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Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Now for the latest financial news with Sally Bundock | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
It is deadline day for two Chinese firms looking to take over Ausgrid, | :00:00. | :00:20. | |
but will Australia give the green light to the sale | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
The UK Government launches its plan to combat childhood obesity, | :00:24. | :00:31. | |
but will a 20% sugar tax make a difference? | :00:32. | :00:44. | |
Also in the programme we will be seeing how the strong yen has | :00:45. | :00:56. | |
affected Japan's exports, with a sharp decline in exports in the last | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
month. We will look at the numbers in just a moment. | :01:01. | :01:01. | |
Companies from China and Hong Kong have until today to convince | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
Australia to sell them its largest electricity network, | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
In a preliminary decision last week the Australian government blocked | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
China's State Grid corporation and Cheung Kong Infrastructure | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
of Hong Kong are after a controlling stake. | :01:17. | :01:18. | |
China is the world's third-biggest international investor, | :01:19. | :01:19. | |
having spent $123 billion overseas in 2014. | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
That number is set to rise, and while projects need funding, | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
some Chinese practices have proven unwelcome. | :01:25. | :01:25. | |
In the last month, the British Government decided | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
to postpone final approval of a nuclear power station | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
at Hinkley Point over concerns about Chinese | :01:31. | :01:31. | |
And, across the pond, similar concerns led technology firm | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
Fairchild Semiconductors to reject a $2.5 billion bid from a Chinese | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
firm, in lieu of a lesser offer from an American company. | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
Fairchild said it was worried about getting congressional approval | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
So back to Australia where Phil Mercer is standing by. | :01:45. | :02:20. | |
Just explain in a bit more detail what is going on here. It seems | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
there is a bitter tug-of-war between Beijing and Australia. It is pretty | :02:28. | :02:36. | |
confusing. Back in March these two companies, one from China and one | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
from Hong Kong, seemed to be in the running to buy a Ausgrid, | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
Australia's biggest electricity network. Yet a week ago the | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
Australian government put a temporary block on any sale to those | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
bidders, citing national security concerns. Now, during a press | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
conference the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
that those reasons were very, very sound, he said that he couldn't | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
explain exactly what they were due to their security sensitivities. It | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
may well be that Australia is trying to really gauge the extent of the | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
Chinese government's involvement in these two Enterprises, but at the | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
moment we simply don't know the specific reasons why Australia has | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
blocked the sale, and those two bidders have until today to convince | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
Australia to change its mind, and to allow them to buy Ausgrid, | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
Australia's premier electricity network. And it is an interesting | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
development, China's commerce Ministry saying Chinese firms are | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
not being treated fairly, this is protectionist measures on the part | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
of Australia and yet for Australia at the Chinese economy is so | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
important in terms of that relationship. Well, China is | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
Australia's biggest trading partner and demand from China in recent | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
years, especially for iron ore and coal, really did insulate Australia | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
and the worst of the global financial crisis. Now, Australia's | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
National resources boom is coming to an end so future prosperity will | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
rely on other markets taking advantage of demand from China. So | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
clearly Australia needs China's money. Whether this decision from | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
Australia is political... Remember, in the upper house of the Australian | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
Parliament there are protectionist and right-wing parties who will be | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
very important for the government in its attempt to pass legislation. Is | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
this an attempt by the government to placate those right wing and | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
protectionist party 's? The government says not but at the | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
moment we simply don't know. There is a feeling among some experts that | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
taps Australia's decision is driven in some part by xenophobia -- that | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
perhaps. If that is true there could be troubled waters ahead in the | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
relationships between Australia and it's very powerful and rich partner, | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
China. Thank you for filling us in, we will keep an eye on how that | :05:00. | :05:01. | |
develops later. The UK Government is today | :05:02. | :05:02. | |
launching a far-reaching plan The programme is targeting a 20% | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
reduction in the amount of sugar used in products popular | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
with children, over five years, A consultation is to examine | :05:10. | :05:11. | |
using a tax on sugary drinks to fund The level of the tax | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
is yet to be determined, but some health campaigners suggest | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
this should be as much as 20% Dr John Lee, head of policy | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
at the Scottish Grocers Federation. Good to meet you, John. Good | :05:24. | :05:55. | |
morning. Now, just give us the sense of how the sort of food and | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
beverages industry is reacting to this. Because of course this was | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
announced a while ago. Today the plan will be put forward in its | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
entirety. What does it mean for food and drinks organisation 's? Well, | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
when the former Chancellor announced the original plan there was no | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
consultation. There was no consultation with manufacturers. | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
From our point of view very importantly there was no | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
consultation with the 5600 convenience store retailers in | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
Scotland and the case for this tax has simply not been made. For | :06:27. | :06:34. | |
example it -- in Scotland, there is no clarity around how it will be | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
used. The government itself is very much in the dark so we welcome some | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
consultation on it but we think this will be an ineffective policy which | :06:43. | :06:44. | |
will really just put jobs and investment at risk. Well, you seem | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
to have the ear of Theresa May, the newly appointed Prime Minister, she | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
is actually expected to overrule some of the elements that were going | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
to be in the original plan. For example restrictions on advertising | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
and promotional deals with junk foods. That is likely to be removed | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
from this plan. Now, campaigners are saying that is a really bad idea | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
because that will water down the proposals, and therefore they will | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
be less effective. Now she is arguing we need to protect jobs in | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
the food industry. Well, the original proposal very much ignored | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
the already considerable steps of the industry had taken in this area. | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
Between 2010 and 2014, the purchase of regular soft drinks declined by | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
more than 30%. So I think consumers are already moving in the right | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
direction with this. And this type of intervention is really very | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
unlikely to have a significant calorie reduction, but could really | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
put jobs and investment at risk in what is already a very challenging | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
economic times for retail, and a very uncertain economic times in the | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
wake of Brexit. Thank you for joining us. We are running out of | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
time unfortunately but it is a story we will revisit in time. | :08:00. | :08:01. | |
Japan's exports suffered their sharpest monthly fall in seven | :08:02. | :08:03. | |
years in July, as a surging yen hurts the country's trade, | :08:04. | :08:06. | |
shipments of cars, ships and steel all tumbling. | :08:07. | :08:08. | |
Mariko Oi is in our Asia Business Hub in Singapore. | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
Lovely to see you. Just fill us in. Not good news from Japan. No, not at | :08:16. | :08:25. | |
all. It is the curse of being a safe haven currency. Investors love to | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
buy in Japan when things get risky and there are reasons why things | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
have been getting nervous, including Brexit. The Japanese yen has | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
strengthened the low 100 yen against the US dollar twice this week and | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
shortly after the EU referendum in the UK, and that is all hitting the | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
export sector, exports down some 14%. That is the biggest fall in | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
seven years. At thanks to low oil prices imports were also down so | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
Japan is still in a trade surplus which is good news. Art, while the | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
government continues to pump billions of dollars into the | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
economy, trying to jumpstart the economy, this news is definitely not | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
good news. Let's have a look at how the yen is trading right now so you | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
can have a sense of how it is going. The dollar has weakened | :09:15. | :09:16. | |
significantly following the Federal Reserve's units from the US central | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
bank, which dampens prospect of an increase in rates this year. So the | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
dollar has weakened quite a bit. The yen is strengthening. You can see | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
the main market in Japan is down by 1%. Contrast that with Hong Kong and | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
other markets in Asia which are doing better. Rent crude has really | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
improved on where we were earlier at the end of last week. That is how | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
things ended on Wall Street. I will see you soon. | :09:45. | :09:56. | |
Thousands of students receive their A-level results | :09:57. | :09:58. | |
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland today. | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
Results are expected to be broadly similar to last year, | :10:01. | :10:04. |