30/03/2017 Asia Business Report

I'm Babita Sharma with BBC World News.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May has formally begun the process

She described it as a historic moment from which there could be

But there are signs that negotiations with European leaders

The ousted South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, is due in court

for a hearing that'll decide whether to approve an arrest warrant

against her over corruption allegations.

The price of ivory has fallen sharply in China.

The conservation group, Save the Elephants, says an economic

slowdown and an anti-corruption drive has lead to a reduction

in ivory carvings often given as gifts to officials.

Aykroyd has converged on Westminster Bridge to remember the victims of

the terror attack which occurred one week ago. -- eight crowd. -- a

crowd. Fixing a financial meltdown. Samsung

Electronics looks to rebuild its reputation with its first new smart

phone since the exploding battery scandal. Good morning. Glad you

could join us for this edition of Asia Business Report. We start with

Toshiba and shares are down less than 1% in Tokyo trade news

overnight that it is US unit Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy

protection. Investors are waiting as shareholder meeting due to start

shortly. Toshiba are now warns that the Delos Mao may widen to over $1

billion US because of the problems of Westinghouse. It has twice

delayed reporting earnings until April 11. And Toshiba shares have

lost over 60% since it first acknowledged that the problems in

December. The Japanese firm may now look to sell a majority stake in

Westinghouse. Earlier I spoke to Rupert in Tokyo. I asked him how

hard it will be for Toshiba to get their finance in order. It will be

quite difficult to do that. It faces a large hurdle to get this mess

under control. That is why it has filed for bankruptcy for

Westinghouse in the US, to try and put a barrier between the rest of

the one that business and the Westinghouse nuclear business which

is where most of the losses have come from. To do that, it will cost

a lot of money. This is why it says it will lend up with, perhaps, a Y1

trillion, a $9.1 billion net loss for the financial year. That puts

Toshiba Corporation in a difficult situation because it could be

delisted from the Tokyo stock market if its net losses are greater than

its assets. For that reason, Toshiba is looking to refinance itself,

perhaps by selling off its memory chip business which is believed to

be worth around one $3 billion. That is a process ongoing at the moment,

looking for purchases to see who made step up bid for the business.

Important decisions are for shareholders. How will Westinghouse

bankruptcy affect the nuclear projects in the UK? In the medium

run it looks like Toshiba will be getting out of nuclear power.

Westinghouse will be restructured. It has ongoing projects in the US,

India and China and in the long run, it is part of a nuclear project in

the UK and it is a 60% shareholder in that. All indications are that

Toshiba wants to get out of the rut checked as soon as possible. It will

not go forward with construction and even now it looks as if they will

try to sell their stake in the project as soon as they can. That

puts the British government in a difficult position because now they

need to find fresh investors to come in and take over the state of

Toshiba. The UK Prime Minister has formally kicked off negotiations to

leave the European Union. Both sides now have two years to agree on a new

trade deal. The British Prime Minister wants an orderly exit,

nothing like what happened in the financial markets after the

referendum last year Brexit when the pound lost 10% of its value against

the US dollar in just one day. The final deal will also depend on what

the EU trading partners wish for in an new relationship.

A lively serenade on one of the busiest shopping streets in Germany.

When it comes to Brexit, the mood is more downbeat. A few months ago we

thought that would not really happen, it but, well, today, we know

better. I was quite sad about it because I have friends living in the

UK so I hope that the day, as Germans, can still live there. I

don't think it will be a good deal in the end. It does not influence my

daily life so I don't know how to feel. On one side it is a bad sign,

we need to show unity in the world. On the other hand, it is a good sign

because it shows that people still have voice in democracy. Down the

road, a multinational T-shirt company is already making

contingency plans. Even for its British-born boss. In two years

time, the UK will be marginalised and for that we will do less

business and we will have gone like many other countries, to concentrate

on the other European markets such as Spain, Italy, all of whom are

growing fast and are far more valuable to us. Personally, I will

probably buy them have become German because I am really a European who

wants to do business in Europe. It is not all doom and gloom. One

specialist shop knows that even Brexit can't dampen the appeal of an

English cup of tea. In other business news making headline, a

deal between China's insurers group and Kushner has fallen through. It

was criticised as a potential attempt by China to curry favour

with the White House. Mr Kushner is a senior adviser to the White House

and the son-in-law of Donald Trump. He stepped down as CEO of the

company in January. They have not said why discussions were called.

The past few months have been anything but. Song as has been

implicated in one of the biggest corruption scandals in South Korea.

It was forced to recall its flagship smartphone after batteries caught

fire. It now looks to redeem itself with a new smart phone. Here they

are. The long-awaited new smart phones from Samsung. Aid big home

screen, a hidden home screen and their own virtual assistant. Can you

tell me more about this wine? Here are the search result. Samsung calls

this phone a artform but it is still familiar. The fingerprint button has

moved to the back but there is no official recognition screen

unlocking and improve split screen. Samsung is sticking with the

traditional headphone jack. It can also dog with a monitor or TV if you

still need a bigger screen but after the disaster of the note seven's

exploding battery there is no extra battery flower power. We learned a

lot lessons with the old phone on the battery. So we have put in new

quality assurer and processes and controls that we are implementing in

the production of the S8. It is 61 degrees with sunshine. It is perhaps

typical of the newly cautious response that the virtual assistants

only speaks US English and Korean at the moment. I spoke with a digital

consultant and asked him if a new phone will help the electronics

giant repair its damaged reputation. Definitely they are trying because

this is one of their flagship product is due to replace the S7.

They have been a good embarking on an aggressive PR campaign. It will

be difficult to read brand themselves. -- rebrand themselves.

Just days before this new phone launched, the Samsung experience

store caught fire under mysterious circumstances that will not help

with their reputation. Moreover, every time we fly today, airlines

still remind you of the note seven to buckle, that it is a

life-threatening device to bring on board a plane. Last, but not least,

the customer services have also been reported to actually tell people not

to say anything about the device or talk to any media for any device

replaced. The brand promise and what they are doing off-line on the

retail side, well, they are out of sync. They have a lot of work to do

to rebuild their reputation. Reputational damage has been huge

with the exploding batteries of the Galaxy Note7 and key here is over

the next few months it will regain the trust of humour and not only

that, pressure of releasing a new phone in a competitive market.

Definitely so. They compete with other major smartphone makers so

they are under pressure above and below. They are hoping with a

successful launch they will put the previous phone behind as a glitch,

but a quick look now at the markets and on the motherboard screen, Asia

is currently mixed in early Thursday trade. Opening lower due to the

weakness of Wall Street and investors are waiting for results

from Toshiba. You are watching BBC World News and I am Babita Sharma.

Britain starts the