24/03/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news and World Business Report.

Not exactly - but French bosses could get more

rights under a controversial shake-up of labour laws.

Premier Li Keqiang says China won't resort to devaluing

We've the latest from the Boao economic forum.

I'm Sally Bundock - also in the programme.

Singaporeans are awaiting the latest budget news.

We start in France - where a fierce debate is raging over

the length of the working week - and the rights of workers.

Bosses have long complained France's labour laws are far too restrictive

- and deter them from creating new jobs.

Later today President Francois Hollande and his Labour Minister

will unveil their plan for a shake-up at a cabinet meeting.

Let's take a look at the details: In France the working week is capped

by law at 35 hours - it's the only country in Europe to do this.

So is France about to abandon its cherished 35 hour week?

The government wants to let bosses negotiate longer hours with

They could ask them to work 48 hours - which is the official EU limit -

or even 60 in special cases - as long as they still average 35 -

calculated over a three month period.

Companies won't be able to impose flexible working

The idea is to make the law less rigid - but critics say the reforms

have been watered down Still more big protests are expected today.

These were the scenes in Paris earlier this month when the reforms

And an online petition against them has gathered more than

Since then - small companies have been excluded from the reforms -

which some argue are the very firms that need flexibility the most.

Let us get some analysis from the director of European economics. It

is not sound like reforms to me. Is a whole range of measures about

working hours and holidays and also about the cost of companies firing

people and the flexibility of companies with hiring people. Is

putting a lot of triggers in terms of making labour law more flexible.

Something that we have seen in other European countries in recent years,

which is worked in recent years. The French reforms aren't that ambitious

by European standards. And they are saying that it is to water down to

have any impact on the -- too wanted down to have any impact on the

economy. In the end, they are likely to be quite modest and not strong

enough to boost the economy and lower unemployment. When you compare

to Spain, for example, they are seeing their unemployment rate fall

significantly and job creation climb where they are pushed to quite

difficult reforms. Where the French unemployment rate has hardly changed

around 10%. Indeed, the reforms may be in Spain and Italy, and they are

the blueprint as to what is happening now in France. They've

taken a blueprint, they have introduced some measures from these

reforms to improve flexibility and reduce labour costs so that

companies hire more and bring down unemployment. As I mentioned, they

aren't as ambitious and they come very late and we aren't going to

have elections in 2017 and whether these reforms which cost them a lot

of clinical capital are going to be strong enough to boost job creation

is ahead of the elections for the president to get a benefit in 2017,

that is highly doubtful. Thank you so much for your time. When they get

an outfit from France we will update you.

We are also in China where Premier Li Keqiang has been

delivering his keynote speech at the opening of the annual Boao Forum.

The event for top business leaders on the island of Hainan is

Mr Li has been telling them that China must face up to

its economic problems - and not resort to devaluing

The BBC's Asia Business correspondent Karishma Vaswani is

This was clearly an attempt by a China's Premier to reassure the

financial community that China is aware of its economic problems and

has the ability to deal with them. He sat to address all the concerns

that have been raised about China recently ranging from the slowdown

of economic growth to the volatility in China's currency growth. Whether

they can push past this transition as well. He also spoke at the world

economy is going through a turbulent pack and that is having an impact on

China's fortunes as well. TRANSLATION: Domestic leader are

deep-rooted problems and an increasing downward pressure on the

economy. In particular we are experiencing some unavoidable and

temporary problems in the process of transformation and upgrading. He

stressed that they have enough policy tools left to deal with the

risks that the economy is now facing. He also addressed implicit

worries that baiting is try to manipulate the Chinese currency by

boosting imports. This was very much about China putting on a good show

for the rest of the world. But the Premier has made the statement

before and it is doubtful whether they will be convincing enough for

those who still have concerns about China's economy.

That slowdown in China has hit some of its trading

partners particularly hard - one of those is Singapore, where Sharanjyt

Sharanjit - it's budget day today - what are Singaporeans expecting?

It is by -- budget day. Singapore's economy is so exposed to trade and

growth patterns around the world and it is often the first to be

impacted. So, this year, there are a lot of accreditations focus on

helping businesses deal with the regional slowdown emanating from

China. And indeed, there are a lot of big challenges, and one of which

is the high cost of labour and the rise of labour costs last year. That

is something that is impacting businesses and one of the options

from the government is to try to adjust restrictions on the hiring of

foreign workers. There's expectations that they may continue

to defer levies. This is saying that the budget is unlikely to

significantly affect economic growth forecasts. There's been a budget

surplus almost every year. But no huge tax breaks expected, so

certainly none for me. A 50-year-old Chinese man has

pleaded guilty to being involved in a plot to hack into

the computer systems of US defence Su Bin is believed to have been part

of a group targeting data relating to fighter jets,

cargo aircraft and weapons. The US Department of Justice said

Mr Su sought "commercial gain" from his actions - but stopped short

of saying the Chinese government Mr Su was arrested while working

in Canada in 2014. He faces five years in prison

and a $250,000 fine. Swiss drug company Novartis has

agreed to pay more than $25 million to the US Government to settle civil

charges that it bribed healthcare professionals

in China to boost sales. That's according to the US

Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC says the violations

of the US law barring bribery of foreign officials occurred from 2009

to 2013 - and that Novartis settled A quick look at markets with a mixed

picture emerging in Asia today. Japan we have 20 minutes left. They

are slightly down as you can see. Or oil is just above $40 a barrel. This

is how trade was like in the United States. Pessimism is coming in

again. Is going to the Easter weekend and the long break, I will

see you soon. -- as we go into. For the first time junior doctors

in England will refuse to cover emergency care during a 48 hour

strike at the end of April. It's a dramatic escalation in

the row between the British Medical