♪ >> this is the journal on dw-tv. i am heather delisle. >> and i am peter dolle. >> angela merkel overwhelmingly is reelected leader of the christian democrats and she defends the party's record in government. dozens of people die in a high- rise tower blaze in shanghai. and muslim pilgrims converged in saudi arabia as the annual hajj shelgren engine -- pilgrimage continues. ♪ >> german chancellor angela

merkel has been reelected as leader of the conservative christian democrats. more than 90% of the delegates at the party conference voted to keep merkel as party leader. amid lagging approval ratings for the coalition government, it gives merkel a decisive boost ahead of several key state elections in germany next year. in a speech, she saw to give new confidence to fellow conservatives. >> merkel seemed pleased with the results. 90.4% of the delegates voted to retain her as party leader. the number was down slightly over her reelection two years ago, but it is a solid boost for the chancellor amid ongoing divisions in her coalition government. earlier, merkel made a clear commitment to her party's alliance with the pro-business ftp and take aim at the opposition social democrats, including their former party chair.

>> they once said the opposition is rubbish. today, they have nothing left to say. the fdp has gone one step further. as the opposition, they are making a mess and doing it enthusiastically. >> it was a welcome message at a time of uncertainty. despite lagging poll numbers, merkel urged her party to forge in more confident and united course ahead. >> at the height of the crisis, we promised that germany would emerged strengthened from the crisis. we took a lot of flak for that. today, germany is in a better position than most other countries. >> the chancellor issued a rallying call to your christian democrats, as the party prepares for several key state elections around germany next year. >> so angela merkel's mission was to rally the party the conference and show that she's ready to tackle the big problems. i asked our correspondent if she achieved that.

>> i think she has. angela merkel speaks today, and she gave a rousing performance in which she touched on the whole gamut of hot-button issues from integration to reform of the education system, tax reform, rebalancing the economy, and so on. of her party. of course, things have been difficult for her in recent months, but today she got a long standing ovation, and i think she addressed the things that people wanted to hear her talk about. >> what about merkel personally -- and the thing she has strengthened her leadership at this conference? -- and do you think she has strengthened her leadership at this conference? >> i really do think so. and she has a couple key reformers that have been in her mauled elected as deputy leaders

of the party. angela merkel has talked about the decisions, and that is what we are seeing now. and she will go forward from this very much in control of the christian democrats. >> thank you. and we will have more on the party conference a little later on in this half-hour. first, at least 42 people have died in shanghai after a high rise apartment block caught fire. the building was undergoing renovation. dozens more were injured in the blaze which broke out early afternoon local time. the 28-story high rise was almost completely engulfed in flames. it was unclear how many people were inside when the fire started. fire crews spent four hours trying to bring the blaze under control. it was on chinese television and it showed firefighters rescuing residents there scaffolding for renovation work. 90 people were transported to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries.

family members are still waiting to hear news about missing relatives. the uncertainty has kept many on edge. >> my relatives and friends were driving to different hospitals. as a family member, what can i do? i have one thing to say. i ask the communist party to help quickly. >> authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze. witnesses said it started after building materials caught on fire, the flames spread quickly over the building's scaffolding. indian police say at least 32 people died when a building collapsed in the capital of dili on monday. at least 60 people were injured when the five-story caved in. residents began to clear the rubble with their bare hands before emergency teams arrived. they expect many more people are trapped beneath the collapsed building. emergency work these -- workers were hampered because fire engines cannot easily navigate

the narrow streets of the area. burmese opposition leader aung san suu kyi is working on reviving her political party. she went to the offices of the national league for the market sea to meet with senior party members and lawyers. numerous wellwishers turned out for a glance of the nobel laureate. her party was banned in may after it decided to boycott the national elections in protest of suu kyi's exclusion from the vote. in italy, four members of prime minister berlusconi's government resigned amid a deepening political crisis. the four ministers are loyal lists of a former berlusconi ally who is now a rival for power. he has called on berlusconi to resign following a new sex scandal allegation. berlusconi says he will uphold the confidence vote in parliament but only after lawmakers have passed next year's budget. in france, president nicolas sarkozy has it in months of speculation and unveiled a

reshuffled cabinet in his bid to shore up his own flagging popularity. his poll numbers sunk to new lows after his government pushed the controversial pension reform bill through parliament, triggering mass protest. the new cabinet retains key allies. sarkozy hopes that will help him win reelection in 18 months. >> sarkozy's new team is mostly made up of familiar faces. the conservative favorites, the former prime minister has been brought into the government as defense minister. the previous justice minister is now taking over at the foreign ministry. sarkozy defied some analyst speculation and retained his unpopular fillon prime ministerunpopular. many doubt whether his move will give him the boost to desired. >> i do not know, but it does not seem like a major reshuffle. it is the same people. some of them are gone, but fillon is still in office.

i do not think much will change. >> after seeing off his critics like the former foreign minister from the socialists, the new cabinet is dominated by loyal supporters, and it has a more conservative profile. now, sarkozy will be hoping his poll numbers recover ahead of the 2012 presidential election. >> all right, we have ireland's future hanging in the balance. >> they are trying to restore confidence in the euro. and the bond markets have turned their backs on irela in the soveren debt is. but what will irela d there's speculatint some sort of d anksnd to cut duin the eupe but therehe eop irelant

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nyad for rman auto iustry the government's cash for cluers ra bumand has been sringn export marketspeit- carmakers nt german plans to pump out aut 5.5 million units this year, 10% more than 2009. that for the german economy. carmakers employ more tn 700,000 people. and there are not to other sectors. some estimates say one in seven workers in germany are directly dependent on the auto industry. more than two million muslims converged on mounarafat as the hajj pilgrimag hh point on monday. they believe that is where the ofit mohamd delired his final sermon. >> on monday, mount arafat was -

robed pilgrims. a seemingly endless stream of men and women converged on the riteohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon. during their stay on mount arafathmountajj pilgrims -- on mount arafat hajj pray for forgiveness for their sins. s a good feeling. i wish every muslim could be here today. it is a great day. >> i am looking for god's mercy, his forgiveness, and great reward. >> every muslim who is healthy nfo i is duty-bound to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. the annual event creates a huge authorities in saudi arabia. past pilgrages havbeen marred by a deadly stampede, fi a oer disasters. this year, there have been no major problems.

after prayers on mount arafat, pilgrim's move on to their neby ai to spend the night. they collect the stones that will use in the stoning of the double ritual over the next few da. >> the german chancellor and president have congratulated the sebastian vettel. onuny, hclched the title in the final race of the season. >> with his trophy in hand in his teammate at his se, formula one champion sebastian vettel stepped off a private jet from abu dhabi. they arrived for another pty in salzburg. the team's sponsor, red bull, was honoring the drivers that the company's headquarters. just after his winning run on nd, baia vtel went straight to celebrating with his team. for the youngesthaioth and the formula in history, it is still sinking in. >> there were lots of questions afterwards, same as now. nothing has changed. te w h te to let loose

and celebrate. but we did not sleep. >> inonop celebrations are set to continue. on tuesday, they will leave salzburg for the team's british racing center. sebastian vettel iotet to arrive in his home town in germy and tell next week. >> stay tuned. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> welcome back. it germany's christian democrats, the largest party and thgornalio are holding a party conference. it is a key test for chancellor angela merkel, whose coalition party have ofteneeriven by internal problems since taking power a year ago. on monday, 90% of delegates backed merkel in the vote for party leadership it shows perhaps that the cdu wants to put the divisions behind it. >> a rousing reception from conference goers. angela merkel, uncontested leader of the christian demoats. but the chancellor did conde

the look first year of college with the free democrats had been marked by some in-fighting between the two parties. she said both had needed time to get used to each other. >but she assured delegates there no other option for the cdu. >> the alternative to this coalition would be another grand coalition. in case anybody had had that thought in a weak moment. >> merkel gave a speech that was combative but thoughtful in places. the chancellor made continual references to the core values of the cdu, underscoring their christian foundation, and she stressed the need to defend those values in the debate over immigration and integration, for example. >> it is not that we have too much is lawns. rather, we have too little christianity. we talk too little about the christian image of society, about the judeo-christian values that define us. this is what we have to

emphasize with confidence. [applause] >> it was a tone that many of the thousand delegates agreed with. >> it shows us that the cdu is the party that has the strength to survive difficult decisions. i think her combative speech encourages us. >> it is the strongest speech i have ever heard. we're here we have elections next year, and if you look at polling figures, it looks like the conservatives had some anxiety here. >> but some among the party faithful believe that merkel's pragmatic politics could be losing the cdu some of its traditional voters. >> she has good polling numbers. she is well-liked. but that does not mean that the cdu will do better in elections, and i believe that is because we did not stakeout clear enough positions with many issues with the public. >> but after a bumpy start to

the current coalition, merkel can be pleased with the 90.4% result for reelection as party leader. and the new deputies are pragmatists open to all lengths of the party. the employment minister is a strong supporter of women's rights to a career as well as a family. and the environment minister is also head of the biggest regional cdu group are in the country. angela merkel has told her party needs to be both conservative and moderate, a delicate balancing act, and one that will be put to the test in regional elections next year. a challenge that will surely demand plenty of stamina from the chancellor. >> well, one of the things that chancellor merkel has been criticized for is our government response to the global economic crisis. i asked our correspondent if she had defended her policies. >> yes, she has a very vigorously. she said that her government's response to the financial crisis

in in general, and in particular, the crisis for the year, have been one of its greatest successes. she said that the bailout package for greece had been absolutely essential, that there were continuing threats to the stability of the euro, and she used very strong language talking about how this is about the future of europe and peace in europe. and she said the government had done everything that it needed to do. she rejected suggestions that germany has put unreasonable emphasis on its exports, that it has not done enough to stimulate consumer demand. and she said that pressure on at the banks is the right way to create the stability for the euro area that is desperately needed, in spite of the fact that greece has been criticizing the germans stance on banking regulation. >> despite her strong

performance, the cdu is still doing poorly in the polls, and there are a lot of state elections coming up next year. >> that is true. it is a headache for angela merkel. next year we have five state elections, including key ones in several areas worthy cdu government is very much on the ropes. if christian democrats do badly in those elections, that will reflect badly on the chancellor as she takes her party, she hopes, forward to the next general election in three year'' time. >> her reelection, with 90% of the vote, has strengthened her position within the party. what will that mean in terms of her policies? >> of course, it does mean that she can push our program for word. there is a lot of key policy areas that she's concentrating on. reform of the tax system is one

of them. also, reform of germany's armed forces, effectively getting rid of compulsory military service. that is very controversial with a lot of conservatives. reform of the health and education systems and so on. -- two is been very warmly applauded at this conference today, is in a stronger position. i think that will enable her to set the agenda in the months ahead. that is what she is helping. >> thank you. as we have heard, merkel's conservatives are suffering from poor approval ratings. the popularity has been dented by the economic crisis but also by what merkel describes as uncovered of all decisions. public in-fighting with coalition partners is not helped. sometimes the government seems less unified than the grand coalition that was in power before. however, some believe the slide in the ratings may be indicative of a wider trend, that voters are abandoning their loyalty to

one particular party. >> the christian democrats have seen better days. discontent is growing among voters, and many lay the blame for the country's problems with the coalition's largest party, the cdu. governing during difficult times often takes a political toll. >> the end of -- there just is not enough money to finance social expenditure. there's more spending and more responsibilities to take on with less money. that will not make any government popular. >> but polls show that fewer and fewer people are voting cdu. after a loss the general election in 2002, the conservative party's fortress appeared to be improving with 51% approval. since then, its popularity has dwindled to 32% in the most recent poll. in election terms, the cdu's of

all fell from 38.5% in to thousand two to n 33.8% in 2009. the other main german party, the social democrats, suffered even more dramatic losses. the trend indicates that voters are abandoning their loyalty to one particular party. >> the cdu can rely on a potential 10% of loyal voters. for the rest of their support, they're dependent on voters were theoretically on the defense. >> many conservatives have been put off by the parties passive modernization. but that has been part of cdu efforts to reach out to the center. the wider their electoral support, the easier it is to govern. >> that is the advantage that main popular party said. if they are big enough, they are in a position to lean with the stable majority in parliament. >> that stable majority is something that cdu conservatives

can only dream of right now, so it is all the more urgent that they resolve their internal arguing and soon. >> and that has been our "in depth" at this hour. thanks for watching. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪

>>this week on world business... >>international schools take steps into china. >>it is about being clever enough to see where the opportunity is going to be in the future. >>the new business of legal outsourcing in india >>it either spells trouble for traditional law firms or it spells opportunity. >>and from the bayou to the boutique, the surprisingly big business in alligator skins. >>we might have to sort through 1000 skins before we can find ten really good ones in the size and grade that they want.

>>hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. the market for international education is worth 45 billion dollars a year and marketers have china firmly in their sights. but not all are focused on attracting "nouveau-riche" chinese students to campuses abroad. some of the most respected english private schools are expanding in the people's republic itself. >>reporter: quintessentially english, in far flung china - though unlike its four century old namesake for the teenage sons of the world's millionaires and monarchs, harrow international school welcomes well-heeled beijing-based children as young as three, including girls.

>>established in 2005, this is the harrow brand's second overseas school after bangkok. a third opens in hong kong in 2012. >>farthing: there are many visionaries on the harrow school board who see the value in transliterating a qualityharrow branded service into new markets. at a commercial level, there is a return from the international schools as well which goes back to help maintain a level of fee structure at a school like harrow to the benefit of that school too. >>reporter: harrow international school is a private company backed by a hong kong investor; it operates under alicence from harrow school in the uk. as for the maths, the beijing operation has over 400 students - with annual fees for the eldest, 28,000 us dollars. >>reporter: in the city of tianjin (pronounced tee-en jeen), another famous british name, wellington college, opens its doors in the autumn

of 2011 - in a campus funded by a local property developer. a relative latecomer to the overseas market, wellington has big plans to catch-up with the competition, first in china, then india and the middle east. >>cook: they believe firstly that they have a brand at home, a quality of education in all its many guises, extra-curricula, academic, moral, spiritual and so on - which they can export, so to speak, around the world. >>mackie: mainland china hosts over 270 international schools in 43 cities and in the provinces many cater to just a couple dozens students. but for the majority of schools, they can only enrol foreigners - children of expats or returning chinese with foreign passports. so for well-off mainlanders who seek a less politicised, international education and a seamless entry to the world's leading universities, there are two options.

>>reporter: option one, there are schools abroad, which, along with colleges, vigorously compete at education expos like this for a share of the 200,000 chinese students who study overseas annually. >>of this number, over 3,000 under 18s attend british boarding schools, while around the same amountboard in the us. most going onto universities, paying premium fees, in their countries of choice. >>these numbers are growing as anxious parents worry about their only child's competitive advantage in china's marketplace. >>gregg: there's an interesting push coming on with how parents view the importance of education and their careers. i see that there are a multiple of opportunities for kids to come back who have gone through that creative thinking and analytical thinking, good communication in english and other languages, to thrive in companies in china because they don't get that internally necessarily. >>reporter: that is, unless they opt for option two. after completing his compulsory chinese education, 16 year old dang xuyang (pronounced dang shoo-yang) was able to enter

harrow international school's sixth form to study for britain's a levels - so avoiding college foundation courses and other problems faced by his peers. >>xuyang: most foreign universities do not recognise chinese secondary school qualifications. there was also aproblem with my english proficiency at that time. so coming to this school was one of the best waysto solve these problems. >>reporter: many leading international schools adopt the same strategy. however, another foreign player is focused primarily on domestic students. >>reporter: old etonian william vanbergen's company british education - with a mainland investment partner - isestablishing three boarding schools for the over 15s that run on the uk curriculum. >>reporter: like wellington's tianjin model, campuses are typically provided by developers - who recognise the connection in china between a reputable school and nearby property prices. >>here in qingdao (pronounced cheeng-dow), britain's oxford international college oversees

the delivery of a quality, branded education that can cost up to 18,000 dollars per year. >>bankers say the business plan is sound, but executing such a model in china isn't easy. >>vanbergen: you really want to try and draw on the strengths of what you have - the tradition, the history, the academic excellence. but then you've got to replicate it half way around the world. you're talking about an environment that doesn't speak english, that is very, very culturally different. >>reporter: china's cultural differences and the country's growing clout on the world stage, isn't lost on head teachers, like frances king of the exclusive roedean girls' school. >>she's here in china, not only to meet prospective elite students, but also explore potential teacher and student exchanges - and so better prepare her girls for their future roles, be it in businessor diplomacy. >>king: it's about being clever enough to see where the opportunities are going to be in the future. there are certain markets which will remain strong and constant in the west -

certain markets in the uk that i can tap into. it's what kind of sharp new outlook you want to bring to your business which i think appeals to me. >>reporter: expanding the reach of distinguished brands in mainland china is a long-term strategy. >>for the hard pressed british treasury, these early connections should help maintain the intake of top dollar students to uk universities. while sino-british networks should deliver referral business to the schools and advance their students' careers - by broadening the old school tie network. >>india's legal outsourcing industry has grown in recent years from almost nothing to a mainstream part of the global business of law. with everyone from wall street banks to mining giants, insurance firms and multinationals looking to cut costs, hiring lawyers in india is now increasingly popular. >>reporter: welcome to the new level playing field. here in noida,

a satellite city of new delhi, these young lawyers are learning the nuances of american law. christopher wheeler used to be the assistant attorney-general for new york state. now he manages the team of lawyers at pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm, to do the work usually done by young lawyers in the west - at one-tenth of the cost. >>wheeler: it either spells trouble for traditional law firms or it spells opportunity. it spells trouble to law firms run by dinosaurs who refuse to see that you cannot continue to bill your client 400 dollars an hour when it can be done as well and as securely by other people for a tiny fraction of that cost. and it spells opportunity for the same people who see the value and see the savings that they can pass on to their clients, and the opportunity that will give them with their clients to do more and more work. >>reporter: india's legal outsourcing industry is booming, as cash-conscious companies

in the west are hiring lawyers in india to review documents, conduct due diligence, and draft contracts. lpos, or legal process outsourcing firms, have moved away from the traditional billing per hour model to billing per task. >>kamlani: historically in the legal services industry, when lawyers are billing on an hourly basis, and are telling you "i have no idea how long this is going to take", you have no idea how big your bill is going to be. you just know you have a higher hourly bill rate. >>reporter: the number of legal outsourcing companies in india has mushroomed to more than 140 from just 40 fiveyears ago. a few kilometres away in noida is the office of cpa global. headquartered on the island of jersey, the company uses talent from 4 continents to provide legal services to its international clients. >>sewell: india is absolutely crucial, it's central to our whole outsourcing effort. we acquired a business down here 4 years ago, and we've

been developing and building that business over the course of the last 4 years. we have over 800 people down here now, and we plan to at least double that in the course of the next 2 years. it's the central backbone of our multi-shore offering. >>sharma: the advantages coming from india is the kind of talent available here, the kind of scalability that you can do, the kind of lawyers you can hire in short periods is not available anywhere else...what the onshore teams bring to the table is the missing technical nuance of a specific market or specific law. both of these combined together, provide a very effective solution to the client. >>reporter: outsourcing firms are able to offer low costs largely due to india's low wages and its big pool of young, english-speaking lawyers. the country churns out 80,000 legal graduates every year, and since india's legal system is based on the british colonial system, they find it easy to work for clients in the us and uk. >>chhajer:

the indian legal system and us legal system are very similar, the laws are very similar and the structure is very similar: >>reporter: meanwhile, indian law firms are watching the booming outsourcing industry from a distance. since lpos take up only foreign cases of foreign clients and practise no law in india, indian law firms don'tsee them as competition. but they do object to foreign law firms setting up shop here, as indian lawyers have a tough time getting work permits in the west. >>bhasin: we are getting a lot of work these days from the multinational companies directly, without the intervention of any foreign law firms. so who needs? it is essentially because of the negative growth particularly in uk, that they want to capture india - the legal profession - and china. these are the green

pastures for them. >>reporter: india's legal sector could well present an attractive range of both high-value services and low-costcommoditised services. with outsourcing firms already seeing annual growth of over 50 percent, mostplan to double their headcount within the next two years. >>sharma: i'm sure this momentum will continue, but it will not be long enough before law firms see this opportunity not as a threat, and start forming a tri-partite relationship. in future, you should see corporates, law firms and cpa forming a beautiful triangle, working together with each other. >>reporter: indian legal outsourcing firms are expected to see revenues hit 1 billion dollars by 2014. nevertheless, this remains less than 1 percent of the global law industry. clearly there's plenty of room forgrowth for legal suppliers here - both indian and foreign.

>>reporter: but it may only be a matter of time before other english speaking countries wake up to the opportunity. >>still to come on world business... >>a business millions of years in the making, alligator farming and hunting in the deep south. >>and the sport where owners and punters can lose everything on a single race. >>first time out, the horse stumbles, and unfortunately has to be put down, you've effectively lost your investment. >>the risks of the racetrack... and the rest in just a moment on world business... >>there's no doubt alligators are impressive beasts, they can grow to over 16 feet

and weigh half a ton. and in the southern us state of louisiana, alligators support a surprisingly large business supplying by far the majority of the world's skins. but like any luxury market, the industry has felt the bite of recession. >>reporter: tonight...in the marshlands of georgia's coast, a killing will take place... ...the victim an alligator ready to be dispatched with a handgun >>reporter: what these men are doing was banned in georgia from the late 60's, after alligators had almost been hunted to extinction. but following the ban their number steadily grew and since 2003 around 800 hunting licenses have been released each year for a brief month long season. >>hunter: it has gone to the right, it is coming up, it is surfacing... >>waters:

we brought in the hunting because the alligator is a renewable economic resource that with proper management can be harvested in a limited quantity without affecting the overall population of the alligator. >>reporter: alligator numbers have now risen to around 200.000 in georgia and when these chaps do bag their gator, there is a reasonable chance its hide will end up here: located just south of atlanta, it is one of only 5 commercial alligator skin tanneries in the world and the products created from these hidescan command 10's of thousands of dollars. expensive stuff, but this is truly a labour intensive business and from marsh to market a skin will go through more than 30 pairs of hands. >>reporter: you can't sort of...there is no machine where you can throw it in and it comes out looking nice and glazed like that... >>plott-redd: that would be convenient, but no, it is done the old way. >>reporter: that is a big alligator. >>plott-redd: yes. >>reporter:

wild alligator hides are larger, rarer and more valuable than farmed but either way the skins top luxury brands demand are hard to find: >>plott-redd: we may have to sort through 10000 skins to find 10 really good ones in the size and grade that theywant. >>reporter: around 80% of the world's alligator hides come from louisiana...most of it from farms like dane ledet's. like most farmers, he deals mainly in alligators less than 4ft long, driven largely by the demand for watchstraps. but the recession is taking a big bite out of business. >>ledet: at a high we will get like $8.50 per cm. that can drop down to like $3.50 a cm. >>reporter: things are tough all over...at the house of fleming in atlanta, demand is down by about 30% against a couple of years ago...although the company, whose products are all custom made, has been lucky to hit one niche market that's proved very lucrative...pro golfers...who are happy to pay hundreds of dollars for a belt...

>>fleming: there is a lot of competition on who can out dress the other. it's just their nature. >>reporter: ...and the free advertising has proved priceless... >>gibson: i saw graeme mcdowall wearing one at the open and i looked in the back of the digest it said house of flemings. i wanted an alligator belt, came in and bought one. now i'm here again today. i do fancythe alligator belts. >>gillis: eeep eeep. >>reporter: what noise is that? >>gillis: the first call was one of a baby gator which sometimes can be in distress and the mother will come to see what's going on and the second call can be a mating/fighting call. >>reporter: now the near-prehistoric source material of this industry can live for around 50 years in the wild and grow to about 16ft...but even for experts like greg and jim, grabbing a good sized gator takes real skill... >>reporter: but finally, after hours

of searching.... >>waters: depending on what they're making is depending on how big a scale pattern they want. watch bands you generally want the smaller scale pattern. purses...handbags they generally want the belly part because they've got the bigger scale patterns. >>reporter: in louisiana...there are around 1.5 million alligators and in a normal year dane ledet would gather about 60000 alligator eggs. last year, however, demand was so poor he didn't even bother to collect any...but he's hoping that strategy will eventually start playing in his favour... >>ledet: if the economy starts picking up a little bit the inventory won't be high so it should help the price per cm come up. >>reporter: as for bob fleming...he'd be happy just to see more of one particular customer...golfer darren clarke...who's already bought more than 400 of his belts...

>>fleming: that's good business for you. that's great business. that's a one man economic stimulus plan. >>reporter: the alligator industry isn't everyone's cup of tea...but those involved can see nothing wrong with making money out of what is a renewable resource....and critics can at least take solace from the fact that no-one's making easy money... >>plott-redd: it's very cash intensive. it's very stressful. there's a lot of risk involved. >>ledet: hopefully it'll come back to where we can get $5.50 a cm and maybe get back to 8. but it'll be a long time before we get back to 8. >>plott-redd: because demand can fluctuate according to style and fashion and the economy in general. >>reporter: meanwhile, adding just one good sized gator to the supply chain can take hours. and hours. because despite bagging the odd timewaster, by the time we jumped out of the boat these chaps had got close...but not close

enough... >>messenger: caught a couple. didn't get the big one. >>reporter: you did see it though didn't you. quite close. >>messenger: o yeah. >>reporter: a little bit closer and it would have been...pop. >>messenger: o yeah. >>reporter: enjoy it though? >>messenger: o yeah... >>reporter: later that night they settled for an 8 footer. and who knows...one day its hide may pass thru 30 pairs of hands, as one small part of a rollercoaster industry that's been 180 million years in the making... >>while sport has not been immune to the global economic downturn, the glamour and excitement of horseracing still attracts a wide range of followers around the world. but there are huge financial risks involved, and not just for the punters betting their shirt on an outsider at the track >>reporter: it's called the sport of kings.

>>and racing at goodwood, on the duke of richmond's estate in southern england, has royal connections that date back centuries. >>fabricius: the horse racing's been going on for over two hundred years, but it came about as a result of the first duke of richmond, being the illegitimate son of charles 2nd, having a fascination for hunting and he would come down to sussex and hunt with the charlton hounds which were kenneled here on the estate. >>reporter: the highlight of the calendar here is a meeting called glorious goodwood. never mind all the talk of double dip recessions and belt tightening, on a festival afternoon the crowds still flock here to enjoy themselves. >>attendances have remained robust in recent years, with around 100,000 racegoers over the five dayspaying up to $100 a head.

>>and it's by 100-year old royal decree that there's a more relaxed atmosphere here than at rival courses: >>fabricius: it was king edward the seventh who referred to it as a garden party with racing tacked on and of course it was his influence that led to goodwood being regarded as a more informal and socially relaxing sporting event as compared to say royal ascot, where people are dressed in their morning suit and their top hats. >>reporter: but goodwood and other courses have suffered with a reduction in corporate hospitality, reflecting less money in the sector, and a more selective approach to business entertaining. >>trainers too are feeling the pinch, finding fewer owners wishing to re-invest at the yearling sales each year. and revenues into the industry from betting are in decline, causing prize money to comeunder pressure.

>>but it's not all bad news: >>fabricius: i'm pleased to say that right now field sizes, that's the number of horses running in races, seems to be holding up remarkably well. >>reporter: and of course down at the trackside there are many people hoping to cushion the effects of the economic downturn: >>baldwin: the bookies are hoping for a good day, and so are the punters, but they're not the only ones having to weigh up the odds at the races: >>reporter: when a winner gallops across the line here, its value can immediately double or even treble. there can't be many assets these days which turn a profit like that so quickly. >>and the assembled worth of the bloodstock is phenomenal... the thoroughbreds running here add up to between 40 and 80 million dollars with perhaps half that amount concentrated in one race, the day's main

event, the sussex stakes: >>redfern: they're all proven group one horses, and we'd be looking at twenty to twenty five million dollars worth of bloodstock in that one race, so they're very valuable assets. >>reporter: the dramatic escalation in a horse's value after a win is based not only on future prize pots, but for enhanced stud fees: >>driver: the stud fees are very high, a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand in some cases and if a stallion turns out to be infertile, then that's a huge loss, so it's big values. >>reporter: and as the saying goes, values go down, as well as up; in this business, just as fast. >>weller: if you've got bloodstock, you've really got to consider the unforeseen situation to make it worth your while, to cover your initial outlay really ... now the first time out, the horse stumbles, and unfortunately has to be put down, you've effectively lost your investment. >>reporter:

that's a risk covered by specialist insurers like markel international, at goodwood today celebrating a year since launching its equine and livestock division in the uk, in an industry worth around 400 million dollars globally. >>redfern: the london market is basically the global centre of the insurance market, so we don't just write business in england, we write business all over the world, australia, new zealand, south africa, all over the states, south america, japan, and all over europe, so we get a very broad spread of business because most of the equine insurance comes into the london market >>reporter: but of course this being racing, some are so rich that despite the massive sums and risks involved, money really is no object. >>redfern: some people view it as a commercial operation and for other people, it's much more of a hobby, they've made their money elsewhere, it's just a hobby for them so they don't feel the necessity to insure. >>thomas: a lot of people are that wealthy they don't need to insure their horses, but for the bloodstock value

and the side of racing when the horses are retired, i think it's important to have your horse insured, for the worst case scenario. >>reporter: still, with owners wealthy enough to write off several million dollars when a horse takes a bad stumble, the sport of kings looks set to gallop home comfortably for years to come. >>that's it for this week's world business. thanks for watching. we'll see you again at the same time next week.

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