:00:00. > :00:00.and the introduction of more driver-only-operated trains.
:00:00. > :00:12.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:13. > :00:21.Brexit is a reality. After a revised bill is passed in Parliament, we
:00:22. > :00:27.look at what it means. And tech industry leaders compete for centre
:00:28. > :00:34.stage in one of the well's largest interactive festivals. -- world's.
:00:35. > :00:40.Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report, I'm Sharanjit Leyl.
:00:41. > :00:44.Parliament in Britain has given its final approval to a bill setting out
:00:45. > :00:49.plans for the country to formally start the process of leaving the
:00:50. > :00:53.European Union. Parliament has also voted by a clear majority to reject
:00:54. > :00:57.two amendments put forward by the upper chamber, the House of Lords.
:00:58. > :01:02.The proposals would have guaranteed the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
:01:03. > :01:07.Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also announced plans to
:01:08. > :01:12.hold a second independence referendum by early 2019. She said
:01:13. > :01:15.the vote was necessary after British Prime Minister Theresa May refused
:01:16. > :01:20.to search for a compromise to allow Scotland to remain in the single
:01:21. > :01:24.market after Brexit. What Scotland deserves in the light
:01:25. > :01:28.of the material change of circumstances brought about by the
:01:29. > :01:33.Brexit vote is the chance to decide our future in a fair, free and
:01:34. > :01:37.democratic way and at a time when we are equipped with the fact that we
:01:38. > :01:43.need. Nicola Sturgeon speaking there.
:01:44. > :01:48.Earlier I spoke with David Quo and asked about the implications of
:01:49. > :01:53.another Scottish referendum. This has surfaced again and I think there
:01:54. > :01:58.will be continual... I wouldn't say problems but unease, not only in the
:01:59. > :02:03.UK but in Europe as well. I think we're beginning to seize certain
:02:04. > :02:08.parts of the union, not only in the UK but the European Union as well
:02:09. > :02:11.starting to unravel and that will cause some dismay and probably some
:02:12. > :02:16.consternation as far as Asia is concerned. Some people will see this
:02:17. > :02:20.as an opportunity. As we saw with Brexit, the pound has fallen so
:02:21. > :02:25.therefore Asian investors are saying, are there any opportunities
:02:26. > :02:28.in the UK? Some have actually found those opportunities. Let's take a
:02:29. > :02:33.closer look at the pound, it's going up, even going up on this news where
:02:34. > :02:37.we heard Nicola Sturgeon make her announcement, which is unusual, it's
:02:38. > :02:41.only a little bit, but we've only ever seen it go down, it is 2017's
:02:42. > :02:50.was performing currencies of our. Where is the pound heading? --
:02:51. > :02:53.currency so far. I can't see it strengthening until the Bank of
:02:54. > :02:57.England increases interest rates. America is in a position to do that
:02:58. > :03:02.now so that will heap more pressure on to the Bank of England. But the
:03:03. > :03:06.Bank of England can't do anything, after Brexit we saw they had to cut
:03:07. > :03:12.interest rates and they also had to fire up their muggy printing
:03:13. > :03:16.machines to try and inject more sterling into the UK economy. --
:03:17. > :03:21.money. That was just to try and keep it going. And that will continue for
:03:22. > :03:24.a while I think because they simply don't have any option. What has
:03:25. > :03:29.happened around the world now is investors have begun to believe the
:03:30. > :03:33.central banks... All that they can do really is whenever there's a
:03:34. > :03:36.problem, cut interest rates and let's start quantitative easing
:03:37. > :03:40.again and I think that will happen in the UK. If that were to carry on
:03:41. > :03:45.this year and maybe next year as well then I can only see the
:03:46. > :03:49.sterling weakening. We haven't seen markets react too negatively, we've
:03:50. > :03:53.seen all these huge gains on Wall Street for instance, why don't
:03:54. > :03:59.markets seem fazed by these political changes? They know there's
:04:00. > :04:03.a backstop and that is the central bank. In America, it is certainly
:04:04. > :04:07.the better reserve and in the UK it's the Bank of England and in
:04:08. > :04:10.Japan it's the Bank of Japan and they know the central banks will
:04:11. > :04:14.step in because they can't take the risk of armageddon -- Federal
:04:15. > :04:18.Reserve. Therefore it's almost like governments can do whatever they
:04:19. > :04:21.want and then you will get the central banks coming in and saying
:04:22. > :04:25.we will save the day by printing money.
:04:26. > :04:28.Since that interview with David Kuo earlier, the pound has changed
:04:29. > :04:33.direction and is currently slipping in Asian trade. In other business
:04:34. > :04:40.news, US search making giant Intel is forking out $15 billion for
:04:41. > :04:42.mobile eye, and of Israeli company that develops autonomous driving
:04:43. > :04:48.systems. They've been working together along with Ian W to put 40
:04:49. > :04:54.test vehicles on the road later this year. -- an Israeli. Intel says the
:04:55. > :05:01.driverless market could be worth $70 billion by 2030 -- BMW. Japan has
:05:02. > :05:09.joined the list of suitors for a huge share sale. Shinzo Abe has
:05:10. > :05:14.asked King Salman to list shares in Tokyo. Hong Kong, Singapore, New
:05:15. > :05:19.York and Toronto have been courting the Saudi Iran to share sale. King
:05:20. > :05:23.Salman said he would consider the request from the Japanese Prime
:05:24. > :05:27.Minister. Toshiba shares in Japan have fallen 4% in Tokyo on reports
:05:28. > :05:32.the company will extend the deadline for submitting its earning report
:05:33. > :05:35.for the second time. There's a reason for the delay, the
:05:36. > :05:41.conglomerate expects to announce losses of up to $6 billion. Toshiba
:05:42. > :05:47.is likely to also have to sell off some of its business, so where did
:05:48. > :05:50.it all go wrong for one of Japan's corporate icons? Here's our Asian
:05:51. > :05:52.business correspondent Karishma Vaswani.
:05:53. > :05:56.When you think of Toshiba you probably think of televisions,
:05:57. > :06:01.computers and possibly cameras but it's no longer the giant it used to
:06:02. > :06:06.be. Today Toshiba runs businesses in all sorts of sectors and that's part
:06:07. > :06:11.of the problem. Toshiba started its nuclear business
:06:12. > :06:16.around ten years ago. It now runs and operates nuclear power plants in
:06:17. > :06:20.the US, UK and Japan. In fact, the nuclear division makes up about a
:06:21. > :06:24.third of revenues. Things really started turning sour, though, after
:06:25. > :06:28.because she in Japan when governments started asking questions
:06:29. > :06:34.about how much they should depend on nuclear energy for their power
:06:35. > :06:37.needs. And then Toshiba's nuclear assets in America turned out to be
:06:38. > :06:42.worth far less than initially thought, so the company's having to
:06:43. > :06:48.take losses of several billion dollars because of that.
:06:49. > :06:51.Well, Toshiba has already sold off some of its more profitable
:06:52. > :06:56.businesses after an accounting scandal back in 2015. But the real
:06:57. > :06:59.jewel in its crown is the semiconductor business. That makes
:07:00. > :07:04.chips for smart phones and computers. Toshiba has already said
:07:05. > :07:08.it will sell off a slice of that business, but it still may not be an
:07:09. > :07:13.off to plug that whole. What does that mean? Well, Toshiba may not sub
:07:14. > :07:17.Don Max abide without a Japanese government bailout, which it may get
:07:18. > :07:25.because it is so important to the economy -- may not survive. In other
:07:26. > :07:30.news Thailand's company has turned down a bid for the owner of the
:07:31. > :07:32.Golden Globe TV awards. A clampdown by the Chinese government on
:07:33. > :07:38.overseas investments is thought to be the main reason. Elrich
:07:39. > :07:41.industries, the owner of Vic Clarke productions, who owns the Golden
:07:42. > :07:48.Globes, said they fail to honour contractual obligations -- Dick
:07:49. > :07:52.Clarke. The financial arm of Siemens has been granted approval to operate
:07:53. > :07:58.as a merchant bank in Singapore. They want to operate project and
:07:59. > :08:01.financial lending. Last year they provided $3 billion in funding for
:08:02. > :08:07.projects in the Asia-Pacific. Thousands of tech leaders, policy
:08:08. > :08:12.makers as well as celebrities are all flocking to Texas and it's not
:08:13. > :08:17.just for the famous barbecue and breakfast burritos. It's the
:08:18. > :08:22.Southwest Southwest conference festival and it's in full swing. Our
:08:23. > :08:25.North America technology correspondent Dave Lee told us about
:08:26. > :08:46.the coolest thing that he spotted at the event.
:08:47. > :08:52.The thing for Google is to provide our customers access to their
:08:53. > :08:57.favourite services and information from anywhere and at any time
:08:58. > :09:01.whether they are biking, walking, hiking, when their hands are busy
:09:02. > :09:08.they should be able to access their favourite services from the cuff of
:09:09. > :09:12.their sleeve. What is on my calf and how does it work? The interface is
:09:13. > :09:20.on the material and the other threads integrate together. -- my
:09:21. > :09:27.calf. We snapped on the tag. You can see it is Bluetooth, a simple brush
:09:28. > :09:36.gives you the time. It is to 30 7pm. We have the destination in, time to
:09:37. > :09:49.destination. -- it is 2:37pm. You can also add music. It is 2:37pm.
:09:50. > :09:54.That is quite expensive. A nice jacket but it feels quite pricey,
:09:55. > :10:00.how much of that is going on, give it the? Levi's commuter trucker is
:10:01. > :10:07.going to be $150 without the technology and we think this is
:10:08. > :10:15.really useful. -- how much of that is going on conductivity? Hope they
:10:16. > :10:19.come in women's sizes as well. Looking at the markets, they are all
:10:20. > :10:24.flat to lower at the moment, the Nikkei coming into some profit after
:10:25. > :10:29.hitting 15 month highs. There's lots of data we are awaiting from China,
:10:30. > :10:32.getting manufacturing retail sales as well as investment data. That's
:10:33. > :10:35.it for this edition of Asia Business Report, thanks for watching.