:00:00. > :00:20.place in Syria later this year. Those are the latest headlines. Now
:00:21. > :00:22.for all of the business news. We will not pay. The French
:00:23. > :00:30.government scrambles to contain anger over in posed environmental
:00:31. > :00:34.taxation. `` imposed. We go to is poised to outsell all other car
:00:35. > :00:48.manufacturers for the second year in a row. `` Toyota. Welcome to the
:00:49. > :00:53.programme. Also, we look at what is behind the increase in business
:00:54. > :00:57.confidence in the UK. First, the European commission has forecast
:00:58. > :01:01.that France will have to pass deeper austerity measures to meet the
:01:02. > :01:05.deficit targets it has been set. The French government has been trying to
:01:06. > :01:10.restore public finances by increasing taxation, which is hugely
:01:11. > :01:16.unpopular. One tax in particular has brought the farmers of Brittany out
:01:17. > :01:21.in force. It is a green tax on heavy vehicles. There were signs yesterday
:01:22. > :01:30.that the demonstrations were spreading to the south`west of the
:01:31. > :01:40.country. Tomatoes, red and ripe for picking.
:01:41. > :01:46.They will soon be on a journey. This man farms tomatoes, a family
:01:47. > :01:52.business with seven employees. Jobs depend on cheap transportation. Yet
:01:53. > :01:58.transportation has grown to 10% of his outgoings. This proposed tax, he
:01:59. > :02:08.says, will cost another 10,000 euros per year. For a small business, that
:02:09. > :02:11.is crippling. So angry at the farmers they have joined lawyers,
:02:12. > :02:17.labourers and trade unionists at the barricades. The symbol is the red
:02:18. > :02:28.bonnet worn by their ancestors who resisted the taxes of King Louis
:02:29. > :02:31.XIV. Sensing danger, Francois Hollande announced last week the
:02:32. > :02:38.suspension of the tax, not that it has quelled the protest.
:02:39. > :02:43.TRANSLATION: There is a risk of insurrection. People have had enough
:02:44. > :02:47.of the government ignoring their problems. They have imposed this tax
:02:48. > :02:56.on our economy which may well collapse. Today in the provincial
:02:57. > :03:02.capital, peace may not be in the power of the prefect. The onus lies
:03:03. > :03:06.firmly with the government. In just 18 months, Francois Hollande has
:03:07. > :03:11.become the most unpopular president on record. This is one of the
:03:12. > :03:17.regions that voted for him in the elections. Today, they feel
:03:18. > :03:23.betrayed. Nationwide, 85% of his own socialist supporters say they want
:03:24. > :03:28.him to change his approach. He has to balance the budget with tax rises
:03:29. > :03:34.rather than spending reform. He has been forced into a series of
:03:35. > :03:39.retreat. There is much work to be done to close the distance between
:03:40. > :03:42.Paris and Brittany, but how much longer can the president stick to
:03:43. > :03:51.the same track, ignoring the austerity that much of Europe has
:03:52. > :03:55.been forced to swallow? Toyota is set to report record
:03:56. > :04:00.results today, despite a vehicle recall earlier in the quarter. Net
:04:01. > :04:08.income is thought to have risen to nearly $10 billion. One contributing
:04:09. > :04:14.factor is the Japanese yen, which has declined in value against all
:04:15. > :04:20.major currencies, benefiting the exporter and reviving the Japanese
:04:21. > :04:25.economy. Toyota may not make the most
:04:26. > :04:30.exciting vehicles in the world but it is fantastically good at selling
:04:31. > :04:35.them. In the three months from July to September, Toyota outsold every
:04:36. > :04:40.other car company in the world including General Motors in America.
:04:41. > :04:47.It is not just selling cars, it is the amount of money Toyota make
:04:48. > :04:52.this. In the first nine months of this year, it sold roughly the same
:04:53. > :04:57.number of vehicles around the world as General Motors and faults wagon.
:04:58. > :05:02.However, if you look at the Prophet Toyota is expected to make, it is
:05:03. > :05:09.three times as much as General Motors, and that is because of
:05:10. > :05:14.Toyota's legendary efficiency and the value of the Japanese yen, which
:05:15. > :05:20.is weaker than it has been for many years. In the US, a court in
:05:21. > :05:26.Oklahoma last month decided against Toyota in a case involving alleged
:05:27. > :05:33.uncontrolled acceleration in one of the models. Success in that case on
:05:34. > :05:38.the part of the plaintiff means that hundreds of people with similar
:05:39. > :05:45.cases are likely to come forward in filing suit against the Japanese
:05:46. > :05:51.company. We are waiting for those numbers to come through very soon.
:05:52. > :06:00.Mitsubishi's shares are also rising on reports it is looking to make a
:06:01. > :06:08.deal with other carmakers. Car many factories are very much in focus
:06:09. > :06:11.this week. `` carmakers are very much in focus this week. Mitsubishi
:06:12. > :06:24.is considering connecting with Peugeot. Other companies have failed
:06:25. > :06:29.in recent decades, leading to this potential alliance with the French
:06:30. > :06:35.carmaker. Mitsubishi currently shares a Russian facility with
:06:36. > :06:40.Peugeot, supplying them with versions of its sport utility
:06:41. > :06:45.vehicles and let the cars. Mitsubishi has failed twice in the
:06:46. > :06:52.past at forming partnerships with foreign carmakers. It pulled out of
:06:53. > :06:59.talks with Chrysler in the past. Analysts say this might be the right
:07:00. > :07:05.time. It will be difficult for Mitsubishi to stay independent for
:07:06. > :07:11.much longer if it wants to compete with companies like Toyota.
:07:12. > :07:15.Recently, all eyes have been on the East and the so`called emerging
:07:16. > :07:20.markets for exciting business opportunities and growth.
:07:21. > :07:28.One new report says this is about to change. One report says that the US
:07:29. > :07:33.and UK will be driving growth, going forward, with the UK in particular
:07:34. > :07:41.seeing a large increase in business confidence. Focusing on the UK to
:07:42. > :07:46.begin with, your conclusions are quite strong about business
:07:47. > :07:53.confidence. You say it is the highest you have seen since you have
:07:54. > :07:57.been recording it. Why is that? We have seen business confidence more
:07:58. > :08:03.than double and we believe that it is because of a broad`based sense of
:08:04. > :08:07.confidence. The confidence in profitability is spread across all
:08:08. > :08:12.industries, across services, construction and even
:08:13. > :08:19.manufacturing. Business leaders are more confidence. Many businesses
:08:20. > :08:23.have been sitting on cash and waiting for signs to invest, to
:08:24. > :08:29.expand. Will this lead to the expansion we hope for and perhaps
:08:30. > :08:38.new jobs being created? I hope so. What we are being told is that
:08:39. > :08:44.people are beginning to increase hiring in the UK and the US. One
:08:45. > :08:50.thing that you mentioned in your report is that even though we are
:08:51. > :08:54.seeing business confidence increasing and businesses expanding,
:08:55. > :09:04.households will still feel things very tough because salaries are not
:09:05. > :09:07.in line with inflation. There is still sensing being conservative, so
:09:08. > :09:10.we will not be a huge increase in salaries, but we have seen
:09:11. > :09:18.indications that business leaders will increase them somewhat. You say
:09:19. > :09:23.that the US has also seen an increase in business confidence. Not
:09:24. > :09:27.so long ago, there was political paralysis and a partial government
:09:28. > :09:31.shut down and have real worries about what impact that might have.
:09:32. > :09:38.Will we be seeing this happen all over again? Is not the US economy,
:09:39. > :09:45.although not held hostage, still affected by that? I afraid those
:09:46. > :09:51.times are not behind us. There are still long`term concerns. However,
:09:52. > :09:57.the recovery is strong. We have had a decent six months of solid
:09:58. > :10:02.recovery. Things are much better than what they were one year ago.
:10:03. > :10:08.When we talk about emerging economies not doing so well, what
:10:09. > :10:13.does that mean? Confidence in the Chinese economy is still strong and
:10:14. > :10:17.there have been good results. Brazil and Latin America in general have
:10:18. > :10:24.been weaker. Russia is down and so is India. Thank you. Interesting to
:10:25. > :10:31.see where those confidence levels are. And how are the markets going
:10:32. > :10:37.at the moment? These are the figures from Asia. In Japan, it is the
:10:38. > :10:51.carmakers that are pushing the markets in both directions. Toyota,
:10:52. > :11:13.Mitsubishi, Nissan. That is a brief update on the markets.
:11:14. > :11:21.Just before we get looking at the newspapers, we can focus on a story
:11:22. > :11:24.in the UK, where a Conservative MP has referred himself to the
:11:25. > :11:28.Parliamentary standards Commissioner after the Daily Telegraph accused
:11:29. > :11:33.him of offering to set up this must heals worth hundreds of thousands of
:11:34. > :11:41.pounds. This is Mark Pritchard `` offering to set up business deals
:11:42. > :11:47.worth hundreds hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Daily Telegraph says
:11:48. > :11:52.Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. He was
:11:53. > :11:53.secretly recorded by an undercover reporter working