:00:14. > :00:21.Indonesia becomes the first country to guarantee their timber products
:00:22. > :00:25.come only from legal sources. And how one woman turned her passion for
:00:26. > :00:34.shopping and travel into dollars and cents.
:00:35. > :00:38.Good morning, Asia and hello, world. It's a Thursday and guide you could
:00:39. > :00:46.join us for this edition of Asia Business Report, I'm Rico Hizon and
:00:47. > :00:49.we start in Indonesia is set to in the world to export illegally
:00:50. > :00:55.verified timber products to the European Union -- glad you. It will
:00:56. > :00:58.mean European consumers will be able to buy Indonesian furniture and
:00:59. > :01:02.paper knowing it doesn't come from illegal logging. We have a report
:01:03. > :01:09.from Jakarta. Indonesia has some of the world's
:01:10. > :01:14.oldest forests, home to unique and endangered animals. It also has one
:01:15. > :01:19.of the world's fastest rates of deforestation. Now Indonesia and the
:01:20. > :01:24.European Union have finalised a deal aimed at ending the illegal trade.
:01:25. > :01:28.The agreement means EU companies will only be able to import timber
:01:29. > :01:36.certified as coming from legal and sustainable sources. TRANSLATION: We
:01:37. > :01:39.wanted a system that will stop the timber getting into the hands of the
:01:40. > :01:43.buyers. The products are proved illegal and the other countries are
:01:44. > :01:46.not. We have a competitive advantage.
:01:47. > :01:50.Indonesia has set up a verification system where it claims to trace the
:01:51. > :01:55.timber source back through the whole supply chain. The fact the EU has
:01:56. > :01:58.now endorsed that system as credible is welcome news for timber exported
:01:59. > :02:04.as a. We, as the traders, the exporters,
:02:05. > :02:08.and the exporters and buyers, we don't have to convince them that we
:02:09. > :02:11.sell legal woods because it is already accepted by your government
:02:12. > :02:16.-- timber exporters. But environmentalists are one in the
:02:17. > :02:22.verification system remains open to corruption. TRANSLATION: I don't
:02:23. > :02:26.think we can say that it will stop the illegal deforestation because
:02:27. > :02:30.even if it is technically legal it doesn't mean the license was given
:02:31. > :02:34.objectivity and correctly, a verification system that makes
:02:35. > :02:38.consumers feel safe and good about buying will increase demand for
:02:39. > :02:45.Indonesian timber and that will be a catalyst for new deforestation.
:02:46. > :02:51.We know that the system is not 100% perfect. That is the best we can
:02:52. > :02:57.have at the moment. And any loopholes or problems that will be
:02:58. > :03:02.found, concrete cases... If the corrections have to be made in the
:03:03. > :03:06.system, this will be done regularly. 14 other countries are in
:03:07. > :03:10.negotiations with the EU to reach a similar deal.
:03:11. > :03:18.Creditors have started to offload some of the stock of troubled Korean
:03:19. > :03:21.shipping Linehan Jim. Three bulk carriers used for carrying
:03:22. > :03:42.commodities like iron ore, coal and framework sold for a total of $39
:03:43. > :03:48.million -- coal and other materials. -- and Jim. You can find the latest
:03:49. > :03:52.on this story on the website. The story won't go away despite
:03:53. > :03:58.Malaysia's efforts to make it disappear. For months the
:03:59. > :04:03.investigation into one MVV has made headlines, many of them on the Wall
:04:04. > :04:07.Street Journal. -- 1MDB. This week the two-minute occasions minister
:04:08. > :04:12.hit back calling the newspaper's coverage accessible and arrogant. --
:04:13. > :04:17.communications minister. The single most important role for
:04:18. > :04:21.any news organisation is to hold the powerful accountable and to answer
:04:22. > :04:25.questions people have too find out when people have been potentially
:04:26. > :04:30.misusing funds or misusing their position. We have been doing this,
:04:31. > :04:33.there are law enforcement investigations as a result of our
:04:34. > :04:39.reporting and the other information that has come out about 1MDB -- have
:04:40. > :04:43.two. We have done our public duty of telling people what has been going
:04:44. > :04:47.on. What are you say to the Malaysian government who calls your
:04:48. > :04:50.coverage desperate and aggressive and you have taken sides as a
:04:51. > :04:56.political campaigner, they are throwing the kitchen sink at you. We
:04:57. > :05:00.haven't taken any sides, our mission is to find the facts and tell the
:05:01. > :05:03.truth, there is a lot of money involved and allegations of
:05:04. > :05:07.wrongdoing and we have been able to uncover where this money went
:05:08. > :05:10.through hard reporting in difficult circumstances. It's important. It's
:05:11. > :05:15.about the way in which an important government in this region has used
:05:16. > :05:19.money and we have exposed a lot of the facts and a lot of people didn't
:05:20. > :05:23.want to come to light and that is what good journalism does. Indeed.
:05:24. > :05:27.But a lot of critics are saying the Wall Street journey is publishing
:05:28. > :05:31.more stories than any other publication in a show or around the
:05:32. > :05:37.world. -- Wall Street Journal. What is really your impetus in this story
:05:38. > :05:43.and why are you keeping up the pressure? -- in Asia. It's important
:05:44. > :05:47.to find out how public officials use their position and it's important
:05:48. > :05:50.that we, as we would in any other country, and we have done stories
:05:51. > :05:54.about this in the United States where we are based, and Europe and
:05:55. > :05:58.elsewhere in the world, 1MDB is a very important story for the people
:05:59. > :06:02.of Malaysia, Asia more generally and people everywhere to know when that
:06:03. > :06:07.kind of money is being appropriated in ways that clearly law enforcement
:06:08. > :06:10.around the world doesn't think is necessarily right and it is
:06:11. > :06:13.important for us to investigate and explore and reveal what we know.
:06:14. > :06:19.Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal. Watch sales keep on digging
:06:20. > :06:23.through weaker global command and China's crackdown on corruption and
:06:24. > :06:28.those factors being blamed for plunging earnings this week. Luxury
:06:29. > :06:31.brands are taking a hit and sales have fallen for Richmond, the parent
:06:32. > :06:33.company of Cartier Mont blanc. Earlier I spoke with a watch vision
:06:34. > :06:43.are dope, editor of a blog. Definitely sales are slowing down in
:06:44. > :06:47.Asia. North Asia is driven by China, Southeast Asia is struggling because
:06:48. > :06:51.the economy isn't as good, commodity prices are down, Indonesia isn't
:06:52. > :06:55.doing as well as it was so this all contributes to the lack of demand
:06:56. > :07:00.for luxury watches. What about demand from China, is the crackdown
:07:01. > :07:07.on corruption a major issue? Or is this the economic slowdown? It is
:07:08. > :07:11.both, the demand for luxury watches is tied to the crackdown on
:07:12. > :07:16.corruption. A study in Beijing four years ago showed there was a
:07:17. > :07:20.correlation between the transfer of power in China and imports of luxury
:07:21. > :07:24.watches. There's a correlation between the two. Are they
:07:25. > :07:30.diversifying away from the watch market to make up for the shortfall
:07:31. > :07:34.in watch sales? No. The specialist watchmakers are still only focusing
:07:35. > :07:39.on watches. Those luxury brands that are big in watches but also do other
:07:40. > :07:42.things, they are focusing on the other product lines like Cartier,
:07:43. > :07:47.focusing on jewellery because they are doing better than watches. You
:07:48. > :07:52.don't expect a rebound any time soon? Certainly not, at least two,
:07:53. > :07:54.maybe three years before things turn around.
:07:55. > :08:01.Most people who enjoy travel and shopping know how expensive these
:08:02. > :08:05.habits can be, but once Singapore entrepreneur has taken her to macro
:08:06. > :08:12.love Stanton them into an online business. Her website helps guide
:08:13. > :08:16.people to the best local shopping horns at home or on holiday. She
:08:17. > :08:22.told us about her start-up success. -- her two loves.
:08:23. > :08:29.It is dedicated to local designers and retailers online so we bring
:08:30. > :08:33.together the community of shoppers and local retailers and giving them
:08:34. > :08:37.a space online to come together. People want better experiences when
:08:38. > :08:41.they are travelling, they want more local experiences when they are
:08:42. > :08:45.travelling, so a platform like this helps them have those experiences.
:08:46. > :08:51.We tell them where to go and what to buy when they are there. Launching a
:08:52. > :08:58.start-up in Southeast Asia has been quite an easy journey. It's a really
:08:59. > :09:03.forgiving market. In the first steps of setting up the website it was a
:09:04. > :09:07.personal approach and me personally walking the streets and selecting
:09:08. > :09:13.the stores. Then all of a sudden they started to come to us. Hannah
:09:14. > :09:19.then we started to add new destinations. We Ben reached nine
:09:20. > :09:24.destinations in Asia and we expanded them into the US and San Francisco
:09:25. > :09:29.and all of California -- then. Some of the key challenges that are faced
:09:30. > :09:36.in setting up a start-up is firstly pulling together the right team. The
:09:37. > :09:40.second challenge has really been to scale the business and accelerate
:09:41. > :09:44.the traction and our biggest setback has probably been technology and
:09:45. > :09:48.getting the technology right. When you're a founder that is not a
:09:49. > :09:53.technical founder, you're really relying on the technical team to get
:09:54. > :09:56.it right. Our growth has been around 30% year-on-year but in the last
:09:57. > :10:01.year we have more than doubled. The next 12 months will be a great year.
:10:02. > :10:11.We've got 15 cities to work off as a foundation and we will be expanding
:10:12. > :10:15.into many others in the next year, and also pushing out a lot of
:10:16. > :10:16.technology to help us reach more shoppers and also more businesses.
:10:17. > :10:22.A shopaholic's website. Before we go a quick look at the markets and as
:10:23. > :10:26.you can see, all in negative territory at this hour. The Nikkei
:10:27. > :10:29.225 down by a century and the All Ordinaries giving back 19 points due
:10:30. > :10:32.to a mixed trading day on Wall Street. Thank you so much for
:10:33. > :10:34.investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is coming up
:10:35. > :10:48.next. Typhoon Meranti makes landfall in
:10:49. > :10:51.China after battering Taiwan were more than half a million people have
:10:52. > :10:52.been left without