06/08/2014 World Business Report

takes place next month. Those are the latest headlines from

BBC News. Now for the latest financial news, with Sally Bundock

and World Business Report. The deal is off ` Rupert Murdoch

walks away from his attempts to take over one of the world's biggest

media companies. Tough times for Standard Chartered `

we find out why profits at the bank continue to dive.

Welcome to World Business Report. In a minute, a new twist in the

battle of the tech Titans ` Apple and Samsung stop all patent

litigation outside of the US. But first, Rupert Murdoch's 21st

Century Fox is withdrawing its bid to take over the American media

giant, Time Warner. It was only three weeks ago when 21st Century

Fox's $80 billion takeover offer was made public. Time Warner immediately

rejected the bid and has since refused to negotiate any other

deals. Samira Hussain reports from New York.

This is a rare public defeat for Rupert Murdoch, a man who has built

a media empire over decades. This time, he could not even get his

target to the bargaining table. Time Warner is the second largest media

company in the world. It owns several popular American cable

channels like HBO. It owns a Hollywood movie studio. And, of

course, the television news channel, CNN will stop combining those assets

with 21st Century Fox's own line up of television channels and a movie

studio would have transformed the industry but Time Warner refused to

even entertain the idea. The two companies never met to discuss an

offer, a bold move for Time Warner, as it walked away from $80 billion

in cash and stock. In abandoning the bid, Rupert Murdoch also

acknowledged that the market value of his own company had been damaged

by news of the planned takeover. I think he felt that he could not get

a deal done at the price he was talking about under the terms he was

considering. His stock had declined 11% since the deal was announced,

weakening his offer, which would have required him to add more cash

to the deal, which would have required him to take on more debt.

It would have been one of the biggest deals in Rupert Murdoch's

long career of dealmaking. Given his reputation for being a determined

suitor, the decision to abandon his pursuit of Time Warner has surprised

many but the play for big media companies may not be over yet.

Arch`rivals Samsung and Apple have decided to drop a series of bitter

patent disputes pending in courts outside the United States. Rico

Hizon is in our Asia Business hub in Singapore. Rico, this came as bolt

out of the blue, didn't it? That is right. It is a twist in the

relationship between Apple and Samsung. They have stood down on

their respective lawsuits but the fight will continue in US courts.

That is the catch. Despite the many cases, internationally, neither side

has been able to land the knockout legal blow against the other and a

number of judges have urged the two giants to settle their differences

out of court. This is the result. Cases being heard in South Korea,

Germany, the Netherlands, England, Australia and elsewhere will be

dropped. Each accuses the other of infringing on patents relating to

their flagship smartphone and tablet products. And Western car makers are

having problems in China. What's happening to them? Some big names

here have been accused of monopoly behaviour by the Chinese regulator.

The carmakers involved are Volkswagen, Audi, Chrysler and

Italy's fear. `` and an Italian model. Investigations are taking

place as regulators show concern over what they view as I'm fairly

high prices for both parts and vehicles in the mainland, which is

currently the world's largest car market. `` unfairly high prices.

After the pharmaceutical sector, the government is focusing its efforts

on the automotive industry. Thank you. The troubled international

bank, Standard Chartered, will release its results in a few hours'

time and they are expected to make troubling reading. Standard

Chartered was one of the very few international banks not to have been

floored by the global financial crisis but now, its profits are

falling. This year, the bank forecasts they will be 20% down on

2013. And according to some newspaper reports, that's sparking

discontent amongst shareholders. Jeremy Howell reports.

Voice`over: 150 years, Standard Chartered bank. During the darkest

days of the financial crisis, Standard Chartered excelled among

the world's fastest`growing economies. While the international

banks struggled to survive, it doubled its revenues. Dividends paid

to shareholders increased constantly. But in 2012, Standard

Chartered was found to have violated US sanctions aimed at Iran's nuclear

programme and it was heavily fined. Meanwhile, the bank's profits began

to fall, leading to a slump in its share price. When the financial

crisis started, big foreign banks withdrew. Standard Chartered filled

that gap. It was a huge opportunity. The foreign big banks are back as

well as local banks that have upped their game. The spotlight has now

fallen on Standard Chartered's leaders. According to the UK's

Financial Times, shareholders are privately complaining about the

performance of the chief executive and the chairman. The bank's board

has moved quickly to support them. The chief executive has been there

for a long time and knows the business well. The business is going

through a lot of changes, especially regulatory changes, and that means

you need to have operators who know the business very well and can

explain why their return on capital is there. I do not think wholesale

changes are the right answer. The leadership of the bank will now be

wanting to restore confidence among investors to head off any future

revolt will stop you would expect that would include an announcement

about a major change in strategy. So far, none has been made. Instead,

the bank seems to be trusting in a general rise in global economic

conditions to restore its profitability and secure its

future. And when we hear from Standard Chartered, we will let you

know about those numbers. In other news, British Airways has

suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until the

end of August amid concerns over the Ebola outbreak. The airline normally

has four flights a week from London Heathrow to Freetown in Sierra

Leone, with a connection to Monrovia in Liberia. BA said the move was due

to the deteriorating public health situation in the two West African

countries. Customers can get a refund or rearrange their flight for

a later date. A US security firm is reporting that a Russian group has

hacked 1.2 billion usernames and passwords from more than 500 million

e`mail addresses. Hold Security is describing the hack as the largest

data breach known to date and says the stolen information came from

more than 420,000 websites, including virtually all industries

across the world. President Barack Obama says US

companies have pledged $14 billion of investment in Africa in areas

including energy and infrastructure. The announcement came at the first

US`Africa leaders' summit, which is attended by over 40 African heads of

state. The summit is an effort to strengthen US relations with Africa,

as China increases its investments on the continent.

A lacklustre day today on the markets, partly because of what

happened in the US yesterday and helpings ended on Wall Street. Japan

are down 1% again. Hong Kong down by 0.6%. In terms of what happened on

Wall Street, the standard impose 500 closed at a more than two `` the

stock market closed at more than a two`month low. The services sector

has grown at its fastest pace since 2005. That has renewed concerns that

interest rates in the US will be going up sooner rather than later,

and that has markets worried today. Don't forget, it is August and many

people are away, and trading can be volatile. That strange summer

season. I will see you soon as we talked through the papers. `` talk.

Plans to make rigging energy markets a criminal offence are being

outlined by the government today. Under the proposals, anyone found

manipulating wholesale energy prices or using insider dealing could face

jail terms of up to two years. Our industry correspondent John Moylan

has