10/01/2013 World Business Report

Welcome back. The main stories: Venezuela's opposition has reacted

angrily to a Supreme Court ruling that Hugo Chavez can postpone his

inauguration. He is due to be sworn in for a new term of office on

Thursday but is still recovering from cancer surgery in Cuba. Fire

crews in Australia are trying to bring hundreds of bushfires under

control before more hot weather sets in. Dozens of blazes are still

burning in the south-east of the country, destroying buildings and

killing livestock. The next hearing in the trial of

five men charged with the murder and gang rape of a student in Delhi

is set to be held behind closed doors later. A magistrate is

expected to transfer the case for trial to a special fast-track court.

S retired British businessman who admitted arms dealing has been

jailed for two years and nine months by a court in the United

States. -- a retired. Christopher Tappin had previously denied trying

to sell missile batteries to Iran. Those are the latest headlines from

BBC News. Now for the latest financial news

in World Business Report. Hello and welcome to World Business

Report. China roars back to life as exports surge a shock 14% in

December. The growth was three times what anyone was expecting.

In Asia, mark-ups are higher following economic data from China.

Plus, no slowdown for the high rollers. 2012 was the best year

ever for ultra-luxury car maker Rolls Royce.

The slowdown in China may have come to an end. Against all expectations,

China's exports surged 14.1% in December from a year ago. Most

economists had been banking on a modest 5% increase. Even if this

jump in activity is down to seasonal factors, it does suggest

more to the rest of the world but the rest of the world is able and

willing to buy from China. Mariko Oi is in the BBC's Singapore

office. Give us the details on these

figures. Very good news. Exports rising more than 14%. But also,

imports are rising sick this -- 6%, indicating consumers in China have

been spending a lot of money, which is what the Chinese government have

been trying to do by relying less on exports for growth by boosting

domestic demand. Definitely good news. This is just a further sign

of the China's economy picking up. They were growing at double digits

for many years and slowed to about a%. They have been many strong

economic figures which has been very welcomed by Asian economies. -

- 8%. Asian markets are reacting positively. We are expecting the

latest inflation figures tomorrow, which should show that prices

remain under control. We will get the growth figures next week.

Thank you. So if China is exporting, there

seems little sign that Europe is its customer. Indeed, as the

European Central Bank holds its monthly policy meeting today, there

are growing calls for a cut in borrowing costs to try to eke out

some sort of growth from the economy. The eurozone's interest

rates are already at a record low of 0.75%. But the jobless rate hit

a new record high in November and on Wednesday three European

different think-tanks put out preliminary reports say the

currency zone contracted still further towards the end of last

year. Carsten Brzeski is Senior Economist at ING and is in our

Brussels bureau. Is there any sign that what is coming out of China

may be bought by the European's? am not sure but even if China is

growing, the Europeans will exports to China and this will be a great

sign for the ECB and the eurozone, that the recession could hopefully

come to an end. What about the European Central Bank? Is it able

to do anything to promote growth? Interest rates are already very low

and they would still have some emulation leapt to cut interest

rates from 0.7 Panthers -- 50 a nothing. In the coming months, do

you believe that in the second half of this year, as many economists

and people from the ECB have said, we may get some kind of recovery in

the eurozone? We do see some kind of recovery. We have to watch out

that a recovery could be week. We are now in a phase of stabilisation

and will move towards a very tender and fragile economy in the second

half of this year. This will be enough to keep the ECB on hold but

it will not be enough to substantially reduce unemployment

in southern countries of the eurozone. Do you think the policy

of austerity could becoming the -- coming to an end? Some politicians

have said austerity has done all it will do and we have to have more

policies for growth. Growth or the non-existence of gross will be the

big theme of 2013. -- growth. I don't think austerity measures will

come to an end but in the coming months we will see more initiatives

to try to reduced growth in the eurozone. Thank you.

We may be battling through a global economic slowdown but that has not

dampened demand for one of the world's most expensive cars. Rolls

Royce Motor Cars says it's had the best year in its 108 year history,

selling more than 3,500 vehicles in 2012. It is now owned by BMW and

saw sales jump 26% in the Middle East, with record sales in Saudi

Arabia. Perhaps more surprising was a 21% rise in sales in crisis-hit

mainland Europe. The entry level Ghost model sells from around

$250,000, with the larger Phantom starting at around $450,000.

Torsten Muller-Otvos is Chief Executive of Rolls Royce Motor Cars.

How do people afford this? everything is doom and gloom in

today's times. Many customers are very successful entrepreneurs.

After running through a successful business here, you are also

prepared to reward yourself and that is basically a big part of our

success. I am interested in this because you are not really in the

car business. He used to be. You launched the Mini. But he became a

luxury goods man. Tell me about that. What is the change in

attitude? It's a luxury goods business. Rolls-Royce is the best

known luxury brand in the world, probably. The biggest difference in

that business is you are dealing on a daily basis with highly

interesting individuals. Very interesting people. It is

completely different to what you normally see in the mass market.

You are dealing with and convincing individuals on a daily basis,

attracting them to our products and brand of what we always see it is

high demand in terms of requirement. How the market things like that? Do

you have to do anything, apart from shake a few -- shake a few hands?

We are benefiting from selling to other companies and countries but

we have special events and money can't buy events. One of our

customers had an event. We have also invited a couple of our

customers to them. Most of your cars are not customise? Every car

is customised. Recall that bespoke and you can bespoke your car, up

until your own fingerprints. You tell us what you want ed we feel

that. -- and we build it. We can give an impression in one car where

you are sitting under heaven. Like spilled into the headliner.

delights built. Is keeping bill costs under control difficult with

such bespoke cars? When you can do anything, you tend to do this for

this, it is easy to not get your costs and prices in mind. How have

you managed to keep your margins... Obviously you have. We are a very

lean company. We employ around 1,200 people worldwide. We do that

because you need to be prepared, as you say, for cost increases. Rest

assured, we are delivering a nice chunk of money back to BMW. But it

has not always been like that. Back in the 80s and 90s. What went wrong

and how did it managed to change? Rolls-Royce stands for the people

in vehicles. You need to invest in quality. That is the main important

thing. If you go for a car that costs beyond �250,000, you can

expect the best and this is something you need to deliver.

Probably Rolls-Royce failed at that time. What will the Rolls-Royce of

tomorrow look like? It is a very individual car. A car that you will

not find it on every single street corner. What about the one of

tomorrow? Very comparable to today's car. Very much about the

most rewarding automotive experience on her. We will have to

leave it there. Thank you. In other business news this

Thursday. President Obama is expected to nominate his White

House Chief of Staff, Jack Lew, to be the next US Treasury Secretary,

replacing Timothy Geithner. Mr Lew has served as budget director for

both Obama and former President Bill Clinton. If approved by the

Senate, he will face tough fiscal battles with Republican-controlled

Congress. Topping the agenda, negotiating an increase in

America's 15 trillion dollar borrowing limit which it will reach

in a matter of weeks. That's all Taking a look at news from the UK.

An independent review of Academy Schools in England suggest some

have unfair admission policies. The commission set up by the Royal

Society of Arts said that schools which favour a more privileged

pupils could be fuelling social segregation. It recommended

Academy's focus on improving teaching, rather than restricting

disadvantaged pupils that they -- pupils.

They have extra powers over curriculum. Finances and they today

mac management. At the school, the formula seems to have worked. --

date to day management. Today's reports have proved successful. But

the picture is mixed. Some have failed to improve standards and

parents complain that some academies are not been fair on

admissions. When they were set up by the last Labour government, they

were mostly in deprived neighbourhoods. Now, the Coalition

has widened the approach to different schools in all of England.

As the number of academies keeps on rising, the commission says extra

safeguards for parents are essential. Among the

recommendations, more training for Academy governors. High-achieving

academies to co-operate more with other local schools. And a stronger

bride of a -- right of appeal if students are refused admission.

Parents were concerned about admission arrangements. We felt

more could be done to give more independent recourse to parents in

terms of applying for places. We felt they needed to be more of a

level playing field between different sorts of schools, so that

one school was not advantage over another. A government ministers say

they are bound by a code on their admissions. They insist most

provide a first-class education but say underperform the academies will

be tackled. This is BBC News. The headlines:

Venezuela's opposition has reacted angrily to a Supreme Court ruling

that Hugo Chavez can postpone his inauguration. He was due to be

sworn in on Thursday but is still recovering from cancer surgery in

Cuba. Fire crews in Australia are trying

to bring hundreds of bush fires under control before more hot

weather sets in. Dozens of fires are still burning in the south-east

of the country, destroying buildings and killing livestock.

The next hearing in the trial of five men charged with the murder

and gang rape of a student in Delhi is said to be taking place behind

closed doors. The magistrates is said to transfer the trial to a

fast track court. The East proceedings will be

conducted behind closed doors. Early in the week, the media was

allowed in. -- these proceedings. But after chaotic scenes, a

decision was taken by the magistrate that these hearings and

the trial itself when it happens will be held behind closed doors.

A retired British businessman who admitted to arms dealing has been

jailed for two years and nine months by a court in the West.

Christopher Tappin had previously denied trying to sell missile

Now it is time for our newspaper review where Jamie and I look at