16/03/2018 Asia Business Report

Survivors have described

the finding as "shocking."

Now on BBC News, all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

The US slaps sanctions on some

Russian individuals and companies

for cyber-attacks and meddling in

the 2016 presidential election.

Would you want to ride a jet pack to

work? How some businesses are

reinventing the daily commute. Good

morning, and welcome to Asia

Business Report, live from

Singapore, with me, Marika Oi. News

from the US. The Treasury has

imposed sanctions on five Russian

organisations and 19 individuals. It

is basically in response to their

involvement in cyber-attacks on

American businesses and institutions

as well as alleged meddling in the

2016 presidential election. We

explain what is new.

The US already

has sanctions against many Russian

oligarchs. Today, 19 individuals

have been picked by the Treasury.

Robert Mueller, investigating

Russia's actions in the election,

has helped this. One of these is

someone known as Putin's Chef,

owning a restaurant business up at

close to the Kremlin. What is

interesting is that Steve Mnuchin

says these sanctions are for

meddling in the election, but also

for the recent use of a military

grade nerve agent to murder to UK

citizens. --2. He has gone further

than Donald Trump has in pointing to

this alleged attack by Russians on a

UK citizen as a reason for these

further sanctions.

In other business

news, Broadcom in Singapore has

reported better than expected

earnings only a day after they were

expecting to take over a US company,

but were blocked by President Trump.

They upgraded to $5.2 billion in the

first quarter, but no mention of the

deal. Wesfarmers is spinning off its

Coles operation, planning to list on

the Australian Stock Exchange. The

demerger comes 11 years after the

biggest takeover deal in Australia

at the time. They are searching in

trade on the news. -- surging. India

has said its trade deficit has

narrowed to its lowest in five

months since February. Just this

week, a challenge was launched to

Indian subsidies worth $7 billion

each year at the WTO. Let's go to

the India business report in Mumbai.

What has been the reaction in India

for this US to be GHO challenge?

--

WTO. India spoke about the challenge

on Thursday. The secretary said she

will engage with Washington over the

challenge and talk about concerns

and respond within 60 days. This

comes after the US took the

challenge to the World Trade

Organisation on Wednesday. It is

over the Indian government's

exemptions for duties, taxes, and

some fees for Indian exporters who

are sending products to the US. They

include companies that produce steel

products, pharmaceuticals, textiles,

and IT products. The US says those

subsidies make the goods very cheap

in the US and it is unfair to US

companies and workers there,

creating an uneven playing field.

The US pegs the benefit to Indian

exporters at around $7 billion a

year.

Thank you for that update from

Mumbai. Bitcoin prices have fallen

sharply to below $8,000 after Google

announced it was removing all

advertisements related to crypto

currencies. Facebook made a similar

move earlier this year over concerns

about scams in the market. One of

the biggest industry players still

believes that tighter regulation is

needed.

XRP is a digital asset

related to Ripples tech, last year

up almost 20,000%, the best

performing of all digital assets.

The reason is because Ripple solves

real problems for customers, working

with regulators. People are

recognising Bitcoin may be the

Napster of digital assets. What I

mean is that Napster showed what

digital music could do. But Napster

tried to circumvent laws and

trademarks and royalties, and what

have you. In a way, Bitcoin tried to

avoid regulation, to have anonymous

transactions. That is not what

Ripple is doing. In the same way

Napster graduated to Spotify and

iTunes, the third generation may be

the one that lasts.

To crypto

currencies lose appeal when

governments regulate them? -- do.

The idea of the crypto world can

live in the shadows and avoid

regulation, I think, it is just not

reality. Some in the community, the

crypto community, were borne of an

anti-government and anti-bank point

of view. Ripple says you need to

work with the system and

regulations.

There are degrees of

regulation. China, a massive market,

took a massive stance against the

currencies. This hurts development

of the market.

I agree with you.

What has happened in the ICO market

is bad for the whole market. It

really is fraud. There are many

scams going on, and it is bad for

the entire blockchaing and crypto

market. But countries by China have

taken a strong stance against

crypto. They say if they are safe

and efficient, they say digital

assets are inevitable.

So, Ripple

and XRP, that success has seen you

become a paper billionaire. Had it

that there?

I am looking at the

long-term. It is not about three

weeks, three days, three months, we

are solving a multitrillion dollar

problem. If we do that, we will be

in a good spot.

For most of us,

getting the work is straightforward.

You drive yourself, or take public

transport. These days, though,

advances in robotics, automation,

and artificial intelligence, they

are changing the way we travel, even

to the office. Kicking off the new

series, The Future of Work, Rico

Hizon looks at the alternative

choices. People have long dreamt of

taking a jet pack or a flying car to

work. And that reality is closer

than most of you think. The

challenge is moving people from

transportation hubs to final

destinations. For urban planners, it

is a complex problem that involves

congestion, runtimes, and population

density. And this is a driverless

bus. The latest step some cities are

taking to get you where you need to

go.

Human nature is that if

transport is not comfortable, you do

not adapt it.

Drones are being

tested, but widespread use is yet to

come. For now, battery powered

electric vehicles are moving people

in new ways. For many commuters,

this is the last mile solution. If

the office is there and the train is

only taking them here. How does it

work?

Battery operated scooters,

electric scooters, you can use them,

activate them, by a QR code. We see

a huge popular demand in all places

we have launched, especially when

you need connection from the MRT

station to offices and schools.

There will be a transport technology

explosion in the coming years

because of new technologies and life

starch trends. -- lifestyle.

Jet

packs and the likes were only used

by James Bond and Maya McFly in the

past. -- Marty. But learning to fly

is one man aircraft is apparently

easier than riding a bicycle.

We are

at the stage we can get into really

it boring the dream and the idea and

the concept behind true human

flight. -- we can achieve things

people have been dreaming of for a

long time.

They may not be real just

yet, but one thing is for sure, the

way we get to work is quickly

changing and will be vastly

different in the future. Rico Hizon,

BBC News, Singapore. For more on the

series, go to the website on your

screen now. That is it for this