:00:00. > :00:00.drug trafficker. Those are the latest headlines from BBC World
:00:00. > :00:20.News. Now for the latest financial news, World Business Report. Baby
:00:21. > :00:22.steps or giant strides? The US President and Japanese Prime
:00:23. > :00:24.Minister try to iron out their differences over the ambitious
:00:25. > :00:32.Trans`Pacific Partnership trade deal. Who should run the internet?
:00:33. > :00:35.Amid growing calls to break US dominance over the world wide web,
:00:36. > :00:48.Brazil hosts a conference to discuss the options. Welcome to World
:00:49. > :00:52.Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the programme, for a fourth
:00:53. > :00:56.month, manufacturing in China has contracted. We will have the latest
:00:57. > :01:01.detail on that for you. First of all, let's talk about trade. Trade
:01:02. > :01:04.deals don't normally take centre`stage at summits among world
:01:05. > :01:07.leaders. But what could turn out to be the world's largest ever free
:01:08. > :01:11.trade deal is at the heart of US President Barack Obama's first state
:01:12. > :01:13.visit to Japan. It's called the Trans`Pacific Partnership, or TPP,
:01:14. > :01:18.and aims to bring closer trade ties between the US and most of the key
:01:19. > :01:22.economies in the East. But there is one notable exception: China. And
:01:23. > :01:25.the likes of President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
:01:26. > :01:28.are talking it up, saying it is poised to be the world's biggest,
:01:29. > :01:30.and possibly its most ambitious free trade deal, by eliminating trade
:01:31. > :01:36.barriers and harmonizing regulations. So 12 countries are
:01:37. > :01:41.negotiating the TPP, and if successful, it will account for two
:01:42. > :01:46.fifths of world trade. But it is a massive task, maybe even too big.
:01:47. > :01:48.Japan would be a key member, but not everyone in the country is in
:01:49. > :01:51.favour. Our Chief Business Correspondent Linda Yueh reports
:01:52. > :01:58.from the agricultural heartland of Niigata.
:01:59. > :02:13.Springtime, the promise of new beginnings. But, before you can
:02:14. > :02:16.reap, you have to sew. `` sow. This 80`year`old man is preparing his
:02:17. > :02:22.rice fields as he has for over half a century. Farmers like him have
:02:23. > :02:27.been protected by the government. There is a 778% tax on imported
:02:28. > :02:34.rice. He doesn't want to see that end. TRANSLATION: We can't compete
:02:35. > :02:39.with countries like Australia or Canada who farm on a large scale. If
:02:40. > :02:45.tariffs are abolished, people will tend to go for what is cheaper. I
:02:46. > :02:56.think Japanese agriculture will be fatally wounded. He and his family
:02:57. > :03:01.have been shielded for decades. It's a sore point for the America's
:03:02. > :03:13.proposed free trade agreement. The Trans`Pacific Partnership, or TPP,
:03:14. > :03:25.isn't just about trade. It is the key to Obama's rear orientation
:03:26. > :03:28.towards Asia. `` re` orientation. But that doesn't make any difference
:03:29. > :03:31.to these protesters. These are the most vocal critics of the TPP, or
:03:32. > :03:35.Trans`Pacific Partnership. Japan and the US are major trading nations who
:03:36. > :03:40.already trade a lot with each other, so of course there is benefit with
:03:41. > :03:46.having more free trade. What is so special about this one? Is it more
:03:47. > :03:50.about who is not at the table? Abe threw his hat in the ring because he
:03:51. > :03:58.wants to prove to the United States he is a reliable alliance partner.
:03:59. > :04:01.So I think that you can't look at TPP entirely through the economic
:04:02. > :04:03.trade lens, you have to look at it from the angle of strategic
:04:04. > :04:14.advantages and Japan's worries about China's regional hegemonic
:04:15. > :04:19.ambitions. At a local festival, they celebrate the arrival of the new
:04:20. > :04:25.season. President Obama wants to celebrate a new spring, a new era,
:04:26. > :04:30.even a second opening of Japan. Prime Minister Abe is hoping for
:04:31. > :04:37.trade to deliver progress. With so much at stake, both men will want to
:04:38. > :04:45.show progress. But it will be baby steps. Well as you've been hearing,
:04:46. > :04:48.China, Asia's biggest economy, is not a part of the Trans`Pacific
:04:49. > :04:53.Partnership. And new data today reveals further weakness in its
:04:54. > :05:09.manufacturing sector. Rico Hizon is in Singapore for us. Nice to see
:05:10. > :05:15.you, Ricoh. So it is interesting to see this happening. And relatively
:05:16. > :05:23.bad news about the factories. `` Rico. It was bad news, but there was
:05:24. > :05:28.a slight gain due to improvement in domestic demand. Take a look at the
:05:29. > :05:33.numbers. Output from factories rose in April from 48 the previous month.
:05:34. > :05:40.The figures show the sector is still shrinking, but at a slower rate. A
:05:41. > :05:44.reading below 50 signals contraction while anything above points to
:05:45. > :05:47.growth. When you speak to economists, they say the numbers
:05:48. > :05:53.could improve going forward as Beijing announces a series of
:05:54. > :05:56.initiatives aimed at boosting growth. One is tax breaks for small
:05:57. > :06:02.enterprises. The second is targeted infrastructure spending. The central
:06:03. > :06:06.bank will also be cutting the amount which they must keep in reserve,
:06:07. > :06:11.starting this Friday. The first time, they have eased monetary
:06:12. > :06:16.policy for almost two years. All of these factors, put together, lead
:06:17. > :06:21.many economists to expect improved numbers in coming months. But today,
:06:22. > :06:31.the purchasing managers index is just a preliminary report. The final
:06:32. > :06:34.reading will come out on May fifth. Who should run the internet? It's
:06:35. > :06:37.the kind of question that nobody troubled much over, until the recent
:06:38. > :06:40.revelations of mass surveillance and data monitoring by the US turned
:06:41. > :06:42.digital security into a subject of intense international concern. Amid
:06:43. > :06:45.growing calls to break US dominance over the internet, Brazil is hosting
:06:46. > :06:48.an international gathering today and Thursday to discuss options. But if
:06:49. > :07:04.the US doesn't run the net, what's the alternative? From Sao Paolo,
:07:05. > :07:08.Katy Watson reports. Government officials, activists, and the
:07:09. > :07:12.private sector will get together here to discuss the future of the
:07:13. > :07:22.Internet. It was initiated after revelations the NSA were spying on
:07:23. > :07:26.countries such as Brazil. A diplomatic visit was cancelled due
:07:27. > :07:30.to allegations of spying. Conversations will be in light of
:07:31. > :07:35.that. Many feel there is an overbearing dominance of countries
:07:36. > :07:42.in the West, especially the US. The secretary here in Brazil said the
:07:43. > :07:46.next users in the Internet will come from the south. So any discussion of
:07:47. > :07:51.the future of the Internet needs to have more involvement from emerging
:07:52. > :07:53.economies. This is just the start of conversations. What is discussed
:07:54. > :08:02.this week will continue later this year in Istanbul at eight Forum. The
:08:03. > :08:07.owner of KFC and Pizza Hut has reported an 18% jump in
:08:08. > :08:13.first`quarter profits, helped by a rebound in sales in China. Sales at
:08:14. > :08:20.outlets in China rose 9% from a year ago, with carefully up 11%. Good
:08:21. > :08:23.news for KFC. There was a real concern about the quality of the
:08:24. > :08:29.chickens they were using there. The health scare put the Chinese off
:08:30. > :08:32.these brands for a period. Britain's top companies have been warned to
:08:33. > :08:34.exercise caution on executive pay by Britain's Business Minister. As
:08:35. > :08:37.companies prepare for their annual general meetings, Vince Cable has
:08:38. > :08:40.written to all FTSE 100 companies to remind them that pressure on pay
:08:41. > :08:43.awards must be kept up to assuage public anger. He says pay levels at
:08:44. > :08:53.banks in particular had been ridiculous. David Moyes' troubled
:08:54. > :08:57.reign at Manchester United came to an abrupt end about 24 hours ago,
:08:58. > :08:59.when the Scot was sacked after a hugely disappointing 10`month spell
:09:00. > :09:02.as manager. That decision follows the club's failure to qualify for
:09:03. > :09:05.the European Champions League. The payments from that competition would
:09:06. > :09:08.have amounted to tens of millions of dollars, and there will be other
:09:09. > :09:21.indirect costs due to the failure to qualify. So what impact has this had
:09:22. > :09:28.on the markets in New York? So let's have a look at financial markets. We
:09:29. > :09:32.will be discussing David Moyes's departure in the papers. This is how
:09:33. > :09:37.things have been going. Japan is up. Hong Kong is headed in the other
:09:38. > :09:41.direction after the news about Chinese manufacturing. If we have a
:09:42. > :09:49.look at the US markets, you can see how their day went. The tech heavy
:09:50. > :09:54.NASDAQ market is up almost 1%. The dollar remained strong. That is all
:09:55. > :10:12.we have time for now. We will look at the newspapers in a moment. Let's
:10:13. > :10:13.talk about a story which was touched upon. The Business Secretary,