27/11/2015 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with

Plus: Brace yourselves, it's Black Friday.

Yes, the annual holiday shopping binge.

Welcome to World Business Report, I'm Aaron Heslehurst.

Much more on Black Friday in a moment.

give you an exciting snapshot of the world of business, and that is not

But first: Every Turkish tomato bought contributes to the next

Those were the words of a senior Russian government

But what is being called the tomato war is likely to have far

bigger implications, as Russia steps up economic pressure on Turkey for

It is also likely to damage the economies of both countries, at a

The two do $33 billion of trade each year.

Turkey buys most of its energy from Russia, which is in turn the

Now, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for a range

of economic sanctions to be drafted within two days.

Russia has already advised its people not to travel to Turkish

tourist resorts, normally the top destination for Russians.

It has also stepped up checks on Turkish food products,

confiscating hundreds of kilos of food on safety grounds, and

And 39 Turkish delegates at an agricultural exhibition have

been deported for supposed visa violations.

We have a little explain for you to take a look at. Watch this. Last

year, 4.5 million Russian tourist visited Turkey. However, President

Putin has now warned citizens against visiting the country,

because of security risks. And one of Russia's largest travel agencies

has said it would suspend selling package tours to the company. --

country. Turkey and Russia are also major energy and commodities

partners. Turkey is the second biggest buyer of Russian natural gas

after Germany, and relies on Russia for oil, steel and wheat supplies.

The tensions may jeopardise a raft of projects, including a nuclear

project in Turkey that is worth some $20 billion, and the Turkstream gas

pipeline, the Russian project. Now, it is the day

after Thanksgiving, and in the US retail trade that means two very

lucrative words, Black Friday. It got the name because shopkeepers

traditionally did so well they went into profit, or into the black,

for first time in the year. In the US,

it is seen as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season,

with stores opening in the early Scenes like these in UK stores

grabbed headlines last year, But has Black Friday mania really

spread around the world, We spoke to some

of our correspondents to find out. You can thank the United States for

Black Friday, as the day before Thanksgiving traditionally marked

the start of the holiday shopping season. Last year 87 million people

rushed to the stores or shopped online for the chance to save big,

spending $9 billion. But whether you can call it the most famous shopping

day any more is up for debate. Each year, it seems retailers are

bringing their sales up earlier and earlier to edge out competitors. Low

back a few years ago British retailers decided to get in on the

act. One major credit card company reckons we will spend nearly $3

billion in the UK today, a third more than last year. The question

is, could this be the peak? Fights broke out last year, and some

retailers are scaling back, for example, ASDA, owned by Walmart, is

not taking part. Black Friday hasn't caught on here. The closest Indian

one is in the valley, the biggest festival was two weeks ago, and

while a lot was discounted, it has been taken to a new level by the big

online retailers like Amazon India. They are all growing fast and used

sales to try and win new customers. Perhaps next year India will jump on

the Black Friday bandwagon. Here in Hong Kong, the big day for discount

shopping has already passed. China doesn't celebrate Black Friday.

Instead it has what it calls Singles Day, where every year on 11

November, online retailers offer discounts of up to 70% off of

regular prices. And this year, the online shopping giant Alibaba racked

up purchases of more than 14 billion US dollars, making Singles Day a

much bigger sales of and then Black Friday. Here in Brazil, Black Friday

is to a new thing, but many shoppers don't trust it. Some believe the

prices hiked in the month before the events are what seems like a big

discount could just be a regular price. Some are worried that they

might not be getting a real bargain. There you go, a little picture from

around the globe. Martin Newman is from the KPMG/Ipsos

retail think tank. Also the CEO and founder of

Practicology. I got that right! You did, thank you. Is hardly a global

phenomenon, but I'm trying to get a sense, doesn't really have any

relevance outside the United States? It certainly does, it has become a

phenomenon in the UK the last couple of years. Black Friday sales are

pretty significant. I think the question that I have and that

retailers are asking themselves is whether or not it is driving

incremental revenue or whether it is just shifting demand. There is

evidence that consumers hold off purchasing when they know that Black

Friday is coming up, and it might also be diminishing the importance

of Boxing Day sales and post- Christmas Day sales in January.

Because we talk about Black Friday, but come Monday we have Cyber

Monday. That adds to the whole shopping picture. But speaking of

Cyber Monday, do we have the pictures, they are a bit fun to run,

but anyway, the pictures from last year, the madness. Idiots grabbing

flatscreen televisions and fighting over them, really. What are those

sorts of seems a thing of the past, given that we are seeing more and

more is Stuff being bought online? -- but are those sorts of scenes? I

think they will be switching their purchase online, who wants to be

caught in scrimmage at 8am when the sales open? I think that will be a

driver in actually taking more consumers online to make their Black

Friday purchases in the first place. I was reading some reports

suggesting maybe 65% of everything bought on Black Friday and Cyber

Monday will be online today. So we don't know yet if this is extra

stuff people are buying, as you mentioned. Retailers haven't got

their head around that yet, all put their finger on it. But doesn't give

a boost to economies, whether it is the US or the UK? It does, I think

the UK... I think it is a question mark over incremental sales at at

the domestic level but one of the things it has done in recent years

is a no number of retailers have seen a big increase in cross-border

trade. So they have been getting a lot of orders online from German and

French consumers. Friday, if you actually tot up the sales, Black

Friday will be more than that of the rest of Europe combined for the UK.

So it has certainly benefited certain markets. Unfortunately we

have to wrap it up, but this pales in comparison with Singles Day, in

China. Is huge in China, in Australia. Australian retailers are

doing a great job of selling to Chinese consumers and getting

involved in Singles Day as well. Taking advantage of Chinese

consumerism, nothing wrong with that.

In other news: Mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale have rejected

a UN report saying mud released in the Brazilian mine disaster

A village was engulfed and at least 13 people were killed

when a dam burst at the Sammarco iron ore mine, in what has been has

been described as the country's worst environmental disaster.

On Wednesday, UN experts said there was evidence the flood contained

high levels of toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals.

BHP, though, says the debris poses no danger.

Consumer goods giant Unilever says it will switch to using only

renewable energy by 2030, and stop using energy

The announcement comes ahead of the global climate summit, which begins

in Paris on Sunday, where almost 200 countries will try to agree

Unilever is one of 81 major firms, including rivals Nestle and Procter

Gamble, that have signed up to setting emissions targets

Don't forget, you can get in touch with me

I will be back with James to take a look at some of the newspapers from

around the world. But I. -- goodbye.

A Royal Marine's wife has come up with a unique way to help children

deal with their parents being away on military

deployments, a small, washable version of mum or dad that they can