:00:00. > :00:14.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:15. > :00:27.behind the devastating fires this year.
:00:28. > :00:30.Betting big. Asia's casino giants are spending billions on new
:00:31. > :00:35.resorts, but is there enough business to go around?
:00:36. > :00:49.The thick haze blanketing parts of South East Asia for months was
:00:50. > :00:55.caused by forest fires, like this one in Indonesia, started
:00:56. > :00:59.deliberately to clear land. Palm oil pulp and paper companies were widely
:01:00. > :01:04.blamed, but until now none had been held to account. Now the Indonesian
:01:05. > :01:10.government says 56 companies are being punished.
:01:11. > :01:16.Yesterday they released the initials and general locations of these
:01:17. > :01:20.companies. The forestry ministry, when she was pushed by journalists,
:01:21. > :01:24.said she didn't feel comfortable widely releasing the name, but
:01:25. > :01:28.insisted the Indonesian government had nothing to hide and that over
:01:29. > :01:32.the period of their investigation and as these companies are punished
:01:33. > :01:37.in various criminal and administrative ways their names
:01:38. > :01:41.would be released to the public. Who are these companies? Amongst
:01:42. > :01:47.them there aren't too many recognisable faces and only really
:01:48. > :01:50.one that was foreign-owned. That's right. Yesterday they said of
:01:51. > :01:55.the company is one was foreign-owned, a Chinese owned
:01:56. > :01:58.company. The other companies, the three we already know, are having
:01:59. > :02:07.their licences revoked for their role in the fires. One of them is a
:02:08. > :02:13.supplier for the Asian paper company. These companies are
:02:14. > :02:19.suppliers for larger companies, but, as you say, an recognisable names. A
:02:20. > :02:24.lot of the companies are also Palm oil plantations. One of the
:02:25. > :02:27.companies is also a member of the palm oil associations here in
:02:28. > :02:32.Indonesia, which is a powerful lobby body. That associations has said it
:02:33. > :02:37.will now expel that member. Is there a sense that what the
:02:38. > :02:43.government is doing now will make any difference at all when
:02:44. > :02:45.fires inevitably start again next year? The president himself has told
:02:46. > :02:50.the BBC that it will take three years to fix this problem.
:02:51. > :02:54.Forestry experts and environmentalists say they are
:02:55. > :03:00.encouraged by these announcements, especially the fact that they are
:03:01. > :03:03.revoking a licence. -- licenses. This hasn't happened in previous
:03:04. > :03:09.years and there is a sense that this sort of punishment could have some
:03:10. > :03:13.effect. But there is also widespread hopelessness in the government and
:03:14. > :03:17.yesterday a senior security minister, when I asked him about it,
:03:18. > :03:22.said the Indonesian government could not promise that the fires and haze
:03:23. > :03:29.would not happen again next year, because he said the fires were an
:03:30. > :03:35.entrenched part of Indonesia by. -- life. Of course the haze in
:03:36. > :03:36.Indonesia is one of the many issues south-east Asian nations have failed
:03:37. > :03:45.to tackle, but at the end of this month it will form a new economic
:03:46. > :03:50.community. It will be the world's third largest trading bloc, but will
:03:51. > :03:55.it be effective? I spoke to the head of international trade and
:03:56. > :04:00.development and asked if the new economic community would help or
:04:01. > :04:06.hinder trade. We need corporations to deal with the spillover of
:04:07. > :04:11.actions of governments. That's exactly why frameworks matter. So
:04:12. > :04:18.that Asian economic communities should move to something that's more
:04:19. > :04:22.forceful, that should become agreements that have the force of
:04:23. > :04:32.law. In the case of Hades, the environmental consequence of it,
:04:33. > :04:37.these have social issues. -- haze. All of these could be addressed
:04:38. > :04:41.through the frameworks. Research suggests that even though small and
:04:42. > :04:46.medium enterprises make up a huge chunk of South East Asia's economy,
:04:47. > :04:52.the AEC won't actually benefit it that much. 90% of all enterprises
:04:53. > :04:57.are small, medium enterprises and they actually provide most of the
:04:58. > :05:03.private sector employment in any economy in the world. In the case of
:05:04. > :05:08.AEC, one of the problems is that the very basic issues of connectivity
:05:09. > :05:13.for instance are not really at the level of realisation that they
:05:14. > :05:19.should be. Well, the AEC is being formed just as the region's largest
:05:20. > :05:22.economy starts to slow down. China is restructuring and that's going to
:05:23. > :05:27.affect how its economy grows going forward. How might that in practice
:05:28. > :05:34.the region? I think there are many opportunities that come with this.
:05:35. > :05:39.-- So there are structural reasons behind it, not least that some of
:05:40. > :05:43.the competent evenness of the Chinese economy is being lost
:05:44. > :05:49.because of a natural development. They have now higher wages, which
:05:50. > :05:56.means that supply chains... Before they used ASEAN for the components
:05:57. > :05:59.of some groups and now they will relocate to Asian countries. There
:06:00. > :06:04.are opportunities that come with it, but also there is a great deal of
:06:05. > :06:12.investment that is looking for would opportunities. Many of them come
:06:13. > :06:18.from China itself. The slowdown in growth in China does not mean that
:06:19. > :06:28.we have an end, if you like, both to the demand of goods from ASEAN as
:06:29. > :06:31.well as the great dynamics of the foreign direct investment from
:06:32. > :06:36.China. In other business news, oil prices
:06:37. > :06:40.have fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade, surpassing even
:06:41. > :06:48.the losers seen during the recession of 2008. Brent crude sank before
:06:49. > :06:50.recovering slightly. The global oil supply has driven down prices of
:06:51. > :07:00.oil. Shares of Toshiba are falling again
:07:01. > :07:04.by nearly 6% this morning, after its dramatic restructuring
:07:05. > :07:09.announcement. On Monday the firm said it would cut nearly 7000 jobs
:07:10. > :07:13.in its consumer electronics business, still a TV manufacturing
:07:14. > :07:18.plant in Indonesia and that it expects record losses of $4.5
:07:19. > :07:23.billion in the financial year. Shares fell more than 10% ahead of
:07:24. > :07:28.that announcement yesterday. The Australian billionaire James
:07:29. > :07:31.Packer has quit the board of casino group Crown Resorts, just four
:07:32. > :07:39.months after stepping down as chairman. He owns more than 50% of
:07:40. > :07:43.Crown and said he plans to focus on developing new projects in Sydney,
:07:44. > :07:47.Melbourne and Las Vegas. The company has faced 18 straight months of
:07:48. > :07:53.falling revenues into Chinese territory of Macau, which is the
:07:54. > :07:58.world's biggest gambling hub. It used to rake in more than seven
:07:59. > :08:01.times the Las Vegas strip each year, but it has been struggling recently
:08:02. > :08:05.and facing a growing number of rivals in the
:08:06. > :08:11.to cash in on the Asian appetite for gambling. This report from Manila in
:08:12. > :08:17.the Philippines. For decades money has been rolling
:08:18. > :08:20.into Macau. It has had a near monopoly on the Asian gaming market,
:08:21. > :08:27.but the wheel of Fortune appears to have turned. China's slowing economy
:08:28. > :08:32.and the crackdown on corruption has scared off mainland gamblers,
:08:33. > :08:35.causing casino revenues to plunge. Other countries, like the
:08:36. > :08:40.Philippines, are having to reassess their bets on the gaming industry.
:08:41. > :08:45.This is a second -- the second of four resorts being built in Manila.
:08:46. > :08:50.They comprise of hotels, luxury shop, entertainment and big casinos
:08:51. > :08:54.like this. -- luxury shops. The Philippine government hopes to build
:08:55. > :08:58.an entertainment hub, similar to the Las Vegas strip. They hope to bring
:08:59. > :09:05.in more tourists as well as billions of
:09:06. > :09:13.Singapore, Macau and the Philippines hopes to get a slice of that market.
:09:14. > :09:17.What competition is stiff. Australia, Cambodia and even Saipan
:09:18. > :09:22.have casinos. Japan, South Korea and Vietnam may also legalise casino
:09:23. > :09:24.gambling for local citizens. But analysts say attracting rich
:09:25. > :09:32.gamblers to the tables will be tough. Basically the Chinese
:09:33. > :09:40.highroller players are affected by the antigambling corruption
:09:41. > :09:46.crackdown. Despite these headwinds short term, long-term casinos are
:09:47. > :09:53.facing rising organisation, the rise in Commonwealth. That's why Asia's
:09:54. > :09:59.biggest casino companies are spending nearly $30 billion on new
:10:00. > :10:02.building projects across the region. But, given the current climate, it
:10:03. > :10:07.makes sense for them to hedge their bets. Any are now chasing tourists
:10:08. > :10:13.to offset the loss of wealthy Chinese gamblers.
:10:14. > :10:19.much flat this morning and that's before we go.
:10:20. > :10:23.much flat this morning and that's really due to low volumes ahead the
:10:24. > :10:27.Christmas season coming up this week. And of course we've also got
:10:28. > :10:31.the price of Brent crude falling to 11 year lows, which affects
:10:32. > :10:32.sentiment somewhat. That's it for this edition of Asia Business
:10:33. > :10:45.Report. Thanks for watching. The top stories this hour: The
:10:46. > :10:51.prominent Chinese human rights