22/03/2018 Asia Business Report

to stop a vote.

That's certainly got people talking.

That's all from me for now.

Stay with BBC News.

And the top story here in the UK:

More than a million NHS staff

in England are being offered pay

increases of at least

6.5% over three years.

The deal, if approved,

would cost the Treasury more

than £4 billion.

Now on BBC News, all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Mark Zuckerberg breaks his silence.

He says Facebook made mistakes over

the handling of users' data, and

he's reportedly open to testifying

in front of US Congress.

No surprises from America's Central

Bank, new Chair Jerome Tel delivers

its first spike of this year and he

has signalled there may be a few

more to come.

Good morning, welcome to Asia

Business Report, live from Singapore

with me, Mariko Oi.

We've all been waiting to hear from

the boss of Facebook and finally we

have. Mark Zuckerberg admitted that

the company made mistakes over how

its users' data was handled. Of

course, earlier this week, as we

reported, it was revealed private

information of Facebook users, some

50 million of us, was misused by

political consultancy firm Cambridge

Analytica. In a statement Mr

Zuckerberg said:

I started Facebook...

That was the statement he posted on

his personal Facebook page and he's

giving an interview with CNN, in

which he apologised for the breach

of trust. He said Facebook should

not have trusted the data firm at

the centre of this row, Cambridge

Analytica, when it said it would

delete Facebook data it held, and Mr

Zuckerberg has been under mounting

pressure from politicians around the

world to testify how it happened and

he said in an interview he is open

to testifying in front of the US

Congress. That British firm is under

mounting pressure to provide answers

as well. The British Prime Minister

Theresa May told parliament she had

backed an investigation into the

company.

What we have seen in Cambridge

Analytica are the allegations that

are clearly very concerning, it's

absolutely right that they should be

properly investigated, it is right

the information commissioner is

doing exactly that because people

need to have confidence in how their

personal data is being used and I

would expect Cambridge Analytica,

Facebook and organisations involved

to comply fully with the

investigation taking place.

It's not just the US and Europe

that's reacting to this data crisis,

India has taken down the local

website of Cambridge Analytica

following the allegations the

company misused personal data. Let's

bring in our India Business Report

from Mumbai. Samir, tell us the

details of this Indian subsidiary of

Cambridge Analytica?

Well, Cambridge Analytica has a

tie-up with a local company called

SLC, which claims on its website it

has partnered with Cambridge

Analytica and they have been working

together over the last few years. It

also listed a few election campaigns

it was part of, which includes the

party of the current government in

power, and the main opposition

party, the Congress. In fact, on

Tuesday we saw both parties alleging

that both parties had used the

services of this particular company

during the elections in 2010, 2014

and subsequently another state

election. Yes, but what's happened

interestingly is the website was

taken down last night and now that

page is not available. Clearly this

has become a hot issue. We also

saw... A hot political issue... We

saw the IT commission of India

coming out yesterday with a press

conference, warning Facebook if

there's any data breach in India

during the upcoming elections they

will take strict action. India is

now the largest market for Facebook

with the largest number of users and

Facebook has become a very essential

part when it comes to social media.

Samir, in Mumbai, thanks for the

update, very interesting how

globally Cambridge Analytica has

reached.

Today was decision day for this man,

the new chair of the US Federal

Reserve, which of course is the

world's most important central bank

and he delivered what was widely

expected. Jerome Powell announced

his first interest rate rise, an

increase of 0.24% to 1.75% from

1.5%. Let's look at the market

reaction. Wall Street shares have

ended the day slightly lower after a

volatile session. Asia has opened

today, Japan has reopened after a

public holiday, we are seeing some

rise there. In the currency markets,

we're seeing the dollar seeing the

biggest one-day loss in two months

against a basket of currencies. When

announcing the hike, the new Fed

chair sounded very optimistic about

the state of the US economy.

Indeed the economic outlook has

strengthened in recent months,

several factors are supporting the

outlook, fiscal policy has become

more stimulative, ongoing job gains

are boosting incomes and confidence.

Foreign growth is on a good

trajectory and overall financial

conditions remain accommodative.

As our business reporter in

Washington explained, the members

don't all share the optimism.

The thread seemed quite divided

about how well the US economy is

doing. -- said. Everyone looks at

the things called the Dot Chart,

sorry to use the jargon, it gives

you a sense of what the committee

are thinking about the US economy

and rate increases in the future.

Eight thought there should be three

rate increases this year, seven

thought there should be four. It is

a mixed bag about what the Fed will

do in the coming months. Either way

the US economic situation has been

improving, which suggests the Fed

has legal room Dashwood ballroom in

terms of the timing of the interest

rate increases -- wiggle room.

Donald Trump has announced further

tariffs on China and import tariffs

on steel and aluminium have been

making headlines, did he say

anything about the administration's

trade policy?

It was quite interesting. Obviously

I was sitting in the press

conference and every reporter once

the Fed chair to say something,

anything newsworthy, it was

interesting Mr Powell was quite

sitting, he said the Fed doesn't do

trade policy. Many members of the

Federal Reserve board, we're hearing

from members of the business

community, that they were worried

about a trade war and that has made

the Fed reconsider the possibility

these tariffs might have some sort

of impact on the US economy. So far

they haven't changed their outlook

for US economic growth.

We will bring you all the latest

ones Donald Trump announces further

tariffs against China.

What part of your work day do you

dread the most? I'm pretty sure the

answer would be meetings for many of

us, and in the modern office, often

we are trying to collaborate with

people who are not even in the same

room. What are the new-age solutions

to get over that problem? As part of

our Future of Work series, Yogita

Limaye reports from New York.

Meetings are hard whoever you are.

They can be boring and sometimes go

on for too long. But the they are

necessary too. They were the most

important decisions are taken. In an

office like ours the meetings are

pretty easy because we all sit

across from each other, but some

estimates suggest 45 and 50% of the

American workforce could be revoked

by 2020 -- 45 and 50%. So what good

meetings of the future look like?

Some companies are turning to

robots. This is a Segway like device

with an iPad as a face.

Double

Robotics, Silicon Valley start-up,

says they have sold these two 4000

customers. But could this be made to

feel even more real? I look silly

nodding and Finnair but this is how

hologram technology works, it makes

you feel like you're in the same

place as someone who isn't there. --

at thin air. It is hard to set up

and is still in its early days.

Our clients are lots of corporate

fortune 500 clients using it for and

we are trying to build in the

conference rooms for telprescence.

But for now most small companies are

using different forms of video

conferencing to meet their needs.

This firm's pounder says the ability

to have remote workers is critical

to their growth.

If you're not able

to say, hey, you can't move to a new

location or grow a new business in a

different geography we wouldn't be

able to hire the right people we

need to hire to grow the business.

While technology that allows people

to be face to face is key, what's

most important is that work gets

done and so companies like this one

are also on the lookout for

innovation that makes meetings more

efficient.

Yogita Limaye, BBC News, New York.

Before we go I wanted to mention

about the China's -- China's

Facebook, we were monitoring their

share prices, Facebook has been

having problems with share prices

but ten saying prices are doing well

in Hong Kong. -- ten saying.