seem

:08:47. > :08:49.stressful and you might not think you can get through, but if you keep

:08:50. > :08:53.persisting you will survive, and if you don't succeed you learn how to

:08:54. > :08:57.deal with failure, because in the game many times you fail. Like in a

:08:58. > :09:00.boardroom, your pitch may not be successful but you can find a

:09:01. > :09:09.different boardroom, so it teaches mental toughness. The bad news for

:09:10. > :09:14.gamers is that not all videogames will help you develop these specific

:09:15. > :09:17.skills. The important thing is to play complex puzzle games if you

:09:18. > :09:34.want to think more creatively on your feet. As cashless transactions

:09:35. > :09:37.come more common, big bank notes will be harder to find. This is a

:09:38. > :09:54.specimen of Singapore's $10,000 note. If it were real, it would be

:09:55. > :09:57.worth $8000 US. It will be taken off the printing presses from the 1st of

:09:58. > :10:01.October, in a move to lower with the risk of money laundering. In the US,

:10:02. > :10:04.the biggest note currently printed is the $100 bill, while in the UK

:10:05. > :10:06.the highest denomination is only ?50, worth 85 US dollars. In

:10:07. > :10:16.Switzerland, the biggest banknote you will find his 1000 Swiss francs,

:10:17. > :10:21.which is worth about $1125. The biggest bill in Indonesia is the

:10:22. > :10:32.100,000 note. It would make you feel rich. That is fascinating about what

:10:33. > :10:44.you can learn about notes around the world. There is more on our website.

:10:45. > :10:47.Thank you for watching. A bridge has collapsed in the Brazilian city of

:10:48. > :10:54.Belo Horizonte, killing at least two people. 19 are injured. It is feared

:10:55. > :10:56.more may be trapped in their vehicles under the