:00:00. > :00:14.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:15. > :00:24.A megamerger in corporate America - AT wants to buy Time Warner. We
:00:25. > :00:28.look at what is at stake. Under review - the Chinese government will
:00:29. > :00:30.go over the code of conduct with its officials to extend the drive to
:00:31. > :00:35.crack down on corruption. It is Monday, the start of a
:00:36. > :00:45.brand-new trading week. Glad
:00:46. > :00:54.you could join me for this Monday The biggest media deal in recent
:00:55. > :00:57.years faces an uphill battle with American telecoms company AT
:00:58. > :01:03.needing to get regulatory approval for the plan to buy the media and
:01:04. > :01:09.entertainment giant Time Warner. The deal is worth more than $85 billion
:01:10. > :01:15.US, which would make it one of the biggest corporate takeovers so far
:01:16. > :01:19.in 2016. Critics have warned of the potential merger, if approved by
:01:20. > :01:23.regulators, concentrates too much media power into one entity. Our
:01:24. > :01:29.correspondent reports on what's at stake.
:01:30. > :01:38.It is the Gothic fantasy which millions of people pay considerable
:01:39. > :01:42.sums to watch, Game of Thrones is made by HBOS owned by Time Warner,
:01:43. > :01:50.which is why AT is paying ?70 billion to own it. Time Warner is
:01:51. > :01:55.big, very big. Apart from HBO, it owns CNN and the Warner Brothers
:01:56. > :01:59.studios from which the Dark Knight comes. This is the home of Harry
:02:00. > :02:04.Potter, produced by Warner Brothers and it allows Time Warner and AT
:02:05. > :02:08.to raise their sights higher because it brings together two very
:02:09. > :02:13.different companies. AT is the platform or the means with which we
:02:14. > :02:17.access the Internet. While Time Warner is the content or the TV
:02:18. > :02:24.shows and movies that we actually want to watch. Warner Brothers has a
:02:25. > :02:30.huge franchise in Harry Potter and it is very important to us in the
:02:31. > :02:35.UK. What AT is buying is a blue-chip media company with an
:02:36. > :02:42.awful lot of content both in hand and in the pipeline to keep people
:02:43. > :02:46.watching the screen. Byte merging two media giants could deprive
:02:47. > :02:51.consumers of choice and might be resisted by regulators -- but. The
:02:52. > :02:56.would-be next president Donald Trump has already said he would block it.
:02:57. > :03:02.As an example of the power structure, AT is biting Time
:03:03. > :03:06.Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my Administration
:03:07. > :03:13.because it is too much concentration of power -- buying. In the hands of
:03:14. > :03:17.too few. If the deal does go ahead, don't expect other giant media
:03:18. > :03:22.companies to sit on their hands. The battle for our eyeballs is merely
:03:23. > :03:26.getting started. For more about AT's planned
:03:27. > :03:33.acquisition, check out the website for the latest on the story, at BBC
:03:34. > :03:37..com /business. An important meeting in China today, the top political
:03:38. > :03:45.leaders in the country to review decades old codes of conduct. That
:03:46. > :03:49.is at the central committee plenum. Previous have led to crackdowns in
:03:50. > :03:54.corruption, a fitting casinos, luxury goods and alcohol sales. We
:03:55. > :03:57.speak with a China expert and independent analyst, Fraser Howley,
:03:58. > :04:03.who told me what we can expect. These are private meetings. We will
:04:04. > :04:07.get nothing publicly -- Howie. The couple of messages will be
:04:08. > :04:12.emphasised, one is unity, one is loyalty to the party, which is what
:04:13. > :04:16.Xi Jinping is strong on. He doesn't want to lose the gains on the
:04:17. > :04:21.corruption tracked down, which has been a keystone policy obvious. How
:04:22. > :04:24.successful has he been, though, in his anticorruption drive? In some
:04:25. > :04:28.ways not at all because corruption is endemic in China. Finding corrupt
:04:29. > :04:33.officials and punishing them is easy. How to change the system and
:04:34. > :04:37.put in better checks and balances, whistleblowing, things like that, he
:04:38. > :04:42.has not moved at all. So what should he do to be able to solidify this
:04:43. > :04:47.agenda? There are a couple of things. What he should do is use the
:04:48. > :04:52.legal process. At the moment the legal process, all the corruption
:04:53. > :04:55.programmes are happening outside the Judiciary Committee is happening
:04:56. > :04:59.intraparty, the party say they are guilty and they are processed. He
:05:00. > :05:03.needs to embrace the law and have a more and transparent process. What
:05:04. > :05:08.about reforming the state-owned sector, what more needs to be done?
:05:09. > :05:11.What more needs to be done? Start reforming. He hasn't done any of the
:05:12. > :05:15.things he promised three years ago. It has not been lots of talk but he
:05:16. > :05:20.has done nothing substantial to reform the state. With all of this
:05:21. > :05:25.rhetoric and you say he hasn't done much, he now really wants to
:05:26. > :05:30.consolidate his power base and maybe run the country beyond his term in
:05:31. > :05:34.2022. Will that happen? It is far too early to say. There is a lot of
:05:35. > :05:39.speculation that Xi Jinping sees himself as a strong man in the style
:05:40. > :05:43.of Vladimir Putin in Russia, and there is speculation he will look to
:05:44. > :05:48.extend his term. As I say it's complete speculation. What we are
:05:49. > :05:54.looking for is starting to extend term limits or retirement ages to
:05:55. > :05:58.give an indication they can go past retirement. And what would it mean
:05:59. > :06:06.for the economy, waffling between 6.5% - 7%? At the moment I don't eat
:06:07. > :06:10.it will make a big difference because they can step in to support
:06:11. > :06:13.the economy, they are happy to increase debt to keep growth going,
:06:14. > :06:18.so the immediate term will have no impact, but long-term for China it
:06:19. > :06:23.is a very bad sign. China expert, Fraser Howie. In news just in, Japan
:06:24. > :06:28.is feeling the effects of the global economic slowdown with the latest
:06:29. > :06:34.trade numbers of revealing exports dropping nearly 7% in September
:06:35. > :06:37.compared to a year ago. That is the world straight month of decline in
:06:38. > :06:43.overseas demand for goods made in Japan. Imports also fell 16%. This
:06:44. > :06:48.fresh report puts the trade balance at a surplus of 4.8 billion US
:06:49. > :06:55.dollars. A bid by Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her
:06:56. > :07:00.Chinese joint-venture partner to buy the Kidman Cattle empire could be
:07:01. > :07:04.scuppered with a 100% owned Australian company has made a
:07:05. > :07:08.counter bid of $200 million US, and if accepted it would need approval
:07:09. > :07:12.from the government or regulators. And not just Gina Rinehart is trying
:07:13. > :07:17.to cash in on the market in China with an army of freelance exporters
:07:18. > :07:23.selling a range of goods from beauty products, infant formula, wine and
:07:24. > :07:27.vitamin C Chinese consumers, known as Daigo, expatriate retail
:07:28. > :07:33.consultants, part of the retail trade who use WeChat build a network
:07:34. > :07:37.of clients. From Sydney, this report from Phil Mercer.
:07:38. > :07:42.Multimillion dollar export industry starts with a trip to the shops.
:07:43. > :07:50.This woman is an accountancy graduate in Sydney. She is a Daid,
:07:51. > :07:58.selling health supplements and baby food to 300 clients back home in
:07:59. > :08:03.China. What they want, genuine products -- Daigo. Baby formula is
:08:04. > :08:08.most popular, something everyone cannot buy in good quality or
:08:09. > :08:16.reliable formula in China, so they want to lie from Australia. If it is
:08:17. > :08:21.more extensive, they don't care of the price. Daigo is a retail agent
:08:22. > :08:24.who buys goods to order and in Australia they are almost
:08:25. > :08:28.exclusively from mainland China. Many are small enterprises set up by
:08:29. > :08:34.students to help subsidise rent and university fees. They sell to family
:08:35. > :08:39.and friends. But others do grow far bigger. Some of them grow to much
:08:40. > :08:44.bigger scale businesses, which establish their own logistics, their
:08:45. > :08:49.own e-commerce website and formally distribute products. So it is all
:08:50. > :08:54.about trust. What they are doing is building trust between their clients
:08:55. > :08:59.and client groups' personal connections. They are small, but
:09:00. > :09:05.there are a lot of people. If you pack them together, it is huge. It
:09:06. > :09:09.is estimated there are 40,000 Daigo in Australia and most are based here
:09:10. > :09:13.in Sydney. It has a large Chinese community and many direct flights to
:09:14. > :09:17.China, which makes doing business on lot easier. However, earlier this
:09:18. > :09:22.year the authorities in Beijing tightened regulations on cross
:09:23. > :09:27.online shopping but there is still money to be made. This man started
:09:28. > :09:31.his business with three friends from university just a few weeks ago.
:09:32. > :09:39.They pack their goods with Australian magazines to help prove
:09:40. > :09:43.their authenticity to buyers in China. The income from Daigou is
:09:44. > :09:49.reasonable compared with other working opportunities, like working
:09:50. > :09:54.in a respite or something. 30% in my classes are doing Daigou. The scale
:09:55. > :09:57.of the trade has improved some larger retailers to go into
:09:58. > :10:02.partnerships with these freelance shopping consultants. That is to
:10:03. > :10:07.open up new untapped market in China. Phil Mercer, BBC News,
:10:08. > :10:09.Sydney. Before we go, a quick look
:10:10. > :10:25.US equities closed lower on Friday despite the worse than expected
:10:26. > :10:27.trade numbers of the Nikkei to defy these up a fraction but the all
:10:28. > :10:27.ordinaries index The top stories this hour: A group
:10:28. > :10:45.of hostages from China, Vietnam and the Philippines,
:10:46. > :10:52.held by Somali pirates for nearly five years, has been freed and are
:10:53. > :10:56.on their way home.