:00:00. > :00:00.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.
:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with
:00:07. > :00:20.A major task ahead: China's leaders gather for their annual parliament
:00:21. > :00:24.meeting as they plan a shake-up of its vast but flagging economy.
:00:25. > :00:27.Plus, ancient divisions, why the caste system still raises big
:00:28. > :00:40.In a moment, Australia's LIBOR regulators move against banking
:00:41. > :00:50.We start in Beijing where, as you have been hearing,
:00:51. > :00:51.China's annual parliament meeting opens this weekend.
:00:52. > :00:54.The National People's Congress will lay down a 5-year plan
:00:55. > :01:09.Premier Li Keqiang's government must engineer
:01:10. > :01:12.a giant economic shift away from manufacturing and heavy industry
:01:13. > :01:14.towards services and consumption, without derailing growth.
:01:15. > :01:16.So, what are we looking for over the coming days?
:01:17. > :01:19.Well, number one has to be the outlook for growth, exactly how
:01:20. > :01:23.Analysts expect Beijing to set an economic growth target
:01:24. > :01:26.of between 6.5 and 7% this year, below the 2015 target of around 7%.
:01:27. > :01:30.Last year growth in China was just 6.9%, the slowest pace in 25 years.
:01:31. > :01:37.Then there's the big question of restructuring.
:01:38. > :01:39.Beijing faces criticism for failing to tackle so-called
:01:40. > :01:40.Zombie enterprises, inefficient, debt-laden, state-owned companies
:01:41. > :01:44.There are around 106 at national level and 150,000 local
:01:45. > :01:46.ones in sectors spanning oil, steel, banking and telecoms.
:01:47. > :01:48.Beijing has already started the shake-up.
:01:49. > :01:51.This week, we heard 1.8 million workers would be laid off
:01:52. > :02:00.The total number could be as high as 6 million over the next few years.
:02:01. > :02:02.On Wednesday we heard from top Communist Party official
:02:03. > :02:04.Yu Zhengsheng, who heads a key government advisory body.
:02:05. > :02:24.He said these reforms were now a top priority.
:02:25. > :02:28.TRANSLATION: The focus of implementing the 13th five-year
:02:29. > :02:32.development plan is to reform supply-side structure and the major
:02:33. > :02:35.tasks of cutting down on excessive reduction capacity. And inventories
:02:36. > :02:42.and leverage. Jinny Yan is Chief China Economist
:02:43. > :02:51.at ICBC Standard Bank. Over the next two or three years, it
:02:52. > :02:59.is forecast that up to 6 million jobs may have to go. These so-called
:03:00. > :03:07.zombie enterprises. That is the huge number of, isn't it? This is
:03:08. > :03:10.assuming production is cut down by about 10% over the years. What is
:03:11. > :03:13.most concerning is all of those jobs will be very much targeted and
:03:14. > :03:17.focused in certain provinces of China. So you will see certain
:03:18. > :03:28.cities or provinces with people completely laid off and all the
:03:29. > :03:32.business is closed. It is very important from an employment
:03:33. > :03:35.perspective. The key thing is for the government to react with some
:03:36. > :03:40.kind of stabilisation fund, which I think they have already done, and
:03:41. > :03:44.the key point is to make sure that the skills are transferable. It will
:03:45. > :03:49.be very difficult, because obviously all of these industries are clearly
:03:50. > :03:55.very much in manufacturing and heavy industry sectors. There were mass
:03:56. > :03:59.job losses in the 1990s, but that is when we was seeing that really rapid
:04:00. > :04:02.growth. It is a very different picture now. It is a very different
:04:03. > :04:07.picture, but China is trying to go up the value curve. It is trying to
:04:08. > :04:11.encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. Those people in
:04:12. > :04:18.the provinces that will be laid off, they will be encouraged to set
:04:19. > :04:21.up their own businesses, go on the internet and set up businesses, and
:04:22. > :04:28.that kind of thing. It is becoming much easier. What they need to do is
:04:29. > :04:33.to get some sort of funding, so it is important for banks to
:04:34. > :04:39.concentrate on SME financing is well. This is key to boost
:04:40. > :04:46.confidence in the economy and stop outflows of capital. Absolutely. The
:04:47. > :04:51.first in his social stability. We have to make sure that these
:04:52. > :04:57.large-scale layoffs do not cause brought problems for the economy.
:04:58. > :04:59.The second issue is for the international investment community
:05:00. > :05:04.to have faith in the continued growth in China. I think once the
:05:05. > :05:09.government is managing both sides, both domestic and international,
:05:10. > :05:11.they will be able to manage the problems.
:05:12. > :05:13.To India now where last month, some 30 people died
:05:14. > :05:16.in violent protests by the upper caste Jat community demanding more
:05:17. > :05:20.The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder travelled to the town of Rohtak, near Delhi,
:05:21. > :05:23.to find out why the ancient caste system is still such a powerful
:05:24. > :05:48.For several days, protesters from the Jat community, expressed their
:05:49. > :05:54.anger. He took the authorities by surprise and led to many deaths and
:05:55. > :05:59.destruction. Several towns and states and highways leading to the
:06:00. > :06:03.main cities were affected. This was one of the worst hit. At the heart
:06:04. > :06:09.of the protest is the changing face of the local economy. Traditionally,
:06:10. > :06:14.much of the land he has been used for farming. They are growing wheat
:06:15. > :06:18.in these fields. But increasingly, agriculture is giving way to
:06:19. > :06:24.industry. Farmland is being acquired to make factories, such as the one
:06:25. > :06:30.here. All part of the government's move to transform India's economy.
:06:31. > :06:34.But while the landscape is changing, the transition to a new economy has
:06:35. > :06:43.been difficult for those who live off the land. They are relatively
:06:44. > :06:49.wealthy farming community, but there is not enough land left.
:06:50. > :06:54.TRANSLATION: They are always acquiring our land to build a road
:06:55. > :07:00.or rail track and we barely get any compensation. We are falling in
:07:01. > :07:03.debt. The town is filled with colleges and educational Institute,
:07:04. > :07:12.as Liz Young people try to acquire new skills. But while degrees are
:07:13. > :07:16.relatively available, jobs are not. They meet a group of students who
:07:17. > :07:21.say unemployment is very high in the community. My friend got 430 marks
:07:22. > :07:27.in his examination. He didn't even get called for an interview. But
:07:28. > :07:33.someone from the lower caste scored 405 and landed himself a government
:07:34. > :07:37.job. It is depressing. The private sector only employs 12% of India's
:07:38. > :07:42.workforce, which is why government jobs are so heavily sought after.
:07:43. > :07:48.But 50% of those jobs are set aside for lower castes to overcome
:07:49. > :07:52.centuries of discrimination and social disadvantages. It is leading
:07:53. > :07:56.to growing resentment among other communities, who feel left out, and
:07:57. > :07:59.are increasingly willing to hit back.
:08:00. > :08:01.To Asia now where Australian regulators are grappling with
:08:02. > :08:04.their own version of the LIBOR interest rate fixing scandal.
:08:05. > :08:12.Sharanjit Leyl is in Singapore for us.
:08:13. > :08:20.What they tell me more about the banking question. Well, it is one
:08:21. > :08:24.Australia's largest, ANZ, and basically they are accused of
:08:25. > :08:33.unconscionable conduct and market manipulation. The charges relate to
:08:34. > :08:35.ANZ's involvement in setting the primary interest-rate benchmark used
:08:36. > :08:42.in Australian financial markets during the period of March 2010 and
:08:43. > :08:45.May 2012. It is important to note that the bank has rejected all the
:08:46. > :08:50.allegations and they have done this in a statement. The commission
:08:51. > :08:56.alleges that the bank traded in a manner intended to create an
:08:57. > :09:00.artificial price during the period in question. They alleged that ANZ
:09:01. > :09:05.was seeking to maximise profit to the detriment of those holding
:09:06. > :09:11.opposite positions to them. This is Australia's equivalent to Libor in
:09:12. > :09:14.the UK, and is used as a reference rate to banks lending money among
:09:15. > :09:18.each other. It very much echoes what happened in the UK, with several
:09:19. > :09:22.banks last year found to have conspired to influence the Libor by
:09:23. > :09:25.agreeing among themselves to fixed rates. It will be interesting to see
:09:26. > :09:29.how this develops in Australia. Google, Facebook, Microsoft
:09:30. > :09:40.and others are taking legal action in support of their rival Apple
:09:41. > :09:43.in its privacy battle with the FBI Apple is refusing to comply with
:09:44. > :09:48.a court order that it must help the FBI access encrypted data
:09:49. > :09:51.on an iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook, who with his wife
:09:52. > :09:54.killed 14 people in December in A group
:09:55. > :09:56.of 17 smaller firms, including Twitter and LinkedIn, filed a
:09:57. > :10:01.similar court document on Thursday. Let's have a look at the markets.
:10:02. > :10:19.This is the picture. Schools in England need to adopt
:10:20. > :10:21.more flexible working hours if they want to stop teachers
:10:22. > :10:24.leaving the profession for good, according to research by the
:10:25. > :10:26.Policy Exchange think tank. It says in a time
:10:27. > :10:29.of significant teacher shortages, a move towards more flexible
:10:30. > :10:32.working could encourage thousands of