03/09/2014

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:00:00. > :00:00.forward with allegations of child sexual abuse in Rotherham, according

:00:00. > :00:00.to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire. A report last week said

:00:00. > :00:00.1,400 children had been abused over a 16`year period.

:00:07. > :00:22.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

:00:23. > :00:25.Australia scraps the controversial and unpopular mining tax. What

:00:26. > :00:33.impact will this have on the government's finances? 100 days. We

:00:34. > :00:43.look at what India's Prime Minister has achieved since he took up the

:00:44. > :00:48.post. Thank you for joining us. Australia's mining sector has long

:00:49. > :00:53.pushed for the government to abandon the mining tax and now the Prime

:00:54. > :00:58.Minister has delivered. The 30% tax on mining profits from coal and iron

:00:59. > :01:09.ore was first introduced by the former government in 2012. The

:01:10. > :01:16.scrapping of the mining tax has been a long time coming. It was the

:01:17. > :01:19.promise by the Conservatives going into an election last September here

:01:20. > :01:22.in Australia and finally. The government has pushed this reform

:01:23. > :01:29.through the upper house of Parliament, the Senate. The

:01:30. > :01:32.government has had to negotiate with Clive Palmer's Palmer United Party

:01:33. > :01:37.in order to push through the repeal legislation. There is a price to be

:01:38. > :01:41.paid. Welfare payments and other changes to pensions are a concession

:01:42. > :01:43.that the government has had to make, which will result in a

:01:44. > :01:48.multibillion`dollar hole in government finances. A

:01:49. > :01:51.multibillion`dollar hole. What kind of impact will this have on the

:01:52. > :01:53.mining sector? The Conservative government has

:01:54. > :01:57.always argued the mining tax was never likely to raise anywhere near

:01:58. > :02:06.the sort of money that had been predicted. It was introduced in 2012

:02:07. > :02:08.by the previous administration, partly to fund welfare payments and

:02:09. > :02:17.also to spread the wealth of Australia's resources boom. The

:02:18. > :02:20.Conservatives said it simply wasn't working and also that it was having

:02:21. > :02:25.at negative impact on mining investment in this country. Critics,

:02:26. > :02:28.including the Greens in Australia, say that this is the greatest

:02:29. > :02:31.conflict of interest in modern Australian political history given

:02:32. > :02:34.that Clive Palmer, a Federal MP, is also a coal billionaire and they

:02:35. > :02:37.wonder just how it is that he has been able to vote down Australia's

:02:38. > :02:41.mining tax. It is not the first time Australia

:02:42. > :02:53.has repealed an unpopular tax. In July, it scrapped the carbon tax

:02:54. > :02:56.legislation. Yes, two unpopular taxes, according

:02:57. > :03:00.to the government, have been axed in the last few months. The carbon tax

:03:01. > :03:09.bit the dust and now we have seen the mining tax go the same way too.

:03:10. > :03:12.It hasn't been an easy journey for the Conservative government in the

:03:13. > :03:18.upper house of Parliament, the Senate, which is the house of

:03:19. > :03:25.review. That is because the Conservative administration does not

:03:26. > :03:28.have a majority. It is having to negotiate with the likes of the

:03:29. > :03:35.Palmer United Party to get these reforms through. Phil Mercer in

:03:36. > :03:37.Sydney. And the Australian economy has

:03:38. > :03:55.slowed compared to the previous year. Australian conglomerate

:03:56. > :04:03.Westfarmers is cutting a number of jobs, which it says is necessary for

:04:04. > :04:06.the building of more stores. It has announced a $1 billion investment to

:04:07. > :04:14.build 70 new supermarkets across the country by 2017. A group of workers

:04:15. > :04:21.tasked with decommissioning the crippled Fukushima nuclear power

:04:22. > :04:26.plant have fired `` filed a lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power,

:04:27. > :04:36.claiming that TEPCO has failed to ensure workers are paid hazard

:04:37. > :04:42.allowances. In India, Narendra Modi swept into power earlier this year,

:04:43. > :04:48.promising better days ahead for the world's largest democracy. He

:04:49. > :04:54.campaigned to be a business friendly Prime Minister and an economic

:04:55. > :05:02.performer. `` reformer. How is he doing after his first 100 days in

:05:03. > :05:04.office? After official meetings with

:05:05. > :05:07.Narendra Modi this week, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced

:05:08. > :05:10.a plan for more Japanese investment in India as well as major

:05:11. > :05:14.infrastructure loans. After 100 days in office, Narendra Modi wants the

:05:15. > :05:17.world to know he is all business. He led his party to a decisive

:05:18. > :05:20.political victory earlier this year in part by promising to inject life

:05:21. > :05:24.into India's flagging economy. It is still early days of course, but has

:05:25. > :05:29.it made a difference so far? There was a turnaround that I think

:05:30. > :05:33.started at the time of the election. Part of that was that India was in a

:05:34. > :05:40.business cycle and that cycle was turning. Things were getting better.

:05:41. > :05:52.There is, in addition, a sort of upsurge of hope under the new

:05:53. > :05:55.government. Narendra Modi has launched a financial inclusion

:05:56. > :06:00.scheme to open bank accounts for millions of the poor. He has

:06:01. > :06:03.loosened caps on foreign investment in railway infrastructure and

:06:04. > :06:06.defence manufacturing. He is doing something about red tape. Still, not

:06:07. > :06:12.everyone got what they wanted. Some businesses were expecting a more

:06:13. > :06:16.aggressive privatisation agenda. He is pro`business but believes in a

:06:17. > :06:21.strong state as well. He is an Eastern reformer, not a Western

:06:22. > :06:32.reformer. He believes in a strong public sector. He would never

:06:33. > :06:37.privatise that way. However, some of the disappointments have been in his

:06:38. > :06:39.attitude towards trade. He single`handedly, this government,

:06:40. > :06:43.has torpedoed world trade negotiations, which took a lot of

:06:44. > :06:46.people by surprise. For the moment, India's economy seems to be

:06:47. > :06:48.improving. GDP growth has increased and the markets have improved

:06:49. > :06:51.significantly in three months. Economists and politicians will

:06:52. > :07:07.differ on whether or not his agenda may be different. Drowning under its

:07:08. > :07:10.crushing debt last year, the city of Detroit in the US declared itself

:07:11. > :07:14.insolvent, becoming the largest economic collapse in American

:07:15. > :07:19.history. This week, lawyers will argue about to reassemble its

:07:20. > :07:24.finances. The city will have to reduce its debt load of $12 billion

:07:25. > :07:28.to a more manageable $5 billion. And creditors will plead that they must

:07:29. > :07:37.be paid their dues but it will not be an easy task, with nearly half of

:07:38. > :07:43.Detroit residents living in poverty. This is a scene that is beginning to

:07:44. > :07:48.play out on many streets in Detroit. Workers are turning people 's water

:07:49. > :07:55.back on. This woman is 38 weeks pregnant. She and her five`year`old

:07:56. > :08:02.daughter spent days without water. I was devastated to not have the same

:08:03. > :08:07.access to water. It meant we had to limit Beijing, cooking and

:08:08. > :08:14.cleaning. It was nerve wracking. `` had to limit washing, cooking and

:08:15. > :08:19.cleaning. Her days without water are now over. But that is still not the

:08:20. > :08:23.case for many residents, who have to wait hours in line to pay bills so

:08:24. > :08:31.that their taps can be turned back on. Activists and community leaders

:08:32. > :08:36.are outraged but the water department is owed more than $80

:08:37. > :08:40.million. For a city that is trying to dig itself out from under

:08:41. > :08:48.crushing debt, it cannot afford that many unpaid bills. No one expects to

:08:49. > :08:53.be talking about the lack of water in a major American city, especially

:08:54. > :08:58.one that sits next to such a large source of fresh water. But such are

:08:59. > :09:04.the harsh times that have befallen Detroit, the once prosperous home to

:09:05. > :09:09.America's auto industry is now known to be the largest city to ever fire

:09:10. > :09:13.for `` file for bankruptcy. Abandoned homes litter many

:09:14. > :09:20.neighbourhoods. At its peak in the 1950s, 1.8 million people lived in

:09:21. > :09:28.Detroit. Roughly 700,000 remain. Of those, nearly half live in poverty

:09:29. > :09:35.and many struggle for water. Jobs are gone. We are making do their

:09:36. > :09:40.early. The government has cut pensions, paycheques and everything

:09:41. > :09:44.else. And now they cut the one thing that we really need to sustain life.

:09:45. > :09:49.This woman is giving away water from her home, so those without can get

:09:50. > :09:54.some for free. There is still a sense of community. Now, the city is

:09:55. > :10:00.waiting for the courts to do their part and approve a new financial

:10:01. > :10:14.plan so that Detroit can begin to rebuild. Australia's market figures

:10:15. > :10:21.are higher after a better than forecast GDP will stop Japan is at a

:10:22. > :10:29.higher than usual level. The Hang Seng index is

:10:30. > :10:38.territory by 276 points. Thank you for investing your time with us.

:10:39. > :10:39.The top stories this hour: Islamic