:00:01. > :00:06.five lorries were involved in the pile-up, which left another 18
:00:06. > :00:16.people injured. Now it is time for World Business
:00:16. > :00:20.
:00:20. > :00:24.Report. The headlines: France's financial
:00:24. > :00:34.sector will be hit by a trading tacks in August if President
:00:34. > :00:34.
:00:34. > :00:41.Sarkozy can rush his plans through Parliament.
:00:41. > :00:51.you are's biggest electronics firm struggles with the downturn. --
:00:51. > :00:54.
:00:54. > :00:59.Europe's. He may only have two weeks left in
:00:59. > :01:02.power, but Nicolas Sarkozy went on the offensive on Sunday night. The
:01:02. > :01:05.French President announced a collection of measures that he
:01:05. > :01:12.hopes will boost the economy and boost his re- election chances if,
:01:12. > :01:16.as expected, he returns. Among the measures announced last night he
:01:16. > :01:20.confirmed plans to go through with a financial transaction tax. It
:01:20. > :01:24.would be set at a rate of 0.1%. There is not much detail, but it is
:01:24. > :01:31.thought it would be applied to share trading only and not bonds.
:01:31. > :01:41.He said that the nation's sales tax would rise to a little over 21%.
:01:41. > :01:48.Companies with more than 250 staff will have to take on interns up to
:01:48. > :01:52.5% of their workforce. TRANSLATION: We hope that it will raise 1
:01:52. > :01:57.billion euros per year for the government budget. It is obvious
:01:57. > :02:06.that as soon as Europe adopt such a tax we will join that group. What
:02:06. > :02:16.we want is to provoke growth and set an example. Good morning. If
:02:16. > :02:17.
:02:17. > :02:23.this works and not, he has to rush it through Parliament -- works out.
:02:23. > :02:29.If it went ahead, tell us about how this would work? Is its similar to
:02:29. > :02:33.stamp duty in the UK? Yes, we already have 0.5% stamp tax duty on
:02:33. > :02:43.share purchases. He is talking about creating a shock throughout
:02:43. > :02:46.
:02:46. > :02:50.Europe.... It is quite a limited tax, purely on share trading. A
:02:50. > :02:55.cross in London we do far greater volumes of share trading than Paris
:02:55. > :02:59.does. Talking about it in terms of income, it seems strange, because
:02:59. > :03:04.there is not that volume there, unless you broaden it to other
:03:04. > :03:07.areas. Presumably from his point of view he is thinking he will win
:03:07. > :03:11.over some voters in France who are quite angry about what is happening
:03:11. > :03:19.in the financial sector and the implications on the economy?
:03:19. > :03:25.have already heard Angela Merkel talking about this. It would have a
:03:25. > :03:32.mild impact overall. The battle really is whether you would really
:03:32. > :03:36.like to reform all tax levies... That would cover everything from
:03:36. > :03:41.foreign exchange through to all forms of transactions and have a
:03:41. > :03:47.tax on those things. That was the tax that David Cameron was against,
:03:47. > :03:50.wasn't he? And other EU summit today, the first of the year. Your
:03:50. > :03:57.expectations? So we are going through it again. Will they reach
:03:57. > :04:02.an agreement? We know how the euro has to run, and so do the
:04:02. > :04:06.politicians. But in the words of a famous politician - we know what to
:04:06. > :04:12.do, we just don't know how to get re-elected afterwards. It is
:04:12. > :04:18.actually about making sure you have harmonising tax systems. That is
:04:19. > :04:22.very difficult - look at the issues in Greece at the moment.
:04:22. > :04:32.Looking at today's papers. That news from the Royal Bank of
:04:32. > :04:38.Scotland's boss is prominent. The markets have reopened in China
:04:38. > :04:43.following a week long break to celebrate the Year Of the Dragon.
:04:43. > :04:49.It is trading again. What are the expectations?
:04:49. > :04:52.The expectation is that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the
:04:52. > :04:58.Asian stock market as they start their full week of trading after
:04:58. > :05:03.the Chinese New Year. It was slower than expected. Slow growth in the
:05:03. > :05:06.United States. Uncertainty about their ability to resolve Greece's
:05:06. > :05:13.debt crisis, that is weighing on investor sentiment across the
:05:13. > :05:18.region. You mentioned China - its markets are currently mixed after
:05:18. > :05:22.being closed for a full week. Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and
:05:22. > :05:26.Australia are all in negative territory. Taiwan and New Zealand
:05:26. > :05:32.are showing some resilience this Monday. Traders say growth in Asia
:05:33. > :05:35.will continue in 2012 amid strong domestic consumption. There are
:05:35. > :05:39.moves from many central banks to cut interest rates with prices
:05:39. > :05:49.easing. There are plans to stimulate respective economies. The
:05:49. > :05:53.
:05:53. > :05:56.big question is - by how much will be economies expand? Economists say
:05:56. > :06:00.it is very difficult to make a forecast until there is a clear
:06:00. > :06:04.sign that Europe's debt turmoil is heading to a resolution.
:06:04. > :06:11.Briefly tell us about Mitsubishi Electric's shares, they were very
:06:11. > :06:19.high today? Yes. The government of Japan has
:06:19. > :06:22.banned one of the country's biggest companies from competitive bidding.
:06:22. > :06:26.They say Mitsubishi over charges for some defence and aerospace
:06:26. > :06:33.contracts. Mitsubishi Electric, whose businesses include factories
:06:33. > :06:38.in Britain, electronics and satellite, charge as much as 50%
:06:38. > :06:42.over and above... The government has prevented Mitsubishi Motors
:06:42. > :06:48.from doing this and will take preventative measures.
:06:48. > :06:56.You are's biggest electronics manufacturer, Phillips, is about to
:06:56. > :06:58.announce its results for 2011 -- Europe's the managing director has
:06:58. > :07:07.said that the crisis has hit sales hard.
:07:07. > :07:17.Philips of Holland is one of Europe's leading electronics giant.
:07:17. > :07:17.
:07:17. > :07:23.Europe's debt crisis has made them nervous. Phillips is cutting 4,500
:07:23. > :07:26.jobs. Its television division has lost so much money it is in the
:07:26. > :07:29.middle of being bought by a company in Hong Kong. Phillips is in the
:07:29. > :07:36.process of changing the focus of its business, concentrating less on
:07:36. > :07:43.consumer items and more on things like this are a scanner, another
:07:43. > :07:46.complex but important item of hospital equipment -- eyeball.
:07:46. > :07:51.Sales of his advanced technology is going well in Asia and the United
:07:51. > :07:55.States. It is a different story in Europe. The debt crisis means that
:07:55. > :07:58.budgets in public health systems are under pressure. Hospitals are
:07:58. > :08:05.delaying spending if they have pressure on budgets. We are seeing
:08:05. > :08:11.pressure because a lot of these budgets are funded by government.
:08:11. > :08:16.We will see delays in new equipment being installed. Philips products
:08:16. > :08:21.have changed a lot since it was set up a hundred and 20 years ago. It
:08:21. > :08:27.then made light bulbs and is now the world's biggest manufacturer of
:08:27. > :08:32.them. It is always installing its L e d bulbs in public spaces,
:08:32. > :08:37.including here, outside Buckingham Palace. A light may be bright, but
:08:37. > :08:40.the prospects for Europe's manufacturers are not. Siemens
:08:40. > :08:43.warned that 2012 would be a hard year. Companies are likely to
:08:43. > :08:49.remain under pressure for as long as the continent's consumers and
:08:49. > :08:53.government are unable or unwilling to spend money.
:08:53. > :08:59.The chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland will not take a
:08:59. > :09:03.bonus worth almost a million pounds. RBS is largely owned by the
:09:03. > :09:06.taxpayer, and the bonus caused huge political controversy. We will be
:09:06. > :09:10.talking about that in about five minutes.
:09:10. > :09:13.Ryanair reports its latest quarterly results this morning.
:09:13. > :09:20.Earlier this month it announced it will create more than 1,000 jobs