:00:00. > :00:10.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:11. > :00:12.Prosecutors in South Korea demand a twelve-year prison sentence
:00:13. > :00:35.That is our top story, live from London.
:00:36. > :00:39.Before his arrest, Jay Y Lee was gearing up to take over Samsung.
:00:40. > :00:43.He's now accused of bribing the country's former
:00:44. > :00:48.President and could face more than a decade in jail.
:00:49. > :00:54.Also in the programme, turning off the taps with 50
:00:55. > :00:57.dollar oil the new normal, are we in line for another
:00:58. > :01:12.Opec meets today. Asian markets are rising strongly off the back of that
:01:13. > :01:13.in good jobs News from the US. This is what Europe is doing in the first
:01:14. > :01:17.half hour of trading. We speak to the head of one
:01:18. > :01:21.of the world's oldest private exploration firms about keeping
:01:22. > :01:30.the lights on around the globe. And as New York based
:01:31. > :01:34.company WeWork annoucne a $500m expansion in Asia -
:01:35. > :01:59.let us know what do you love They very warm welcome. A lot to get
:02:00. > :02:04.through, including things you like or maybe do not like about the state
:02:05. > :02:08.of your office with the news that WeWork is expanding.
:02:09. > :02:13.Prosecutors in South Korea are demanding a twelve-year prison
:02:14. > :02:20.sentence for the heir to the Samsung business empire.
:02:21. > :02:26.Samsung covers all sorts of businesses, a conglomerate made up
:02:27. > :02:27.of different entities and is caught in the midst of a huge corruption
:02:28. > :02:31.allegation. the prosecution said
:02:32. > :02:34.he was the ultimate The corruption scandal brought down
:02:35. > :02:43.the country's former President. All sorts of details have emerged as
:02:44. > :02:45.part of the trial. Sarah Toms is in Singapore
:02:46. > :03:02.with the latest. Good to see you. The prosecutors
:03:03. > :03:05.deliberated most of today and came up with this 12 year prison
:03:06. > :03:11.sentence. Tell us more. South Korean
:03:12. > :03:17.prosecutors have been wrapping up closing arguments in a lengthy
:03:18. > :03:23.trial. This is in the trial of Samsun Electronics and prosecutors
:03:24. > :03:29.seek a 12 year jail term for the acting head, Jay Y Lee. He and other
:03:30. > :03:37.Samsung officials have been charged with offering more than $38 million
:03:38. > :03:41.to the President and her friend in exchange for support of a merger
:03:42. > :03:44.between two Samsung subsidiaries. The president was removed from
:03:45. > :03:52.office this year and is herself on trial. Mr Jay Y Lee denied bribery
:03:53. > :03:58.and embezzlement charges. The court ruling is not expected until late
:03:59. > :04:05.August. Which is when his arrest warrant is finished. The trial,
:04:06. > :04:09.above all, has put the issue of family control and big business
:04:10. > :04:14.under the spotlight. South Korea's newly elected president promises to
:04:15. > :04:20.bring in measures that could weaken their power. That is the big
:04:21. > :04:27.question in terms of how this will play out on whether we will see Jay
:04:28. > :04:32.Y Lee behind bars or not. Previously in years gone by, those
:04:33. > :04:35.running Samsun, they have been charged with various elements and
:04:36. > :04:41.were pardoned in the past and that is kind of how it used to roll.
:04:42. > :04:48.That is right. It is a surprise it is 12 years. From what I understood,
:04:49. > :04:55.they were thinking it would be more like five years, depending on how
:04:56. > :05:01.many charges. It just shows that the government means business over this.
:05:02. > :05:07.The big companies with so much power. They want to sort of stop
:05:08. > :05:12.this from happening, a repeat of this scandal, which basically has
:05:13. > :05:19.been on the headlines of every country in the world. Sarah, thank
:05:20. > :05:30.you. So much to discuss as far as that story is concerned. South
:05:31. > :05:36.Korea's society, and the relationship with government.
:05:37. > :05:38.Another story we are watching. Oil prices continuing to fall and Opec
:05:39. > :05:43.is meeting. For most of us a lower oil
:05:44. > :05:47.price is a good thing. But for the countries that sell oil
:05:48. > :06:04.lower prices is a real headache. What can Opec do, the 14 leading
:06:05. > :06:05.producers? They have been trying to push up prices.
:06:06. > :06:07.Today and tomorrow they're meeting in Abu Dhabi.
:06:08. > :06:10.Amrita Sen is chief oil analyst at the independent research
:06:11. > :06:23.We have talked about this a lot, can they raise prices, Opec, and they
:06:24. > :06:27.hope to? I think the meeting is more about compliance, which has been
:06:28. > :06:30.slipping and some of the usual offenders, Iraq... When you talk
:06:31. > :06:37.about compliance is whether countries are meeting the production
:06:38. > :06:42.levels. Everybody talks about Iraq not complying and wanting to raise
:06:43. > :06:46.production, some of the offenders on the list are like UAE, they have
:06:47. > :06:51.always been good about meeting targets. I think that is why Opec
:06:52. > :06:56.wants to say, let's come back together and see what we can do. If
:06:57. > :06:59.you do not comply, what are the consequences? That is the problem,
:07:00. > :07:05.there is not something that will say you will be kicked out of Opec,
:07:06. > :07:11.these are the costs, which is why Opec is tricky. If you can't, I
:07:12. > :07:18.always have an incentive to not do as much is required because I hope
:07:19. > :07:29.prices will go up because of the result of your clock. The price of
:07:30. > :07:32.oil is not going up. I got back from Houston last week and shale is
:07:33. > :07:36.definitely growing will grow strongly but I do not think shale is
:07:37. > :07:41.growing as much as more people feared. One of the things that came
:07:42. > :07:48.out was the gas to oil ratio is rising a lot. For every well you
:07:49. > :07:53.complete you are getting more gas now than oil. Some of that fear will
:07:54. > :08:00.probably subside. Right now, demand is phenomenal at these prices and
:08:01. > :08:06.one of the things you are seeing is it is a tighter market and the
:08:07. > :08:10.curves are flattening. It didn't is falling at a rate of 1 million
:08:11. > :08:19.barrels per day so it is happening. -- inventory is. That is why they
:08:20. > :08:23.cannot catch up. And the disparity between the watch country needs what
:08:24. > :08:31.prices to do with budget, where they will balance the budget. The list is
:08:32. > :08:38.long and in Venezuela, they need $120. Saudi Arabia probably find
:08:39. > :08:41.that 60s and 70s. We probably should not have double standards because in
:08:42. > :08:46.the west we do not balance our budget, so why should they have to
:08:47. > :08:51.balance the budget? What is important they are running through
:08:52. > :08:54.the foreign currency reserves which they need to replenish. They are
:08:55. > :08:59.packed to the dollar and need revenues. They will be fine, some of
:09:00. > :09:06.the GCC countries, not Venezuela and Iraq. Thanks for your perspective.
:09:07. > :09:10.Don't hold your breath for any big announcements from Opec but if there
:09:11. > :09:15.are, we will let you know. We have the debate on prices but
:09:16. > :09:17.they wanted as high as possible, so it makes them the most money.
:09:18. > :09:19.Keep it simple with Ben Thompson! Let's take a look at some of
:09:20. > :09:24.the other stories making the news: One of the world's largest providers
:09:25. > :09:27.of shared working space, WeWork, says it will invest $500m to expand
:09:28. > :09:31.in Southeast Asia and South Korea. The New York based firm is one
:09:32. > :09:34.of a growing number that provide flexible working spaces and offices
:09:35. > :09:36.used by freelancers, That is the Twitter question, get in
:09:37. > :09:46.touch about your work environment. Staff at Google have been caught up
:09:47. > :09:49.in a row about the company's gender It started when a male software
:09:50. > :09:54.engineer wrote that the firm needs to "stop assuming that
:09:55. > :09:56.gender gaps imply sexism". Many of his colleagues have been
:09:57. > :10:01.critical of the statement Google's head of diversity said
:10:02. > :10:06.diversity and inclusion are very South Korea says North Korea has
:10:07. > :10:11.rejected an offer to talk - to calm tensions over
:10:12. > :10:12.its nuclear programme. This weekend, the UN
:10:13. > :10:15.Security Council passed a resolution banning North Korean exports
:10:16. > :10:17.and limiting investments Within the last hour,
:10:18. > :10:24.North Korea has criticised the blockade and vowed to take
:10:25. > :10:31.what it calls "righteous action". Shares in Asia were higher
:10:32. > :10:38.at the start of the week - after those strong jobs numbers
:10:39. > :10:42.in the US. That's provided some relief
:10:43. > :10:44.for investors over the outlook Well, the dollar jumped to a one
:10:45. > :10:54.year high against the yen, that, In Europe it's a quiet day
:10:55. > :10:57.for corporate earnings and economic data -
:10:58. > :11:00.with holidays across the continent. If you're not on holiday we'll talk
:11:01. > :11:03.more about all you need to know - in a moment, but first
:11:04. > :11:06.Samira Hussain has the details Earnings continue this week
:11:07. > :11:12.with media companies like Time, That's the parent company
:11:13. > :11:18.to the social media app, Snapchat Now since the company went public
:11:19. > :11:23.in March of this year, its share price has hit some
:11:24. > :11:25.all time lows. Investors are worried
:11:26. > :11:28.about the company's ability to continue to grow its user base
:11:29. > :11:33.and still make money. But first, on Monday,
:11:34. > :11:36.the world's biggest hotel chain, It seems more travel
:11:37. > :11:42.is happening in the US, its biggest market,
:11:43. > :11:44.and that will help lift the Marriott, like its hotel industry
:11:45. > :11:50.peers, is really benefiting from an improved business sentiment
:11:51. > :11:52.following Donald Trump's election Joining us is Jessica
:11:53. > :12:09.Ground from Schroders. Give us your take on this week, a
:12:10. > :12:13.funny time of year and yet there seems to be quite a bit going on
:12:14. > :12:22.with markets bubbling up. Valuations are high. The data is showing a
:12:23. > :12:27.sustained although not dramatic global economic recovery. Volatility
:12:28. > :12:33.is low. We know when we look at past summers when everything like this
:12:34. > :12:39.looks fantastic, things can come to disrupt. People are feeling more
:12:40. > :12:46.relaxed. It does not mean you cannot have strange events. What could
:12:47. > :12:49.disrupt? Geopolitical is probably the one most likely. We have been
:12:50. > :12:55.talking about tensions with North Korea. The Middle East. Opec and all
:12:56. > :13:10.prices will be another area to watch. Both Brexit and the Trump.
:13:11. > :13:14.People have learned to live with uncertainty on that. We are at the
:13:15. > :13:20.point where markets are pumped up, will they stay there until people
:13:21. > :13:24.come back in September? What we have heard is a narrow leadership of the
:13:25. > :13:29.market with tech companies on stretched valuations. Other parts of
:13:30. > :13:35.the market look less stretch. The thing that has happened this summer
:13:36. > :13:39.is it feels like rate rises are kicked into the long grass, further
:13:40. > :13:43.into the future, and that is important because with interest
:13:44. > :13:48.rates low, it gives room for equity markets to move up high. I would not
:13:49. > :13:53.say everybody will come back in September and panic, but I think
:13:54. > :13:58.companies with high valuations will have to justify them with great.
:13:59. > :14:01.Lovely to see you. Still lots more to come.
:14:02. > :14:05.We take a look at the cost of delivery around the world,
:14:06. > :14:07.starting in Turkey which has the highest rate of
:14:08. > :14:21.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:14:22. > :14:24.Britons could obtain more control over what happens to personal
:14:25. > :14:28.information under new government proposals later today.
:14:29. > :14:30.People will be able to ask for personal data, or information
:14:31. > :14:32.posted when they were children, to be deleted.
:14:33. > :14:40.Theo Leggett is in our Business newsroom.
:14:41. > :14:47.This is fascinating, the idea that adults could complain about what was
:14:48. > :14:50.posted when they were children. It shows the internet age coming of
:14:51. > :14:55.age. Because the data protection rules have not kept up with
:14:56. > :15:00.development of technology. This bill is based on the EU's data protection
:15:01. > :15:04.regulations that comes into force next year and coming into force
:15:05. > :15:08.quickly and the UK bill will make sure the same rules stay in place
:15:09. > :15:15.after we leave the EU probably in 2019. The point is, the data
:15:16. > :15:19.protection regulations at the moment were designed in the days before a
:15:20. > :15:24.company could gain information on who you are, where you live, what
:15:25. > :15:29.shopping you like, what places you visit, because you carry a mobile
:15:30. > :15:34.phone and they can store information and use it for marketing purposes.
:15:35. > :15:38.These proposals are designed to give people a certain amount of control
:15:39. > :15:44.back, such as people who posted things as children will be able to
:15:45. > :15:48.ask for that to be deleted and will have to give explicit consent to
:15:49. > :15:53.giving away information. At the moment it is often a tick box at the
:15:54. > :15:56.foot of a website or pages of terms and conditions and people do not
:15:57. > :16:01.really know what they are signing up to and the idea with this is people
:16:02. > :16:04.will have to give clear consent to data being used and people
:16:05. > :16:09.collecting it will have to say why they are collecting it. Our company
:16:10. > :16:13.is prepared? Some of them are, business groups say companies are
:16:14. > :16:22.starting to get used to the idea but many are not used to it and since
:16:23. > :16:24.the first stage, the EU regulation comes into force next year, they
:16:25. > :16:27.will have to hurry up. Because this regulation gives the Information
:16:28. > :16:33.Commissioner's office figure teeth, and they will be able to fine up to
:16:34. > :16:39.?20 million or 4% of a company's turnover, which ever is the greatest
:16:40. > :16:40.and at the moment the biggest fine is ?500,000. It is a big change and
:16:41. > :16:51.penalties are harsh. A story about pre-payment energy
:16:52. > :16:53.price cap will be tightened according to Ofgem. All the details
:16:54. > :17:02.are on the Business Live page. Our top story: Posecutors
:17:03. > :17:07.in South Korea are demanding a 12 year prison
:17:08. > :17:11.sentence for the heir to the Samsung business empire,
:17:12. > :17:19.Lee Jae-yong. This case has been rumbling for a
:17:20. > :17:20.long time, but 12 years is what the prosecution are calling for.
:17:21. > :17:24.A quick look at how markets are faring.
:17:25. > :17:31.In Europe we have been going for 15 minutes. Higher. Perhaps markets
:17:32. > :17:34.taking a breather following a couple of weeks of so much news in terms of
:17:35. > :17:39.earnings news from companies all over the world. So, a chance to just
:17:40. > :17:43.take stock now. The markets are having their summer
:17:44. > :17:45.holidays, I think, not us, we're still here.
:17:46. > :17:49.Its highs and its lows, but what about gas?
:17:50. > :17:52.Well, one of the world's oldest private gas and oil exploration
:17:53. > :17:54.firms in the Middle East is Crescent Petroleum.
:17:55. > :17:58.It was set-up in 1971 in the United Arab Emirates.
:17:59. > :18:01.While its first wells were for oil, it was an early adopter of natural
:18:02. > :18:07.gas, signing its first gas supply contract in 1985.
:18:08. > :18:13.Its total output now exceeds 125,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
:18:14. > :18:18.and it's looking to expand into both North Africa and Iraq.
:18:19. > :18:20.Its gas deliveries help to provide electricity
:18:21. > :18:22.for four million people in northern Iraq.
:18:23. > :18:24.Majid Jafar is the Chief Executive of Crescent Petroleum,
:18:25. > :18:36.Welcome to Business Live. Nice to see you. Now, you've met before,
:18:37. > :18:40.haven't you? I have, when I was based out in Dubai with our other
:18:41. > :18:45.programme Middle East Business Report. We talked at the time about
:18:46. > :18:49.this push elsewhere because everyone imagines the Gulf as the place of
:18:50. > :18:54.oil and gas, but it is not only about exploring and extract, but it
:18:55. > :18:58.is making it useful. Expansion into North Africa and parts of Iraq and
:18:59. > :19:01.Iraq is the one that's got the oil and gas itself, but the difficulty
:19:02. > :19:04.and clearly after the war is getting it out of the ground. It is
:19:05. > :19:08.investment in infrastructure. How do you play a part in that? So as
:19:09. > :19:13.companies from the region, we take a different look at the risks. We take
:19:14. > :19:16.a long-term view and we try and different ate ourselves on
:19:17. > :19:20.understanding what the real local market needs are and trying to
:19:21. > :19:26.address them rather than focussing on export and by being nimble and
:19:27. > :19:30.partnering well with companies from the outside and delivering on
:19:31. > :19:35.projects cost effectively and time, which is key, and our region as a
:19:36. > :19:38.whole has half the world's oil and gas, but less than a third of the
:19:39. > :19:42.world's oil production and less than a sixth of the world's gas
:19:43. > :19:48.production so we're punching way below our weight. You talk about the
:19:49. > :19:55.region. It was described to me once that UAE is a real safe street in a
:19:56. > :20:02.really dodgy neighbourhood. When you talk about that long-term view of
:20:03. > :20:08.investment, how do you do it in a region that is notoriously
:20:09. > :20:12.unpredictable? Our problems aren't below the ground. We have the lowest
:20:13. > :20:19.cost of production above the ground. You mentioned budget issues, but we
:20:20. > :20:22.have got in some countries wars, instability, payment issues or
:20:23. > :20:25.respect for contract, fiscal terms and then overall policy. There are
:20:26. > :20:29.many countries in the region where there is a national oil company with
:20:30. > :20:32.a monopoly and little room for the private sector, but that's starting
:20:33. > :20:36.to change now. Something else as well that you really want to see
:20:37. > :20:40.change is social and economic development within the Arab world as
:20:41. > :20:43.it were and you're doing a lot of work with young people in particular
:20:44. > :20:49.and the issue of youth unemployment which is the highest in the region,
:20:50. > :20:55.isn't it, worldwide? Our biggest natural res source is our young
:20:56. > :20:58.population, not the oil and gas. Oil and gas employs less and less
:20:59. > :21:03.because it is becoming more and more hi-tech. We need to create 100
:21:04. > :21:09.million jobs over the next two decades across the Middle East and
:21:10. > :21:13.North Africa. We have 30% as an average youth unemployment and we
:21:14. > :21:16.need more private sector investment and education and skills that match
:21:17. > :21:21.the needs of the private sector because the governments can't keep
:21:22. > :21:24.employing the young people anymore. Female empowerment, you have got two
:21:25. > :21:30.daughters aged one and three and that's something you want to see a
:21:31. > :21:39.shift in? It is critical as a moral and social issue if we have got the
:21:40. > :21:42.lowest female in Parliament. That leads to higher birth rates which
:21:43. > :21:46.means we can't catch up with the employment issue. You have just sort
:21:47. > :21:50.of intertwined nearly everything we've talked about in our programme
:21:51. > :21:53.today. Thank you for coming in. We'd love to talk to you for longer, but
:21:54. > :21:57.we haven't got the time in this programme. So many issues.
:21:58. > :22:00.This week we're looking at the Business of Birth
:22:01. > :22:03.Around the globe, caesarean section rates have increased dramatically,
:22:04. > :22:10.even as a large amount of them are not medically required.
:22:11. > :22:17.Whilst the average rate is 28% amongst OECD countries,
:22:18. > :22:19.in Turkey more than half of babies are born by C-section.
:22:20. > :22:23.At this hospital, eight babies are born today.
:22:24. > :22:26.C-sections are rather popular in Turkey.
:22:27. > :22:29.Over 50% of babies are born not by natural birth,
:22:30. > :22:40.That rate is the highest amongst OECD countries.
:22:41. > :22:42.But why do so many expecting mothers go through these operations?
:22:43. > :22:50.The increase in C-sections are due to the rise in first births among
:22:51. > :23:01.older women and multiple births resulting from the IVF treatment,
:23:02. > :23:03.treatment, but all of these Caesareans medically justified?
:23:04. > :23:06.Five years ago, Turkey adopted a law making it the first country
:23:07. > :23:08.to punish elective Caesarean sections, but it has one
:23:09. > :23:10.of the highest rates of C-section among developed economies.
:23:11. > :23:12.Doctors say the reason for that are many,
:23:13. > :23:25.We don't earn more than when we do C-section as a cln i, as a doctor.
:23:26. > :23:31.The hospitals, yes, maybe, of course. But they don't push the
:23:32. > :23:35.doctors. Most Turkish women these days hope
:23:36. > :23:44.to give birth naturally, but of course, things don't always go
:23:45. > :23:50.according to plan. We will have more reports from
:23:51. > :23:55.around the world in our business of birth series. Dominic O'Connell
:23:56. > :24:00.joined us. Good morning by the way. There will be all sorts of articles
:24:01. > :24:04.marking the tenth anniversary of the credit crisis. Ten years? Ten
:24:05. > :24:08.yearsment people put it down to the failure of two hedge funds that were
:24:09. > :24:15.run by a French bank, but you could really actually put it down to any
:24:16. > :24:21.number of dates in 2007 and in January and February, HSBC warned
:24:22. > :24:25.about lending in the US from its Household Division and then in June,
:24:26. > :24:28.a bank closed two hedge funds. That could be another anniversary date
:24:29. > :24:34.the all the articles say, there were loads of warning signs, we knew it
:24:35. > :24:36.was comingment nobody did. Very few people, lots of people thought there
:24:37. > :24:39.were problems with individual institutions and individual funds,
:24:40. > :24:43.but not many people, some people did, but not many people said the
:24:44. > :24:49.system is on the vrge of collapse. So ten years on and we've had
:24:50. > :24:52.results from Lloyds and from RBS and others from Barclays and HSBC, it is
:24:53. > :24:57.so interesting when you see they are still paying the price? Particularly
:24:58. > :25:01.in the case of RBS and Lloyds, still paying for payment prosteks and
:25:02. > :25:08.Libor. RBS have got a giant fine to come from the US authorities in its
:25:09. > :25:12.role in packaging up the loans for the US housing scandal. Ten years
:25:13. > :25:14.on, the reckoning is still to come. How important to you is your work
:25:15. > :25:28.environment? Very important actually. The reason I get up every
:25:29. > :25:35.morning! But we're talking about a service offered to office workers.
:25:36. > :25:38.Is it a new version of Regis? It is very trendy. It is very of the
:25:39. > :25:42.moment. All right. Let's talk about what you think about this. Conrad,
:25:43. > :25:49."I love the modern glass offices like mine are so light." I can't say
:25:50. > :25:55.we have the same experience. Another viewer says, "I hate people eating
:25:56. > :25:57.their smelly lunch at their desk. It's disgusting." Have a really
:25:58. > :26:11.good. See you soon. Bye-bye. Hi there. Good morning. Fur' looking
:26:12. > :26:15.for some hot summery weather, then unfortunately this forecast isn't
:26:16. > :26:17.going to give that to you because it will stay unsettled. There will be
:26:18. > :26:18.further