:00:03. > :00:13.Those are the latest headlines. Now for the latest financial news in
:00:13. > :00:18.
:00:18. > :00:22.Hello. Welcome to the program, your chance to catch up on latest in the
:00:22. > :00:26.world of business and money. The headlines: Who should control the
:00:26. > :00:31.internet? Talks on a global treaty break down, with Western nations
:00:31. > :00:35.refusing to hand power over cyberspace to the UN.
:00:35. > :00:45.Japan goes to the polls on Sunday but can a new government solve the
:00:45. > :00:53.
:00:53. > :00:57.old problems and revive a slumping We will talk about Japan shortly. A
:00:57. > :00:59.big challenge for whoever the next Prime Minister is in that country.
:00:59. > :01:03.Who should control the internet? Governments? Private companies?
:01:03. > :01:06.United Nations officials? Or nobody? It is a question that has
:01:06. > :01:10.been the subject of fierce debate between some 193 countries for the
:01:10. > :01:12.last two weeks in Dubai. But the meeting of the UN's International
:01:13. > :01:20.Telecommunications Union looks like breaking up without a global
:01:20. > :01:24.agreement. China, Russia and some Gulf and African states want to see
:01:24. > :01:29.more UN power over the internet and a reduction in what they see as
:01:29. > :01:32.Western dominance. But a bloc led by the US and including the UK and
:01:32. > :01:41.Canada has refused, saying it could limit web commerce and play into
:01:41. > :01:48.the hands of authoritarian regimes. Our business reporter in Dubai has
:01:48. > :01:55.been at the negotiations. What happened last night? The talks
:01:55. > :01:59.continued until about 2am this morning. The UK, the US and
:01:59. > :02:03.Australia, and apparently India as well, say they will not be able to
:02:03. > :02:07.sign the treaty. This treaty has been an update of an original
:02:07. > :02:12.treaty that was drafted 24 years ago. The internet was very much in
:02:12. > :02:19.its infancy. It's a divide whether it -- between whether the internet
:02:19. > :02:24.should be included in the treaty, which is what the US and Australia
:02:24. > :02:28.do not agree with. But Arab states believe it is part of
:02:28. > :02:36.telecommunications. Is it part of it all it took -- is it just about
:02:36. > :02:40.content and should it be governed by national governments or by a
:02:40. > :02:50.different approach? You mention Arab states. The region where you
:02:50. > :02:50.
:02:50. > :02:55.are well known for control over the internet. How is it influencing
:02:55. > :02:59.something like the Arab Spring? There is a divide. There are two
:02:59. > :03:04.sides to the internet. Before the revolution, there was censorship
:03:04. > :03:11.and afterwards there was none. They would rather have the second. There
:03:11. > :03:18.is a real divide. The UAE updated their intimate restrictions and
:03:18. > :03:22.made punishments tougher. There is a real divide in the Middle East.
:03:22. > :03:27.It seems like the Arab Spring states seem to prefer the freedom
:03:27. > :03:31.of the internet as a good thing. But the Gulf states like Saudi
:03:31. > :03:34.Arabia see it as more of a threat. Thank you.
:03:34. > :03:44.Dr Jerry Sanders is an independent analyst on telecoms and internet
:03:44. > :03:48.issues. He joins us now. We will talk about the internet shortly.
:03:48. > :03:52.But this gathering is more than just the internet, it is about
:03:52. > :03:56.Telecoms, isn't it? We do not think about it but I can pick up the
:03:56. > :04:00.phone anywhere in the world and call any other part of the world
:04:00. > :04:03.and there is a lot of stuff behind that. How does it work at the
:04:03. > :04:08.moment? It is nothing to do with the internet in terms of content.
:04:08. > :04:14.It is only to do with communications. Connecting eight to
:04:14. > :04:24.be. 25 years ago when this started, imagine now if 70% of all phone
:04:24. > :04:24.
:04:24. > :04:29.calls you got was rubbish? -- A to B. 70% of emails currently are span.
:04:29. > :04:33.So you may say the internet needs sorting out. One of these things
:04:33. > :04:38.the treaty is hoping to do is get people to talk about how to get rid
:04:38. > :04:45.of Saddam. But what it does not want to do, or what major players
:04:45. > :04:54.do not want it to do, he's had it get involved of content. -- is have
:04:54. > :04:58.it get. Is it currently controlled at all? It 70% is rubbish? It is
:04:58. > :05:04.not controlled. When you send an e- mail, you have no right to expect
:05:04. > :05:07.it to be delivered because all the connections are free. When you buy
:05:07. > :05:15.you internet servers, you are buying a connection. But everything
:05:15. > :05:19.you could over that service is getting there for free. There is
:05:19. > :05:23.nothing that guarantees somebody has to receive it. But with
:05:23. > :05:27.Telecoms, when you buy a phone system, you have to get what you
:05:27. > :05:33.paid for - a connection. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no
:05:33. > :05:43.taxation Birsay on the internet? And given the current economy, some
:05:43. > :05:43.
:05:43. > :05:47.governments may say it's a nice tasty revenue earner? -- -- per say.
:05:47. > :05:55.Many countries would like to have more control because they may be
:05:55. > :06:03.able to it tax more. If a nation state owns the right to give you a
:06:03. > :06:08.Web name it could also tax it. At the moment, it is an international
:06:08. > :06:12.body. Thank you for coming in. In Japan, voters go to the polls
:06:12. > :06:16.this Sunday to elect lawmakers for the lower House of Parliament and
:06:17. > :06:20.decide who'll become the next Prime Minister. They want a leader who
:06:20. > :06:23.can pull the world's number three economy out of what many are
:06:23. > :06:33.calling the worst crisis in a generation. Mariko Oi reports from
:06:33. > :06:34.
:06:34. > :06:39.Tokyo. Vegetables are sizzling. Just like
:06:39. > :06:43.the election campaign. Ever since this 73-year-old started a small
:06:43. > :06:47.restaurant 35 years ago, he has seen the ups and downs of the
:06:47. > :06:53.economy. But as he helps his son today, he says things have never
:06:53. > :06:58.been worse. TRANSLATION: The economy is at its worst now. In
:06:58. > :07:02.good times, we could all make five or ten times more money. I do not
:07:02. > :07:07.mind who is the new leader but I want things to be better, or at
:07:07. > :07:13.least not become worse. The three main economic policies that he and
:07:13. > :07:17.other voters are concerned about are: The sales tax. Will shoppers
:07:17. > :07:26.have to pay on everything they by? It is currently 5% but the plan is
:07:26. > :07:31.to double it by two dozen 15. Secondly, a huge free trade pact. -
:07:31. > :07:35.- 2015. If Japan joins it, it could mean cheaper rice and vegetables
:07:35. > :07:39.but there is strong opposition from Japanese farmers. Finally, the
:07:39. > :07:44.future energy policy. Whether Japan should ditch nuclear power. Without
:07:44. > :07:48.it, people have to pay more for electricity. But since the accident
:07:48. > :07:52.at the Fukushima power plant, the anti-nuclear movement has been
:07:52. > :07:56.gaining momentum. But if you ask the companies that dominate the
:07:56. > :08:00.corporate landscape, particularly exporters, they tend to disagree
:08:00. > :08:04.with small business owners and consumers, who oppose the three
:08:04. > :08:09.main economic policies. They say unpopular moves are necessary to
:08:09. > :08:13.fix the economy. TRANSLATION: Those policies may be unpopular but they
:08:13. > :08:17.would eventually support the country's economy. We need the
:08:17. > :08:21.sales tax hike to fund the social security system because our
:08:21. > :08:25.population is ageing quicker than anywhere else in the world. We also
:08:25. > :08:30.support Japan to join the trade agreement because having free trade
:08:30. > :08:35.with the growing economies of Asia is important. Around the corner
:08:35. > :08:40.from the restaurant, the Prime Minister is appealing to voters.
:08:40. > :08:44.Some of the economic decisions have been tough on consumers. He says
:08:44. > :08:48.they are needed to fix the economy. But he will find out if voters
:08:48. > :08:53.agree with him when they could to the polls on Sunday.
:08:54. > :08:57.Japanese voters coming to grips with difficult economic choices but
:08:57. > :09:01.they may be needed to get the country out of the ongoing
:09:01. > :09:04.stagnation. But it is not what many want to hear. The big challenge for
:09:04. > :09:10.lawmakers is to make tough decisions without losing their
:09:10. > :09:13.votes. In the last few hours, an
:09:14. > :09:19.indication of the worries Japan's business committees have about the
:09:19. > :09:23.state of the economy. The quarterly survey, are a very important survey,
:09:23. > :09:27.showed confidence among business leaders slumped in the last three
:09:27. > :09:30.months to its lowest reading in almost three years. Much worse than
:09:31. > :09:34.what was expected. In other business news,
:09:34. > :09:38.Switzerland's biggest bank UBS may be fined more than $1 billion for
:09:38. > :09:41.its role in trying to rig the Libor interbank lending rate. That is
:09:41. > :09:44.according to several reports which suggest UBS will settle with US and