:00:00. > :00:00.At least 25 people have died since protests started a month ago. Those
:00:00. > :00:00.are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest
:00:00. > :00:24.financial news with World Business Report. As the National People's
:00:25. > :00:27.Congress comes to a close, many people are looking to see whether
:00:28. > :00:30.China rebalance its economy? And Obama overtime - the US President
:00:31. > :00:41.wants overtime pay for more salaried workers. Welcome to World Business
:00:42. > :00:51.Report. In a minute we'll be talking about the global commodity markets.
:00:52. > :00:56.But first, is it changing times in China? And pollution in China. After
:00:57. > :00:59.ten days of high-level meetings and talks, China's National People's
:01:00. > :01:01.Congress has come to a close. It seems after many years of
:01:02. > :01:04.stagnation, the leaders of the world's second biggest economy want
:01:05. > :01:07.to overhaul China's financial system. In a work report presented
:01:08. > :01:10.at the start of the NPC, China's premier unveiled some key proposals
:01:11. > :01:12.for reform, including a measure to insure bank deposits, a move to
:01:13. > :01:16.allow local governments to issue bonds and a plan for the Chinese
:01:17. > :01:19.currency to be traded more freely. In addition, the Premier confirmed
:01:20. > :01:27.that the growth target for the year remained at 7.5%. But after 30 years
:01:28. > :01:30.of rapid economic growth that has lifted millions out of poverty,
:01:31. > :01:33.while also polluting the country's air and water and saddling the
:01:34. > :01:37.nation with high debt levels, China wants to change tack and rebalance
:01:38. > :01:55.its economy. But how much of this will actually get implemented? Let's
:01:56. > :01:59.talk about that 7.5% growth target. Some would argue that it's not
:02:00. > :02:08.taking as big a risk as the Chinese government should be taking. How
:02:09. > :02:13.realistic is that targets? We think that given the current momentum for
:02:14. > :02:19.growth, the economy could slow to around 7.4%. The momentum could
:02:20. > :02:23.continue to slowdown in the second quarter as well. In that sense,
:02:24. > :02:30.without further policy stimulus such as additional fiscal stimulus or
:02:31. > :02:38.quantitative easing, this target will be difficult to achieve at this
:02:39. > :02:42.moment. We are talking about financial policy, looking at the
:02:43. > :02:51.short-term. How long-term do you think these financial policies will
:02:52. > :02:53.be? We believe that the central bank will have to think about whether
:02:54. > :02:58.they should ease the reserve requirement ratio, which is
:02:59. > :03:06.currently around 20%, on commercial banks. They have become more
:03:07. > :03:10.proactive over the last few months by injecting more liquidity. As a
:03:11. > :03:23.result, we have seen the money market rates falling. All of these
:03:24. > :03:30.measures are short term. Without a cut in China 's reserve economic
:03:31. > :03:37.ratio, perhaps this is in cannot be sustainable for long. One last
:03:38. > :03:43.question. You are in Hong Kong. We have heard from the Chinese
:03:44. > :03:47.Premier, talking about continuing to promote Hong Kong as a global
:03:48. > :03:58.financial hub. How important is that for the investment economy to hear
:03:59. > :04:04.that? This is reassuring. The central government is saying that
:04:05. > :04:13.China will support Hong Kong as China 's international financial
:04:14. > :04:17.centre. That means that whenever there are any policies, Hong Kong
:04:18. > :04:33.will be the first. In particular, Hong Kong has benefited a great deal
:04:34. > :04:41.from China 's internationalisation. Indeed, this policy will not
:04:42. > :04:49.change. Hong Kong will remain its status as an offshore trading centre
:04:50. > :04:52.at this stage. Staying with Asia, Sharanjit Leyl joins me from
:04:53. > :04:55.Singapore. Japanese electronics firm Panasonic has said it will pay its
:04:56. > :05:06.employees working in China a premium to compensate them for the country's
:05:07. > :05:11.high pollution. That's right. It was one of the many things that Li
:05:12. > :05:15.Keqiang was addressing today at the National People's Congress. China 's
:05:16. > :05:19.air pollution. He says that the war on air pollution will be waged in
:05:20. > :05:23.the long-term. In the meantime, it seems that companies like Panasonic
:05:24. > :05:30.are taking matters into their own hands, paying employees to work in
:05:31. > :05:34.that country. Basically, many overseas employees receive hardship
:05:35. > :05:39.pay increases but Panasonic is really the first company to
:05:40. > :05:44.explicitly paying more money because of China 's air quality problems. We
:05:45. > :05:51.know that smog has been an ongoing problem in many Chinese cities. It
:05:52. > :05:57.was announced as part of Panasonic 's pay negotiations. They have
:05:58. > :06:01.refused to say how much Japanese staff would receive in additional
:06:02. > :06:07.money. As recently as last month, we know that monitors in Beijing said
:06:08. > :06:12.the readings were at 15 times the daily maximum recommended by the
:06:13. > :06:17.World Health Organization and that has made many people quite reluctant
:06:18. > :06:21.to want to move to China. Panasonic says it will do this through
:06:22. > :06:27.compensation but they will also increase based gallery for all of
:06:28. > :06:31.their workers by around $20. Panasonic is one of a number of
:06:32. > :06:39.Japanese companies announcing pay increases this week. Carmakers among
:06:40. > :06:45.them. These are the first pay increases since the financial crisis
:06:46. > :06:53.in 2008. Australia has had some very strong Australian -- the job
:06:54. > :06:59.figures. Yes. Australia saw its full-time payrolls go up by the most
:07:00. > :07:04.in almost 20 years. The number of people employed full-time rose by
:07:05. > :07:11.over 80,000. That's the biggest increase since 1991. Overall
:07:12. > :07:14.employment climbed to over 47,000, that is three times more than
:07:15. > :07:18.forecast, and all of this has helped the Australian dollar, boosting it.
:07:19. > :07:28.Having said that, the jobless rate is still at 6%. Does this sound
:07:29. > :07:35.familiar? Your boss tells you to stay late or work over the weekend
:07:36. > :07:38.for no extra pay. Well, President Obama hopes to change this as part
:07:39. > :07:42.of his drive to reduce income inequality. Using his executive
:07:43. > :07:48.power, he wants to extend overtime payments, a move that's likely to
:07:49. > :07:52.upset many businesses. How many hours per week do you work? Is its
:07:53. > :08:00.over 40 hours, do you get paid extra? I work over 40 hours but I
:08:01. > :08:06.don't get overtime. Overtime would be nice but I'm not entitled to it.
:08:07. > :08:15.I work 60 hours per week. No extra pay? It's the new America. Work
:08:16. > :08:18.harder, make less money! Because of something called the white-collar
:08:19. > :08:22.extension, many salaried professionals don't get paid
:08:23. > :08:27.overtime if they make more than $455 per week. The president wants to
:08:28. > :08:33.increase this threshold and force businesses to pay more for longer
:08:34. > :08:37.hours. This is a great step by the president to address economic
:08:38. > :08:41.inequality and lift up the middle class in this country because we
:08:42. > :08:47.really have a problem, which is that working people are putting in extra
:08:48. > :08:52.hours but are not being paid for it. The restaurant industry is
:08:53. > :08:55.well-known for designating many of its workers as managers so that they
:08:56. > :08:59.can avoid paying them over time. Their supporters say that the new
:09:00. > :09:05.rules would add to their already growing cost. We have already seen
:09:06. > :09:10.lots of cost pressures put on employees in places like McDonald's.
:09:11. > :09:15.That will be helpful for business. Now we are seeing new pressures put
:09:16. > :09:23.on the salaried envoys. This will hurt our ability to create jobs.
:09:24. > :09:28.Well workers see a difference? 5 million to 10 million employees may
:09:29. > :09:31.benefit, at least in the short-term. President Obama wants to force
:09:32. > :09:34.businesses to pay their employees more for working longer hours but is
:09:35. > :09:46.companies end up cutting the base pay of their salaried workers, they
:09:47. > :09:54.will see very little difference. Looking at the market at the
:09:55. > :10:08.moment... We had those positive jobs figures from Australia earlier.
:10:09. > :10:11.That's it from me. Goodbye. The NHS in England says new standards are
:10:12. > :10:15.needed to ensure families who lose a child are treated with compassion. A
:10:16. > :10:18.report into the children's heart surgery unit at Leeds General
:10:19. > :10:19.Infirmary found examples of a lack of compassion,