:00:02. > :00:12.latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial
:00:12. > :00:19.
:00:19. > :00:27.Taking responsibility - Canadian retailer Loblaw joins Primark in
:00:27. > :00:30.saying it will compensate victims of the Bangladesh factory collapse.
:00:30. > :00:40.BP gets set to announce a sharp fall in profits as it sells assets
:00:40. > :00:41.
:00:42. > :00:47.to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Welcome to World Business
:00:47. > :00:50.Report. I'm Sally Bundock - also in the programme its a done deal in
:00:50. > :00:58.the lucrative social networking business in China. Alibaba buys a
:00:58. > :01:00.stake in Weibo. We will discuss that. A Canadian company Loblaw has
:01:00. > :01:03.joined clothing retailer, Primark, in saying it will compensate the
:01:03. > :01:08.victims of the collapsed Bangladesh factory where hundreds of people
:01:08. > :01:11.died. Loblaw which had some products for its Joe Fresh clothing
:01:11. > :01:21.line made in one of the garment factories in the building said in a
:01:21. > :01:34.
:01:34. > :01:36.The announcement by Loblow follows a similar move by UK retailer
:01:36. > :01:39.Primark who pledged to provide long-term aid for children who lost
:01:39. > :01:47.parents, financial aid for the injured and payments to families of
:01:47. > :01:49.the victims. There is some real concern that this latest disaster
:01:49. > :01:58.will force western retailers to reconsider doing business in
:01:58. > :02:00.Bangladesh which relies on garments for 80% of its exports. Judy
:02:00. > :02:10.Gearhart is Executive director of International Labor Rights Forum in
:02:10. > :02:12.
:02:12. > :02:21.Washington and joins us via webcam. Thank you for joining us. Companies
:02:21. > :02:26.are taking responsibility which is good news in terms of where the
:02:26. > :02:31.individuals and victims of this case. Give us a sense of where the
:02:31. > :02:38.right start of these individuals who have been affected. It is
:02:38. > :02:45.horrible. We have had a tour here with one of the victims from the
:02:46. > :02:53.other factory fire from November. Over 100 workers died. The victim
:02:53. > :02:58.who came with us to see us in the USA, a young woman, jumping from a
:02:58. > :03:03.window so that her parents could find her body. Some people she
:03:03. > :03:11.jabbed with did not survive. She broke her leg and her arm and
:03:11. > :03:15.received compensation of $1,200. She said that 75% of that went to
:03:15. > :03:20.pay for the medical bills and the rest covered fight marks of
:03:20. > :03:27.expenses and she is now without anything to live on other than her
:03:27. > :03:32.family support and she cannot work because of her injuries. She is not
:03:32. > :03:39.mentally prepared to go back into the factory. That is just one
:03:39. > :03:43.example. We are really excited to hear this announcement from Primark
:03:43. > :03:51.because that means that there is a possibility of building more
:03:51. > :03:59.appropriate compensation. A package for the families. That's for the
:03:59. > :04:06.deceased and for the injured. I wish some of the US companies from
:04:06. > :04:13.the previous buyer and other big labels Brands could come forward
:04:13. > :04:19.like Primark ed Loblaw. The next step is to get them to participate
:04:19. > :04:26.in a programme to make changes on the ground in Bangladesh. That is
:04:26. > :04:29.going forward, where things need to change. The safety of the factories
:04:29. > :04:34.needs to be a priority. International companies to make
:04:34. > :04:38.sure that is the case before they do business in Bangladesh. The
:04:38. > :04:45.issue now is for the economy of Bangladesh which has relied upon
:04:45. > :04:50.garment trade. We are very clear. We're not telling the brains to
:04:50. > :04:55.leave Bangladesh by any means but we are looking at this where the
:04:55. > :04:59.companies have profited from investing and buying products from
:04:59. > :05:04.Bangladesh and the need to help clean up this mess created by the
:05:04. > :05:10.industry which has grown up too quickly and has worked with the
:05:10. > :05:17.Government which cannot Police the company's with complexes and
:05:18. > :05:22.building permits. Some more than eight storeys high. Some of these
:05:22. > :05:29.developments and the low wages and low costs for infrastructure needs
:05:29. > :05:35.to change. We are pushing for the brands to sign Fire and building
:05:35. > :05:42.safety agreements which will be a contract to work with suppliers to
:05:42. > :05:48.make these changes. They need to keep the workers say including much
:05:48. > :05:53.more transparency. That will involve local trade unions and am
:05:53. > :06:02.international trade unions. Right now we only have programmes that
:06:02. > :06:09.sideline the workers with no solution. Thank you for your time.
:06:09. > :06:15.I'd like to make an apology. If you see many images appearing on the
:06:15. > :06:22.screen we are having technical problems. Please bear with us as we
:06:22. > :06:32.try to continue with his live broadcast. As you can see, you are
:06:32. > :06:35.seeing many different people appearing. Thanks for your patience.
:06:35. > :06:37.Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce group, has bought an 18% stake in
:06:37. > :06:40.Weibo, China's largest Twitter-like service, as it looks to tap into
:06:40. > :06:49.the fast-growing social media sector. Rico Hizon is at our Asia
:06:49. > :06:55.business hub in Singapore with the details. This is worth about $600
:06:55. > :07:01.million. It's a very big stake. It's like Twitter in China and it's
:07:01. > :07:08.expected they will drive traffic away which is half a billion uses
:07:08. > :07:13.in China on its website. It's very popular. It will also help generate
:07:13. > :07:17.more advertising revenue. According to these two companies the
:07:17. > :07:24.partnership will bring in more than $380 million worth of advertising
:07:24. > :07:29.and Commerce over the next three years. It's a very popular chairman
:07:29. > :07:36.and he is optimistic about the deal saying that this strategic alliance
:07:36. > :07:44.will help create a stronger social media in China unleashing value in
:07:44. > :07:49.e-commerce activities. Ali Baba will have the right to increase
:07:49. > :07:59.ownership in the company took over 30%. It's a win win situation for
:07:59. > :08:07.
:08:07. > :08:10.both companies. Thank you for telling us in. The ongoing fallout
:08:10. > :08:14.from the Gulf of Mexico disaster is expected to overshadow BP's first-
:08:14. > :08:17.quarter results. In a few hours the oil giant is expected to say
:08:17. > :08:20.profits were down some 30% to $3.27 billion in the first three months
:08:20. > :08:24.of this year. The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig three years
:08:24. > :08:30.ago this month where 11 people died could end up costing the company up
:08:30. > :08:35.to $90 billion. BP has sold more than 38 billion dollars worth of
:08:35. > :08:38.assets to raise funds for the compensation payout. The company is
:08:38. > :08:45.still embroiled in a court case in New Orleans which will determine
:08:45. > :08:52.the share of blame between BP and its partners. With me is Nick
:08:52. > :08:57.McGregor, an oil analyst at Redmayne Bentley. Let's speak about
:08:57. > :09:02.the P. All the attention is on the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The fall-
:09:02. > :09:07.out from that, will we get much information today in terms of the
:09:07. > :09:12.cost? We will get very little but we would get a statement with the
:09:12. > :09:18.result highlighting the litigation. They will say they cannot quantify
:09:18. > :09:23.this about the cost. The provisions they have left after the $40
:09:23. > :09:29.billion set aside will not cover this. In terms of the fall in
:09:29. > :09:33.earnings, it's a very big about in the quarter expecting this to
:09:33. > :09:39.continue because of course liabilities still there? The fall
:09:39. > :09:44.in earnings is due to the fact that they face higher costs with lower
:09:44. > :09:50.oil prices and higher production costs. The idea was that they would
:09:50. > :09:55.slim down and make themselves more profitable. Many people look at the
:09:55. > :10:00.results not the deep water Horizon issues but strategy going forward
:10:00. > :10:04.and how they will be able to grow. What is the future and some of its
:10:04. > :10:10.peers as they become more difficult to get the oil out of the ground.
:10:10. > :10:14.What will they say about that? They need to stay interested with the
:10:14. > :10:19.shareholders. They will highlight two big areas, the first is the
:10:19. > :10:29.work in Africa where they will invest serious money in and bowler
:10:29. > :10:29.
:10:29. > :10:38.and the second is in Russia where they have 20% of the vast state
:10:38. > :10:43.there. That will open the doors for oil companies within Russia.
:10:43. > :10:49.terms as the pension fund, it's a very big player in the UK. Many may
:10:49. > :10:56.not be aware that they invest in the company. It's very hard not to
:10:56. > :11:04.invest in the company in the UK. It's a huge amount of people. Unit