:00:00. > :00:00.resort of the justice system in China. Appealing directly to the
:00:00. > :00:22.leaders. The latest headlines. And all the financial news with the
:00:23. > :00:26.World Business Report. A tiny solar equipment company in China looks set
:00:27. > :00:31.to default on its bond repayments. It is being seen as a landmark for
:00:32. > :00:35.market discipline for the world 's second-largest economy. Out of the
:00:36. > :00:39.darkness power is restored in South Africa as the energy emergency ends.
:00:40. > :00:48.But will the lights stay on? We talk to the experts. A very warm welcome
:00:49. > :00:54.to you. This is World Business Report. In just a minute we will
:00:55. > :01:00.have more on how Internet entrepreneurs in New York upbringing
:01:01. > :01:04.Newsweek back into print. But first this hour of tiny loss-making solar
:01:05. > :01:08.equipment company in China looks set to default on its bond repayments.
:01:09. > :01:18.If it happens this would be the country's first ever domestic bond
:01:19. > :01:21.default. It could trigger a shakeup in China's corporate sector. Up
:01:22. > :01:27.until now some kind of a lout has always emerged for firms in trouble.
:01:28. > :01:32.The government has feared a string of defaults could spark unrest. A
:01:33. > :01:39.default could benefit the economy in the long run by heralding the end of
:01:40. > :01:43.an era of risk-free credit in China. Local governments have often used
:01:44. > :01:49.public funds to rescue companies and prevent instability. Is this
:01:50. > :01:54.China's moment of reckoning. We talk to our China correspondent in
:01:55. > :01:56.Beijing. Linda, is this the beginning of a new chapter in
:01:57. > :02:04.China's approach to how it manages its companies and banks? The small
:02:05. > :02:08.solar company may well become a test case for how China is going to deal
:02:09. > :02:11.with the expansion in the financial sector. Since about 1999 when the
:02:12. > :02:16.Chinese government stopped regulating the corporate debt
:02:17. > :02:22.market, it would be the first time that a public traded debt has not
:02:23. > :02:27.been paid. It is not huge amount. Just about $15 million worth of
:02:28. > :02:30.interest payments but the company has said on Tuesday that it would
:02:31. > :02:35.not be able to make the payment today. The company has been not
:02:36. > :02:38.traded for two years. In many ways it would not be a surprise if the
:02:39. > :02:42.payment was not made. But if it was not made and there is no bailout, it
:02:43. > :02:45.would be the first technical default on the corporate debt market in
:02:46. > :02:48.China. One of the reasons why markets are watching it is because
:02:49. > :02:55.the attitudes are actually quite sanguine. The debt market over the
:02:56. > :02:59.past decade has increased to an impressive amount. But without the
:03:00. > :03:03.ability to let some companies go through the normal process of
:03:04. > :03:05.default in bankruptcy, a lot of observers were worried the Chinese
:03:06. > :03:10.government couldn't possibly stand behind a market of that size. For
:03:11. > :03:13.this market to expand, they need to feel as if there is a process of
:03:14. > :03:18.creative destruction in terms of companies. This company stand apart
:03:19. > :03:23.for instance from the other bailouts that the Chinese governor has done.
:03:24. > :03:26.For instance the shadow banks or trust institutions. There is a
:03:27. > :03:30.bailout in January because the government does not want that sector
:03:31. > :03:37.to be dragged into something which could trigger a much more systematic
:03:38. > :03:42.problem. The unregulated lending. In many ways this company could
:03:43. > :03:45.actually be a good test case because it is corporate, publicly traded
:03:46. > :03:49.company. The government knows this is a company which is really in
:03:50. > :03:53.trouble and hasn't said anything in the intervening days about what it
:03:54. > :03:56.will do about the default. If it were to go ahead, markets may
:03:57. > :04:02.actually view this as a positive development for China in the non-
:04:03. > :04:05.ranking capital market. One thing to be aware of is that once you start
:04:06. > :04:09.to hear the word default in association with China's financial
:04:10. > :04:13.system with the government. Should they decide to intervene, it will be
:04:14. > :04:20.because they don't want that were to become known across China. In other
:04:21. > :04:26.words, savers in China have deposit insurance. If there is a possibility
:04:27. > :04:30.the government will have to ensure savings and deposits that would be
:04:31. > :04:34.the kind of loss of confidence the government would be keen to avoid.
:04:35. > :04:38.It will be a close case to watch. Usually the company has until the
:04:39. > :04:41.end of the business day to make a payment. It certainly is something
:04:42. > :04:46.that will be watched I am sure not just in China but globally. It will
:04:47. > :04:56.be fascinating to see how this plays out both within China and across the
:04:57. > :05:00.world. All the BBC's economic editor has been in China to find out how
:05:01. > :05:03.the economic powerhouse has been able to grow at such a fast pace.
:05:04. > :05:15.And whether it is sustainable. You can catch that programme, how China
:05:16. > :05:20.fooled the world, this weekend. Let's move to South Africa's power
:05:21. > :05:25.emergency. It has just been lifted according to the state energy
:05:26. > :05:29.company. The firm which provides 95% of the nation 's electricity. They
:05:30. > :05:38.had imposed rolling blackouts during the day. They had earlier blamed
:05:39. > :05:42.heavy rains for making the coal too wet to burn. Industrial customers
:05:43. > :05:47.had been asked to cut energy usage by at least 10%. Big firms switched
:05:48. > :05:50.to generators but many smaller enterprises had no backup at all.
:05:51. > :05:57.After seven days of rain, could more blackouts be on the way? Let's cross
:05:58. > :06:05.live now and talk to Adrian Murray who is following this for us from
:06:06. > :06:10.Johannesburg. Good to talk to you. Are we install for more blackouts?
:06:11. > :06:15.It has been lifted, the emergency, at 10pm last night. It is said that
:06:16. > :06:18.the power situation is now stable but constrained. It does not seem
:06:19. > :06:27.that there will be any more shedding today. But a spokesman has been
:06:28. > :06:32.appearing on TV to reassure the public. It is not clear is how this
:06:33. > :06:41.will play out in the coming days. Bad weather was blamed. We have had
:06:42. > :06:44.several days of heavy rains and they blamed the weather for making coal
:06:45. > :06:48.stocks wet. It is forecast to continue raining into next week so
:06:49. > :06:53.it is not entirely clear how this will play out. It has exposed how
:06:54. > :06:56.fragile the system is. We have had a number of emergency declarations
:06:57. > :07:04.over the past year marks. So far these have only been asking big
:07:05. > :07:10.industry to curb their consumption. They had to ask ordinary people to
:07:11. > :07:22.curb bears as well this time and issue these rolling blackouts which
:07:23. > :07:29.affected urban areas as well. -- curb theirs. There were rolling
:07:30. > :07:34.blackouts yesterday and power cuts perfecting a widespread part of the
:07:35. > :07:39.country even Johannesburg. Driving across the city traffic lights were
:07:40. > :07:41.not working. Lots of businesses will have backup generators but some of
:07:42. > :07:45.the smaller ones didn't. People don't expect this to happen in what
:07:46. > :07:50.is really Africa's economic powerhouse. That was a shock to
:07:51. > :07:54.people. There has been a lot of anger and a backlash on social
:07:55. > :07:58.media. People have been complaining about being taken back to the Dark
:07:59. > :08:03.Ages. They ask why the state power company couldn't cope with bad
:08:04. > :08:08.weather. It was particularly damaging as there is only two months
:08:09. > :08:11.before the national elections and there have been lots of reference
:08:12. > :08:16.back to 2008 when South Africa was in a big power crisis. Households
:08:17. > :08:19.were dumped into darkness and businesses were affected, costing
:08:20. > :08:27.the economy billions of dollars at that time. How has this happened
:08:28. > :08:32.again? Thank you for that. Let's move to Asia now. To Japan and's
:08:33. > :08:38.struggle with the virtual currency Bitcoin. Their government has now
:08:39. > :08:42.announced that it considers Bitcoin not a currency at that some
:08:43. > :08:48.transactions should be taxed. Our correspondent is in Singapore and
:08:49. > :08:54.has more news. Is it a currency, is it not a currency? The perpetual
:08:55. > :08:57.question goes on. Does indeed. It is something the Japanese government is
:08:58. > :09:06.having to grapple with. What has happened today is the chief Cabinet
:09:07. > :09:09.Secretary says that if there are gains in the transactions it is only
:09:10. > :09:15.natural to consider how to impose taxes. They have said that banks
:09:16. > :09:20.cannot provide Bitcoin as a product to customers. They have said in a
:09:21. > :09:25.statement that they are still trying to gather information on the virtual
:09:26. > :09:31.currency. They want to determine the total value of the coins in
:09:32. > :09:36.circulation. Some estimates are around $7 billion. It is a virtual
:09:37. > :09:40.currency which can be created online through public hated computer
:09:41. > :09:46.algorithms but that debate on whether they are real currencies
:09:47. > :09:52.continues. Several countries have had them. I will be talking about
:09:53. > :10:08.Bitcoin in just a moment. Stay with us. A little bit more news for you
:10:09. > :10:13.here from London. A highly resistant superbug which has caused 16 deaths
:10:14. > :10:17.in the north-west of England since 2010 is being investigated by health
:10:18. > :10:18.authorities. It causes