:00:00. > :00:00.torrential rain and 250 kilometre an hour winds. Those are the latest
:00:00. > :00:17.headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with
:00:18. > :00:22.Sally. Publish and be damned ` the court hearing that could change the
:00:23. > :00:26.way we use the internet forever. And fasten your seatbelts ` Lufthansa
:00:27. > :00:37.could be in for a bumpy ride, as it unveils new cost`cutting plans.
:00:38. > :00:44.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the
:00:45. > :00:53.programme, we will look at high`level US China talks on cyber
:00:54. > :00:55.crime. But first of all, it is a question of rights versus
:00:56. > :00:58.responsibilities. Online news site Delfi thought it had the right to
:00:59. > :01:01.protect the freedom of speech exercised by its users, even when
:01:02. > :01:04.their comments proved defamatory. But an Estonian court ruled Delfi's
:01:05. > :01:06.real responsibility was to vet anonymous comments before publishing
:01:07. > :01:09.them. Today the European Court of Human Rights will make a final
:01:10. > :01:21.ruling that could change the way we use the internet forever. The
:01:22. > :01:26.Estonian capital, an EU state that prides itself on how it supports new
:01:27. > :01:29.online ventures. Yet if the case determined there is upheld in the
:01:30. > :01:33.grand chamber of the European Court of human rights, websites could be
:01:34. > :01:40.forced to heavily censor comments by unnamed users be for they go live.
:01:41. > :01:44.It could end the ability of readers to remain anonymous when they post
:01:45. > :01:50.opinions. It is all over what has become a test case dating back to
:01:51. > :01:57.2006. Delfi versus Estonia turns on a complaint from an owner defamed on
:01:58. > :02:03.the website, which allows users to post anonymously. The site refused
:02:04. > :02:07.to name the author of the comments, so the website itself was sued for
:02:08. > :02:10.hosting the offending post, although it was taken down the day it
:02:11. > :02:14.appeared. This comes hot on the heels of the EU's right to be
:02:15. > :02:18.forgotten lore, giving people the right to have search results
:02:19. > :02:22.hidden. Online, Europe seems to be turning in a very different
:02:23. > :02:25.direction from most of the rest of the world, with Internet companies
:02:26. > :02:28.under pressure to not just monitor comment at play judge and jury as to
:02:29. > :02:37.whether it is lawful to publish it. Nigel Cassady, BBC News. Here to
:02:38. > :02:42.discuss the issues at stake is technology journalist Rupert
:02:43. > :02:48.Goodwins. What will the outcome be? It is a very difficult thing to say.
:02:49. > :02:52.It was a perverse judgement in the first place. Most legal opinion I
:02:53. > :02:56.have heard think it should be overturned. It is a remarkable
:02:57. > :03:01.decision. If it does uphold the decision in the Estonian court, the
:03:02. > :03:05.implications for the web? It will be very difficult to publish anonymous
:03:06. > :03:09.comments of any sort. Anybody who allows people to put content on
:03:10. > :03:12.their site, like Twitter, will have to hold back, it is to check they
:03:13. > :03:16.are not defamatory before allowing them to be published. They will also
:03:17. > :03:19.have to know the proper identity of everyone publishing, which is
:03:20. > :03:23.extremely difficult to do. In terms of the sheer volume of comments, you
:03:24. > :03:27.mentioned Twitter free sample, how on earth do you monitor that prior
:03:28. > :03:32.to those comments being published? It is not physically possible. It is
:03:33. > :03:36.not economically possible, it's not possible by any means. It is a very
:03:37. > :03:40.strange decision from that point of view it will have to close down most
:03:41. > :03:43.public discourse on the Internet and prevent anonymous discourse on the
:03:44. > :03:49.Internet, which cannot believe is the court's intention. So if this
:03:50. > :03:54.ruling is not upheld, what then would be the reasonable response of
:03:55. > :03:59.a company in this situation where a defamatory or insightful comment is
:04:00. > :04:03.posted on their site. There is a common practice, which is as soon as
:04:04. > :04:06.you are informed about it, you take it down. That is what happened in
:04:07. > :04:09.this case. It is then the responsibility of the person who
:04:10. > :04:13.made the comment. Which is not perfect by any means, but it strikes
:04:14. > :04:17.the best balance between freedom of expression on the Internet which is
:04:18. > :04:21.incredibly important these days, and allowing people who are defamed
:04:22. > :04:25.recourse. We have seen individuals being pursued, those who have put
:04:26. > :04:30.through the comments. Absolutely, there are other ways to do it. And
:04:31. > :04:33.the European guidelines, the European Court decision goes against
:04:34. > :04:38.those guidelines. That makes it a very odd decision. Thank you for
:04:39. > :04:44.your time. As soon as we hear more we will update you. The German
:04:45. > :04:47.economy is booming, and more Germans are travelling than ever before. So
:04:48. > :04:50.why are profits at the country's biggest airline, Lufthansa, in a
:04:51. > :04:52.nosedive? Its new boss announces plans to restore the company's
:04:53. > :05:00.fortunes later. Jeremy Howell reports. Last month, Lufthansa had
:05:01. > :05:04.to cut its profit forecast for the next two years by a quarter. The
:05:05. > :05:09.reason is it is being squeezed. On the one hand, Budget carriers like
:05:10. > :05:14.easyJet have been undercutting it on price on flight within Europe. And
:05:15. > :05:19.then there are the airlines from the Gulf Arab states like Etihad, which
:05:20. > :05:23.have made moves into Europe recently to snap up a share of the market for
:05:24. > :05:30.long haul flights to Asia. They have been buying stakes in Lufthansa's
:05:31. > :05:34.local rival air Berlin, and in air Italia. In Germany there has been
:05:35. > :05:39.speculation that Lufthansa itself might forge an alliance with an
:05:40. > :05:44.airline from the Gulf, and expand its lucrative long haul business. Is
:05:45. > :05:48.that worth a try? They seem to feel that if they were to join forces
:05:49. > :05:51.with a Gulf carrier that would weaken the brand, and it would
:05:52. > :05:54.certainly add complexity to the operation. They might have to give
:05:55. > :05:59.away some of the financial upside, some of the profits, in the course
:06:00. > :06:05.of forging such an alliance. So those are the disadvantages. The
:06:06. > :06:08.advantages are of course that they are struggling to compete against
:06:09. > :06:11.those carriers and it may be better for them to come to terms with
:06:12. > :06:14.them, and to do so sooner rather than later. Its other recovery
:06:15. > :06:17.option is to carry on doing what it has been doing for the past two
:06:18. > :06:23.years, building up its no`frills subsidiary and trying to cut its
:06:24. > :06:29.wage bill. This led to strikes earlier this year amongst staff.
:06:30. > :06:33.Cost cuts are bound to prompt more strikes. But it may be the quickest
:06:34. > :06:40.way that Lufthansa can turn itself around. In other news: BNP Paribas
:06:41. > :06:43.will plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy in a New York court on
:06:44. > :06:47.Wednesday. The guilty plea is part of a deal with the US department of
:06:48. > :06:49.Justice. The French Bank was fined $9 billion for breaking US sanctions
:06:50. > :06:52.against blacklisted countries such as Cuba. BNP Paribas has also
:06:53. > :06:58.admitted filing false business records, and agreed to a temporary
:06:59. > :07:01.ban on trading in US dollars. The record BNP fine is part of a
:07:02. > :07:04.crackdown by US authorities on European banks who do business with
:07:05. > :07:06.a select group of countries. US authorities are now turning their
:07:07. > :07:09.attention to Germany's biggest lenders, Commerzbank and Deutsche.
:07:10. > :07:11.According to the New York Times, Commerzbank could be fined at least
:07:12. > :07:22.$500 million for transferring money on behalf of Sudan and Iran via its
:07:23. > :07:26.US operations. Even God's bankers are no longer on the side of the
:07:27. > :07:29.angels. The Vatican Bank is set to detail plans to overhaul its
:07:30. > :07:31.business. It follows a series of scandals surrounding the financial
:07:32. > :07:35.arm of the Roman Catholic Church, which wiped out most of its 70
:07:36. > :07:37.million euro profit last year. It is expected to shut down its asset
:07:38. > :07:48.investment division and concentrate on processing church payments. US
:07:49. > :07:51.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is in China for talks with his opposite
:07:52. > :07:54.number Wang Yang. Top of the agenda will be cybercrime. Rico Hizon joins
:07:55. > :08:07.us from our Asia business hub in Singapore. Nice to see you. Tell us
:08:08. > :08:11.more about these discussions. Indeed, both sides want to resume
:08:12. > :08:17.Corporation, Sally, on fighting cyber espionage. They were at
:08:18. > :08:21.loggerheads several months ago over hacking and Internet spying
:08:22. > :08:25.allegations, when Washington charged five Chinese military officers with
:08:26. > :08:31.hacking US companies. China has denied any wrongdoing, and the
:08:32. > :08:35.Treasury Secretary has said he will pressure the mainland for speedier
:08:36. > :08:39.economic reforms, pushing them to move towards a more market exchange
:08:40. > :08:43.rate system, and do more to let their currency rise against the US
:08:44. > :08:50.dollar. And US officials are optimistic they can do the Chinese
:08:51. > :08:54.exchange rate with a foreign process will have an effect. It will touch
:08:55. > :09:00.on a bilateral investment treaty which the Americans hope will ease
:09:01. > :09:04.of Beijing's restrictions, allowing for a more even playing field for
:09:05. > :09:08.American companies. Energy is also on the agenda, both sides pooling
:09:09. > :09:12.resources, aiming to improve ties. And leading an international push to
:09:13. > :09:16.mitigate climate change. But Sally, when you talk to some analysts, they
:09:17. > :09:20.are quite sceptical about these stocks. `` these talks. They don't
:09:21. > :09:32.expect much will be achieved, as relations have become more complex
:09:33. > :09:44.as China has grown in power. Thank you for your company. I will see you
:09:45. > :09:46.soon as we look through the papers. The head of the influential
:09:47. > :09:50.children's charity the NSPCC has told the BBC that people who cover
:09:51. > :09:55.up child abuse should face criminal prosecution. Peter Wanless says he
:09:56. > :09:57.hopes the government will change the law to achieve this. It is a