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tv   Asia Business Report  BBC News  October 19, 2017 1:30am-1:46am BST

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and president xi jinping is set to outline how that will become reality. day two of the five—year china communist national congress will discuss economic policy a day after after president xi promised greater prosperity through what he called socialism with chinese characteristics. president trump has denied a democratic congresswoman‘s claims that he was insensitive during a phone call to the widow of a soldier killed in action. and this story is trending on bbc.com. google says it's developed an artificial intelligence programme that can learn without human interaction. the new alphago zero learnt and mastered the chinese game, go, with no data other than a blank board and the rules of the game. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk. bbc research has revealed that nhs hospital targets, including cancer care and some operations, are routinely missed.
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england, wales and northern ireland have not hit their three key targets for 18 months. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. the dow smashes the 23,000 mark for the first time ever, with other key indices following its lead. india's tax reform is taking some of the spark out of bollywood, especially as movie—goers hit the theatres during this festive season. good morning, asia. hello, world! glad you could join us for this thursday edition of asia business report, i'm rico hizon and we start with the us markets and the dow has finally done it! the blue—chip index surging toa
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finally done it! the blue—chip index surging to a record high, topping 23,000 points following strong earnings from ibm that boosted confidence about the rest of the quarterly reporting season. the dow jones industrial average at 160 points, breaking through that new record of 23,000. the tech laced nasdaq also in record territory at 6624. from the us to china, where officials are due to unveiljuly to september quarter growth figures this morning. the number everyone is looking for is 6.9%, and that is what the country says will be the full—year expansion as well. during the opening address at the china party congress, president xi jingping trumpeted the nation's economic growth and its ability to lift its citizens out of poverty, but the country's debt pile is a cause for concern and it is even something international monetary fund warned about in its report on
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the chinese economy, 260% of gdp. for a closer look at china's growths and challenges, earlier iceberg to investment analyst katherine young andi investment analyst katherine young and i asked if president xi's expectations are realistic. what's important in the gdp release is they are incorporating rnd expenditure, this is likely to see nominal gdp up a little bit going forward, but also it's important because there's a big focus from the government on innovation spent. you also have to look at the quality and the quantity of the growth, is this quality growth from the july to september quarter, which everyone says, will be 6.9%? quarter, which everyone says, will be 6.996? again it is the focus on companies climbing up the value chain in china, becoming more innovative. we heard about alibaba allocating 15 billion us dollars to oui’ allocating 15 billion us dollars to ourand did over allocating 15 billion us dollars to our and did over the next two years, that's on par with the us dollar
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giants, and it's all about the quality and goal when it comes to chinese exports. everyone is looking at the debt burden now weighing on the chinese economy, is this a big concern for you? it's a concern, rico. when we look at fiscal policies and state owned enterprises it's important, but also the borrower needs to be accountable so it's about the capital allocation structure going forward. to be honest, what would keep us up at night more so is the property cycle. what are you looking at for the property cycle? some policies, whether it is tax related, they've introduced a long—term rental scheme which is likely to smooth the property cycle out. it is very cyclical a nyway property cycle out. it is very cyclical anyway but don't forget most things are collateralised against property and it remains the anchor of the chinese economy. going back to state owned enterprises, also called zombie companies, what should xijingping also called zombie companies, what should xi jingping do also called zombie companies, what should xijingping do over the next five years to be able to resolve the
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problems of these government—owned companies? their debt burden also puts a lot of weight on the chinese economy. they do. i would caution, not all sobs are bad, some of the really interesting well—run companies are so hes, we are likely to see consolidations of the parent companies restructuring the underlying companies, importantly the growth in ever lose of the bond market and more mixed ownership, you will have the private enterprises owning stakes of soes. catherine, thanks very much. the chinese online micro— lenders saw shares surging 48% in its first days of trading in new york. their initial public offering was set at $24 per share, giving it a value of roughly $900 million. it issues short—term loans from its mobile platform. alibaba's short—term loans from its mobile platform. aliba ba's jack, short—term loans from its mobile platform. alibaba's jack, is a principal shareholder of this company. movies in india are a
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multibillion—dollar business but theatres in the south of the country, which has a vibrant industry, have been facing massive losses after a hike in taxes on tickets. divina doctor travelled to find out more. —— cooked. this man earns $4 a day working in this shop in the town of madurai. he normally spends his salary on household expenses. but this month he is planning to treat himself to a much awaited movie. this month he is planning to treat himself to a much awaited movieli ama himself to a much awaited movieli am a movie fan, the ticket prices are high. this film starring a well—known actor is the first movie to hit theatres in the area in weeks. it's diwali release is going ahead after the state government agreed to reduce local taxes on movie tickets. like some other state governments,
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they had raised local taxes on top of the nationwide goods and services tax. that caused outrage because in some cases it made tickets are three times more expensive. theatres and local film producers times more expensive. theatres and localfilm producers both refused to release new films. in certain states it came down, in certain states with zero tax it went up, this is unviable. the taxes more than what it used to be. delays have already cost the industry. with 1500 cost the industry. with1500 seats, this theatre used to make $3000 everyday, but after the local tax hike, theatres like this one are struggling to fill the seats and it's not only the theatre industry but also the southern film industry but also the southern film industry has been impacted with thousands of jobs in industry has been impacted with thousands ofjobs in the line from the production to cast and crew and the production to cast and crew and the designers and clothes. although
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the designers and clothes. although the state government has reduced some local taxes, it will still cost a great deal more to watch a foreign 01’ a great deal more to watch a foreign or bollywood film in the state than before gst was produced. translation: public does not want the tax to be increased. the distinct tax should continue. 2896 gst is very high. if you look at people's income, has increased by 28% ? people's income, has increased by 28%? it's not. people's income, has increased by 2896? it's not. this is one of the ten films affected by the strike. most of them have big budgets with one costing around $20 million to make. any delay in ticket sales means the studio will take a lot of time to recover its costs, so the industry and fans will be hoping for more tax cuts in the near future. pick me, pick me! that's been the cry from many american and canadian citizens to amazon as it decides
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which city will be home to their next headquarters. amazon bossjeff bezos said october the 19th will be the deadline to make their pitch, so who is in the running? samira hussain has the story. boston, denver, new york city, toronto, canada, camden, new jersey... camden, newjersey? yes, camden, newjersey, home to 77,000 people. this once bustling industrial town has fallen on some ha rd industrial town has fallen on some hard times, but camden believes it too has a shot at becoming home to amazon's next hq. camden sits between new york city and washington, dc along the delaware river. just over the bridge is philadelphia, with its diverse population and international airport. the state of newjersey is offering billions in tax breaks, and
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this large swath of waterfront property, once home to a state prison, could be the location for amazon's second headquarters. no matter where amazon goes they will have a tremendous impact on that location. if they came here to camden it would be transformative, it would really help transform the city, renard sense has begun recently over the past few years, amazon would put that on steroids —— renaissance. camden sees itself as the comeback kid. in 2012 it had the highest crime rate of any city in america. unemployment peaked at around 20% and the city was hurting. a lot of it is poverty... but now the city is on the rebound, says the camden county police captain. were in north camden, north camden during the 90s and the early to mid 2000s was really notoriously violent —— we're in. it's undergone a tremendous change for officers. with those tasked for policing this area, they have done a tremendous job
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bringing down crime. the promise of 50,000 jobs would help the city's rebound, but this competition is not about what amazon can do for camden but what the city can do for amazon. more than 50 cities an making bids, offering perks camden can't match. but amazon has the opportunity to be the hero of camden‘s comeback story, an incentive few places can match —— cities are making bids. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon, sport today is coming up next. the top stories this hour: it's the second day of the chinese communist party congress after it was opened by president xijinping laying out a confident vision of china's role in the world. president trump is embroiled in new controversy after a congresswoman says he made insensitive comments during a phone call to the widow of a soldier killed in action. an estimated four
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million people in the uk are said to be in financial difficulty, according to the city watchdog, the financial conduct authority. the fca's latest survey found a range of concerns, from difficulties meeting mortgage payments to a reliance on credit cards. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed reports. meet helena ventham, working as a part—time teacher in london, struggling, like many millions, of people to make ends meet. we've been living in shepherds bush since last september and even within that time frame it's become more difficult to pay the rent. we live in a two bed flat and i think probably a couple of years ago that would have been quite affordable for us. my partner has a good job in the city, in it, and i'm a working mum part—time. we're going to move out of london within the next year because we just
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can't afford to live in this part of london any more anyway. the country's leading financial regulators say helena's story is not unusual. there are significant numbers of people in the uk who have suffered some form of financial difficulty and in particular, we highlight the age group from 25—34, whereas many as 13% of people have missed bill payments and got themselves into some kind of financial situation. what this survey reveals is the financial stress so many people are under. half of us, 50%, could be considered to be economically vulnerable. then there's the 4.1 million people who have failed to pay an important bill in the last six months. and the 5.1 million people who say they would struggle with an increase in rent or mortgage repayments of as little as £50 a month. next month, the bank of england could increase interest rates for the first time in ten years, what effect might that have? the cost of credit and the cost of things like mortgages will go up for some households and that would mean they will have less money
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to spend other things and therefore the implication will be for slower consumer spending and potentially weaker economy. we are spending, we're in work, employment is at a record high, but that income squeeze conditions and while it does, worries about making ends meet are only likely to get worse. kamal ahmed, bbc news. that's it from me. you can keep in dutch on twitter, we'd love to hear from you. duncan is here in 15 minutes —— you can keep in touch. time now for all the sports news in sport today. this is sport today live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: eden hazard strikes twice to earn chelsea a thrilling draw
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after an edin dzeko double for roma in the champions league japan's urawa reds stun shanghai to put them through to the final of the asian champions league for the first time in ten years. and 21—year—old imam—ul—haq marks his international debut with a century as pakistan clinch the one day series against sri lanka. hello and welcome to the programme. plenty to come but first let's go to straight to the champions league where eight games have been in action on wednesday — the pick of the bunch — a 6—goal thriller between chelsea and roma at stamford bridge. this man, david luiz opening the scoring in that game. it ended in a draw — but that puts both teams firmly on course for a place in the last 16. with more on this, our football reporter chris latchem.

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