:00:00. > :00:11.And the top story here in the UK: Policing in England and Wales
:00:12. > :00:14.is in a potentially perilous state, with some forces putting the public
:00:15. > :00:16.at risk, according to the police watchdog,
:00:17. > :00:42.Off to a snappy start - social media company snap Inc surges on the
:00:43. > :00:48.sharemarket debut. And as the Chinese Super League prepares to
:00:49. > :00:56.kickoff, we explain why it has become football's latest financial
:00:57. > :01:05.superpower. Welcome to Asia Business Report. Many of you would have heard
:01:06. > :01:10.of it, SnapChat, an app popular among teenagers and well known for
:01:11. > :01:18.the quirky video features as well. Now it is the Tech listing of the
:01:19. > :01:24.year. Shares of the company behind the app went 44% up when they
:01:25. > :01:31.listed, in the largest share sale from a tech company since China's
:01:32. > :01:38.Alibaba three years ago. Earlier, I spoke with Dave Lee. It has gone
:01:39. > :01:42.very well. They could have sold the shares several times over if they
:01:43. > :01:48.wanted to. They began the day at $17. It was above what many thought
:01:49. > :01:59.the price would be. In the course of the day it rose to $26.05. At the
:02:00. > :02:05.close of market, it is $24.48. So, very impressive for snap. We have
:02:06. > :02:09.seen this before. We have seen technology companies have this
:02:10. > :02:15.blistering debut. Sometimes it lives up to the hype. Sometimes not.
:02:16. > :02:20.Facebook whipped up to the hype. You will remember Twitter have a huge
:02:21. > :02:24.debut with shares rising 100% on the first day but it didn't turn out
:02:25. > :02:28.well in the long run. People are asking if it will be more like
:02:29. > :02:33.Facebook or Twitter. Crucial question. I am sure that people are
:02:34. > :02:37.looking to the future of the company. Even though SnapChat is
:02:38. > :02:45.incredibly popular with young people, it hasn't made any money.
:02:46. > :02:51.Yes, and the losses are widening. The hope is, as you mentioned, with
:02:52. > :02:56.the young audience, that it is very lucrative to advertisers. The more
:02:57. > :02:59.that they can grow the user base, 150 million at the moment, the more
:03:00. > :03:05.they can grow that the more advertisers will be on board. That
:03:06. > :03:10.will be the main way to make money. Now, the threat they face, however,
:03:11. > :03:17.is from companies like Facebook, who owns Instagram, which is a popular
:03:18. > :03:22.messaging app, and they have been pinching some of SnapChat's best
:03:23. > :03:26.ideas, which you could only do on SnapChat, and you can do it on
:03:27. > :03:30.Instagram as well now. There is concern from investors and the
:03:31. > :03:35.company of Snap themselves that users will migrate from one service
:03:36. > :03:39.to another, so the challenge is to stay relevant, stay cool, the place
:03:40. > :03:46.where young people want to be, and turn that popularity into
:03:47. > :03:50.advertising money. Gaming on the go is the latest strategy from the
:03:51. > :03:56.Japanese firm Nintendo, which is betting that its console, the
:03:57. > :04:01.Switch, will be an industry favourite, so what is so special? If
:04:02. > :04:07.you are in the middle of a game at home and you have to leave the
:04:08. > :04:11.house, you can take it with you and continue to play the same game, so
:04:12. > :04:15.is it all a gimmick or will gamers decide it is a function that they
:04:16. > :04:23.never knew that they needed? Earlier, I asked an analyst if it
:04:24. > :04:32.will be a hit. It is a success. We have seen demand from gamers. The
:04:33. > :04:38.success of Pokemon Go, gamers want Nintendo in their homes or on the
:04:39. > :04:43.go. And is it a step up from some of the other games we have seen from
:04:44. > :04:49.Nintendo? They have the hugely successful Pokemon Go, and they also
:04:50. > :04:55.had game consoles like the Wii. How is it different, will it be better?
:04:56. > :05:10.Good question, so the Wii has sold only about one third of the PS4, and
:05:11. > :05:15.with the Wii, it has been a great success. It was also risky. Gamers
:05:16. > :05:20.love risk and innovation. Nintendo is at its best when they innovate.
:05:21. > :05:25.The feature with the Switch, where you can have it on the go or at
:05:26. > :05:29.home, is fantastic, and I think gamers will love it. Use the word
:05:30. > :05:36.innovate, which is key amongst these gaming they have to keep gamers
:05:37. > :05:41.excited but there is competition from Xbox, PlayStation, so how can
:05:42. > :05:47.the Switch stack up? Quite well. We think that given the demand for
:05:48. > :05:52.Pokemon Go, gamers will Nintendo. Now, the risk is there are not many
:05:53. > :06:02.third-party games so far for the platform. However, I have confidence
:06:03. > :06:08.that gamers want first party Mario and other games like Zelda. There
:06:09. > :06:11.has been criticism that some games are not available on the Switch.
:06:12. > :06:18.That is correct. There are always bugs to start with. Sony back with
:06:19. > :06:24.PS3 had problems, the same with Microsoft, with the Xbox 360, they
:06:25. > :06:28.had problems with the Red Ring of Death. Half of consoles sold had a
:06:29. > :06:33.problem, so the fact Nintendo has only a few games at the launch isn't
:06:34. > :06:39.a big deal. Sam Reynolds speaking earlier. Japan's core consumer price
:06:40. > :06:42.rose for the first time in a year in January because of a pickup in
:06:43. > :06:48.energy costs and private consumption. The core consumer price
:06:49. > :06:57.index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food
:06:58. > :07:02.prices, rose 0.1%. For the first time, bitcoin exceeded the value of
:07:03. > :07:06.an alp of gold, which is seen as a safe haven investment, in a major
:07:07. > :07:10.reversal for bitcoin, which plummeted in 2014 after the largest
:07:11. > :07:14.exchange collapsed. And a US law enforcement official is
:07:15. > :07:20.conducting a probe into heavy machine manufacturer Caterpillar,
:07:21. > :07:24.pumping a sell-off in stock. Caterpillar believe the search is
:07:25. > :07:30.part of a revenue service investigation related to profits
:07:31. > :07:32.earned by a Swiss path subsidiary Caterpillar SARL.
:07:33. > :07:37.The Chinese Super League football season kicks off today. In 14 years
:07:38. > :07:45.it has gone from minnow to major power in the world's most popular
:07:46. > :07:51.sport, and you might ask how? Quite simply cash, and a lot of it, with
:07:52. > :08:00.players being offered as much as $730,000 per week, which is leading
:08:01. > :08:04.many stars to swap the likes of Sevilla and Shanghai. Messi wasn't
:08:05. > :08:08.available, so here is Robin Brant to explain what is behind the big
:08:09. > :08:22.spending. First, a history lesson. The Chinese
:08:23. > :08:27.Super League was formed in 2004 when the game went pro and there are 16
:08:28. > :08:40.teams, the team in the south Guangzhou are the league leaders.
:08:41. > :08:45.Let's talk about the money. It is the only thing the CSL is really
:08:46. > :08:53.known for. They are big spenders. $200 million in the last transfer
:08:54. > :08:57.window. $41 million a year to get Carlos Tevez in Shanghai,
:08:58. > :09:01.apparently. That makes him the best paid player on the planet. There is
:09:02. > :09:05.no transparency. No one knows whether money is coming from. Plenty
:09:06. > :09:10.of big firms are behind the clubs, most of with government links. So,
:09:11. > :09:13.what about the government links? Well, being good in football in
:09:14. > :09:21.China is now government policy, and this is the man with a whistle, the
:09:22. > :09:25.president Xi Jinping, he wants his country to host and win a World Cup
:09:26. > :09:30.in 2030, which is quite a big ask, having only qualified once before in
:09:31. > :09:38.2002, currently ranked 86 in the world, tucked in between Qatar and
:09:39. > :09:44.Kenya. So, what about the plan to get better at football? It all
:09:45. > :09:47.starts here at the grassroots. The government wants 20,000 football
:09:48. > :09:52.schools by next year producing it hopes 100,000 home-grown Chinese
:09:53. > :09:57.football talent in the years ahead. The problem for the Super League is
:09:58. > :10:01.it is dominated by foreigners, they win all of the awards, the golden
:10:02. > :10:06.boot foremost also scored, most valuable player, so there will be a
:10:07. > :10:13.limit of having three of them on the field at any one time during the
:10:14. > :10:16.game. -- for most goals scored. That is your guide to the Chinese Super
:10:17. > :10:21.League, which kicks off this weekend, now, what some football. --
:10:22. > :10:33.watch some football. I will watch Messi but we also have
:10:34. > :10:37.our very and Robin Brant. Let's have a look at the markets because there
:10:38. > :10:41.is time to tell you that they are all down and in fact Australia had
:10:42. > :10:45.quite a big sell-off down 1%, the biggest in a month, following on
:10:46. > :10:49.from Wall Street's losses, and that is it for this edition of Asia
:10:50. > :10:54.Business Report. Thanks for watching.
:10:55. > :10:56.The top stories this hour: The US attorney general,
:10:57. > :10:59.Jeff Sessions, has denied lying over his contact with Russians
:11:00. > :11:02.in last year's election campaign but said he'll sit