26/05/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with

Japan wants G7 leaders to start shovelling the cash to boost

But Germany and the UK still say austerity,

McDonalds set for another king size grilling at its annual meeting

today, as fast food workers demand a bigger portion of pay.

Stay with me. I will give you an exciting snapshot of all good news

in business and money. In a moment -

could the fairy tale be over? Alibaba reveals its accounts are

under investigation. We start in Japan, where leaders

of the G7 group of nations are gathering in Ise-Shima,

in the mountains south west Up for discussion - terrorism,

the refugee crisis, tensions with China over territorial

waters and Britain's EU referendum But top of the agenda is this -

fears over global economic growth. The IMF has revised

down its world growth forecasts The economic picture is

getting worse, not better. Should governments be splashing

the cash, spending more money to Or is austerity the way to go -

cutting back and spending less? On one side you have the UK

and Germany who believe that the only way to a sustainable economy is

by spending less, something that they argue makes them more resilient

to future financial shocks. On the other side you have Japan,

which has been spending billions to It has been calling on its G7

partners to commit to doing the same, saying cuts lead to

stagnation and recession. The United States, Canada,

Italy and France all agree. Is there any hope of a deal to boost

public spending? Asia business correspondent Karishma

Vaswani is at the G7 summit Great to see you. This is the same

old arguments, isn't it? Japan says to spend, but their new kind of go,

hang on, Japan? -- then you kind of. Japan spent a lot of money to boost

the economy and it didn't work. I am not sure Japan is the right one to

send this message! You are absolutely right. The fact that

Japan has provided all set for the solution as a remedy for global

growth almost seemed hypocritical, if you look at the state of Japan's

economy. 25 years of low or no growth, low wages and prices. It

really is a pretty dire situation for the Japanese economy. But Prime

Minister Abe says his big plan to boost growth in Japan through

monetary policy and fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms, he is

betting this will turn the economy around. Pivotal to about is the fact

that he is of the opinion that if you cut interest rates, remember

Japan cut them to below zero earlier this year, then eventually people

and companies will be forced to spend and prices will go up and you

will start to see the engines of the economy rolling again. But he has

received some criticism for this at home, which is why he is so keen to

get this backing from his partners at the G7 so that they can say,

look, he has got it right and this is the way forward to fix all of the

problems in the global economy. But you and I both know that what

happened. We had some inkling of that at the finance meeting of the

weekend, when none of them could get together and decide what the way

forward is. So all they said was that each country to its own and we

will just keep doing what we've been doing. So I don't expect to see any

surprises. We will talk to you in the next hour. Keep across whatever

is going on or whatever is not going on! Thank you.

We are also in Oak Brook Illinois, the head quarters of the world's

For the third year running the company's annual meeting is

being hit by protests over pay and conditions.

The Fight for 15 campaign is demanding a minimum wage

of $15 an hour, childcare and the right to join a union.

McDonalds has already pledged to raise workers average pay to $10

by this year, that's in its own restaurants.

The boss recently said higher pay was helping to retain staff and is

boosting customer satisfaction. It is becoming an annual ritual,

protesting outside McDonald's Chicago headquarters is something

not on the menu. The $15 minimum wage and the right to form a union.

Gregory has been involved with this campaign since 2012, when even

members of his own family were sceptical. Now he says the national

attention and support has been remarkable. That was something that

we didn't see before. It has been a huge surprise for the global workers

who started this. We kept pushing, now everybody is in favour. Along

the way there have been successes. Some of the country's largest

low-wage employers, Walmart, Target and McDonald's, have announced a

small pay increases. The boss of the fast food giant recently told

investors the mood had not turned out to be bad for business. -- the

move. But a former McDonald's CEO warned

employees could be replaced by robots if the minimum wage went up,

lending support to critics who argue higher wages may lead to job losses.

Fight for 15 began here in New York four years ago and it has led to

wage increases in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the

protest outside McDonald's are a reminder that this issue is far from

settled. We will keep across that story for

you. Let's return to Asia now where

there are worries about China's Shares in Alibaba Group fell almost

7% in New York on Wednesday after the online retailing giant

said its accounting practices were Rico Hizon is following this for us

in Singapore. Good to see you! Here is a company,

just reminding people, when this Chinese giant chose New York to go

public, to go on the stock market, it was the biggest as we call it

flotation in history, wasn't it? That's right. And when you list in

the US you have to be more transparent than any country around

the world and right now they are being investigated by the US

security and exchange commission. At this point it isn't divulging what

they are investigating, but Alibaba has drawn the regulators' attention

in the past over fake goods on its website and analysts are concerned

about its use of financial measures that don't comply with generally

accept that accounting principles. -- generally accepted. Alibaba says

it is operating with authorities and is providing greater financial

information in its latest annual report. Everyone knows the face of

Alibaba. They have investors around the world. The company's affiliate

are involved in mobile payments, financial services, television and

film production. It holds stakes in car sharing services, discount

shopping website operators. At the moment investors are very concerned

about the company's investigation, growth prospects, amid the economic

slowdown. We will have to watch this space, regarding the investigation.

Good on you. I wonder if there are any regrets about going to New York!

Talk to you soon. He was saying Hong Kong, New York. Perhaps Shanghai.

Brent crude has risen above $50 a barrel. That's for the first time in

something like seven months. Asian shares are struggling. They are

worried about US interest rates. Could we see a rate hike next month,

June? And of course the slowing Chinese economy.

Don't forget you can get in touch with me and some

I will be back to take a look at the papers.

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