08/02/2017 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally Bundock

Weighing the arguments - a federal appeals court hears

the case for and against President Trump's controversial

travel ban - we talk you through what's at stake.

And share markets in India soar on the hopes its central bank

will cut interest rates to revive the economy -

We'll be live in Mumbai for the latest.

The farmers who put solar panels in their fields.

We start with President Trump's travel ban which has

A panel of appeals court judges hammered away at the government's

arguments that the ban was motivated by terrorism fears.

But they also asked pointed questions over claims it targeted

The hearing was conducted by phone - an unusual step - and while no

verdict was announced a spokesman for the court said it's likely

Whatever the court eventually decides, either side could ask

the Supreme Court to intervene which almost certainly means more

delay and confusion for millions of people around the world and also

for some of the United States' biggest businesses.

President Trump has been trying to temporarily ban people entering

He says "this is about terror and keeping our country safe"

while a stricter vetting system is put in place.

But there have been widespread protests against the ban -

127 companies including the likes of Apple, Google,

Microsoft, Tesla and Levi Strauss have all filed court submissions

in support of the ban being overturned.

In those documents they argued "Multinational companies

In those documents they argued "Multinational companies

To base operations outside the United States"

At the moment many of these companies use the H-1B visa

programme which grants entry to 85,000 skilled foreigners a year

There are approximately three applications for every

With me is Marianna Fotaki, Professor of Business Ethics

Give us your take on how damaging this process is, given we have still

-- to have no conclusion. Many people will agree that this ban is

cool as -- and in sensitive. -- crawl. Banning people from entire

countries. Those people are seen as a suspect of terror without any

evidence being brought. That is unjustified that is perhaps cruel.

People from those countries are really quite poor people and they

have been affected by ill and defies US foreign policy. That is the

ethical grounds. Dubious ethics means dubious business in many

cases. What are the potential impact? In the short term, the ban

is just came as an executive order without clear guidelines, who should

it include. In the beginning, people who were residents were also

affected and then that was overturned. Really, the airport

workers are actually left to decide who they should actually stop from

entering the country and in many cases, this means separating

families, as we have seen. That is the short term. More importantly, if

this ban continues, it will affect the image of the US and not just the

image but business thrives on diversity. Diversity -- innovation

thrives on diversity as well. US is very successful because it has been

conceived as an open, fair and... Sorry, I don't want to interrupt you

but I just have to say, from the point of view of the consumers of

these companies around the world and the companies themselves, if they

put out an application for new workers, obviously this temporary

ban is the suspended at the moment so it is not in place right now, but

even if it was put back in place, the think it will hinder people

coming to the US to work -- to work in the US in the future? People who

have choices will think twice to make US there are home. Even though

the bosses of these companies are very pro-diversity and from

different parts of the world to themselves. Indeed. That is why

there has been this reaction. That is why I would suggest that they use

considerable means to fight this order in the court of law. All

right, thank you the -- for your perspective. When we get any news of

any decision in the US, we will fill you in.

India's central bank meets to review its monetary

It's the first meeting since the government

announced its latest budget, and second after the controversial

Let's cross live to Mumbai and speak to our business reporter Sameer

Nice to see you. Lots of people are hoping there will be a cut in

interest rates. Will they deliver? It is a close one. You look at all

the polls that have been done in the last few days. Most economists feel

that India's central bank will go ahead with the rate cut. Because

inflation has slowed down, it is a primary concern and also the cash

ban which came into place 3.5 months ago, the dust has started to

special. -- settles. It has made clearer what is to come in the

coming months. There is also a school of thought that given that

there is so much cash in the system after the rupee ban because

everybody had to deposit their money back into the banks, banks have

ready started cutting rates. Rates are already down. It's really not

going to have any major impact. If they cut rates in the future. We

will know the ants in 3.5 hours whether they will cut rates not. --

answer. Speak to you soon. After relying on nuclear power

for decades, Taiwan will stop So the government is ramping

up the use of green - or renewable - energy,

by installing wind turbines and converting damaged or unused

farmland into solar farms. Cindy Sui reports from

Southern Taiwan where farmers are cultivating solar

energy instead of crops. These fields are helping Taiwan to

produce modern renewable energy. The soil is damaged and most crops no

longer top - here. Now farmers are helping produce something else

instead. They earn money by a leasing their land to solar energy

companies and taking care of the panels. TRANSLATION: I never an

imagined our ancestors land would be used in this way. This is one of

hundreds of local farmers whose land is getting a new lease on life.

There are projects like this throughout Taiwan. Wherever they

can, the central and local governments are trying to find low

quality or unused land and turn them into solar energy farms. Solar

panels have also been placed on landmark Bill Dixon including Best

aquarium, this stadium and even this prison. -- buildings. It is part of

the planned to do away with an renewable energy which currently

produces 40% of Taiwan's energy. That includes scrapping this newly

built nuclear power pant is for it opens -- power plant, before it

opens. Taiwan also needs more wind turbines and natural gas plants. The

government wants green energy to eventually produce a fifth of the

island's electricity. Although green energy is ticking over in a

agricultural land, that doesn't mean a complete end to farming.

Underneath the solar panels, we grow mushrooms. The electricity we

generate is clean energy. It is good with -- it is good for Taiwan's

energy and good for the world. After a strong surge on Tuesday,

Bombay is taking a pause right now ahead of the rate decision.