:00:11. > :00:12.This is Business Live from BBC News with Alice Baxer
:00:13. > :00:18.Gripped by labour pains - but after years of weak growth,
:00:19. > :00:21.and a jobless rate more than double that of Germany, is France getting
:00:22. > :00:40.Live from London, that's our top story on Friday the 27th of May.
:00:41. > :00:43.French unions urge workers to set up their action as pressure mounts
:00:44. > :00:53.The French President says he will not budge.
:00:54. > :00:55.Also in the programme: Walking their own paths -
:00:56. > :00:58.G7 leaders call the world economy an urgent priority, but fail
:00:59. > :01:04.to agree on co-ordinated steps to head off a crisis.
:01:05. > :01:12.We will keep a close eye on the markets at the end of the trading
:01:13. > :01:16.week. Asian stocks ahead on Friday after US data continues to cast a
:01:17. > :01:21.positive light on the economy. Europe stocks also higher.
:01:22. > :01:25.And tough words between the International monetary fund and the
:01:26. > :01:31.European Union over Greece's debt deal. Oil flutters above $50 a
:01:32. > :01:34.barrel and the G7 in Japan, we will look at the week in business with
:01:35. > :01:39.our economic strip corresponded Andrew Walker. And today, we want to
:01:40. > :01:45.know what you think about Apple possibly buying Time Warner, is this
:01:46. > :01:50.them jumping onto the bandwagon of failing to come up with another
:01:51. > :01:54.cracking product and it needs to do something about its future growth?
:01:55. > :02:00.Let us know what you think. It is simple.
:02:01. > :02:03.We start in France, where pressure is mounting on the government
:02:04. > :02:05.as a wave of strikes hits oil refineries, ports and nuclear power
:02:06. > :02:17.stations, causing fuel shortages and panic buying at petrol stations.
:02:18. > :02:20.The cause - a controversial shake-up of labour rules aimed at making it
:02:21. > :02:25.easier and cheaper to hire and fire workers.
:02:26. > :02:27.Labour unions are fiercely opposed to it.
:02:28. > :02:30.But its supporters say it is vital to make French business more
:02:31. > :02:35.competitive - and energise the country's stagnant economy.
:02:36. > :02:37.Let me give you some background to this.
:02:38. > :02:40.France's unemployment rate is over 10%, well over double
:02:41. > :02:49.Among young people, it's much higher.
:02:50. > :02:52.Proof - say critics - that the system needs reform.
:02:53. > :02:57.Then there is France's economic growth.
:02:58. > :02:59.This graph shows how persistently weak it has been
:03:00. > :03:06.The IMF says growth will improve a bit this year.
:03:07. > :03:09.But it warns that the government's reforms don't go far enough
:03:10. > :03:19.Our business correspondent Jonty Bloom has been to Toulouse
:03:20. > :03:23.to find out why these reforms are so controversial.
:03:24. > :03:36.We will get more of that later. Managing director of financial
:03:37. > :03:40.services joins ours now. And our correspondent Hugh Schofield is in
:03:41. > :03:46.Paris. In Alaska but of hours, have we been hearing the unions have been
:03:47. > :03:51.calling upon the workers and urging them to continue the strike action?
:03:52. > :03:58.-- the last couple of hours. Ramping things up? Yes, no surprise, they
:03:59. > :04:01.have issued a statement saying after yesterday's action, their conclusion
:04:02. > :04:06.is the action must continue so they have called for an intensification
:04:07. > :04:11.of the groups and activities and protests going on. It does not mean
:04:12. > :04:15.today will be like yesterday. It means they will plan more actions in
:04:16. > :04:20.the future and the next big one is not until June 14. Next week, we can
:04:21. > :04:25.expect some action on the railways and maybe at the airports. Protests
:04:26. > :04:29.which do not mean they are connected with the label or protest, they
:04:30. > :04:32.could be for other reasons, but it is combining into a big
:04:33. > :04:36.anti-government movement across the country. It will not be sold on. I
:04:37. > :04:41.predict in the next couple of weeks, there will be a role and it will be
:04:42. > :04:46.quiet and it will pick up again with more sporadic days like yesterday
:04:47. > :04:50.which might be quite nicely. Indeed. We will leave it there. But you
:04:51. > :04:53.soon, it you will keep across everything, I know. That was from
:04:54. > :05:00.Paris. -- we will talk to you soon. Just
:05:01. > :05:04.talk us through wide these Labour reforms are so controversial, why is
:05:05. > :05:10.everybody up in arms, Virginie? There is an historical component.
:05:11. > :05:14.The system in France is generous in terms of benefits and there is a
:05:15. > :05:20.lack of flexibility that when economies are quite strong, it can
:05:21. > :05:25.work. In a low growth economy, it makes it difficult for companies to
:05:26. > :05:30.hire and so it is sticky in unemployment especially among young
:05:31. > :05:35.people. The reforms are about giving more flexibility to companies. You
:05:36. > :05:41.have heard about the 35 hour week and after that, you have to pay
:05:42. > :05:46.overtime. They want more flexibility among that. Firing people, hiring
:05:47. > :05:50.people. And I think it is a very good reform not only for business,
:05:51. > :05:55.but also for young people. A lot of young people in France is stuck in
:05:56. > :05:59.very short-term friends because -- short-term jobs because there is no
:06:00. > :06:04.room in the market to get contracts for long-term jobs. We took about
:06:05. > :06:09.the stagnant economic growth. -- we talk about. This is the graph that
:06:10. > :06:16.shows that stagnant growth since the financial crisis, the deep recession
:06:17. > :06:19.in 2008. We talk about structural and Labour reforms. If the Labour
:06:20. > :06:28.reforms go through, do they change that picture? Is it a reality? I
:06:29. > :06:33.think there is a lack. Think about the reforms we had in the UK under
:06:34. > :06:39.the Thatcher years, it takes time but it is fundamental in terms of
:06:40. > :06:45.the unemployment rate compared to Germany and the UK, Germany is 4.3%.
:06:46. > :06:50.Growth has picked up a little bit in France on a quarterly basis but on
:06:51. > :06:56.an annual basis compared to last year, we are down. So we need to
:06:57. > :07:01.unlock this paralysis. Economic league, they are part of the strikes
:07:02. > :07:05.is very hard to say at this point, probably not much. But politically,
:07:06. > :07:12.it is very important. We have elections a 2017 and Manuel Valls
:07:13. > :07:19.does not want to budge. But the Finance Minister is much more... Is
:07:20. > :07:25.softening of his time. So from a government standpoint and employees
:07:26. > :07:29.and is now employer, the law has been quite diluted. People were not
:07:30. > :07:33.partnering and this was the problem. We really appreciate your input and
:07:34. > :07:47.have a great weekend! Thank you! The leaders of the world's top seven
:07:48. > :07:52.economies have closed the G7 summit with a pledge more. Policies to
:07:53. > :07:55.boost global growth. In a final meeting in Japan, they warned of
:07:56. > :08:01.threats to the global economy including a British vote to leave
:08:02. > :08:03.the EU and Chinese steel, we will talk more about that. Listen to
:08:04. > :08:04.this. Google has won a major legal victory
:08:05. > :08:07.in its multi-billion dollar copyright battle with software firm
:08:08. > :08:09.Oracle. A US jury has unanimously upheld
:08:10. > :08:11.Google's claim it had the right to use Oracle's Java programming
:08:12. > :08:14.language to develop Android - the operating system used by 80%
:08:15. > :08:21.of the world's smartphones. Oracle has been claiming
:08:22. > :08:38.$9 billion in damages Microsoft and Facebook have
:08:39. > :08:41.announced plans to build the Atlantic's highest capacity datalink
:08:42. > :08:47.to run between the US and Europe. The cable will run underneath the
:08:48. > :08:51.Ocean, between Virginia in the US and Bilbao in Spain. The tech
:08:52. > :08:56.companies have to pay external firms to use their cables and this could
:08:57. > :09:01.be costly and the large amount of traffic across these lines could
:09:02. > :09:09.make connections much slower. What is on the business news? We
:09:10. > :09:13.have talked about the G7 a what and we will talk to Andrew but the
:09:14. > :09:16.interesting thing is how the Japanese Prime Minister Ise-Shima
:09:17. > :09:20.was urging the other leaders to print more money and splash it out,
:09:21. > :09:26.get it out into the economy. They have been doing this for years.
:09:27. > :09:33.But the other thing is some critics will say that he was like, if you
:09:34. > :09:39.can't put more dollars into the US and European pocket, what will you
:09:40. > :09:42.do, they will buy stuff? And hopefully Japanese stuff! I am not
:09:43. > :09:48.saying that, some critics have said that. He is drawing parallels with
:09:49. > :09:57.2008 and the Riemann crisis, others do not believe it is that severe.
:09:58. > :10:03.And more cars have been recalled over that airbag problem. Another
:10:04. > :10:13.extra 7 million cars. Let's talk about the world's biggest PC maker.
:10:14. > :10:16.It has made a loss of $120 million for the first opera, verse three
:10:17. > :10:27.months of the year. Thank you very much!
:10:28. > :10:32.The first net loss in six years. What has gone so wrong? They are
:10:33. > :10:35.disappointing numbers and shares in Hong Kong have gone down nearly 4%
:10:36. > :10:39.and the reason they are doing badly is because of losses in the
:10:40. > :10:45.smartphone division. This is because shipments to China, one of their
:10:46. > :10:51.biggest markets, have plunged by about 85%. Lenovo is facing stiff
:10:52. > :10:58.competition from rivals and as we know, it is other -- its other
:10:59. > :11:02.business has been fizzling out, of personal computers, the trend across
:11:03. > :11:08.the globe. Lenovo talks about how their smartphone division is
:11:09. > :11:10.struggling from the cost of buying over the motor rally unit in 2014
:11:11. > :11:18.and its chairman said the purchase has not met expectations of fixing
:11:19. > :11:24.the business. Analysts believe the smartphone unit will keep making
:11:25. > :11:28.losses. Tough times for Lenovo. And Asian stocks have pulled ahead
:11:29. > :11:32.on Friday after US data continue to the gas the economy in a positive
:11:33. > :11:42.light and the dollar went on the offensive. Japan sought its indexed
:11:43. > :11:50.boys by Tokyo delaying a tax hike to about 0.5%. And crude oil after
:11:51. > :11:53.nudging through the $50 barrel mark yesterday, psychologically
:11:54. > :11:58.important, it has slumped back. In Europe's, stocks have opened flat at
:11:59. > :12:00.the moment flat. We have the details of what is ahead on Wall Street
:12:01. > :12:04.today. On Friday, we will see how the US
:12:05. > :12:11.economy fared in the first three months of this year. We initially
:12:12. > :12:17.heard the economy grew by only 0.5%. In this revision, it is likely the
:12:18. > :12:22.economy grew a bit faster than that. About 0.9% because of decent gains
:12:23. > :12:24.in consumer spending and presidential construction. Also
:12:25. > :12:30.happening on Friday, the share of the US Central Bank -- the chair of
:12:31. > :12:34.the US Central Bank Janet yelling will take part in a central
:12:35. > :12:38.discussion and what she says will be met with great interest as we move
:12:39. > :12:41.closer to the mid June meeting of the US Federal reserve. There has
:12:42. > :12:46.been a rise in interest rates since December but if you look at the
:12:47. > :12:51.minutes of the last meeting of the Federal reserve, it was suggested
:12:52. > :12:57.that a tune or July, a rate rise Ben is firmly on the cards.
:12:58. > :13:05.There you go. Let's stay with that. Our business economist is joining
:13:06. > :13:11.us. We will give you the credit, a bout a month ago when experts were
:13:12. > :13:17.saying they would push the rate rise until September. But the big boss
:13:18. > :13:24.said no, June. And you said June and we had numbers yesterday, Americans
:13:25. > :13:29.buying more durable goods and jobs down, it is looking good for June.
:13:30. > :13:36.It is looking good for June. I think the message from the minutes, back
:13:37. > :13:39.in April, they were saying that if the economy does not deteriorate, we
:13:40. > :13:48.will keep raising rates. A little bit at a time. 14 -- the 14th and
:13:49. > :13:57.15th of June is a good time and next week we have the big data. It is
:13:58. > :14:01.payroll rolls on Friday. If that is good and Janet yelling is speaking
:14:02. > :14:05.on the following evening and what she says could make a difference.
:14:06. > :14:09.Those minutes did cause a bit of a stir. Everybody massively ringing
:14:10. > :14:14.for these predictions from September but what does this mean if there is
:14:15. > :14:23.a rate hike in June and how many more could we see over the year?
:14:24. > :14:31.I think the dollar will go up, the problem with that is, the dollar
:14:32. > :14:35.goes up and countries in emerging markets have problems. That is
:14:36. > :14:39.always an issue. When the dollar moves up, the rest of the world
:14:40. > :14:44.suffers. Really good to talk to you. You're going to go through the
:14:45. > :14:49.papers soon. Great papers stories coming up. Still to come, tough
:14:50. > :14:56.words between the IMF and the EU over the Greek debt deal. Oil is
:14:57. > :15:00.about 50 bucks, which we haven't seen for about seven months. And big
:15:01. > :15:07.stories in Japan. Andrew Walker is right in the wings. Stay with us.
:15:08. > :15:13.We have heard plenty about dipping into the bank of mum and dad. My
:15:14. > :15:18.favourite bank! But what about living
:15:19. > :15:20.in the house of Mum and Dad? High property costs means the trend
:15:21. > :15:23.of people living with their parents A report by Aviva has put some
:15:24. > :15:28.figures on what it calls the growing number of multi-generational
:15:29. > :15:29.households. Rob Young is on our
:15:30. > :15:36.Business newsroom. Are you still in the
:15:37. > :15:47.house of Mum and Dad? Kind, it is so hard for young people
:15:48. > :15:49.to save money for a deposit for a house, because house prices have
:15:50. > :15:55.been rising rapidly in London and the south-east. Rent has been going
:15:56. > :16:00.up by so much in recent years as well, they say it is impossible to
:16:01. > :16:06.save for a deposit. This study has put a number on the amount of young
:16:07. > :16:10.people in their 20s and early 30s living with their parents. It is 3
:16:11. > :16:15.million of them. This study says that has gone up by 500,000 over the
:16:16. > :16:21.past ten years. It is forecasting that over the next decade it will go
:16:22. > :16:24.up by yet another 1 million. We are not just talking about a single
:16:25. > :16:27.young men and women living with their parents. The report has also
:16:28. > :16:33.identified what they are calling a big rise in multifamily households,
:16:34. > :16:40.young couples, often married, living with one set of parents. Does this
:16:41. > :16:45.trend show any sign of abating? It seems like we here for the long
:16:46. > :16:51.haul, the prices don't seem to be coming down? And what about economy?
:16:52. > :16:54.It says if house prices continue to rise faster than wages, there will
:16:55. > :16:57.be more and more people that dream of owning their own home, but it is
:16:58. > :17:01.increasingly out of reach. You are right, there might be an economic
:17:02. > :17:04.impact. People might have a bit more disposable income because they are
:17:05. > :17:09.letting rent-free at home, so they can spend a bit more. Or maybe they
:17:10. > :17:12.are saving a lot of money. If potentially means they are delaying
:17:13. > :17:18.having children, which potentially also has an economic impact. Good on
:17:19. > :17:28.you, mate, have a great weekend. Say hello to mum and dad. We will have a
:17:29. > :17:31.quick look at this live page. VHS, what will happen in terms of the
:17:32. > :17:39.pension deficit, in terms of trying to find a new buyer? The deadlines
:17:40. > :17:42.are fast approaching. Interesting, news coming in about the Mothercare
:17:43. > :17:47.boss Greg Tufnell. You're watching Business Live -
:17:48. > :17:50.our top story: France's President Francois Hollande says he won't back
:17:51. > :17:52.down on labour reforms as unions urge workers
:17:53. > :17:54.to step up strike action. No sign of an end in the misery for
:17:55. > :17:59.French commuters. And now let's get the inside track
:18:00. > :18:02.on some of the big stories of the week including Greece's debt
:18:03. > :18:05.deal, the G7 meeting in Japan With us is Andrew Walker,
:18:06. > :18:24.Economics Correspondent. Were usually drag him in on Friday.
:18:25. > :18:28.A pleasure! Say it with a smile, next time. Talking about smiling or
:18:29. > :18:36.not smiling, the G7, as some were expecting. Here is what is hard for
:18:37. > :18:40.Lehman, the leaders agree that, globally, things are getting worse,
:18:41. > :18:47.not getting better. The IMF has revised downwards its global
:18:48. > :18:56.economic forecast. They still can't come to a unified agreement. They
:18:57. > :18:59.agree things have got worse. But how much worse? It is a difference of
:19:00. > :19:05.emphasis. The Japanese Prime Minister gave a presentation to the
:19:06. > :19:11.other leaders, drawing some slightly alarming parallels with 2008, the
:19:12. > :19:15.aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the United States, in
:19:16. > :19:19.particular looking at commodity prices, suggesting the fall has been
:19:20. > :19:25.of a similar magnitude, looking at investments that are particularly
:19:26. > :19:28.relevant in the emerging economies. They agreed that the emerging
:19:29. > :19:35.economies are in a difficult situation. But he was giving a more
:19:36. > :19:38.alarming view of the outlook for that part of the world and,
:19:39. > :19:45.potentially, with knock-on effects to the rest of the world. In
:19:46. > :19:47.particular, David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, and
:19:48. > :19:51.Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, they would have been much less
:19:52. > :19:55.convinced about just how bleak the outlook is. They're in mind those
:19:56. > :19:58.are two leaders that are more resistant to the idea of more
:19:59. > :20:04.stimulus coming from government spending and tax cuts. A lot of the
:20:05. > :20:07.other leaders take the view that Germany has got more scope to do
:20:08. > :20:11.that, because government finances are in relatively robust shape. But
:20:12. > :20:15.Angela Merkel is not so keen. Another big story of the week, where
:20:16. > :20:19.Germany found itself in a different come to everyone else, that was
:20:20. > :20:25.Greece. They kind of lost, because Greece did get debt relief? Well, a
:20:26. > :20:30.commitment in principle to debt relief. They went far enough to
:20:31. > :20:36.persuade the IMF, who have long been arguing that Greece must have debt
:20:37. > :20:41.relief, they have gone far enough to get the IMF to start cranking itself
:20:42. > :20:45.up, to come in principle, getting financially involved in the
:20:46. > :20:48.programme. The third Greek bailout, they have made no financial
:20:49. > :20:52.contribution. They did contribute to the first two. They have refused,
:20:53. > :20:56.hitherto, on number three, because of concerns about whether the debt
:20:57. > :21:00.burden is sustainable. They are not quite ready to write a check, but
:21:01. > :21:09.they are getting a lot closer. We have about 20 seconds. The oil
:21:10. > :21:13.price, about $50, is it going to continue? A lot of people think
:21:14. > :21:20.American shale oil production might start cranking back-up. That would
:21:21. > :21:25.mean more supply, and that could be enough to catch the upward momentum,
:21:26. > :21:28.bearing in mind that Iran is also coming back into the market as
:21:29. > :21:32.rapidly as it can. There is always the possibility that some of the
:21:33. > :21:35.supply disruptions we have seen in Nigeria, Canada, one of the reasons
:21:36. > :21:40.for the price rises, there was might come to an end. I don't think
:21:41. > :21:51.anybody would be betting on a big further upward movement. Goldman
:21:52. > :21:57.Sachs has been saying that. Goldman Sachs, just get back in there! They
:21:58. > :21:59.have! The US Republican candidate
:22:00. > :22:01.Donald Trump has officially reached the number of delegates needed
:22:02. > :22:03.to secure the party's If he's successful in his bid
:22:04. > :22:07.for the Whitehouse, the billionaire politician could anger overseas
:22:08. > :22:09.businesses by placing import restrictions
:22:10. > :22:10.on foreign-produced goods. But for one Asian manufacturer,
:22:11. > :22:13.it seems that every cloud Donald Trump says Chinese factories
:22:14. > :22:23.are stealing American jobs. Well, this one has
:22:24. > :22:25.pinched something else, And they have rendered it artfully
:22:26. > :22:30.in novelty rubber and The production process, though,
:22:31. > :22:34.offers no clues to those It is a questionable proposition,
:22:35. > :22:45.of course, but if rubber mask sales are a reliable gauge of US
:22:46. > :22:47.electoral sentiment, the coming months could be looking
:22:48. > :22:49.bright for the controversial TRANSLATION: To be frank,
:22:50. > :22:55.I prefer Trump to Hillary. Even though the sales
:22:56. > :22:58.are more or less the same, I think in 2016 this mask
:22:59. > :23:00.will completely sell out If he is right, though,
:23:01. > :23:10.he might want to get in before the election, in case
:23:11. > :23:12.Mr Trump slaps an import Of course, both sides of politics
:23:13. > :23:18.get the rubber treatment here. And if rubber Donald Trump looks
:23:19. > :23:21.a little stern, rubber Recent polls show the presidential
:23:22. > :23:28.race narrowing. Orders for Clinton and Trump rubber
:23:29. > :23:45.masks are also neck and neck, I wanted to get one of those! All
:23:46. > :23:50.three of us. We are going to go through the papers. Can we start
:23:51. > :23:54.with this? I'm really fascinated, Apple, there are rumours and talk
:23:55. > :23:58.about buying Time Warner. One would think that is because of the
:23:59. > :24:03.content. Is that because iPhone sales are sort of peaking? It is
:24:04. > :24:08.also competing against Netflix, and Amazon Prime, who make their own
:24:09. > :24:13.content? It's really interesting. What would Steve Jobs have done? He
:24:14. > :24:19.would be rolling in his grave. I think so. What was Apple about when
:24:20. > :24:24.he was in charge? New things, technology, hardware, but new ways
:24:25. > :24:27.of doing things. You know, all of this pointing on screens, moving
:24:28. > :24:34.stuff around you have been doing on your iPad. This seems like it is
:24:35. > :24:37.like a child with money in their pocket and it is burning a hole in
:24:38. > :24:43.their pocket. They are looking at other people and saying, this is an
:24:44. > :24:49.area where there is growth, so let's go into there. They do have a huge
:24:50. > :24:55.stockpile, they recently bought that rival to Uber in China. But neither
:24:56. > :25:00.Apple Time Warner have confirmed anything. Are they behind the curve
:25:01. > :25:07.in terms of providing content? Ever since the passing of Steve Jobs, we
:25:08. > :25:12.have not had a whizbang product, have we? Do you want to talk about
:25:13. > :25:21.this one? This is the Huffington Post. Is the writing on the wall for
:25:22. > :25:26.e-mail, even in a work situation? We get so much spam that people are
:25:27. > :25:30.using social media apps to communicate even in the workplace.
:25:31. > :25:43.Would you allow that? Most companies find it difficult, they want to
:25:44. > :25:47.control it. Things like WhatsApp, it is outside of the company. There are
:25:48. > :25:51.things where you can do messaging, but it is all controlled, encrypted
:25:52. > :25:59.and controlled centrally. So it will not be the companies like iMessage
:26:00. > :26:04.that will do well out of this if it is a trend. But it is a trend, I use
:26:05. > :26:06.WhatsApp all the time. Thank you for joining