:00:00. > :00:00.If we get more major news from Italy we will have a right here on BBC
:00:07. > :00:07.World News. Now for the latest financial news
:00:08. > :00:10.with Sally and World Business Flying high - record profits
:00:11. > :00:18.for Australian airline Qantas. After a few lean years,
:00:19. > :00:20.the flying kangaroo An echo from a bygone
:00:21. > :00:29.era, cotton spinning - an industry where England
:00:30. > :00:31.was once world-leading, but the last mill closed
:00:32. > :00:34.some 30 years ago - Also in the programme:
:00:35. > :00:51.They are in your toothpaste, Now UK politicians want a global
:00:52. > :00:55.ban, to save ocean life. Australia's national
:00:56. > :01:05.carrier, Qantas, just The airline recorded profits
:01:06. > :01:14.of just over $US1 billion. That is nearly double last year's
:01:15. > :01:17.profit, and for the first time in seven years the airline will pay
:01:18. > :01:24.a dividend to shareholders. It is a huge turnaround
:01:25. > :01:27.from just a few years ago, Rico Hizon is in our
:01:28. > :01:45.Asia Business Hub in Singapore. Well, the flying kangaroo is now
:01:46. > :01:49.soaring. How did they do it? Carrier laid off thousands of staff, taking
:01:50. > :01:55.billions of dollars in write-downs, withholding dividends, cut flights
:01:56. > :01:59.to keep ticket prices up and locked in fuel hedging contracts which let
:02:00. > :02:05.it benefit from a slump in the price of oil. So these bold moves, Sally,
:02:06. > :02:09.were part of the overall strategy of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to get the
:02:10. > :02:15.carrier back to the black. Analyst say the record result basically
:02:16. > :02:20.vindicates Mr Joyce's initiatives as he faced sometimes this criticism
:02:21. > :02:26.from shareholders, passengers and employees sent undertaking this
:02:27. > :02:30.costly shakeup two years ago. And in a sign of how much the airline is
:02:31. > :02:37.relying on cost-cutting to grow proper, sales grew 3% while fuel
:02:38. > :02:41.cost shrank by 17%. Let's have a look at the divisions. Each of the
:02:42. > :02:47.company's main operating divisions, its domestic, international and
:02:48. > :02:52.discount units and frequent-flier programmes all boasting record
:02:53. > :02:55.earnings. Alan Joyce expected to continue its strong financial
:02:56. > :03:01.performance in the first half of the new financial year, 2017, and will
:03:02. > :03:05.focus on producing higher operating margins. We will wait and see as
:03:06. > :03:10.there are difficult times ahead worldwide. For now I am sure the
:03:11. > :03:13.champagne is flowing in their headquarters. Absolutely. Good to
:03:14. > :03:16.see you, thanks a lot. For the first time in over 30 years,
:03:17. > :03:19.cotton is about to be produced English Fine Cottons will be
:03:20. > :03:25.the sole spinner in the UK, a stark contrast from the industry's
:03:26. > :03:28.peak in the 19th century, where Britain produced over 90%
:03:29. > :03:39.of the world's output. A few short months ago, tower mill
:03:40. > :03:47.in Dukinfield near Manchester was a relic of another era, derelict and
:03:48. > :03:52.empty. How things change. You have been a bit busy. How difficult has
:03:53. > :03:55.the job being? It has been easy for me but the group of guys who have
:03:56. > :04:00.had to build this, they have had challenges. Over the last six to
:04:01. > :04:04.eight weeks they have built all the space age technology you can see.
:04:05. > :04:09.Nearly $8 billion has been invested to turn it according to the company
:04:10. > :04:13.into one of the most effective spinning mills in the world. Our
:04:14. > :04:18.machine operators will be manning the machine as opposed to working on
:04:19. > :04:23.the machine, they will be studying machine as opposed to operating the
:04:24. > :04:26.machine. The UK's cotton spinning industry was finally extinguished
:04:27. > :04:31.after decades of lingering demise in the 1980s, a victim of cheap foreign
:04:32. > :04:34.competition. The machinery of the new cotton spinning era is many
:04:35. > :04:40.times more efficient, computerised, compacts. We had so many nuts and
:04:41. > :04:46.bolts, you know, it is difficult to count and remember what is going to
:04:47. > :04:51.go where. The future is I think very bright as after so many years the
:04:52. > :04:56.industry is coming back home. Cotton spinning on a test scale is now
:04:57. > :04:59.under way. The first time it has been spun in this buildings in the
:05:00. > :05:04.1950s. Full test production starts later. If test reduction goes well
:05:05. > :05:08.they will move almost immediately into full production and the key
:05:09. > :05:11.then will be to ensure there is a market for the product. And they
:05:12. > :05:15.have been working on that for months. The aim is to produce
:05:16. > :05:21.top-quality cotton for the UK fashion industry. Anybody who really
:05:22. > :05:31.values quality, heritage, Britishness, Providence, --
:05:32. > :05:36.provenance, social responsibility, they are looking to Tony Allen fine
:05:37. > :05:42.fabric. It really is a step in history, bringing back what really
:05:43. > :05:45.belongs to Manchester. If all goes to plan, English Fine Cottons will
:05:46. > :05:47.produce 500 tons of cotton in its first year, with plans to increase
:05:48. > :05:50.that in future years. MPs in the UK are calling
:05:51. > :05:53.for a complete international ban on the use of microbeads
:05:54. > :05:55.by cosmetics companies, because of the damage they are doing
:05:56. > :05:58.to the world's oceans. Microbeads are small pieces
:05:59. > :06:00.of plastic that are used in thousands of commonly
:06:01. > :06:02.used exfoliating scrubs, toothpastes and shaving
:06:03. > :06:03.gel products. The MPs' report says the tiny beads,
:06:04. > :06:06.which are a type of microplastic, are accumulating in the world's
:06:07. > :06:09.oceans and rivers, harming marine Many of the world's largest
:06:10. > :06:26.cosmetics companies have already committed to phasing out
:06:27. > :06:28.the use of microbeads, but the UK Environmental Audit
:06:29. > :06:31.Committee has called Several US states have already
:06:32. > :06:35.announced that they will ban the manufacture and sale of certain
:06:36. > :06:37.types of products containing With me is Rosie Rogers,
:06:38. > :06:55.senior political advisor Good morning, Rosie. I have read a
:06:56. > :06:58.bit of this report, it is quite thick and lengthy but it talks about
:06:59. > :07:03.the fact that actually the research is not all there yet, in terms of
:07:04. > :07:06.the actual impact of these microbeads, and there is still work
:07:07. > :07:12.to do. So how do they believe they could sort of progress to the point
:07:13. > :07:16.where you get an international ban? Absolutely, there is a lot more
:07:17. > :07:19.research needed and this report does call for more research, which we
:07:20. > :07:22.definitely support but there is enough scientific evidence out there
:07:23. > :07:25.to show that microbeads are having a very devastating affect on the
:07:26. > :07:30.marine environment. In fact there are over 8 million tons of plastic
:07:31. > :07:35.in our world's oceans pumped in there from our drains, and micro
:07:36. > :07:37.plastics are a part of that problem. There is enough research showing
:07:38. > :07:42.there are devastating effects on these tiny bits of plastic, and they
:07:43. > :07:45.can be banned, which is one positive thing about them. A large proportion
:07:46. > :07:50.of the cosmetics industry have committed to phasing out these
:07:51. > :07:54.products by 2020. Is that voluntary action not enough? We really applaud
:07:55. > :08:00.the companies who have said they will take this action, looking at
:08:01. > :08:06.Marks Spencer 's, Waitrose brand boots, but Greenpeace did a report
:08:07. > :08:09.auditing the top 30 cosmetic companies and we found there were
:08:10. > :08:13.massive inconsistencies from different actual ways that companies
:08:14. > :08:19.are labelling microbeads, from what they define as microbeads, the
:08:20. > :08:22.different phase out times, so it is difficult for consumers to know what
:08:23. > :08:27.is happening, when a band is going to happen and what products actually
:08:28. > :08:34.have microbeads in them, so the best way to deal is have an international
:08:35. > :08:39.ban as the report says -- when a ban is going to happen. The report does
:08:40. > :08:45.admit that because of Brexit, bringing about a band in the
:08:46. > :08:50.European Union is more difficult. Brexit has brought out a lot of
:08:51. > :08:52.uncertainties and in terms of environmental issues we are
:08:53. > :08:58.uncertain what will be the future but one thing is clear. Fish and the
:08:59. > :09:01.sea, micro plankton, they don't care about Brexit. They care that these
:09:02. > :09:04.pieces of plastic are coming into the area and going into their
:09:05. > :09:08.bellies, and sometimes ending up on our plates as well. There is a big
:09:09. > :09:12.human impact on this. So despite whatever is happening in terms of
:09:13. > :09:20.Brexit and the EU, one thing that can be done is that this government
:09:21. > :09:22.can do something today, nationally, for the UK consumers and UK wildlife
:09:23. > :09:27.to ban microbeads and hopefully influence the EU in the long-term.
:09:28. > :09:33.Thank you for your time this morning. Let's show you market is
:09:34. > :09:38.really quickly. It is all about the Federal Reserve annual meeting on
:09:39. > :09:44.Friday, markets are treading water and trying to guess what will Janet
:09:45. > :09:48.Yellen say, ahead of the US Federal Reserve, when she does her speech
:09:49. > :09:51.there at the end of the week? That is all from me for the time being. I
:09:52. > :09:57.will see you soon. The Labour leadership candidate
:09:58. > :10:00.Owen Smith has pledged