04/03/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Susannah Streeter

All eyes are on China as its leaders gather

for their annual parliament meeting - what will they do to boost Asia's

Live from London, that's our top story on Friday the 4th of March.

After a week of bad news from China, with millions of jobs on the line

and economic gloom, its leaders are due to lay down a five-year plan

for one of the world's most important economies.

Upping the ante, tech giants including Google,

Facebook and Microsoft are now involved in the legal battle backing

Apple in its stance to not allow the FBI access to phones.

Our man Rory Cellan-Jones will explain all.

On. -- and markets are opening in Europe in positive territory.

The forceful US banker and former boss of Barclays who resigned

at the height of the financial crisis.

Well, he is eyeing up the Africa business that Barclays is putting up

Today we want to know, should Apple give the FBI access?

China's annual parliament meeting opens in Beijing this weekend.

The National People's Congress will lay down a five-year plan

for Asia's largest economy, including China's economic goals.

The government of Premier Li Keqiang's must engineer a giant

economic shift away from manufacturing and heavy

industry towards services and consumption, without derailing

Most closely watched will be Beijing's economic growth target.

Analysts expect between 6.5% to 7% this year, compared

Last year, growth cooled to 6.9%, the slowest

Beijing faces criticism for failing to tackle what are called 'zombie

enteprises' - inefficient, debt-laiden, state-owned enterprises

There are around 106 at national level and 150,000 local ones

in sectors spanning oil, banking, telecoms and steel.

Beijing has started unwinding zombie enterprises -

this week, we heard 1.8 million workers would be laid off in coal

The total number could be as high as 6 million over

Mark Williams is with me - he's the chief Asia economist

Nice to have you on the programme. Susannah was outlining some of the

issues there for China. So much going on at this particular time, a

week of news coming out of China, mostly negative. Give us your

thoughts on what the leadership might come up with for boosting this

key economy. The leadership is a delicate balancing act. There is a

lot of concern over what has been happening over the past few months

in China. This strong economy weakening sharply and I think they

will want to provide some assurance that it is not in such bad shape,

that they can support growth, but at the same time there is also concern

is over the next -- concerns about the next two or three years. More

lending to firms and so on, keeping firms afloat, it could actually make

things worse over the next few years. How reliable has the growth

been? A little earlier I spoke to the chief executive of the

advertising giant WPP and he said it wasn't doing it was more than 6.9%.

That's right. Many don't believe it is growing at the 7% rate that the

official figures show, but believe four or 5% is more credible. A big

disappointment computer what people thought China could do a few years

ago but we have to be realistic and say that for an economy with China's

income level and size, four or 5% would not be too bad. Given the

income level and sheer level of China, shifting from an economy that

has been driven and reliant on exports of goods made in China to an

economy that is more mature and all about consumer demand etc, that is

an enormous task. To do that in a very smooth way that does not really

have any negative impact on the global economy is quite a mean feat,

isn't it? It will be extremely hard. There will be bumps in the road. I

think the concern from the rest of the world and also within China is

that things fall off a cliff, that there is a sudden dramatic slump in

China's economy. There is a middle road they can muddle through in the

next few years and that is what they are trying to sort out. So for the

authorities have been pretty proactive, the money in interbank

lending, that kind of thing? Yes, an initiative to help banks keep

lending this week. I would suspect that fiscal policy will be looking

as well -- listened as well. There will be tax cuts, government

spending, another way of keeping the economy afloat. Marks, we appreciate

your time. Thank you for coming in and needless to say we will keep you

updated with any news coming out of that parliament meeting as and when

we hear it -- Mark. Google, Facebook, Microsoft

and others are taking legal action in support of their rival Apple

in its privacy battle with the FBI Apple is refusing to comply

with a court order that it must help the FBI access encrypted data

on an iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook - who with his

wife killed 14 people in December in San

Bernardino, California. We will have more on that story

later in the programme. Let's look at the London stock exchange now.

London Stock Exchange Group, which is in talks to merge

with Deutsche Boerse to create a pan-European trading house,

has reported a 31% rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit.

LSE and Deutsche Boerse said last week they were in merger talks,

although New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange has

raised the prospect of a bidding war by saying it is considering making

US luggage giant Samsonite says it's buying US luxury bag maker Tumi

It's to pay $26.75 a share for the firm -

a third more than its value on Wednesday before

Analysts say the deal will give Samsonite a foothold

in the lucrative Chinese high-end market.

As always, lots of other stories out there so let's look at the online

page to see what they are discussing. We have already

mentioned some of these. Look at this picture. Quite right for

February, easyJet flying through a grey sky? That is definitely what it

looks like in the UK at the moment, so you're not missing much if you're

not here right now. It says passenger numbers increased by 8.9%

in February, but it's load capacity, how much used on flights, went down

by 0.4%. Still behind Ryanair which seems to be ahead of the game when

it comes to this. Significant when it comes to all these scares with

terrorist attacks in many parts of the world, and it still has those

figures. That is the latest from easyJet. A lot more on the Business

Life page in terms of all the stories out there. But let's move on

to our next story here. The world's biggest

movie theatre operator - the Chinese conglomerate

Dalian Wanda - is expanding even further and creating

the largest US cinema chain, Lets go to our correspondent

in Shanghai Robin Brant, Hello. Do you go to the cinema?

LAUGHTER I do, not too regularly, having

plenty of children. Let's look at the numbers on this Dalian Wanda

deal. They are impressive. AMC is buying out in the States and they

will confirm that with the other to give them although is theatre is,

becoming a bookie myth in the movie watching business. The rationale

behind the deal -- becoming huge in the movie watching business. They

further transform the movie-going experience, to quote. Bigger

theatres, better seats, better fits, but they will be charging you more

money as well. Not just in the USA but looking at the Chinese domestic

film industry, the market is expanding quicker than in the USA

and if that is correct, it will be the biggest in the world by 2017.

Dalian Wanda is not just looking at distribution but is possibly looking

at taking a share in Lion's Gate and also MGM, who make the Bond movies.

You don't have to go too far to look at the other end of the movie

industry in China. You can still get dodgy DVDs from the back of most

bands on streets here in Chinese cities and the major companies are

not getting a slice of that action. Robin Brant in Shanghai, thank you

very much. We noticed many big Hollywood should yours are also

looking to China for future growth, really. Let's look at how the

markets have been faring. The Dow Jones ended in positive territory,

as did these two. Optimism around. Spring seems to have sprung for the

financial markets after a really volatile start to the year. The

uplift in oil and the knock-on effect on energy stocks have been

really beneficial. As you can see, Europe opened in positive territory

as well. And Michelle Fleury has

the details about what's ahead on Wall Street Today -

it's all about job numbers. Jobs day in America and Wall Street

will be watching closely, as will the central bank.

The figures are among many factors the Fed considers when deciding

whether or not to raise interest rates.

The Labor Department is expected to report that non-farm payrolls

increased by 190,000 jobs in February.

If correct, that would be an improvement on January

but still a slowdown from what we saw last year.

Close attention will be paid to hourly wages to see if they build

Our economist Diane Swan believes, given the stage

we are at in the business cycle, the US

does not need to see outside gains in employment to keep the broader

Meanwhile, the strong dollar is expected to weigh on the trade

deficit, and the commerce department will likely

show the trade deficit widened a bit to $44 billion in January

That is of course the lovely Michelle Fleury in New York for us.

Joining us is Jeremy Cook, Chief Economist at World First.

Do you have that Friday feeling? I do. Since the start of the week it

has been very positive. I think there is a lot of expectation

around. Hopefully good news from the jobs in the United States today. You

can't roll acts, can you? 1:30pm this afternoon! Given the global

economy as a whole, a really important point -- you cannot relax.

Wage growth is what we're looking at for Western economies to start

pushing now. Do you think the markets this week have been fairly

buoyant partly because they are anticipating good news today from

the United States? We had manufacturing data out earlier in

the week and that was pretty good? It was all right, not drastically

good or bad. I think there was an element of people looking for good

numbers today from the US jobs market but also the spectre a huge

amount to come from the central banks, the Chinese, probably from

the European Central Bank next week, the Japanese perhaps doing something

at the end of the quarter as well. At the same time the US Federal

reserve is looking to raise interest rates and this key figure today will

be crucial in that decision? They say they are data dependent, they

are basing their interest rates on what their data is showing. If it is

showing strength, I don't think it will follow up with an interest rate

rise in March, and then they will see June, then it will bounce back

from December. Discussed again. It was off the cards for a while? Yes,

for a long time. No back on the agenda. Definitely. Jeromy, we will

see you soon. He is back in about five minutes. We will also get the

latest on Apple's battle against the FBI -- Jeremy.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

The number of people travelling by ferry from Dover to Calais fell

last year according to the latest figures -

partly due to concerns about the migration crisis,

But this weekend the industry is launching a campaign

Victoria Fritz is in Dover for us today and has been looking

At its peak in the 90s there were 37 million passengers

Since then, the numbers are down 40%.

This is still the most popular route, Dover

to Calais.

But the numbers are significantly down, 9% in the last

Let's speak to Andy Mosack, the managing editor of a travel site

We have the ongoing migrant crisis, issues about security and safety

We have also had long delays, tailbacks, industrial action in this

Have people been put off using Dover as a port?

British people are a hardy bunch, and there are all sorts of things

going on, if on holiday you need to put up with all sorts

Particularly you can spend hours sitting around

and the ferry is a good viable option, it still has a part to play.

With the onslaught of cheap airfare as well over the last ten years,

how has the ferry industry contended?

They have looked at it, offered a competitive price

and in fact on Monday I think you can go to

the Calais crossing

If you still want to use the Eurotunnel it is ?180.

Nowadays the ferries offer all sorts of things -

Quite frankly, I think it is a bit of an interesting adventure,

Yesterday, France's economy minister was suggesting that a Brexit

for example would end up in passport controls

being lost over France.

There are concerns over what that would mean for Dover -

three quarters of journeys are still to France from the UK

by ferry, no doubt this port will be in the spotlight for months to come.

That was the lovely Victoria. If you were wondering where she is today,

that's where she is! BHS, wanting to get a better deal, really. The

owners say they want substantial rent reductions. Really tough out

there on the high Street. You're watching Business Live -

our top story: All eyes

are on China as it's leaders gather for their annual parliament meeting

- the question is what they will do to boost Asia's largest but flagging

economy? It's been a busy week

in the tech sector. Developments in the Apple

versus FBI saga, and Google's Here to talk us through these

stories is our technology guru Rory Good morning. I want to start with

the crash. A self drive car, but in collision with a bus? To put this in

context, the Google self driving cars that have been out on the road

in California for the last few years have driven more than 1 million

miles. This appears to be the first collision, which was actually the

fault of the car rather than other people driving into the self driving

car. It is all an issue with the software. They are trying to make

the software behave a bit more like a human driver, be a tiny bit more

aggressive, because things have been driving into it because it has been

going too slowly sometimes. What it did was it edged out to get round

some sandbags and both the car and its test pilot, as it were, its test

driver, because there is always somebody in the car, thought the

boss would stop and it didn't. There is a wonderful line in the Google

document about this saying they have no reprogrammed it to make it

understand that buses may be less likely to stop than other vehicles

-- now reprogrammed. I understand it was not like a fool on crash. There

are no pictures of this? Yell back there will be data. -- full-on. It

was more of a scarf. The Google car was going at two miles an hour while

the boss was 15 mph, so not a major collision -- it was a scuff. Moving

on to Apple. We asked viewers to get involved on whether they think Apple

should disclose information or not. Some of you have been getting in

touch with tweets saying if the courts say yes, Apple has to give

over the information. That is self evident. Tech giants are lining up

in support. Yes, over the last 24 hours in the run-up to the key court

case between Apple and the FBI over unlocking this form they are

supported documents launched by either side -- unlocking this phone.

The whole tech agency which is not usually United has lined up. We have

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, smaller companies as well. One key quote

from Intel. We believe tech companies need to have the ability

to build and design their products as needed. We cannot have the

Government mandating how we build our products. This is all about

Apple being asked to change the software, to actually create new

software on its iPhone to make it more vulnerable to hacking.

Interestingly Microsoft is not in that list? Yes, it is. And Bill

Gates has other opinions, apparently? His opinions are quite

complex and he felt he was misquoted last week. We should say there are

also documents filed by the victims' families arguing Apple's arguments

are misplaced because the government had a valid warrant. One does not

enjoy the privacy to commit a crime, that is what the families say. We

have also had a lot of tweets in from you, thank you very much, on

this, and I am very wrong to cause I will not eat that! This is an

amazing little computer, a cheap computer launched four years ago in

the UK, with the aim of teaching children, sparking a revolution,

teaching them the code... With that? Computers have become too easy,

frankly. You press a button and new go. This is a bit more, get it. You

need to plug in various things and you need to have tight lines of code

-- a bit more complicated. There are no Cording lessons in schools no?

Yes. All part of changing the way we think about computers -- now coding

lessons in schools. 8 million of them have been schooled and not to

schoolkids but quite a lot of middle-aged nostalgic hobbyists.

That is why it is left on the floor and I step on it, my husband! Well,

thank you for my recommendation -- your recommendation that I don't eat

the chips either! And don't eat the mouse, Sally! Nice to see you, Rory,

as ever. He has all the latest tech news as it happens. As we mentioned

all eyes are on China's leaders who are about to meet at the National

People's Congress. The head of the biggest advertising firm, WPP, has

been speaking about the health of the Chinese economy.

The Chinese economy is critically important.

The delta from the Chinese economy, the increase in GDP

in 2016 and 2015 was the largest increase of any economy

China is now our third largest market, US is second and UK

The continued strength of China is not just vital

I have great confidence in the Chinese

leadership, they have been doing this since the year WPP was founded,

1985 when Deng Xioping made the famous speech which put

the Chinese economy on a growth track.

It is the shift to consumption from a savings economy.

It is the shift to a health care safety net because that is

Jeremy is back. You are interested in the programme about this

disruptive bank who had crowdfunding yesterday? They started on Monday

and demand was so high they crashed the website they were using, and

they had to put it out once again and raised ?1 million in 86 seconds!

Banking on your mobile! Reinventing the wheel of banking, moving

forward. Additionally interesting because this is what has been

happening in Africa, in Kenya, for example, mobile banking is all the

rage and it is not be one of the reasons Barclays has pulled out of

the continent because there are so many upstarts really in this sector

and it is interesting. This is one of the top stories in the Financial

Times today. Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of Barclays, may be

eyeing up some of Barclays's old assets? Yes, Barclays released

results on Monday and they were pretty poor and in the African side

of things, Bob Diamond made a lot of money with Barclays through the

naughties and into the financial crisis I don't not how willing

Barclays will be to sell to Bob Diamond -- noughties. The explosion

in banking we have seen in Asia and the legacy in Europe, it has always

been that the African market is the next cherry to be picked. I spoke to

on analyst in Johannesburg in Africa earlier in the week and he said he

thought there would be lots of interested parties in that part of

the business. Yes, regulators in South Africa will make sure they

can't buy up so much of the state to make themselves big there. And they

are really just getting in the curve on the UK with Mondo. Not to the

same extent as... These new disrupters coming through, yes.

Let's move on to newspapers in the UK and around the world looking at

this story, the breakthrough in research on how to tackle cancer.

Cancer's Achilles heel discovered by British scientists. The big holy

grail for pharmaceutical giants all trying to get in on the act of

having the key drugs, medicines or vaccines that will help with this

disease. If you want a good news story for a Friday, people saying we

may have found a way to cure cancer has to be pretty much top of the

list. It all speaks to the whole personalised medicine we have been

hearing about for years now, how certain pills are redeveloped for

your own body, you are illnesses, and how they will be able to

specifically target the elements you have -- your own illnesses. For the

big companies with so many generic drugs out there, with what were

their big money spinners, they have to find new avenues, and this

medicine, as you say, is one of those? The second and third film

will cost sense to make but the first one costs billions and

billions of dollars -- second and third pill. Positive news. Thank you

so much, Jeremypill, for coming in. Something we have not managed to

mention, one of Australia's biggest banks, ANZ, is being investigated

for rigging. There will be more business news

throughout the day on the BBC Live webpage and on World Business Report

We'll see you again tomorrow. In some parts of the British Isles

Snow has been a real issue overnight and in the first part of the day.

There is a mix of whether on offer today. Sunshine but rain, sleet or

snow for many and I