:00:00. > :00:00.demonstrations last year. Those are the latest headlines from
:00:00. > :00:00.BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with Sally and World
:00:00. > :00:21.Business Report. On a mission to gain much needed
:00:22. > :00:25.financial support. The Prime Minister of Ukraine heads to
:00:26. > :00:28.Washington. The first pay increase in six years.
:00:29. > :00:37.Japanese companies strike a landmark deal with unions.
:00:38. > :00:48.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock.
:00:49. > :00:54.Also in the programme, G4S reveals its results for the full year. We
:00:55. > :00:56.will assessed how tarnished the company has been after some
:00:57. > :00:59.embarrassing setbacks. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy
:01:00. > :01:06.Yatsenyuk, is arriving in Washington today to meet President Obama. He
:01:07. > :01:09.has called on Western nations to defend Ukraine against Russia - a
:01:10. > :01:12.nation he says ?is armed to the teeth and has nuclear weapons.''
:01:13. > :01:16.Obama will show he supports the new Ukrainian leader, but what can the
:01:17. > :01:19.US and its Western allies actually do to help the near bankrupt
:01:20. > :01:25.country. Michelle Fleury is in New York.
:01:26. > :01:32.The symbolism of this meeting is clear. The White House stands behind
:01:33. > :01:36.this man. Economist and lawyer Arseniy Yatsenyuk who is now at
:01:37. > :01:40.Ukraine's interim Prime Minister and Washington support for him comes at
:01:41. > :01:44.a crucial time. Not only are the people of Crimea poised to vote on
:01:45. > :01:47.whether to join Russia, his government is in talks with the
:01:48. > :01:53.International monetary fund for desperately needed rescue loans. The
:01:54. > :01:59.economy has been in recession since 2012. They have high fiscal
:02:00. > :02:05.deficits. Beyond words though, what action is the US proposing? There is
:02:06. > :02:08.financial aid in the form of loan guarantees and attempts to isolate
:02:09. > :02:14.Russia. But the options there are limited according to Professor
:02:15. > :02:19.Timothy Fry. Financial sanctions have not proven to be very
:02:20. > :02:24.effective. There is not a lot of trade between the US and Russia. The
:02:25. > :02:27.Obama administration played down reports that Moscow might cut gas
:02:28. > :02:33.supplies to the Ukraine or other parts of Europe in retaliation
:02:34. > :02:39.against US led sanctions. Your map any disruption to Russia's energy
:02:40. > :02:43.shipments to Ukraine and Europe is a lose, lose situation for everyone,
:02:44. > :02:52.that Italy for Russia. It is also resisting calls to disrupt the
:02:53. > :02:57.market longer term. Showing the limits of American foreign policy
:02:58. > :03:01.has -- there is little the US can do in terms of economic measures to
:03:02. > :03:06.help Ukraine which is why the tone and nature of resident Obama's
:03:07. > :03:16.meeting with Ukraine's interim Prime Minister would be so important.
:03:17. > :03:21.G4S the largest security company in the world has had a terrible time in
:03:22. > :03:28.the past few years. That plummeted after it failed to provide enough
:03:29. > :03:32.staff for the London Olympics. Scandals have followed both in the
:03:33. > :03:35.UK and abroad. In a few hours' time we'll see just how much damage
:03:36. > :03:38.they've done to the firm's bottom line, when G4S announces its annual
:03:39. > :03:41.results. The firm will also explain how it's reforming itself. Jeremy
:03:42. > :03:48.Howell reports. With only weeks to go before the
:03:49. > :03:52.start of the 2012 London Olympics, G4S announced it could not recruit
:03:53. > :03:58.enough staff to guard the event. The army had to be called in instead.
:03:59. > :04:01.Then it emerged that G4S had been overcharging the UK government for a
:04:02. > :04:07.electronically tagging prisoners on parole. Many were found to be dead
:04:08. > :04:10.or overseas or back in prison. The company has since been hand from
:04:11. > :04:17.bidding for the UK government contracts. Work normally worth one
:04:18. > :04:23.half billion dollars per year. The reputation of G4S has suffered a
:04:24. > :04:26.broad as well. Last month it is alleged that G4S security staff used
:04:27. > :04:33.iron bars and rocks to counter a protest at Australia's detention
:04:34. > :04:36.centre in puppy New Guinea. G4S has admitted it has been failing to plan
:04:37. > :04:43.for all the risks involved when it takes on the security projects. Risk
:04:44. > :04:47.has been some area that has not been focused on and clearly this is
:04:48. > :04:54.something that has been clear in the last few years. The new management
:04:55. > :04:59.has instigated a new position as a head of risk which is set to address
:05:00. > :05:05.the fall down as they have had over the last number of years. G4S now
:05:06. > :05:08.has a new chief executive and head of risk. The UK government is
:05:09. > :05:12.installing its own representative here at corporate headquarters to
:05:13. > :05:17.make sure the firm carries out all the reforms it has promised. It is
:05:18. > :05:23.important that the government -- government around the world to have
:05:24. > :05:26.reliable G4S because when it comes to private management of prisons and
:05:27. > :05:31.detention centres and security for big events, there are very few other
:05:32. > :05:56.firms in the world big enough to do the work.
:05:57. > :06:03.Toyota has agreed to $26 while Honda and Mitsubishi are offering $19 per
:06:04. > :06:05.month from the 1st of April. Electronics giants Hitachi and
:06:06. > :06:18.Panasonic have both settled on $19 and the steel sector are offering
:06:19. > :06:23.similar increases. This is big news in Japan because it is the first
:06:24. > :06:25.increase in six years. And you pay will land in people 's wallets at
:06:26. > :06:31.the same time the government introduces an increase in its sales
:06:32. > :06:37.tax. Many are arguing to what extent will work as feel better off? The
:06:38. > :06:40.sales tax going up is the first move in that direction for a long time as
:06:41. > :06:46.well and that was a very politically and popular move to increase sales
:06:47. > :07:03.tax but it is, of course, part of Shinzo Abe's reform programme which
:07:04. > :07:13.is known as Abenomics. We will be following this story. It is after a
:07:14. > :07:16.long period of talks with unions. Let's talk about another company in
:07:17. > :07:20.Japan that is becoming very well known.
:07:21. > :07:23.Troubled Japanese Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox has been given some breathing
:07:24. > :07:27.space and won temporary bankruptcy protection in the US. A judge in
:07:28. > :07:29.Dallas, Texas, agreed to protect the firm's assets and temporarily halt
:07:30. > :07:35.two US lawsuits while bankruptcy proceedings occur in Japan. The firm
:07:36. > :07:38.filed for bankruptcy in Japan in February after losing about 473
:07:39. > :07:39.million dollars worth of customers' bitcoins to what it says was a
:07:40. > :07:51.hacking attack. Italy's biggest bank Unicredit has
:07:52. > :07:54.announced plans to cut 8,500 jobs. The announcement came after the
:07:55. > :07:59.group posted a record loss of $19 billion dollars for the final
:08:00. > :08:03.quarter of last year. The massive loss was due to writedowns on bad
:08:04. > :08:06.loans and past acquisitions. It's a move by the bank to clean up its
:08:07. > :08:10.balance sheet ahead of upcoming European bank stress tests. Shares
:08:11. > :08:12.in Unicredit actually rose, as the bank said it does not need to embark
:08:13. > :08:19.on a capital increase. Two of China's biggest internet
:08:20. > :08:26.companies have been picked by the government to help set up private
:08:27. > :08:30.banks. Alibaba and Tencent have been chosen for a pilot project to set up
:08:31. > :08:35.five banks owned completely by private companies. It's part of
:08:36. > :08:39.China's move to further open up its financial sector.
:08:40. > :08:42.The US congress has launched an investigation into the US car giant
:08:43. > :08:45.General Motors over why it took them nearly a decade to recall 1.6
:08:46. > :08:49.million faulty cars which have been linked to 13 deaths. The carmaker
:08:50. > :08:53.has admitted employees knew about the defect as early as 2004 but only
:08:54. > :09:00.announced the recall of six models affected last month. The recall and
:09:01. > :09:02.the related investigations are the first major challenge for the new
:09:03. > :09:16.chief executive, Mary Barra. That show you the market. In Asia we
:09:17. > :09:22.are seeing significant losses again. Hong Kong and South Korea are all
:09:23. > :09:27.falling by quite a margin. Most are agreeing that again, concerns are
:09:28. > :09:35.that China are continuing to hammer these markets like a black cloud.
:09:36. > :09:40.There are fears it will see slow growth. We saw losses on Wall
:09:41. > :09:46.Street, that never bodes well for the morning after in Asia. And as
:09:47. > :09:48.you can see, the yen has strengthened a bit. That is all from
:09:49. > :10:06.me now. See you soon. Many thanks to Sally for that.
:10:07. > :10:09.Chinese teachers are being brought to England to give masterclasses in
:10:10. > :10:12.maths in an attempt to raise standards in English schools. Up to
:10:13. > :10:15.sixty English-speaking teachers from Shanghai will be taking part in an
:10:16. > :10:17.exchange programme. Shanghai's pupils have achieved the highest
:10:18. > :10:18.maths results in international tests, while British pupils lag
:10:19. > :10:23.behind.