:00:01. > :00:11.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest
:00:11. > :00:16.
:00:17. > :00:19.financial news with World Business Report. The euro trades at 2-year
:00:19. > :00:22.lows after an informal summit of EU leaders emphasises serious policy
:00:22. > :00:25.differences. Plastic fantastic - a key ruling on plans to make it
:00:25. > :00:35.cheaper and easier to shop by credit and debit card across the
:00:35. > :00:46.
:00:46. > :00:49.European Union. It was a case of entente not-so-cordiale. The old
:00:49. > :00:52.Franco-German marriage at the heart of the eurozone family is on the
:00:52. > :00:54.rocks. At an informal meeting of European Union leaders, French
:00:54. > :00:58.President Francois Hollande demanded eurobonds be put on the
:00:58. > :01:01.agenda for a full summit at the end of next month. But Germany remains
:01:01. > :01:03.opposed to plans to pool eurozone governments' debt in a move that
:01:03. > :01:12.would effectively allow indebted nations such as Greece to piggy
:01:12. > :01:15.back Germany's superior credit rating. Christian Schulz is a
:01:15. > :01:25.former economist at the European Central Bank and is now senior
:01:25. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:33.economist at Berenberg bank. Let us talk about the Euro bombs Porsche,
:01:33. > :01:40.what you feel is the Agenda for that? They want to discuss it at
:01:40. > :01:46.the end of June. The thing that is something that to discuss? It is on
:01:46. > :01:53.the very long-term agenda of the European Union. If the conditions
:01:53. > :01:59.for it are in place, of the country's build credibility, it is
:01:59. > :02:03.the German condition. We are not opposed to Euro bombs as a means to
:02:03. > :02:07.end the crisis. It could be an end to the crisis of countries like
:02:07. > :02:12.Italy if they could start issuing money with guaranteed bonds by
:02:12. > :02:16.Germany. There is something Germany will not allow to happen since the
:02:16. > :02:22.fiscal tree has not been signed in countries have not done enough yet
:02:22. > :02:25.to do down deficits. Some argue the short-term benefits is that it
:02:26. > :02:31.would stop speculative action and it is pushing up the borrowing
:02:31. > :02:36.costs for Spain and other economies like Greece. What are the long-term
:02:36. > :02:40.benefits? It could be good. You would have a bigger bond market for
:02:40. > :02:46.Europe. It countries have reasonable debt levels, and a
:02:46. > :02:50.history of discipline in budgetary terms, it could be good. Countries
:02:50. > :02:54.like Germany could benefit a little bit because of the bigger the
:02:54. > :03:00.quiddity of the European bond market. That would take a long time
:03:00. > :03:06.to come into place. The European bonds are rather an unlikely
:03:06. > :03:12.solution to the crisis. Let his -- let us look at what has been
:03:12. > :03:17.achieved in the last 24 hours, your view? Europe is united on the
:03:17. > :03:23.position for Greece. Nobody at the meeting said that Greece can be no
:03:24. > :03:30.Gays yet the conditions of the bailout. It is your choice, stay in
:03:31. > :03:37.or out. That shows a unity and leads us to believe we can prepare
:03:37. > :03:45.for a creek exit or have the Greeks vote in favour of it staying in.
:03:45. > :03:48.The growth initiative, we would have expected more detail. There is
:03:48. > :03:58.an initiative against youth unemployment but it was all a bit
:03:58. > :03:59.
:03:59. > :04:03.modest. We will look at this in detail later. Much of the press is
:04:03. > :04:07.dedicated to what was going on in Brussels, so the wheel - mark we
:04:07. > :04:09.will discuss it further with the papers. The world's biggest
:04:09. > :04:12.computer-maker Hewlett-Packard has confirmed it's laying off 27,000
:04:12. > :04:15.employees around the world. 1 in 12 of its workforce will go. A company
:04:15. > :04:19.spokesman could not give details of where the cuts would come but said
:04:19. > :04:27.most sites - including those in the UK - would be affected. Michelle
:04:27. > :04:33.Fleury has more from New York. This is not the first time Hewlett
:04:33. > :04:39.Packard has cut jobs. This is the largest in their history. The
:04:39. > :04:45.reductions will affect 8% of their 350,000 global workforce by the
:04:45. > :04:49.time the overhaul is completed, expected in October of 2014. In its
:04:49. > :04:53.press release, the company said it hopes it will not have to do too
:04:53. > :04:57.many lay-offs because it is offering it retirement packages.
:04:57. > :05:03.The question is, why has the company doing this? A clue for
:05:03. > :05:08.those of you who have not been following the falling share price
:05:08. > :05:13.of Hewlett-Packard comes from what the C O has to say. He says the
:05:13. > :05:17.cutbacks are necessary to improve execution and fund their long-term
:05:17. > :05:21.health of the company. The problem has, over the years, Hewlett-
:05:21. > :05:26.Packard, best known for things like printers, PCs and laptops has
:05:26. > :05:31.fallen behind the times. Many analysts say it has too much
:05:31. > :05:35.invested in declining businesses. As more of us moved to new services
:05:35. > :05:41.like cloud computing and smart phones and Ablett computers. The
:05:41. > :05:46.company hopes to save the money it -- invest the money it saves in
:05:46. > :05:51.cloud computing and be data and security. It hopes all of this will
:05:51. > :05:55.help invigorate one of the oldest names in silicon Valley. It could
:05:55. > :05:57.soon become cheaper and easier to shop electronically around Europe.
:05:58. > :06:00.A European court is due to rule whether Mastercard should slash its
:06:00. > :06:03.fees on cross-border card transactions. At the moment,
:06:03. > :06:05.retailers have to pay hefty charges to the world's second biggest card
:06:05. > :06:15.operator and Visa Europe when customers from another EU state buy
:06:15. > :06:18.
:06:18. > :06:24.goods or services on their cards. The European Commission is keen to
:06:24. > :06:29.break down barriers to e-commerce and cut costs for businesses in the
:06:29. > :06:34.27 country European Union. The battle between the EU, Visa Europe
:06:34. > :06:42.and Mastercard has been rattling on for a number of years. In 2007,
:06:42. > :06:46.Commission said Mastercard's flat fee levied on retailers card
:06:46. > :06:50.transactions breached EU anti-trust rules and had to be changed.
:06:50. > :06:55.Mastercard agreed to reduce its fees but the EU competition
:06:55. > :07:02.commissioner said there is no evidence that card transaction
:07:02. > :07:08.costs for retailers that come down. When in the long-term, it achieves
:07:08. > :07:14.the goal to make credit card payments more attractive and to
:07:14. > :07:21.strengthen cross-border payment of consumers and provides them with
:07:21. > :07:27.attractive means of payments, is still to be seen. Beazer Europe,
:07:27. > :07:30.the largest card network in Europe has cut its debit card charges in
:07:30. > :07:35.response to Commission investigation which followed a
:07:35. > :07:39.complaint by trade lobby group bureau, owners. That is not only
:07:39. > :07:43.the card companies were set to feel the impact of the decision. The
:07:43. > :07:47.European retail banks make a quarter of their total income from
:07:47. > :07:53.charges made on every card transaction. The commission is
:07:53. > :07:56.moving the spotlight on to them. Swiss negotiators are heading to
:07:56. > :07:59.Rome today to start talks on a tax deal between Switzerland and Italy.
:07:59. > :08:02.It's the latest in a series of agreements the Swiss government has
:08:02. > :08:12.reached with its European neighbours in a bid to lose its
:08:12. > :08:12.
:08:12. > :08:18.reputation as a tax haven for foreign wealth. At stake, billions
:08:18. > :08:23.of dollars of find assets stored in Swiss banks. And revenue hungry
:08:23. > :08:28.European governments who want every penny of tax owed to them paid as
:08:28. > :08:33.soon as possible. For years, these was resisted calls to hand over
:08:33. > :08:38.details of bank accounts, saying he was not their responsibility to act
:08:38. > :08:43.as tax inspectors. As austerity -- austerity measures bite, Europe is
:08:43. > :08:49.growing impatient and Switzerland has bowed to pressure, agreeing to
:08:49. > :08:53.impose holding tax on company accounts. Its famed banking secrecy
:08:53. > :08:57.is not ending with a bang but a series of quieted deals. First of
:08:58. > :09:03.Germany, then with Britain, and now, the Swiss government hopes with
:09:03. > :09:06.Italy. Individual account details still remain private but
:09:07. > :09:12.Switzerland will tax each bank account automatically and return
:09:12. > :09:17.the money to the country came from. That means that what many regard as
:09:17. > :09:21.the chief advantage of banking secrecy, hiding taxable income, is
:09:21. > :09:26.gone. But was banks are surprisingly eager to reach
:09:26. > :09:30.agreement and not just with European governments. The big prize
:09:31. > :09:35.remains the United States, where teams of lawyers continue to
:09:35. > :09:40.investigates was banks, among them the biggest and most important to
:09:40. > :09:46.Switzerland's economy, none of them want to face to eight -- charges of
:09:46. > :09:52.aiding tax evasion. Paying tax upfront has become the only
:09:52. > :09:58.realistic option. The markets are very focused on activity in
:09:58. > :10:06.Brussels. In Asia we saw losses today after heavy losses in Europe.
:10:06. > :10:11.Greece and the eurozone around the minds of investors globally. We had
:10:11. > :10:18.a preliminary reading of a survey on manufacturing in China. Chinese
:10:18. > :10:24.factories have shrunk for the 7th month in a worry. That is worrying