:00:00. > :00:14.Now it is time for World Business Report .
:00:15. > :00:24.But after years of weak growth and a jobless rate more than double
:00:25. > :00:27.is France getting the medicine it needs?
:00:28. > :00:31.G7 leaders call the world economy an "urgent priority",
:00:32. > :00:42.but fail to agree on co-ordinated steps to head off a crisis.
:00:43. > :01:06.This is a fascinating and exciting snapshot of all the views in the
:01:07. > :01:08.world of business and money. We also have some tough times for China's
:01:09. > :01:20.biggest maker of PCs, Lenovo. Starting in France, where
:01:21. > :01:22.pressure is mounting on the government as that Wavell strike
:01:23. > :01:28.hits the country hard. The cause is
:01:29. > :01:30.a controversial shake-up of labour rules aimed at making it easier and
:01:31. > :01:34.cheaper to hire and fire workers. Labour unions are
:01:35. > :01:38.fiercely opposed to it. But its supporters say it is vital
:01:39. > :01:41.to make French business more competitive and energise
:01:42. > :01:44.the country's stagnant economy. Let me give you some
:01:45. > :01:51.background to this. France's unemployment rate is over
:01:52. > :01:52.10%, Proof, say critics,
:01:53. > :02:04.that the system needs reform. Then there is France's
:02:05. > :02:06.economic growth. This graph shows how persistently
:02:07. > :02:08.weak it has been The IMF says growth will improve
:02:09. > :02:21.a bit this year. But it warns that the government's
:02:22. > :02:24.reforms don't go far enough Our business correspondent
:02:25. > :02:30.Jonty Bloom has been to Toulouse to find out why these reforms are
:02:31. > :02:43.so controversial. Burning tyres and blocked roads
:02:44. > :02:49.brought traffic chaos to parts of France and that was just the start.
:02:50. > :02:55.It campaigners also hit electricity production and the rail network. The
:02:56. > :02:58.blockade of all refineries is causing more queues at petrol
:02:59. > :03:03.stations, especially in the north of France. While in town squares across
:03:04. > :03:10.the country protests have been held every night for weeks. This is the
:03:11. > :03:17.capital, the town hall in Toulouse. As you can see they are looking
:03:18. > :03:21.forward to the Euros. But this protest goes on every night against
:03:22. > :03:25.the labour reforms that the French government is proposing. We have
:03:26. > :03:30.flags, food stalls and just here, about half-an-hour ago, there was a
:03:31. > :03:32.large group of people about half-an-hour ago, there was a
:03:33. > :03:35.large group of people having a discussion. All of a sudden they
:03:36. > :03:43.stormed this it on the right of the town hall. -- this bit.
:03:44. > :03:49.The protesters targeted the opera because they say it is just for the
:03:50. > :03:53.rich, like this labour laws. And some trade unionists hate the
:03:54. > :04:01.reforms as well. They say no discussion. That's why we are going
:04:02. > :04:09.to struggle against it. Anyway, it isn't a question of negotiation. We
:04:10. > :04:13.have to destroy this project. This is of course sees things
:04:14. > :04:16.differently. This warehouse distributes haircare products to
:04:17. > :04:22.salons across France. That could soon be hit by fuel shortages and
:04:23. > :04:26.roadblocks. Action the company's Ohno believes are politically
:04:27. > :04:33.driven. Andy says there is one reason there can be no compromise.
:04:34. > :04:37.TRANSLATION: We are in France and I think that unfortunately we still
:04:38. > :04:43.live on year of class struggles, most likely kept alive by a far
:04:44. > :04:46.right ideals -- ideology that is prevalent in some areas of France.
:04:47. > :04:50.That's why we have these blockades. Anything done to help this as is
:04:51. > :04:54.seen as a gift to chief executives and where the interests of employers
:04:55. > :04:59.are always seen as opposed to those of employees. On the surface life in
:05:00. > :05:02.front is as pleasant as ever but unemployment is over 10% and much
:05:03. > :05:06.higher for the young. Successive governments have tried to force
:05:07. > :05:08.through reforms and fail. This time neither side seems willing to
:05:09. > :05:12.compromise. We are also in Japan,
:05:13. > :05:15.where leaders of the G7 group of industrialised countries are
:05:16. > :05:17.wrapping up two days of talks in In their final statement
:05:18. > :05:23.the leaders have said "global growth But they have failed to agree
:05:24. > :05:33.on practical steps. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe
:05:34. > :05:41.has been trying to get his fellow leaders to boost government spending
:05:42. > :05:47.to kick-start the global economy. Mr Abe has been making comparisons
:05:48. > :05:49.with the 2008 financial crisis But he's failed to get agreement
:05:50. > :05:58.for a co-ordinated spending spree, with Germany and the UK sticking
:05:59. > :06:03.firmly to the path of austerity. Asia Business Correspondent Karishma
:06:04. > :06:16.Vaswani is at the G7 summit in It looked like you were in a skating
:06:17. > :06:19.ring for a second! We all know, you and I said it yesterday, that
:06:20. > :06:24.globally things are getting worse, not better. We note International
:06:25. > :06:32.Monetary Fund has changed what it thinks the global economy will grow
:06:33. > :06:34.by. The Japanese Prime Minister thinks there could be another crisis
:06:35. > :06:39.around the corner. Here is the question. Why is it so hard for
:06:40. > :06:43.leaders to come up with a unified approach to prevent all of that
:06:44. > :06:48.happening? Well, it is pretty simple. They have different opinions
:06:49. > :06:53.as to how they can go about fixing the problems in the world economy.
:06:54. > :06:57.They couldn't come to an agreement because frankly they don't believe
:06:58. > :07:01.in the same thing. You've got the UK and Germany saying they want fiscal
:07:02. > :07:06.austerity, you have to be the structural reforms taking place, and
:07:07. > :07:09.then you've got Japan, the likes of Canada, saying they need time to
:07:10. > :07:14.sort this out. So it would be good if we could have a bit more of a
:07:15. > :07:18.concerted effort to say that stimulus is the way to go to fix the
:07:19. > :07:23.economies. They didn't do that and in fact the communique they had was
:07:24. > :07:26.law and compensated. They basically say in a roundabout fashion that
:07:27. > :07:31.each country should go about fixing the problems in its own individual
:07:32. > :07:35.economy using flexible fiscal strategies. So basically it is up to
:07:36. > :07:40.you. Each country decides how they go about fixing the problems in
:07:41. > :07:45.there own economy. Quickly, it highlights Japan's situation, but
:07:46. > :07:48.also for viewers around the world Mr Abe wanted to print more money and
:07:49. > :07:53.get these countries to spend more money because there's more money the
:07:54. > :07:59.American and European, which means they will buy more from Japan. It is
:08:00. > :08:06.just that. He was also trying to build credibility here at home. But
:08:07. > :08:09.if everybody in the G7 says fiscal stimulus is a great idea, he can
:08:10. > :08:12.then say the critics in Japan that they have to put off the national
:08:13. > :08:17.sales tax that they are planning to implement in 2017 and a have to
:08:18. > :08:22.continue using the arrows of Abenomics, the plane he has in
:08:23. > :08:24.Japan, which would include fiscal stimulus. He didn't get that so it
:08:25. > :08:29.will be hard for him to convince critics back home. Indeed. We will
:08:30. > :08:34.come back to you and talk to you soon. Thank you.
:08:35. > :08:36.Let's stay in Asia now, where Chinese tech giant Lenovo is having
:08:37. > :08:46.It has revealed a steep fall in revenues as, we all know,
:08:47. > :08:48.the market for personal computers continues to flag.
:08:49. > :08:50.But it's also having problems with smartphones.
:08:51. > :08:53.Rico Hizon is following the story for us in Singapore.
:08:54. > :09:04.Good to see you! I was looking at some numbers. Here is the problem
:09:05. > :09:09.for Lenovo, the world's against PC makers. In the first three months of
:09:10. > :09:12.this year global sales of PCs was 64 million. The same time last year it
:09:13. > :09:20.was 76 million. People are buying fewer. Absolutely. We are seeing the
:09:21. > :09:24.core businesses of Lenovo continuing to hurt smart phones, personal
:09:25. > :09:30.computers. The smartphone struggle to keep pace with the likes of Apple
:09:31. > :09:34.and other rivals in the market. Revenue from PC sales, which
:09:35. > :09:40.accounts for much of its business, was down 11%. It has been impacted
:09:41. > :09:44.by currency fluctuations and slumping demand in China and
:09:45. > :09:48.overseas. As for the cellphones, one analyst said the company was failing
:09:49. > :09:53.to snatch customers from competitors and said customers would pick Apple
:09:54. > :09:59.or Samsung and if they want to buy a cheap cellphone they would rather
:10:00. > :10:05.pick something else over Lenovo. So Lenovo reported a 128 million
:10:06. > :10:09.dollars net loss for the year and that is compared to a net profit of
:10:10. > :10:15.more than $800 million over the same period last year. On Lenovo watcher
:10:16. > :10:21.says they haven't really done very well in China, but other brand names
:10:22. > :10:27.are to much better. They have also announced cost-cutting measures.
:10:28. > :10:29.Hopefully with these cutbacks and a restructuring of the business they
:10:30. > :10:34.will be back in the black this new financial year. We will have to wait
:10:35. > :10:41.and see. Thank you. I will wrap it up. Follow me on Twitter. Stage ten.
:10:42. > :10:42.I will be back to take a look at some of the newspapers from around
:10:43. > :10:54.the world. The criminal justice system is close
:10:55. > :10:57.to breaking point according to a damning report from the
:10:58. > :10:59.Public Accounts Committee. It finds the system plagued
:11:00. > :11:03.by delays and inefficiencies