:00:00. > :00:00.Doctors have described the operation as "a surgical milestone".
:00:00. > :00:00.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.
:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with Sally
:00:07. > :00:21.France is braced for fresh strike action today as workers reject
:00:22. > :00:25.a law that aims to loosen the country's stringent labour rules.
:00:26. > :00:30.And the price of oil is within striking distance
:00:31. > :00:39.of $50 a barrel - we ask the boss of energy giant Total where next?
:00:40. > :00:46.Also in the programme, Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple,
:00:47. > :00:48.has been checking out its latest investment in China.
:00:49. > :00:56.Rico Hizon will have the details in a moment.
:00:57. > :00:58.Let's start with the events in France.
:00:59. > :01:00.Lorry drivers are expected to put up roadblocks around France's major
:01:01. > :01:04.cities, and unions are calling for a strike on the Paris metro today.
:01:05. > :01:07.It's all aimed at rejecting measures to loosen the country's
:01:08. > :01:12.The disruptions have been prompted by the government's decision last
:01:13. > :01:14.week to use a special measure to pass the legislation without
:01:15. > :01:21.The new laws are about the length of the working week and employers'
:01:22. > :01:25.Rail workers are expected to join the strike on Wednesday
:01:26. > :01:27.and Thursday, and air traffic controllers will
:01:28. > :01:33.So as the week progresses, the disruption will increase.
:01:34. > :01:41.With me is Dr Ashok Kumar, fellow at Queen Mary University of London.
:01:42. > :01:52.Good morning. So first of all, these laws, as they almost there in terms
:01:53. > :01:56.of becoming a reality, or is there still a way to go? Francois Hollande
:01:57. > :02:04.and his party have effectively used emergency measures to circumvent
:02:05. > :02:10.Parliament, and neither is a vote potentially. The only mechanism to
:02:11. > :02:14.prevent this is to ascend the vote, but it will probably not pass. It
:02:15. > :02:19.has been going on for months, this whole attempt to reform labour law
:02:20. > :02:22.in France, and yet it has been incredibly difficult. What do you
:02:23. > :02:29.think the likely outcome will be in the end? It is difficult to say. In
:02:30. > :02:35.2006, they passed a series of laws to deregulate Labour in the country.
:02:36. > :02:38.It was a milder version of this. There were mass protests in the
:02:39. > :02:43.street and they reversed the decision. What we see now is two
:02:44. > :02:47.thirds of the country opposing this fall, a majority of the country
:02:48. > :02:50.supporting the protesters. So Francois Hollande is the most
:02:51. > :02:56.unpopular sitting president in the history of France. I think people
:02:57. > :02:59.recognise there is a high possibility or potential for the
:03:00. > :03:05.reversal of this decision. What evidence is there to show that
:03:06. > :03:10.reform of labour laws help to boost economic growth and also reduce the
:03:11. > :03:17.plan levels, which in France are pretty high? The evidence is pretty
:03:18. > :03:22.tenuous. If you look at from 2007 until now, unemployment in France
:03:23. > :03:28.has increased by 30%. In that time, and before that time, it had nothing
:03:29. > :03:34.to do with making the labour market more flexible. Two events occurred,
:03:35. > :03:39.the financial crisis, and austerity. Those could be a great impetus
:03:40. > :03:43.rather than duality and flexibility or rigidity of the labour market.
:03:44. > :03:47.And the generous social benefits which in fact have absorbed economic
:03:48. > :03:52.shocks more than anything. In Spain, they have changed their labour
:03:53. > :03:57.laws, probably under pressure from others, but they have done that.
:03:58. > :04:03.What extent has that helps main? Spain passed a series of laws that
:04:04. > :04:08.mirror this poor and the rhetoric used about how will change or
:04:09. > :04:16.increase investment and an implement. An implement has remained
:04:17. > :04:19.negligible. -- unemployment. Vicarious Des and short-term
:04:20. > :04:26.contracts and casualisation have gone up. It is very difficult. Thank
:04:27. > :04:30.you for your time this morning. As the week progresses in France, we
:04:31. > :04:32.will keep you up-to-date on where their strikes are taking place and
:04:33. > :04:35.how you may be affected by that. Earlier this year,
:04:36. > :04:37.a vast gas field off the coast of the Shetland Islands
:04:38. > :04:40.in the North Sea was opened by Developed at a cost of about $4.75
:04:41. > :04:45.billion, the field is now running at Conceived at a time
:04:46. > :04:49.when energy prices were high, the price of oil has been rising
:04:50. > :04:51.steadily in recent days. It's now back up to
:04:52. > :04:55.around $49 a barrel. Our energy correspondent John Moylan
:04:56. > :04:57.spoke to Total's chief executive, Patrick Bouyanne, and asked how
:04:58. > :05:12.much more volatility is still The price of oil is never stable. It
:05:13. > :05:22.is only the dream of politicians for it to be stable. We think it was a
:05:23. > :05:26.sort of floor. There is no ceiling, no floor. It will move up and down.
:05:27. > :05:38.It is very difficult on the Showtime. -- short-term. We still
:05:39. > :05:40.have huge inventory is. The market is diminishing because all
:05:41. > :05:47.production in the US is going down. But again, our job is not to plan
:05:48. > :05:57.for short-term volatility, it is to be serious about the assets. There
:05:58. > :06:01.was a big researcher in and push into renewable energy for the
:06:02. > :06:04.future. Some people look at the big oil chines like Total and say the
:06:05. > :06:11.traditional model of the big oil company is broken and dead. Don't
:06:12. > :06:18.misinterpret it. We are very proud to be a major oil and gas company.
:06:19. > :06:23.In 20 years, Total will always be a major oil and gas company. Energy is
:06:24. > :06:28.a question of planning medium and long-term. We need to think of that.
:06:29. > :06:32.Oil and gas companies are under scrutiny and accused, and it is
:06:33. > :06:39.partly true because some of the products we put in the market, but
:06:40. > :06:47.I'm convinced that we can be not only accused but a positive force.
:06:48. > :06:51.We have energy firms and want to be part of the solution. When we look
:06:52. > :06:57.to the energy world in 20 years, we are convinced we will have oil and
:06:58. > :07:02.gas but also more growth in renewables. I think we have the
:07:03. > :07:04.capacity in a major oil and gas company like Total to be an active
:07:05. > :07:07.participant to this new energy. A Ukrainian man has pleaded guilty
:07:08. > :07:11.to his role in an insider trading scheme that netted more than $30
:07:12. > :07:15.million in illicit profits. Vadym Iermolovych admitted to
:07:16. > :07:17.hacking into news wire agencies and using the unpublished information to
:07:18. > :07:23.gain advantage on the stock market. 32 people have been charged in
:07:24. > :07:28.connection with the global scheme. US drugs giant Pfizer will acquire
:07:29. > :07:32.the maker of a new eczema treatment The firm announced a deal with
:07:33. > :07:36.the board of California-based It comes weeks after Pfizer
:07:37. > :07:40.abandoned a $160 billion merger with Irish
:07:41. > :07:51.drugmaker Allergan for tax reasons. Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook,
:07:52. > :07:53.has been in Beijing, where he's met the head of China's
:07:54. > :07:56.largest taxi-hailing app. Here he is, taking a Didi Chuxing
:07:57. > :07:59.car to visit an Apple store, just days after the tech giant
:08:00. > :08:20.invested $1 billion in the company. So tell us more. They are obviously
:08:21. > :08:27.very keen to now down this investment. Absolutely. A big splash
:08:28. > :08:32.for Tim Cook and Apple, visiting Beijing, investing 1 billion US
:08:33. > :08:39.dollars in China's largest taxi hailing app, and he even took a car
:08:40. > :08:45.to visit the Apple staff. Didi Chuxing has over 40 million drivers,
:08:46. > :08:50.many analysts are asking the question right now, how much of
:08:51. > :08:53.Apple's $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing is motivated by good
:08:54. > :08:57.business sense and how much of it is an effort to smooth things over with
:08:58. > :09:02.the leadership in China where Apple has faced a series of setbacks this
:09:03. > :09:06.year? One of them, sales plummeting 26% drink the first three months of
:09:07. > :09:10.this year, making it one of its worst quarters ever on the mainland.
:09:11. > :09:13.Secondly the firm lost a legal battle over the iPhone trademark,
:09:14. > :09:21.and thirdly, in April, Chinese regulators shut down movie services.
:09:22. > :09:26.Everyone is hoping with this $1 billion investment, though services
:09:27. > :09:31.from Apple will be back without the restrictions. Thank you. We will
:09:32. > :09:36.watch this space. See you soon. Let's look at the markets quickly so
:09:37. > :09:44.you have a sense of how things are going. Let's look at the price of
:09:45. > :09:47.oil, $49.23. As you can see, markets across the board doing well, and the
:09:48. > :09:56.big winners are the energy shares. I will see you soon.
:09:57. > :09:59.Police have voiced concerns that officers could be
:10:00. > :10:02."sitting ducks" in the event of a gun attack by terrorists.
:10:03. > :10:04.The Police Federation says that in spite of plans to increase
:10:05. > :10:07.the number of firearms staff, officers in rural and coastal
:10:08. > :10:11.areas, where some of Britain's power plants are based, are vulnerable.