19/11/2015 World Business Report

Mining giants battle to contain what could be Brazil's worst

The US and China square up at the APEC summit in Manila.

Also in the programme: No new stimulus

from the Bank of Japan, so how will the economy crawl out of recession?

We start in south-eastern Brazil, at the scene of one of the country's

President Dilma Rousseff has compared it to BP's Gulf of Mexico

At least 11 people died, up to 15 are still missing and hundreds lost

their homes on November fifth, when a dam at an iron ore mine burst,

unleashing an avalanche of mud and mining waste over 500 kilometres.

Samarco, the firm which operates the mine, is now racing to repair

two more dams that were damaged and stop a further collapse.

Its owners are the world's biggest mining firm

They have agreed to set up an initial emergency fund

The BBC's Daniel Gallas has been to the town of Mariana,

This man looks at what is left from his hole in the neighbourhood he

helped build. This used to be his house and his bar, where local

residents hung out. Within minutes everything was entirely washed away

by mud. This was a happy, quiet community, but after the accident

everything was taken over by mud. The only thing is still standing are

the top floors of that school over there and that church across the

other side. About 500 people are the victims of the worst environmental

disaster to hit this part of Brazil. Two Vale operated by Samarco first

and flooded everything beneath with a mind full of chemical components.

Families have been relocated to temporary homes in hotels. The

causes of the accident are still unknown of local residents are angry

with the mining companies. TRANSLATION: This was not caused by

God, this was caused by humans. I hope to get some sort of

compensation. It will be on their consciences if this mining company

does not pay back. Despite the anger the town depends on mining

companies, which accounts for 80% of the local economy. The Mayor wants

Samarco and BHP Billiton to pay for the damage he believes was caused by

them, but he does not want mining to stop. TRANSLATION: Agro one employs

8000 people directly and another two indirectly. -- Samarco employs. If

they stop whining here our problems will be far greater. The company has

halted all operations until January three. Nobody knows what will happen

after that. In a statement, Samarco said it would not comment on the

cause of the accident. The spokesperson agreed to only speak

about the emergency help they were providing. We will move people from

the temporary accommodation to houses. They will be fully furnished

houses, so that people can stay there for the required amount of

time until we can work out a final solution. As the town tries to move

on from this tragedy, authorities and the mining companies Samarco and

BHP Billiton still have many questions to answer. What exactly

caused the accident and can they make sure this never happens again?

There's more on that story on our website.

To the Philippine capital Manila now, where leaders are

wrapping up the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

APEC's members include huge economies like the United States,

China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the likes of Indonesia,

Vietnam and Malaysia, between them they account

The organisation is meant to promote unity over trade issues, but

the summit has been characterised by growing rivalry between

these two big hitters, the US and China, over regional influence.

There has been tension over territorial disputes in the South

China Sea, with the US announcing aid for its allies in the region.

The US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal has also raised tensions

with China which is excluded and is pursuing

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is in Manila.

Over to Singapore. From the bank of Japan we had no stimulus news, which

was expected. But given that recent news about Japan being back in

recession, we wonder how the economy will call out of the place.

Absolutely. You have pretty much said it. The bank of Japan retaining

its current pace of stimulus, insisting an economic recovery is in

sight, despite what you mentioned, the challenging business conditions.

And coming just days after third-quarter data showed the

country splitting into its fourth recession. The bank of Japan says it

will increase cash and deposits at an annual pace. Data out of the

region today hasn't been positive. The exports posting their first

year-on-year decline in more than one year. The latest figures really

an illustration of the week external demand, brought on by China's

slowing growth. There was a survey of over 200 companies in China

listed on the stock exchanges that came out earlier. That reiterated

the view. A Chinese business indicator fell over 10% this month,

to just below the 15th threshold needed to indicate optimism. So, all

of that still having an impact on countries in the region, especially

Japan. OK. Thank you very much. That would make it the biggest

ever seen in the drugs industry. Bloomberg says an agreement could

be announced as early as Monday. It comes despite the US Treasury's

plans to clamp down on so called tax "inversions",

where a big US firm buys a smaller foreign rival then moves

its headquarters to avoid US tax The US Federal Reserve has given

a strong hint it could raise Minutes of the Fed's October meeting

showed most officials felt conditions for a rate hike

could well be met by the time of the next meeting, which tales place

on the 15th and 16th of December. They also said

the US financial system seems to have weathered recent turbulence in

global financial markets without Well, we don't have any signs of

that today in Asia. This is how things are going. Japan is up by

1.3%. Hong Kong up by a similar amount. Oil prices trading at a

three-month low, it was US stockpiles are gathering. They are

basically climbing and expanding for an eight week in a row at the -- in

a row. The world's biggest consumer of oil. You can see a strong close

following those minutes' release. The result of a strike ballot of

junior doctors in England, to be announced this morning, is widely

expected to support industrial Labour has urged the Prime

Minister to call in the independent