>> strategy shift. the new microsoft ceo reveals office for mobile. takes to theste -- skies. they want to use drones to bring the internet to more people. first twitter, now youtube. clamped down on the website. a warm want this welcome. it is 6:00 in london. welcome to the program.

we are going inside one of the world's most prominent fashion houses. takes a look at the life and legacy of its founder. that is next hour during our in the no discussion. let's have a look at some breaking news. -- italian oh banking group is reducing -- releasing numbers. 5.59 one billion dollars was the net loss. the reason for this -- they have written down $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter. that is the reason we are seeing that. in terms of how the business is performing, one ratio is 12.3% at the end of december. they say they are taking repricing action to limit what

they see as a negative environment. going through the metrics for the fourth quarter. time when european banks looking ahead to the asset quality review that things be conducted by the central bank. saying they have about 11 billion euros in capital buffer ahead of the asset quality review. we will keep an eye on that story as it develops. those are the latest numbers. back to our top story. microsoft is an omission to get their software on all devices. that comes with the unveiling of the software for ipad. about the ceo. he's not wasting time. keyhis has been his ambition. the cloud. subscription. wherever you are, whatever you

are doing, doing your business. you can do it on microsoft. i think that is the main take away. he is shaped -- shifting the dialogue for enterprise. that is the beast within microsoft. the consumer base -- business has been important. but it is the business customer that comes first. it is a case of if you can't beat them, join them. that is windows for ipad. he says he is not holding anything back. it is first and foremost all about the customer. office 3.65,mes to the vision is straightforward. the onesure that million office users and growing have access to the high fidelity office experience on every device. -- this marksipad one more step in that direction.

>> the very open approach. the dell the decision he wanted made thect -- nadella decision he wanted the product out there. >> quite a change in emphasis from the steve ballmer days. >> read in a couple of their reports, they say this could really put rusher on the pricing out there at the moment for businesses in terms of accessing their data online. managing corporate data. it is a strategic move. it will allow you to manage your data. that is interesting. but what will it cost the customer to use these products on apple technology? on the cloud? there is one pricing model. >> free me him.

-- freemium. a new word in the microsoft dictionary. your powerpoint, your word, and your xl. editing, itto do will cost $99 -- want to do will cost 99 dollars. we are used to downloading and paying a small fee. $99 is a hefty fee. free to view. but is that risk that they are taking. >> i want to talk about the nokia business they bought. the rationale for buying a nokia phone is they get better functionality with the office suite. now you can get all this on your ipad and iphone. >> they will make an announcement on the i'd. -- the nokia side. >> thank you very much.

another deal for facebook. they are looking at delivering web access through drones, satellites, and lasers. they have acquired a u.k. company to help. she broke the story in san francisco. how important is this to mark zuckerberg? >> thanks for having me. what mark is looking forward to is a future of having more potential users to go on to facebook. almost halfhey have the internet connected population using their server. that means growth is going to stall if we don't do something to add more people to the internet. he is very passionate about this as well. as one of the underlying business factors. getting more people online. >> how much are they paying for this? less than $20 million? >> less than $20 million.

it is not one-- of those multibillion dollar acquisitions like whatsapp. >> tell us a bit more about it. >> it is a small company, but they have the most experience in aerospace for this technology that allows aircraft to be suspended in air for a long. of time. time.theyperiod of will be able to do through lasers in row areas, where the designers do not reach. >> how does this fit in with what they spoke is trying to do? big goal for zuckerberg to get this done.

he told his board he doesn't care if he makes money off it. world.s to connect the he thinks that will be crucial to the future of facebook and people on the internet. he has said explicitly, we don't need to be profitable. we just want to be the one to do it. >> thank you very much, sarah. sarah freer joining us from san francisco. le,m a very different ang turkey has blocked youtube after a leaked encounter with officials discussing an incursion into syria. we have been watching developments. the turkish government is not happy about this latest video posted on youtube. >> that is putting it mildly. the foreign minister has described this as a despicable attack on national security.

the turkish authorities are not saying the meeting did not take place. they said, there was a meeting between the foreign minister and national security advisor. they discussed the possibility of a turkish response to a threatened attack on an ottoman trying -- shrine. what the foreign ministry is saying is that the tape was doctored. -- a similarring line they have taken before. documents have appeared on facebook and twitter. they have implemented the prime minister and his family in this corruption scandal. the government is not happy. people around the world, western institutions and the like, are taking a dim view of the latest assault on social media. the president of the european commission saying it is another

desperate and depressing move. i support supporters of real freedom and democracy. she added, where will it end? >> where will it end? -- turkish government against social media and the technology industry. will this be a longer running story after the elections? >> it is certainly a court that this is happening in the run-up. youtube and facebook have always been the real enemy for the promised her. twitter was really just a conduit linking to these documents and recordings posted on youtube or facebook. a lot of people wondering, what will happen next? two days until the elections. -- looking to use a strong performance in the local elections for the national elections in august. will they reveal something else

between now and the weekend? you would think they would save the dust until last? explosivee be an revelation in the next couple of days? now twitter and youtube are blocked using conventional means. there are ways around it using vpns. the government is clear that some of these allegations, blocking the sites is like nailing jelly to the wall. i would like to hear any other way to describe how hard it is to block people. triediott, i have never nailing jelly to the wall. thank you very much. we will take a short break. when we come back, we will be joined by david to take a look at investment strategy. plenty of news from the tech sector.

perspective,cro japanese consumer spending numbers that came in before.the patient's -- before expectations. ♪

>> time for today's company news. facebook is working on projects to deliver the internet to underserved areas by building drones, satellites, and lasers. they acquired a u.k. company to help. breaking news from italy's biggest bank. the bank has posted a surprise loss of 5.2 boolean euros. -- billion euros. japanares of yahoo! slumped as much as 11%. this after the company agreed to buy e excess. they will start a new service called why mobile that will share phone networks. welcome back to countdown, i am anna edwards. a surprise drop in consumer spending in japan is triggering

concerns that inflation is damaging for adjusting power. david joined by leibowitz. thank you for coming. investing in japan, good or bad? we saw some data that was disappointing. >> we did. the thing to keep in mind is the data in japan is going to disappointment -- disappoint over the next few months. we have the consumption tax, which will damage consumer spending. we will see a slowdown in the data. >> you wouldn't necessarily expect to see a 2.5% tropic -- drop in consumer spending when we're two months away from an increase in tax. you'd think they'd do the spending now rather than later ising >> this one data point

disconcerting. that said, one data point does not constitute a trend. it has been a lot of uncertainty over the last few months. this may reflect that. >> let's talk about your investment strategy. looking for a little more comfort. >> in the u.s., margins are holding up. earnings growth is high single digits. generally speaking, that should support prices moving higher. in europe, we see negative earnings growth. we are looking for the earnings stockswhich should allow to continue their appreciation with support from under flying -- underlying cash flows. >> some people see the macro environment needs wage growth and money in people's pockets read -- pockets. >> there is an interesting relationship that looks at nominal gdp growth.

as nominal growth increases, which is a function of more money in people posco come but -- more money in pockets -- >> how worried are you about valuation in the technology sector? we have had a lot of news around the sect there. -- around this sector. facebook just keeps buying businesses. >> i think that there is a good opportunity in the hardware sector of technology. i think companies have a ton of cash on their balance sheets. tothe uncertainty continues subside, we should see the companies deploy the cash. i can tell you my computer could use an upgrade. hardware companies benefit. what about gaming businesses? seen -- many people have asked whether we are seeing a

bubble in technology valuation. sideially with the gaming of things. game developers. is that something you worry about? >> i don't necessarily worry about bubbles in the technology sector. what all the shows us his investors need to be more discerning going forward when making investment decisions. you can't just assume that buying a game company is going to an result in a high return. you have to think about the fundamentals. will they generate profits going forward? the longer profits. >> hardware businesses -- where does that leave something like microsoft? they are putting their office suites -- making them available for users of ipads. is this a material development, moving further away from hardware? >> i think it is an important development. the key thing for these

companies going forward will be innovation. it is easy to build the monitors, cpus. it is difficult to come for a concept of what the somebody really need? will fill a void in their digital life and how can we bring that to them? >> it seemed like everybody needed to take their tablets and smartphones to bed. that is the news for when people are fighting time to use these devices. no one is suggesting they will be using xl and word before bedtime. do you use an ipad or tablet? will you be using an office suite on it? as a businessman, does that make sense? >> i do have a tablet. i'm excited about finally being able to work on the spreadsheet -- spreadsheet and presentations. >> thank you very much for joining us. the globalwitz,

strategist at j.p. morgan asset management. we will have more on the rare earth elements trading that drives the high-tech world. more on that when we come back.

>> welcome back, i am an edwards. for more coverage, check out our

video channel. with get back to john. -- raret china eyes earth exchange in china begin trading. they are the components driving many of today's technologies. from smart phones to car batteries. aircraft,o industry, the industry goes on. i won't try to name any of these elements. i will tell you they are very important. rare not in terms of supply, sensen the -- rare in the it is difficult to find them and concentrated mass. 90% of the production comes from one place -- china. you can see how important manufacturing is on these elements. they are bringing them to the exchange, like you can buy copper on the london exchange.

it will be in mongolia and begins trading today. >> is the first time you were able to buy it on exchange? >> what is crucial is they are trying to bring a little free market discipline to a market in china that is getting a lot of criticism from the outside for being anything but free. >> adjusting that this has been at the heart of a trade dispute between the u.s. and china. wto had to intervene. >> when you have a country that dominates production, it is bound to get attention. china has come out and cut mining permits, imposed export quotas to read justified in conserven -- mind to supply. the wto does not buy into that. they have been complaining. if you limit exports, you are driving up global prices. global prices are jumping. theyompanies and china,

are getting access to these elements at three times less the price that companies in the u.s. are paying. this comes down to turning -- chinese industry getting a competitive advantage. turn has to respond. >> we will watch that story. up, when fan enthusiasm goes wrong. the story behind for ari's legal battle over a 21-year-old. plus, is microsoft embracing what users want? that is what the next guest says about the unveiling of office software. we will have a discussion when we return. with hise here thoughts on microsoft's move toward apple and other developments in the microsoft is this. -- business. ♪

tobut -- let's get back jonathan edwards. >> a little boring right now, but the story is anything but. household spending declined 2.5%. tax coming before a sales hike. the finance minister says the japanese government will frontload spending. 40% will come in april-june. thecompany -- question --

central bank of japan, a year since they boosted stimulus. will they be forced to act as well? >> these are the top headlines. the hunt for the malaysia airlines 370 focused on a new area in the indian ocean. radar indicated the plane flew a shorter distance than earlier indicated. the maritime safety authority says this is the most credible lead. nationsed set -- assembly passed a nonbinding resolution saying the crimean referendum to join russia has no validity. member countries are not obliged to abide by the resolution. a sydney-based property broker says it will except property the points of -- deposits in bitcoin. they are the first agency to

accept the verso courts he. -- virtual currency. they expect to do so soon. now cooper is expanding in asia expanding in asia. they plan to introduce the car booking app to more cities. what is uber offering? this has convinced it with rugby? >> it certainly do. many people depending -- descending on hong kong as we speak. they are here for the you rugby sevens weekend. town --commuted around their commute around town may be made easier by this application. it is called uber and makes life easier for those willing to pay a little more or in some cases, a lot more for a ride around town.

a mercedes will pick you up, complete with the bottled water and somebody to open the door. they are opening that asian travelers will enjoy the service and take advantage of it. places like hong kong and singapore, it can be a challenge. we will see how this catches on. angelessed uber in los and washington dc. inn two weeks ago i used it bangkok. it takes a lot of the headaches out of making your way across the city or where ever you need to go. we will see how well this product does this weekend for the right the -- rugby event. >> this is a trial. deliberately designed to coincide with this influx. >> absolutely. an influx it is. a big party, the biggest party weekend of the year. -- the 40,000 persons

stadium will be filled to capacity. the 39th annual hong kong sevens. part of a nine tournament series held all around the world. top effort at two points ahead of new zealand. guess how much those corporate hospitality boxes cost. as much as 51,000 u.s. dollars. to entertain clients. we will report back on the party that it always is. >> i wonder how many people -- how many of the guests will be watching the field and how much will be partying. thank you for joining us on the latest with -- about uber in asia. >> a for ari fan page started out simply enough. six liters --

six years later, he has found himself in a legal battle with his italian carmaker favorite. >> the story begins with a 15-year-old starting a facebook page for the for arias he loved. is he loved.erarr the swiss indian teenager -- for contacted him and wanted to make it the official fan page. four years in, they lost it ministered of rights. they are suing. they say he put over 5500 hours anymore. swissant 10 million francs. he is now in his 20's. as a for ari great fan, i cannot let the representatives

disrespect us. a cautionary tale. what to do and what not to do if you are a company and lose control of your social media profile. >> some companies might say, any public that he is good publicity. publicity is good publicity. different approaches here. but what coca-cola did. in 2008, there was a fan page that reached one million likes. the two curators and gave them a letter control. -- a lot of control. here is what not to do. don't sue people. use up that happened with nestlé. ad with greenpeace. and a remington tang -- an orangutan finger. they asked youtube to take it

down. that created a social media storm. eventually, they reached a settlement. way to guarantee that a video will go viral, sue the creators. that is the mistake nestlé is unlike to make again. >> thank you very much. hans nichols joining us from berlin. let's stick with a technology theme. joined by a partner. about microsoft, one of our top stories. they have launched under the new ceo, the office suite for ipad. big deal? >> finally recognizing that the shift is there from pc to mobile. tablet sales are up to medically -- dramatically. this is a repeat of the 1990's when one of the traditional

makers it back to windows. -- when and none of the traditional makers back to windows. >> how much is this down to satya nadella5? how much is going on behind the seats that seems? -- is going on behind the scenes? >> this had to have been going on. with the old administration. i suspect they have had this product for at least a year, probably two years. . he got it out the door. >> what does that tell us about the workings? they can working on a product? but not actually be able to release it. >> it tells you that executives do matter. you have to make the final decision at the end of the day. the products that microsoft --

they built for the trends. who will give them the economy to give a product out the door? >> does this mean more people will buy tablets? if they are thinking to buy some hardware, maybe now they think, i can do all my work on a tablet? how does the shape up? >> people are buying tablets anyway. restriction has been software on some of these things. but there are a bunch of the alternatives. the markets have solved this. the only real loser is microsoft. >> like a google. >> apple has its own set of products. they built their own versions. it was microsoft shooting itself in the foot. the room -- real loser is surface. even though nobody was using it. >> where is that using -- where

does that leave the nokia product? people thought one reason might be microsoft office will work better on it than some other devices? >> the truth is, if you are building applications, you go to where the people are using platforms. build a product platform, but it is a good decision to recognize people arnie ipad. the real winners apple. apple gets 30% off the top, including from these apps. >> how does that work? charges 30%. they get to skim 30% off the top. apple really wins in this case. >> what do we read into this announcement? about the way the company is going? it's all about mobile and cloud. this is where he came from.

not a surprise. what does it tell us about where the company is going? it signals to the market -- about 15% -- >> what does that mean? >> does that mean people are already using tablets -- >> people are using tablets. they are not using microsoft products for the tablets. now they are offering software for them. people are not always using windows servers, not -- they are using linux server's. they are a knology and we don't have to use windows are tied -- or be tied to all the old things microsoft did. >> does this mean microsoft wins or they don't lose out question mark >> it mean they don't lose out. the transition has happened. they have put their hands on their years. now they are listening.

>> thank you for joining us. 41 minutes past 6:00 in london. we will take a short rake -- break. wednesday, we are checking out the goal scoring prowess. we want to see which man comes out on top. we will be back with sports. ♪

>> welcome back to countdown. coming up, an exclusive interview with -- that will be played here -- later on. francine lacqua will be here. countdown.k to let's talk about sports. we are crunching numbers ahead of the quarterfinal match against chelsea. then, good to see you. happy friday. let's start with a hazard warning. such a key player for the

whole season back in france. he was player of the year for two years. they know all about him. the players want them to join for next season. >> they have made no secret. >> i don't think they're going to -- he is the type of player we want. >> he is improving. >>. exactly more goal contribution this season. that is up to 34%. up to a third of all chelsea's goals. more assists and rebels. -- dribbles. his weakness is that fullback. cane can be isolated, that this is where he can cause margins. >> let's switch to one of their players. what are the stats about his powers? galas -- he 40

scored 40 goals. but the knock is he has not done it when it matters. look at the record for group games. is not terrible, it is 1-3. but in knockout games, only five goals. for a center that claims he is the best in the world, that is not enough. >> the head of this game. mind games? >> everything he does, if it works, we call it mind games. he came back to chelsea and he was rubbish. sometimes it can work. i'm not sure it is going to work this time. zlatan is a different beast. he has played in nine games and scored 12 goals already.

hes could be the season makes the difference. >> let's move on to one other graphic. upset? united cause an i'm guessing you're going to tell me know. >> i thought i was going to get a mouthful from mark. wherese numbers go some to explaining why they are lagging so far behind. >> and why they are domestically unbeaten. they won the title of that with 25 points ahead of the rest. the average passes per mass is 736. times, and 1078 all-time record across europe. they have had 82% possession in one match, which is amazing. united only scored 1.5 goals per match. not looking good. >> it would be unfair of me to

ask in his absence, and we are out of time. thank you for coming. he stays with us for our newspaper review. just north of london, we will have more with the newspapers when we come back. ♪

>> welcome back to countdown. i am and that edwards -- anna

edwards. what do the world's a guest seed companies have in common? they have partnered with an israeli company. >> they may be small, but these are model plants. genetically modified by the company to see how they might improve crops. like cotton or corn. he the genes are identified using computer of a rhythms from one of the most extensive databases in the is this. >> we establish a platform which is a combination of plant science and cutting edge technology. we integrate them together and create a synergy that helps us understand how the plant is operating. we can then leverage this understanding in order to improve crop or activity. -- activity. is $19 billion, close

to the same for conventional ones. raking, it could even over $200 million a year in sales. maketifying the genes that crops grow stronger with high yields takes time and money. even with the sophisticated algorithms and deep pockets, there will not be any major crops on the market until 2019. to selleantime, it aims high-yielding seeds for biofuel. and it is looking to get into the market for crop protection chemicals. more branches to a diversified business to read >> a long road ahead of them. what takes the store unique is the fact that their success is not entirely contingent on one product. diversifies their risk.

when one looks at the potential commercialization of a few of their products any product -- in the pipeline, the value exceeds the near to intermediate term risk. >> they are convinced they can their out a rhythm into super corn or wheat or canola. investors are keeping the faith, too. perhaps even being bought. elliott, israel. ofan hour from the start most european equity trading. let's look at some of the top picks from the newspapers today. joining us is that in littleton -- joining us is been littleton -- is ben lyttleton. >> we typically think of in englishmen asw

being afflicted by the flu. they take the highest number of sick days in germany. 14.6. that is crazy. , muscle systems. 16%, psychological problems. 15 sick days. this is the man flu gone rampant. we know mark is in good health, yet he is at home. >> he is in good health. he is on vacation. no man flu i know of. >> you are in berlin. sure you -- surely you are due a day off. >> i'm going to take the next month off. it is my man flu. >> good luck with that. i'm sure you will handle it well. >i mentioned, we may need to tak about the pressure he is under.

>> he might have to take a few days off. >> this is a for this story from the front page of the guardian sports section. they will have a flypast during the game tomorrow. will be destructive to the players and everybody else. once you lose the fans, it is the beginning of the end. >> thank you, ben. i will deliver the news to mark. moat --a testing of the rover. -- of the it is being tested just off the a1 to the north of london. industrialists say they have the right consistency of sand. the lighting is even on the

martian spectrum. countdown continues in the next hour. storyl have more on that when we return. ♪

wax strategy shift. a new offer for ipad. first twitter. now you too. turkey clamps down on the video-sharing website. secondise for italy's biggest bank. resourcengs from asia minerals are breaking this hour. we speak to the ceo in an exclusive interview.

welcome to "countdown." a warm welcome to the program. let's tell you what is coming up later during this hour. later we will go inside one of the world's most dominant fashion houses. that yves saint .aurent a new film looks at the life and legacy of the company's founder. that is coming up later. acrosoft's new ceo is on mission to get the company's programs on all devices. that starts with his unveiling of the office software for apple ipad. manus cranny joins us with the details. available to download because this is going to be available. how is it doing? >> its number one in the charts. there is no guarantee it will hold onto the number one position.

microsoft for apple. number two is for the ipad. number three is our point for apple ipad. -- powerpoint for apple ipad. morninger one spot this . >> is this them playing catch-up? we were talking earlier, and he usersying this is where of the product have already gone to. it, stevethink about ballmer has gone. documentnt to write a on your ipad, you can go someplace else. >> a lot of credit is being

given. it's too short of a time span. this must of been in the works under steve armour. -- steve ballmer. >> if you can't beat them, just admit you have got to join them and joined them quickly. he has got to admit he is holding nothing back. he was very clear it's about putting the customer first. >> the vision is straightforward. it's to make sure the one billion office users and growing can have access on every device they love to use. office on the ipad and today's announcement marks one more step in that direction. >> there is another new word in the lexicon at microsoft. it's called free medium -- fre emium.

it's going to be free to use it. however, if you want to make a change, it's going to cost $99. the market says this is going to a worth $1 billion to one and half billion dollars, but this is all about playing catch-up. >> thank you very much. we are just getting earnings from the coal producer, asia resource minerals. they have been in the news a great deal this week. this is what they are saying. they are telling us they have a revenue of $1.4 billion. they are telling us about some changes at the business as well. capital expenditure is substantially reduced to $46 million. 11.7%.

focus on the structure of this business. it have gone through a separation process. distances they are now from the family in indonesia. that's going to be a focus of our discussion when we talk to the ceo. he is going to be joining us in just a few minutes to talk through the latest on the business. future of coal mining, this is an industry that has been under pressure because of the lower price of coal. we have seen a number of companies making announcements and cutting back on certain aspects of their coal business as a result of weakness. we will get more details in a few minutes time. first it was twitter. now turkey has blocked youtube. editor has been watching the developments.

the turkish government is not happy about some of the videos that have appeared on youtube. >> they are absolutely livid at the latest video that appeared on the popular video sharing site. the foreign described it as a despicable attack on national security. they are not denying the meeting took place. they say the foreign minister was there along with diplomats and other officials. yes, they were discussing the prospects of what they were due with thehey would do turkish enclave. it is home to a revered ottoman shrine. they were discussing what they would do if that shrine came under attack by islamist extremists. the foreign ministry is also saying the tape was doctored. we do know the government is considering military iservention if that shrine attacked. reaction internationally has been swift in condemning turkey for its actions in the same way

the block on twitter was condemned. the vice president of the european commission says another desperate and depressing mood in turkey -- says -- weet from her >> where will it end? we are looking ahead to elections in turkey. if this story around the elections, does it blow over, or does this carry on? >> we might if we saw a court overturned the government block on twitter. the government has a few days to implement that. we don't know what will happen between now and sunday. we seem to be reaching a crescendo. we had a leak yesterday. you have to ask yourself, what are these anonymous posters youtubeo put up on between now and the election?

surely, as they are so keen on the government and the prime minister on these revelations, they will be saving their best for last, so a lot of people are wondering what is going to come out in the next couple days. will the turkish government tried to block facebook as well? we know that trying to block these sites is a bit like wrestling with an eel. it's not easy to do. >> another hour, another mess. very nice. thank you. with -- we will be here elliott will be here with more during the program. and imf bailout of the ukraine. five banks failing the annual stress test. we will talk about this with our next guest, the chief investment officer alan higgins. thank you for coming to talk to me. backgoing to start further in history, about a week and a

half ago, janet yellen talking about when interest rates might go up. markets by surprise. did it take you by surprise? >> a little bit. good morning. there were about six months comment. when you are under pressure in a situation like this, you sometimes blurt out things. dovish yellen is very despite bernanke. what we don't know is whether she will be like bernanke in terms of dominating. a lot of attention goes to the individual forecast. >> you have always been dovish. >> it's such an inflation. we put a lot of focus on the fact there is no credit growth in the u.k. and europe. you still say there will be no increase in interest rates

in the united states until the second half of 2015? >> u.s. rates go up very modestly. the bigger picture is when they five percentsee rates, whether in the u.k. or the u.s., that will be like interest -- like ancient history , and we just see a much lower level of rates. i think that's important. i think the markets like last year when they had to come to terms with the tapering, at some stage later this year they will have to come to terms with getting closer to a rate hike. >> let's talk about some other geopolitical developments. how are you protecting your investments from the geopolitical activity we have seen between ukraine, russia, europe, and the u.s.? you have been making moves on the energy sector? >> we have been in energy stocks

for a while. stocks are performing well. we did that before ukraine. we didn't really know about ukraine. we would be less concerned about ukraine when you look at it. it's so important for germany. 14% of -- -- of gas comes from russia. can't lose those revenues. you need to look at it from a russian standpoint. crimea has always been part of russia, and the west is starting o come around to that. they are starting to say crimea is a bit different. it's like if you talk to people at the russian desk he will tell you crimea is like right into us or cornwall. that is where they went for holidays. >> it is. many people have in making the point it has an emotional connection for russians.

>> i think the west is starting to look at it from the russian point of view. even if we put the united nations in there to run a clear that theis people of crimea want to go to russia. it seems to be calming down. >> you are not expecting an energy supplies shock. >> it's a risk i'm a clearly. scenario is they are going terribly wrong. energy stocks will help. >> let's talk about u.k. investments. the u.k. has been recovering strongly. the retail sales growth we have of retailannual pace sales was faster than china. how low can inflation stay below long can rates

remain at the level they have been at? >> for the last couple years we have been saying inflation is going lower. for a while because there is no credit growth. it's very hard. >> i see stories warning about levels of debt in the u.k. economy. are they not to be believed? >> the debt is high. consumer debt is high, but we are dealer for it in. . will bring you a nice graph we are deleveraging. in theto the low growth economy, it's quite hard to have inflation. is negative.tion it's not a u.k. thing. it's a global thing. >> thank you very much for joining us.

we look forward to your charts it is ready minutes -- we are joined by the chief executive of asia resource minerals. that is coming up. stay with the program.

>> welcome that. the time is london is 16 minutes past seven. an exclusive interview. studio tolso in the join us with the story. thank you for joining us. reported some numbers this morning. they are narrowing. tell us where they stand at the moment. but i think it reflects a fairly about 140t charge of million. whengoes back to revaluing

we acquired the assets three years ago. the key number is really underlining it. that is a challenging: five minutes -- challenging: environment. i wouldn't say it's a good outcome because we have had a torrid year in terms of public issues. >> we will come to those issues. you completed your separation. i suppose the question is where to from here and why was it such an important deal to do? >> the separation transaction was critical. 2012, i said to the shareholders, please step back and allow me to sort out this huge mess we inherited. it took a long time, and part of that was to unwind the first

part of the transaction. >> you plan to return some of the money to shareholders. >> we do indeed. we would sell it for 500 timesn, so almost three the valuation. that is great for our shareholders. we will return the majority of the money. >> the consensus going forward is agitating from the sidelines. about theny consensus strategy from here? >> i am not going to comment to any particular shareholder. what is critical is to move onto the next phase, which is to optimize our existing assets. producing -- we look to increase

it to 26 million tons. and i say this to our team in indonesia. in this environment when coal prices are at lowe's, we have to cut costs in a very significant way. purpose.y sole >> i know you don't want to comment on individual it would makebut it difficult when you have one of your shareholders and another battling it out on twitter this week in a public space. it must make managing the company quite hard. >> you have to put that aside. that is of those issues a side issue for me. my only focus is value for shareholders. >> i think you talked about returning $400 million to shareholders. is that something you would consider?

the if we are looking at capital struggle. we are looking to refinance that, and if we can return more money we will. >> is your business profitable with these kinds of cool prices -- coal prices? see these high prices continuing for? >> that's a good question. an --n mind that cole has is at $73. pricingeffective between $80 and $85. i think the blended price this year we will ensure we maintain

overall profitability, but it's only marginal. it's very tough. a third of people say coal is unprofitable. it's not about the man. demand is good. --it's not about the manned about demand. >> is that something you would like to resolve? >> if we can we will. to get a positive outcome. we have frozen some of the asset, which has been reported in europe come a and we are seeking further actions from other regulators. cuttingproduction activity are you undertaking as a result of the lower coal prices? a relativelyosed small one. we may close further pits.

we have told our contractors that mind some of our coal that their reduction in prices is not good enough and if they don't help us -- bear in mind these contracts were negotiated when coal was under $25, so if they don't produce that we will certainly be saying goodbye to some of those contractors. >> thank you for joining us. also thanks to jesse. thank you very much. coming up, robots rule. even the tooth fairy is losing her job to a drone. hot shots is next. ♪

>> we look at some of the most compelling images of the day. helped abouters 100 swans return from winter retreat. locals believe they will remain free. officially is spring. japan's meteorological agency announced cherry blossoms have become too loom -- begun to bloom. in the olden days all it took out to pull out the tooth would be a decent string and a doorknob. now it takes a drone.

level of cool in helping an eight-year-old son getting rid of his baby to. the the dentalgging on floss, and out came the tooth. on that slightly strange, surreal story, we will take a break. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i'm anna edwards. 1.3747 right now as we speak. on the dollar side you have the perception of a marginally more hawkish fed driving the dollar. is bundesbank president leaving the ecb door open potentially two more easing. we will discuss that next week when the ecb meets. today's story is german inflation.

bnp paribas suggests the market will be more sensitive to market surprises. euro-dollar in the second week of losses. >> these are the bloomberg top headlines. the hunt for a laser air flight 370 is focused on a new area of the indian ocean today. the plane probably flew a shorter distance than earlier estimated. the australian maritime safety authority said in a statement the most quote is credible lead to where they may be located. the united nations passed a nonbinding resolution saying the crimea resolution to join russia has no validity. russia lobbies its members to abstain or vote against the maverick -- against the measure. sydney-based property broker says it will accept property departments -- deposits and payments in bitcoin. they are australia's first property agency to accept the

virtual currency. a spokeswoman said while it has not yet taken any deposits in bitcoin, it expects to do so soon. for more than half a century, yves saint laurent has made his mark in the fashion world with its modern and iconic pieces. now, a movie is hitting cinemas that chronicles the life of its founder and namesake. for more on the legacy of the french fashion house am a we are now joined by fabry spahr j, founder of the luxury brand agency. , thank you for coming. i've seen him described as the flamboyant bad boy of french fashion here it is that fair? >> a lot of designers would like to be portrayed as the bad boy of fashion. it is relatively fair of his position.and iconic the movie is a biopic.

bitith all biopic's it is a divisive about who is portrayed well and who is not. >> is backed by different people. you have different stories being told. >> yes, as with any character larger than life, such as yves saint laurent was, there are so many details that there is truth in both films. what is his legacy for the fashion world? legacy for the fashion world was really following in the steps of christian dior and liberating women. he was the first to put women in trousers, for example, which was pretty revolutionary. >> that is amazing. you have to think about that. that had to be invented very >>

exactly. it is something we take for granted today. he was the one who invented it. we have to remember that it created a lot of shock at the time, whether it was trousers or having reallyor open jackets. then there is a legacy for is thes -- >> his name name of this fashion house. how much of a business time was he -- a business mind was he behind it? >> not for much. like many successful fashion houses, you need the two heads working together in a symbiotic way to make it a real success. they both need each other to push each other. for business it is very important because saint laurent was a first fashion house to really make big business by opening the first store.

to get ready to wear in europe. christian was licensing some of his models in the u.s., but yves saint laurent was the first to do retail and ready-to-wear and cosmetics. he legitimized all of these products for fashion brands. >> yes, and particularly the idea putting accessories at the heart of luxury was something that he was a big supporter of. when we hear these days about companies like bert berry putting cosmetics into the portfolio, they would be doing that thing if it wasn't ok to see cosmetics as a luxury product. we take formething granted is that the big fashion houses do everything from haute was createdosmetics by yves saint laurent. it created shocks around the world.

from his perspective, he probably really did it because he wanted people to where good close, even if they could not afford a clue to her piece. for a business perspective, his partners probably saw the huge potential for business. not only for sales, but for a much higher gross margin that you get on accessories that you never get in couture. >> that is something we hear even now a luxury business. big names in fashion the stand across the industry with the presence of yves saint laurent now? do you think? >> i think now it is harder because of business control on the fashion houses is much tighter. it is harder to get the character like yves saint laurent was. topic for aood

biopic because he had a lot of presence at a lot of problems. part of the stories about the addictions that he was dealing with at the height of his creative powers. >> yes, and it is something that we like to see somewhat of an of the suffering, neurotic, addicted designer or the artist. he really was that character. there are fewer people like this today in the industry. >> thank you very much for joining us today. founder of the luxury brand get. sixersrice pa later, the 21-year-old is found himself in a legal battle with his favorite italian sports car maker. our international correspondent hans nichols joins us from berlin with this story. you are not italian, are you,

hans? >> i'm not well-dressed enough to be italian, nor do i have good shoes. we could go on and do an entire bit just on that. i want to talk about a story of what happens when companies try to control and curate their online presence. so many companies are facing this. the story begins with a 15-year-old, his love for friars, and a facebook page. it ends in litigation. wasem started a fan page. then for ari comes in and asks for legal reasons to take it over. the kit agrees, and then for four years he did work on it, but without getting paid. then they lose administrator rights. they said look, we want to control this, and we were not getting compensated. forever 5500 sued hours of what they say is unpaid work. they're saying that they deserve

10 million swiss francs. now they have taken it to twitter. as a for ourte -- great fan, i cannot let them disrespect any of us. i will fight its never a good idea when you sue your fans. >> yes, if you are a business and you follow with your fans or one fan in particular, i imagine there are different approaches you can take to that third suing is one of them. >> hiring them is what coca-cola did in 2008. there's a similar situation, a facebook fan page gets one million likes. they go ahead and hire the two individuals who are doing it. they give the money and resources and they built it out. the wrong thing to do, and nestle saw this, don't ask anyone to take down a video from youtube. here's what happened with nestle. greenpeace made a video the kit kat bar, someone biting into it and the finger of an orangutan. they had to go to sourcing and when they're getting their --

and where they're getting a palm oil. nestle asked youtube to take it down, and it created a big kerfuffle. 1.5 million page views of that video. down offr it was taken of youtube. don't sue, don't ask to take it down. maybe try to co-opt your fan and try to get them to work with you to help you curate their own brand. s, thank you very much. joining us from berlin. he says he does not have good shoes. i don't believe that for one second. wearable tech is all the rage, but will more people start wearing smartphones? lubricates a look. --think of smart watches bloomberg takes a look. what makes it different?

the smart watch it doesn't look like one. >> art direction was to make a watch. we want the connectivity to remain extremely discreet. if you don't know that it is a connected watch, it looks like a normal watch. >> they are not the only ones capitalizing on a growing trend, either. google just announced android where. a specially designed operating system for wearable devices. it will be used not only by phone makers lg and nokia, but even lg accessory makers. should the traditional brands be worried? replace watches won't luxury watches or swiss watches.

>> with more brands jumping on the smart watch and wagon, the competition for the space is very watch. >> we will take a look at the special relationship between germany and china. ♪

>> welcome back. i'm an edwards. you're watching "countdown." anna edwards. aluminum prices fell. a fresh model of its camry sedan next month as it seeks to defend its title as top-selling u.s. car for the last 12 years. this is japanese rivals and ford are gaining on the perennial leader. taylor showed an updated camry -- will show an updated camry at

the new york auto show on april 16. priest -- the producers of netflix and stacy are seeking millions of dollars in tax breaks in exchange for filming the emmy award-winning show in the state of maryland. biggest seedorld's companies like monsanto and common?ave in they're all partners with israel's evogene. >> they may be small, but these are model plants. genetically modified by evogene to see how they might improve crops, like cotton or corn. are identified using proprietary computer algorithms from one of the most extensive databases in the business. >> we established a form which is a combination of a deep understanding of lance and cutting edge competitive

technology. when we integrate them together we create a synergy that helps us to understand how the plant can leverageo we his understanding in order to improve crop activity in the field itself. >> the potential is huge. the market for genetically modified seeds is worth around $19 billion, about the same as conventional ones. throw in evogene's non-gm seeds and by 2020 it could be raking in over $200 million a year in sales. chually, it could be mu less. >> identifying seeds takes time and money. even with evogene sophisticated algorithms, there won't be any major crops on the market with evogene inside until 2019. >> in the meantime, it aims to start selling high-yielding castor seeds for biofuel by 2016 and is looking to use its

algorithms to get into the $50 billion market for crop attraction chemicals like herbicides. or branches to an increasingly diversified business. they have a long road ahead of them. would make see evogene store unique is the fact that their success is not entirely contingent upon one product or even one collaborative agreement, which is significantly diversifies their risk. when one looks at the potential commercialization of even a few of their products within the pipeline, the potential value of that significantly exceeds the near and intermediate term risks. >> they are convinced they can turn the computer algorithms into super corn or wheat or canola. for now, investors are keeping their bets is safe. they're betting this company will soon be enjoying bountiful organic growth, or perhaps even being bought. ellicott -- elliott gotkine, .srael >> another red carpet for chinese president xi jinping,

this time he is in berlin where are your editor david tweed is following his visit area david, what from where i am sitting, the special relationship usually refers to something that stretches across atlantic heard from where you're sitting, and first to something different or tell us about it and why. >> it does, it is something that is being used in the last couple of years to describe the relationship between germany and china. it is special on two levels. one is a political level, because angela merkel, let's face it, she's been around longer than any other european leader. she has got good personal links with some of the top brass in going she is actually there later this year in the summer. then they will have the second of two joint cabinet meetings where therlin, chinese cabinet members come over and sit down and have a joint meeting him after which one would expect a slew of things. the other level, of course, is economic. germany's trade relationship with china is vast. 140 billion per year.

that is the same as the u.k., italy and france together. david,e were reports, president wanted to visit the holocaust museum. why is that not going ahead? >> this is something that germany's rate uncomfortable about how china is using its relationship. go withy wanted to angela merkel to the holocaust memorial on the other side of the brandenburg gate. thatny did not want to do because they were concerned that the chinese would then use that as a lever to bash the japanese over the head and say that you aren't contrite, as germany was contrite for what it did during the war. germany doesn't want anything to do with that sword of diplomacy. >> back to the business of business, are there any big contracts in the works, then, david? >> the big contract was yesterday. that is after all a franco german company. look out for something having to

do with frankfurt having something to do with a trading house. is thet of duisburg biggest in land port. the other thing is, potentially china might lobby germany to see whether it can actually be the chair of the next g-20 in 2016. >> david tweed joining us from berlin. still to come, dabbling with drones. we will tell you about the latest startups that are then snapped up by facebook and mark zuckerberg. 7:51 in london. ♪

>> welcome back. another day, another deal for facebook. jonathan ferro joins us now for more. you have been looking at this deal. smallking about a business. five members of the team. my producer said it is so small i can't even find a website for this company. they paid $20 million for it. what do they do? effectively, these drones can hang in the air for long periods of time, say two months, and remote geographic locations. this is the key point. if you are in a remote job if he and you don't have a fixed line infrastructure, it is very difficult to get access to the internet. this is something that mark

zuckerberg wants to change. if you can get internet access to these remote locations, then potentially it offers him more users. >> it isn't just facebook, isn't google also talking about tying to spread internet access? some of these big names in the technology industry are taking it upon themselves to bring more people onto the web. can we make sense of facebook's spending spree? >> let me give it a go. they bought whatsapp for $19 billion. and they bought instagram back in 2012 for about $750 million. last0 acquisitions in the few years. >> i think the point is, they try to be booked them -- they're trying to beef up the business. to billionought dollar virtual reality headset maker. i think vesta is concerned with

what is going on right now. >> jonathan ferro with the latest of what is going on in facebook. thai market.n the have a good weekend, i will see everyone again on monday. ♪

>> potentially, you created bigger audience for the likes of facebook. not a lot of money. they're been spending a lot of money. the price on the share prices am of this week is down. >> we will have a