0:00:15 > 0:00:19I'm Sharanjit Leyl with BBC News.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Our top story: Students have staged a protest outside the White House,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24demanding action on gun control.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29President Trump has said he supports efforts to improve background checks
0:00:29 > 0:00:36on gun buyers in the wake of the Florida school shooting that
0:00:36 > 0:00:38left seventeen people dead.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41A UNICEF report on global infant mortality has found that many
0:00:41 > 0:00:44newborn deaths are preventable.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Around the world, 2.6 million babies die each year before turning
0:00:47 > 0:00:50one month old.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52And this story is popular on BBC.com.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Fast food chain KFC has been forced to temporarily close around six
0:00:56 > 0:00:58hundred of its restaurants across the UK and Ireland
0:00:58 > 0:01:01after delivery problems caused them to run out of their most important
0:01:01 > 0:01:02ingredient - chicken.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05KFC said it had been let down by a company that took
0:01:05 > 0:01:07over its supply chain last week.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09That's all from me for now.
0:01:09 > 0:01:09Stay with BBC News.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19And the top story here in the UK.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Theresa May has launched her year-long review of higher education
0:01:22 > 0:01:24funding in England, but has already ruled out completely
0:01:24 > 0:01:25scrapping tuition fees.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27The Prime Minister said she understood the "serious
0:01:27 > 0:01:30concerns" of students who struggle to afford the cost of studying
0:01:30 > 0:01:31for a degree.
0:01:31 > 0:01:44Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48A changing of the guard at HSBC. Will a new leadership mean more
0:01:48 > 0:01:51profits for the banking giant? And Richard Branson tells the BBC about
0:01:51 > 0:02:06his plans to build the Hyperloop train in India. Its Tuesday. Good
0:02:06 > 0:02:14morning, Asia. Hello, world. Glad you could join us. HSBC will have a
0:02:14 > 0:02:20new CEO taking the helm today after major restructuring turned its
0:02:20 > 0:02:27fortunes around. UK-based lender reports full earnings and many will
0:02:27 > 0:02:32be watching for signs that the bank's pivot to Asia will be a
0:02:32 > 0:02:38success. In the third quarter of last year, nearly 90% of its pre-tax
0:02:38 > 0:02:44profit came from here in the region. Asia has been a key driving growth
0:02:44 > 0:02:51in the loans, insurance and wealth management business. The bank is
0:02:51 > 0:02:55betting big on the Pearl River Delta, the world's most populous
0:02:55 > 0:03:01urban area, by investing billions of dollars in infrastructure and the
0:03:01 > 0:03:08area but as Stuart Gulliver hands over to John Flint, will this
0:03:08 > 0:03:18strategy continue?HSBC is in a sense of an Asian bank, it makes
0:03:18 > 0:03:24most of its profit out of Hong Kong. The UK is not even second or third.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29But aren't they putting too many eggs in one basket? Are they betting
0:03:29 > 0:03:35too much of Asia?It's a global bank. Yes, but in all these years,
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Hong Kong and Asia has been the anchor underpinning HSBC. Hong
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Kong's retail business is the engine which keeps the bank going.How
0:03:46 > 0:03:55different for the management bile -- management style be?Stuart
0:03:55 > 0:04:00Gulliver, Oxbridge, trader, global. John Flint, Polytechnic, sportsman,
0:04:00 > 0:04:06on the ground, retail builder. I expect to see John Flint on the
0:04:06 > 0:04:09ground and working the machinery and bringing it back to what its
0:04:09 > 0:04:14original focus is which is asset heavy mortgages, retail, wealth
0:04:14 > 0:04:21management, those types of businesses.Let's create a job
0:04:21 > 0:04:27description for John Flint.John Flint has to demonstrate a digital
0:04:27 > 0:04:32strategy for the bank, it is the one global bank which doesn't seem to
0:04:32 > 0:04:38that articulated one very strongly. He needs to up the fees side of the
0:04:38 > 0:04:42business and not be so asset dependent on the cost part, it is
0:04:42 > 0:04:48still nagging. He needs to work on that to bring global costs down.15
0:04:48 > 0:04:55to 2018 seems to be rising inflation. Will HSBC Biela to use it
0:04:55 > 0:05:02to their advantage?HSBC is the most organic commercial global bank. The
0:05:02 > 0:05:07others have been making money from trading accounts, investment
0:05:07 > 0:05:12banking, global strategy. HSBC is on the ground, a retail bank and that
0:05:12 > 0:05:16is where it will be seeing more benefit from rising interest rates
0:05:16 > 0:05:21than the other banks.How will Brexit impact it? Or will they be
0:05:21 > 0:05:29shielded?Brexit is a distraction. Look at the numbers. Despite the
0:05:29 > 0:05:33good topline numbers, the bottomline is very challenged. Brexit will add
0:05:33 > 0:05:43a lot more cost. The idea of having a front in London and others and so
0:05:43 > 0:05:51on, it will be a distraction.In other business news, five Central
0:05:51 > 0:05:54American countries will sign a free trade arrangement with South Korea
0:05:54 > 0:05:58this week after more than two years of talks to ease tariffs and
0:05:58 > 0:06:04barriers on a range of products. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Nicaraguans, and Panama will sign on to the deal. Guatemala will remain
0:06:09 > 0:06:14outside pending negotiations. Central America imported more than
0:06:14 > 0:06:19$1 billion from South Korea and exported $143 million to the
0:06:19 > 0:06:24country. Finger licking but gone missing. KFC has ruffled a few
0:06:24 > 0:06:27feathers after closing hundreds of its restaurants across the UK and
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Ireland because of a shortage of chicken. The problem arose over the
0:06:31 > 0:06:36weekend after the fast food chain switched its contract to DHL. The
0:06:36 > 0:06:42delivery company has blamed the problem on operational issues. KFC
0:06:42 > 0:06:45apologised saying it let customers down but getting chicken to 900
0:06:45 > 0:06:52restaurants is very complex. Richard Branson wants to bring a futuristic
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Hyperloop style train system to India. He signed a preliminary
0:06:56 > 0:07:05arrangement with the Prime Minister to build a route that will connect
0:07:05 > 0:07:10the cities of Pune and Mumbai and 25 minutes, saving three hours. We met
0:07:10 > 0:07:16with him and asked whether this could become a reality.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Look, there are going to be naysayers at the start of any new
0:07:20 > 0:07:24industry and our right to be naysayers until we have actually
0:07:24 > 0:07:31proven wrong. The upside of it is gigantic. Trains made a very big
0:07:31 > 0:07:36difference to India in the last century. I believe that Hyperloop
0:07:36 > 0:07:41will be the giant step forward that India needs. Hyperloop can connect
0:07:41 > 0:07:46most of the major cities in India in well under two hours.You have to
0:07:46 > 0:07:50make sure that the cost is reasonable because the cost of
0:07:50 > 0:07:54building is too high. Certainly in countries like India where basic
0:07:54 > 0:07:59transportation and infrastructure is an issue. A lot of governments might
0:07:59 > 0:08:02find the idea interesting but the project cost could be too high and
0:08:02 > 0:08:07they would get turned off.Firstly, the cost of building Hyperloop would
0:08:07 > 0:08:13be private money. The cost to the passenger of travelling on a virgin
0:08:13 > 0:08:18Hyperloop will be competitive with any high-speed train and we believe
0:08:18 > 0:08:22quite a lot less. We think we can build virgin Hyperloop for a lot
0:08:22 > 0:08:26less than you can build a high-speed train. Therefore, we should be able
0:08:26 > 0:08:36to charge less.Recent deal friend and rival Elon Musk launched the
0:08:36 > 0:08:42fault can heavy rocket. You said you are a bit jealous.You said it could
0:08:42 > 0:08:47be this year? I would be very disappointed if it's not this year.
0:08:47 > 0:08:53Before other people go up, we'll have our break, test pilot is going
0:08:53 > 0:09:00up. And I will go up.Will we see you going up this year?I would
0:09:00 > 0:09:04obviously love to go up this year so we will see how it goes.You've been
0:09:04 > 0:09:09trying to do this a long time. As Elon Musk increased the pressure?In
0:09:09 > 0:09:13this business, there must be no pressure. We spent 12 years getting
0:09:13 > 0:09:20this part. We will not rush unnecessarily to be the first to put
0:09:20 > 0:09:26people into space. If we happen to be the first to put people into
0:09:26 > 0:09:33space, I hope Elon Musk would do the same but we'll see how it goes. The
0:09:33 > 0:09:37reason he has not put people into space is because he wants to be sure
0:09:37 > 0:09:41of their safety.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46Stating that India and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
0:09:46 > 0:09:53continues a week-long visit to promote trade and investment. It is
0:09:53 > 0:09:57his first visit to India since taking office. He will meet the
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Prime Minister with an agenda covering energy and education and
0:10:00 > 0:10:12infrastructure. For more, we are joined by a macro -- or more, we are
0:10:12 > 0:10:16joined by Devina Gupta. It looks like both countries want to increase
0:10:16 > 0:10:21trade and investment?Yes, and it is down to business for Justin Trudeau
0:10:21 > 0:10:25who will be meeting Mumbai business leaders in the financial hub of the
0:10:25 > 0:10:30country. India and Canada trade is at about $8 billion and Justin could
0:10:30 > 0:10:34I was looking to expand it. India is crucial for Canada agricultural
0:10:34 > 0:10:40produce. Almost a third of Canadian exports to India are agricultural
0:10:40 > 0:10:44produce for dental and other pulses but also its clean technology where
0:10:44 > 0:10:51Canada would be hoping to see the deal with India. -- lentils. A very
0:10:51 > 0:10:57crucial deal of $280 million to supply uranium for India's nuclear
0:10:57 > 0:11:03power plants. Going ahead, looking at green technology. There is a
0:11:03 > 0:11:10retinue of businessmen from Canada. Today will be a day-long crucial
0:11:10 > 0:11:18meeting.A lot of high-profile CEOs and leaders visiting India. You have
0:11:18 > 0:11:23the son of the US President visiting Delhi. There it a business trip or
0:11:23 > 0:11:31is it a political trip?It is purely a commercial trip. Look at these
0:11:31 > 0:11:35adverts which are out in almost every national daily. India is the
0:11:35 > 0:11:45largest market for Trump real estate products.Thank you so much the
0:11:45 > 0:11:48update, Devina Gupta there are joining us from Delhi. And with that
0:11:48 > 0:11:53we end this edition of Asia Business Report. Have a productive day ahead.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Goodbye Furnell.