>> you are watching "the journal." >> and i am a at the business desk. >> new problems at fukushima, with the soil highly radioactive. chancellor angela merkel is in crisis mode, and in libya, rebel fighters moved closer to the gaddafi birthplace, with their sights set on tripoli.

there is more evidence this monday that at least one of the reactors at japan's fukushima power plant is leaking. officials have found plutonium around the plant, and highly radioactive water has been discovered for the first time outside the building. the tokyo electric power company, tepco, maintains it poses no health risk to humans. we have this report. >> plutonium has been found in five spots around fukushima, but tepco insists the levels are not harmful. >> the level detective is extremely small and will not affect human health. -- the level detected. >> they were trying to stay on top of the situation.

now, a government representative is says that there may have been a partial meltdown inside reactor number two, this after water rose to more than 100,000 times its normal level over the weekend. they now have to pump out the contaminated water before they continue to work on reestablishing the cooling system. engineers can only spend a few minutes at a time in the reactor buildings due to the radiation levels. >> when you are inside, you are contaminated by radiation. i was exposed over five days. the longer you spend inside, the longer it becomes -- more it becomes. >> , work is continuing to bring the situation under control -- despite the risk, work is continuing. >> i spoke with the greenpeace

nuclear policy expert in amsterdam and ask him whether he thinks suspicions are valid that one of the reactors is, indeed, leaking radioactive material. >> well, yes, and i think this is not in the news. we have been monitoring the radiation levels outside of the building. there is extensive damage to the and there is exposure to the containment vessel, which is the only way to explain the radiation levels outside the building. >> ok, maybe you can explain to our viewers, we understand that plutonium is rather heavy. the chance of its spreading over great distances is not that great. would you agree with that? >> for example, at chernobyl, we have found plutonium up to 40 kilometers.

especially if it is small particles, it can spread through the water. >> let's say that what we are getting right now, the levels of contamination of the soil right now, is accurate. is it possible to clean that up? >> well, technically, yes, but it would be requiring a lot of time. there was a factory with radioactive particles in the 1960's, and still, there are new particles being washed up on shore. >> from green priests -- from greenpeace, thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you. >> despite the earthquake and tsunami, many are still being held in emergency accommodations. mainly elderly are staying in what is reported as being under he did, overcrowded shelters --

under heated and overcrowded shelters. they do not have access to hot water, so it has been weeks since some have bathed. a direct impact on politics right here in germany. chancellor angela merkel's christian democrats lost control of the most prosperous state in a weekend election. in baden-wurttemberg, they handed control their for the first time to the green party. >> the party's victory is a big victory for them. >> for us, it means we are strengthened, but it also means we find ourselves in an entirely new situation in baden- wurttemberg. instead of being the smaller

government party, we are the party that supplies the state premier, and that comes with a high level of responsibility. >> this is a state where the conservative christian democrats have governed for almost six decades. pressure is mounting on the free deck it -- free democrats and their leader. they emerged as the biggest loser, losing more than half of their seats in baden- wurttemberg. they did not get enough seats in rheinland-pfalz. >> it is obvious that the future of nuclear power and nuclear policy plate and pour a role in yesterday's elections. we just cannot return to business as usual -- the future of nuclear power and nuclear policy played an important role in yesterday's election. >> merkel has ruled out a cabinet reshuffle.

>> as a supporter of nuclear power, i want to openly say my view of it has been changed by the events in japan. >> chancellor merkel said her party had begin to have discussions on energy policy, but the social democrats are stepping up pressure. she says the review is not enough. the one heard to say no to nuclear power once and for all. -- they want her to say no. >> and we will have more on what is being called germany's greens spree later on in this half- hour. britain and france are urging supporters of muammar gaddafi. this is as rebel forces surged west, moving ever closer to the gaddafi birthplace, which is considered the last place before a battle for tripoli.

>> inside gaddafi forces delivered supplies to locals -- anti-gaddafi forces. a lack of fuel has been slowing the rebels' advance. they prepare for the next big area, sirte. their spokesman says they hope to enter the city in the coming days. the rebels have already come a long way, retaking several areas. now, they are about 100 kilometers east of sirte. allied air strikes back of their advance. nato reportedly flew over 100 missions on monday. the alliance is in the process of taking full command in the process over libya. nato top officials stressed the future of the country was in the

hands of the people. >> i hope to see a ceasefire as soon as possible in a peaceful transition to democracy for the libyan people to decide the future of libya, and let me add to that the we also fully respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of libya. >> it is not expected more nato members will join the coalition. germany has ruled out any involvement. >> fresh violence in syria. reports say that government forces have again opened fire on demonstrators in a southern city. for over one week now, it has been the center of anti- government protests. witnesses say hundreds gathered in the main square, calling for reforms. in neighboring turkey, the prime minister says he has been in contact with the syrian president. he says he has urged the president to, quote, listen to his people. staying in the region, each of

some military leaders say the country will hold parliamentary elections in september -- egypt 's military leaders say the country will hold elections. they were talking about lifting emergency law, but they have not said when. they have denied reports that hosni mubarak has the lead. they say he remains under house arrest. ok, talking more about the economic repercussions in japan. >> what do you do when the world's third largest economy is temporarily out of order? several industries are struggling to rebuild their supply chains after a loss of dozens of key parts suppliers in japan. many specialized components makers were located in the region hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami in japan. the global automotive industry

has been among the hardest hit, including japan, home to the world's biggest car maker, toyota. this has caused temporary shutdowns in automakers from the united states to germany. some have been able to move fairly quickly to adapt, but some will need several months to recover. >> toyota has repeatedly postponed the resumption of production in japan, but on monday, workers returned to two of the 18 plants, at least for now. >> we do not know if we can get all of the parts, but as long as the factory is running, i am relieved. >> assembly lines that we started on three hybrids and the lexus model, but the situation in the japanese car sector remains difficult. in addition to toyota, honda and suzuki have cut back.

supplies for chips for cars and just about anything electronic could also run short. it is said the soap on wafers that one company makes for the chip industry could be in short supply by may, -- it said the silicon wafers it makes. >> there was a recovery in the automotive industry in the past year, and one has been able to significantly reduce its heavy debt load by selling off a stake in a supplier. there was a hostile takeover of continental in 2008 to as prior to the industry crisis, and it ended up with a massive debt burden. monday's share sale brought in 1.8 billion euros, cutting their overall debt burden. they do still control over 60%. this is one of the world's biggest maker of ball bearings. the other is a big tiremaker.

and a major boost from green party gains here in germany. shares of a turbine maker posted double-digit gains after it said it expected sales to pick up in the coming months and forecast a very strong growth for 2012. and there is the rising demand. the company says it plans to invest about 70 million euros in research and development, and they expect sales of just over 1 billion euros in the past year. overall, a german blue chips in frankfurt closed slightly lower. we have this summary of the trading session from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> there were some favorites here on the german stock market after the regional elections in germany. these are companies that are

active in renewable energy, wind power, or solar energy. it is expected that now after this outcome of the regional election, there will be a fast exit from atomic energy and more money being invested into renewable energy, and the election also put more pressure on some companies, like e.on, in the dax. people were treading carefully because of all of that news coming out of japan. >> in frankfurt, we can stay for a closer look at monday's numbers, and the blue-chip dax closing just slightly lower than the euro stoxx 50 it locking in slight gains for the day. across the event in new york, the dow industrials are at this

hour slightly lower after trading a bit higher earlier in the day. and on currency markets, the euro trading at about the of $1.40. the bond market is losing even more companies in portugal. yields for government bonds went to record highs of more than 8% on monday, and investors demanded an 8.7% yield on the heavily indebted country's five- year yields. their credit rating was lowered, and this came after the austere to measures fail to pass in parliament. many expect portugal to resort to an international bailout to finally get its economic house in order. now, back over for some news from france. >> angela merkel, not before mr.

sarkozy. the french president suffered a setback in local elections. 20 percent of the vote was taken, coming in second behind the opposition socialists, who got 36%. another performed strongly with almost 12%. in the opinion polls, they were looking at sarkozy being eliminated in the first round of next year's presidential elections. the battle for the presidency. the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi appeared in court on monday in connection with fraud allegations. his supporters gathered outside the courtroom in a lawn. prosecutors alleged fraud took place during a broadcast by one of his media companies. this is one of four trials that the prime minister is facing.

he says the charges are politically motivated. all right, i will be back in one minute to talk about the green surge in german politics.

>> all right, welcome back, everyone. everyone is talking about sunday's nuclear election. the situation in japan caused some issues. the christian democrats lost a six decade-long reign of power. it was a blow to chancellor angela merkel, who leads the christian democrats. there was the back-and-forth policy on nuclear power, and they gave their votes to the green party. >> german chancellor angela merkel was putting on a brave face after sunday's electoral debacle. they were defeated for the first time after 58 years in power in baden-wurttemberg, delivering a

severe blow. it marks a big shift. >> we lost the governing majority. it is a deep cut in the history of baden-wurttemberg, and with that, the history of our party. >> people just did not vote against your party, but about nuclear reactors. many voters considered this to be political. some were alienated by the policy shift. now, she says she is a nuclear supporter of the ones to reexamine the issues. what happened in japan was so improbable that it can, and i think also will, affect our point of view regarding what is probable and what is improbable. >> besides cleaning up its own

mess, the christian democrats are looking at their opponents. even though the grass roots is always the frustrated, the party leadership is looking for time. >> we will have a comprehensive district -- conversation in an orderly process that will come above all, be defined by long- term aims. >> her coalition partner is trying to save its own skin, which will not make the remaining time in government any easier. angela merkel insists there will my be any changes to a cabinet. >> i am seen no signs of that, so i cannot answer that question right now. >> the chancellor now faces a tough balancing act. on the one hand, the success of the green party has changed the balance of power, while on the other hand, critics in your own

party are calling for something else. >> yes, no doubt, this is crisis time for german chancellor angela merkel. she will have to formulate a strategy for rebuilding credibility with the electorate. the greens are bad and political sunshine, however. >> the fukushima accident in japan was said to be the deciding factor of the green success. >> what do you think was the key factor? >> phasing out nuclear energy or fukushima, whatever you call it. >> i think it did tip the scales and gave the green is what they needed. >> i think it helped them.

after all, they have been campaigning against nuclear energy for years. this is all over the media. >> never before had they had such a good election results. even the party leadership is attributing some of this to the recent event in japan. many now say the elections were a referendum on japanese nuclear power. >> after these elections, it should be clear that most germans see the future in renewable energy and not in nuclear. >> the lesson to be learned is that now is the time to flip a switch from nuclear to renewables. >> the greens want to use their newly gained the authority to assure a shutdown of all of germany's nuclear reactors by 2017. they want to use all political means to block plans.

>> we now have a different balance of power in parliament. we will use their strength to shape policy at a federal level. >> germany's post-election political landscape is looking decidedly reader. now, the party has to prove it can deliver just more than anti- nuclear rhetoric. the country's power grid needs to be massively extended, to which there is opposition, even among the greens. the new political responsibility could soon turn into a nuclear power hangover. >> i spoke with a political analyst about power today. here is what he had to say. >> obviously, it was the dominating issue of the campaign, nuclear energy, to get out of the dependence on nuclear energy, but furthermore, there

was one point which was very important, namely that the greens looked like the party people can trust more. there are many public opinion polls that voters like the greens because they can be trusted, as compared to other parties. >> sir, is this just a flash in the pan in response to the catastrophe in japan could >> well, it is a victory in baden- wurttemberg, and the greens are up to 25%, and they will likely have 12% to 14%. >> the liberal party, leadership being questioned. what is the party going to do? >> well, they have to exchange a

few people in the leadership. the free democratic party has to emerge as a party which is not only for a tax cut but witches in favor of other policy areas where the party is competent, especially economic policy, human rights, but also social policy. >> what do you think of the options now for chancellor angela merkel? >> well, she has to try to hold together the christian democrats. there are many groups, branches, which tend to get out of the party, which criticize her as a party leader. furthermore, she has to

recognize that the german party system has changed, that the green party is in the center now, being able to coalesce with the christian democrat union as well as with the socialist party. that is very important. she has to offer coalition opportunities to the green party. >> in the years to come, do you think people are going to look back at this regional election as the daughter of a new era on nuclear policies? >> people will say that in the near future because of a change from a government run by the christian democrats for 60 years, and now, it is a dream/red government. it is not only the change in power, but it is also the first time in german history, the

history of the federal republic, that a member of the green party will become a prime minister of one of the states. >> that is our "in depth" report. thanks for watching.

>>this week on world business... >>a huge new port complex is planned in kenya, which could open the county up even further to globaltrade, but there is some resistance from locals. >>the level of investment that are going to be there is going to be very huge and if you look in terms of employment, it will be a huge employment that is going to be created. >>the need for sustainable development in sarawak as the region seeks to raise living standards for its people. >>it is a difficult balancing act but i don't think the two are mutually exclusive >>and could stockbrokers become a thing of the past? we look at the rise of completely automated trading. >>now it's almost like the movie terminator, you've got a lot of machines in a room and they're making trading decisions,

>>hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. kenya is in an enviable position. as trade grows between africa and the booming markets of asia, its location on the east coast of the continent makes it an ideal transport hub. plans are in place to develop a huge port system in the country which could providea substantial boost to the economy, but not everyone supports the idea. >>reporter: lamu island in northern kenya. the ancient town - a un world heritage site - and pristine beaches are a strong draw

for upmarket tourists, but this whole area could soon be swallowed up by a massive new port complex. >>bakari: the plans of building a second port in this country, and specifically in the area where we are that is lamu county. the fishermen are really worried because the areas they've been using to sustain their livelihood will be definitely be degraded by this dredging activities and physical alterations, sound vibrations and all that. ver it makes economic sense to develop the region. kenya borders resource rich countries like ethiopia, somalia, tanzania, uganda and the soon to be created nation of southern sudan. its access to the indian ocean makes it an ideal transport hub for trade with india & china. >>anderson: kenya has made its economy grow in the last ten years by being a regional hub. if you buy petrol

or manufactured goods in southern sudan, in uganda, in rwanda, in burundi even in congo, those goods almost certainly came in through kenya. so the kenyan economy is benefiting enormously from this en troupeau status. >>reporter: the development plans include a deep-water port and oil refinery on pate island, just north of lamu,together with a military port and complete infrastructure network in northern kenya, including new airports, towns, railways and roads. it's a project that many believe is vital to kenya's economic future. >>onditi: the level of investment that are going to be there is going to be very huge and if you look in termsof employment, it will be a huge employment that is going to be created. and those one who want to carry the offshore manufacturing, so that they can easily get access to the east african community market, they will be able to put up their packaging and finishing products, machineries within the lamu.

>>reporter: the port, kenya's second deep-water facility after mombasa, would be the main gateway for sea-borne trade for not only southern sudan, but ethiopia as well, a potential market of 90 million people. itwould also help form closer ties with the new economic engines of the world. >>onditi: when you go to import goods from japan, korea, china, you will find most of the china industries will be coming to lamu to put up the investment which will be easily accessible to the east african community and that is the biggest economic revolution that the country is going to get into. >>reporter: but environmental campaigners are concerned about the impact of the project especially on marine species living in these waters. the mangroves support crabs, prawns & lobsters that the local fishermenrely on and there is also scepticism that the central government have not been open about the plans.

>>badi: it's only a very, very small clique in the cabinet of the kenyan government that knows actually about this mega port project we have now currently nicknaming this small clique as the small black box because the rest of the cabinet ministers don't even know what's happening. >>reporter: this apparent lack of transparency has angered local people, who fear their interests will be bulldozed aside. >>the indigenous people here have lived off the land for generations, but without title deeds they are effectively squatters and their concern is that they will simply be turned off their properties by new investors. >>muhummad: all this land they want to do this to keep this project.. is our land from our grand dads, but we don't have documents and when the government officer come "here's

my chamba, yes.." "where is the title?" no title. so how can you be paid for this chamba if you don't have title? you know? >>reporter: a government that also promised investment in infrastructure that in many cases has failed to materialize. >>musembi: when the current government came to power, one of the things they promised obviously was about improving infrastructure, which was very poor in kenya. they've made some strides, but not enough. >>reporter: the overriding fact remains however, that the area currently supports only small industries. the entire fishing industry for kenya only generates around 50 million dollars annually most of which comesfrom inland, fresh water fisheries. >>lamu is also only one potential gateway to africa and kenya's neighbours are increasingly competitive. >>anderson: other countries are developing other outlets. transport systems are being improved through ethiopia,through

tanzania; kenya is losing its grip. >>reporter: it's worth remembering the kenyan economy is only growing at 2.6%, if that is to be improved good trade links are vital. >>the state of sarawak on the island of borneo is home to some of the world's most beautiful and pristine rainforests, covering millions of hectares. and as the region progresses, it must deal with the difficult balancing act of raising living standards for its inhabitants, while ensuring development is sustainable. >>reporter: sarawak is malaysia's largest state - one blessed with an abundance of natural resources, not least of all its timber. the state is a destination for many eco-tourists from europe and australia because of its tropical rain forests. but lately the local administration has come under fire from some environmentalists over how it's managing those resources.

>>kaat: we see a very rapid expansion of palm oil plantations and for logging for timber. it is an area thatis loosing about ten percent per year of all its peat swamp forest, that goes for rainforest areas and also the inland forest areas are rapidly shrinking because of this logging, partly for timber, partly for palm oil expansion. >>reporter: in fact, some ngos have claimed that most of sarawak's forest has already been destroyed. it's the kind of allegation that the state's long-serving chief minister rejects. >>mahmud: i know there are some extremely blown up stories about sarawak having 90% of its forest deforested. this is, of course, absolutely not true. in fact, the actual figure is about 80% of our forests still remain there almost intact.

>>reporter: more than half a million hectares is totally protected from any logging, according to the forest department the aim is to double that in the next couple of years, >>reporter: already any areas where the orangutan and other endangered species are found are entirely preserved.while the number of orangutans on the island of borneo as a whole is believed to have declined sharply, in sarawak the population has remained stable for the past decade or more at around 22- to 2500 animals. this is one of two rehabilitation centres in the state. ndong: if at all it is possible we want these wild animals that are captured, seized or whatever, to be putback in the wild again.

>>reporter: overseas volunteers pay a couple of thousand dollars to come and work at this centre just outside the state capital kuching. >>landong: the volunteers, when they go back to their own respective areas you know or homes or whatever they will become ambassadors of what we are actually doing here. >>reporter: no logging is permitted in nature reserves or national parks, even where it is permitted, the authorities say they only allow selective logging of individual mature trees and no clear cutting. sarawak's authorities say they now sets strict limits on the amount of timber than can be extracted each year based on the calculations of the international tropical timber organization, created under the auspices of the united nations. the quota is what the itto deems sustainable given replanting and natural regeneration. >>graham:

it is a difficult balancing act but i don't think the two are mutually exclusive and there's definitely growing recognition of the need to make sustainable use of forestry, also economically viable for local communities. the international community is giving this a lot of attention. >>reporter: still, some environmentalists remain unconvinced. >>rughani: there's about over 900,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in sarawak, so that's pretty huge, and the plan is concessions are being offered for another million hectares so almost doubling the amount between now and 2020. so this is a particularly alarming prospect because sarawak is a highly bio diverse part of the world that is most of borneo. >>reporter: sarawak's government says it doesn't cut any rainforest to plant palm oil -- only using land like this, which was once cleared by local farmers using slash and burn methods. it's considered degraded forest -- basically shrubs and stunted trees engulfed by vines. >>salleh: a country like holland, only 10 per cent is forested and 60

per cent is in agriculture, same with britain, same with denmark, 60 per cent of the land is in agriculture. and they cannot say you cannotcut down this degraded forest to plant oil palm because to us palm oil is a strategic crop like rapeseed. >>reporter: both palm oil and timber are major earners for sarawak -- money the government says is vital to raising living standards among its far-flung population. the government has been improving roads and other infrastructure in rural areas, and trying to ensure children even in the most remote areas get an education. ezra uda did just that despite the challenges. he's a member of the isolated indigenous group, the penan. >> the nearest secondary school from my kampung (village) is bario. i have to go to bario. it takes one week, walking through

the jungle. up and down the valley and the river. if it's raining thenwe have to stop for one day, one night. it's very, very tough. >>reporter: he now earns a good living monitoring agricultural projects for the state government. sarawak's authorities say that if the state is to raise living standards to match those in the rest of malaysia - particularly for the indigenous groups, it must strive to find a balance between development, and use of its natural resources, as well as conservation. >>clark: is the chief minister doing enough? i'll take a cheap shot and say no he's not. no government everdoes enough. ok? from a conservationists' perspective i would say no government ever does enough. let's do more and i encourage them to do more. are they doing as much as is possible? yes i think so. >>reporter: sarawak's chief minister says he's proud of his record. >>mahmud:

today, not only do we have abolished poverty down in fact to 5.3% from the 40% that i inherited wheni became chief minister, but we have been able to upgrade the living standards, change their lifestyles and create new generations of people who are getting more and more accessibility into tertiary education and technical education. >>reporter: while some environmental ngos may disagree with the way sarawak balances development and the environment... it is ultimately the people of that state that the government and chief minister have to satisfy. and their voice will be heard soon enough... with state elections scheduled for mid-april.

>>still to come on world business... >>the brave new world of automated trading, where speed is king. >>and the peaceful sport of gliding gets competitive. >>silent soaring.... and the rest in just a moment on world business... >>since stocks and shares began to be traded, markets have fluctuated, sometimes wildly as confidence and panic swell, than crash prices. the reason for this of course is that even traders are often irrational and emotional. but increasingly stock trades are being handled not by people, but by machines and it's a trend that looks set to grow.

>>reporter: once, trading floors looked like this. but in the 1980s computers swept most of the old bear pits away, today the bulk of trading is carried out by deskbound brokers. even this could soon change as more trading becomes entirely computer controlled. >>misra: if we go back to the floor trading days where we had lots of individuals on the floor reacting to market movements, now it's almost like the movie terminator, you've got a lot of machines in a room and they're making trading decisions. >>reporter: one example is hft or high frequency trading, in itself not that new, but huge leaps forward in technology coupled with market deregulation have made this form of automated trading massive. >>todd: high frequency trading has been around at one level for a long time, it's just the frequency and thesize of it has increased dramatically and that is an advent of the way technology has advanced. >>reporter: technology that runs increasingly complex mathematical programmes, which automatically search markets worldwide for minute changes in share prices and carry out transactions at an

unbelievable rate. >>todd: when we are talking about high frequency traders we are talking milliseconds. >>misra: you have got systems like chi-x where you are actually seeing on average 600 microseconds. >>reporter: that's fast. far faster than humans could even process the price information. as a result the sheer number of trades has rocketed. in the us only 2% of financial companies are high frequency traders, but they account for nearly 75% of equity trading volume. and by dealing in bulk at speed hft companies can make money where sluggish old school traders can't. >>lester: shares traditionally were market made either on the telephone or the floors of exchanges in the 1980s, spreads tended to be a lot wider. high frequency trading firms tend to make markets inside those spreads and they can do it in much smaller size and actually tighten the distance between which you can buy and sell shares at. >>reporter: however to do this takes some

serious computing power and that takes space, but data centres can be based practically anywhere. nearly an hour's drive from the financial district of london, in a dreary satellite town is ld5 the heart of trading firm equinix's financial operation. >>reporter: for obvious reasons we can't show you the exact location as they take security very seriously indeed. but once past the bulletproof glass, mantrap, air lock and biometric scanners you can, under escort, have access to 16,000 square metres of technical space. >>schwartz: in coming to slough we were able to find a very large facility but also with access to power which is critical to the growth of electronic trading but also with close proximity to major telecommunications routes to allow people to connect both to other exchanges and other places around the world. >>reporter: which is vital, because no matter how fast you trade, someone will be competing to trade even faster. by "co locating" in the same building as exchanges and communication

hubs milliseconds more can beshaved off transaction times and even this may not be enough. >>schwartz: at the velocity that many of our customers are trading, at many trades per second, being able to reduce that latency improves their performance, improves their chances of being successful traders. andso, whereas before people worked very hard to shorten the distance by being in the same city, now it's literally about being in the same room >>reporter: however this brave new world is not without its problems. in may last year the dow jones plummeted nearly a thousand points in a matter of minutes in a "flash crash". that some argue was caused by volatility following hft firms pulling out of the market. others believe it was simply a very human reaction. >>carjat: what we have seen recently is that some of the hft might just simply pull out of the market and that can cause an issue, because all of a sudden that liquidity pool that was there all of a sudden disappear and significant volatility

ensues. >>hemsley: i think that one of the biggest problems was there was a lack of certainty about whether a trade that had been executed in the market was going to stand or not. >>reporter: what is certain is that regulation is high on the agenda across the entire financial industry and asa relatively new and rapidly evolving area hft is sure to come under the spotlight. >>misra: there is a high frequency witch hunt as i call it out there at the moment, whether it's the regulators pandering to political sentiment. >>lester: ceo turquoise and director of information services, lse group i personally believe there's enough regulation in the equity markets as there is! in terms of high frequency trading, they're a natural force, you know they... we think add positively to the market, don't exacerbate volatility, and are not there to be regulated out. >>reporter: however it is regulated high frequency trading is here to stay and as technology continues to develop will no doubt become faster and even more efficient.

>>gliders are amazing machines, able to soar thousands of kilometres. they can reach over 40000ft into the sky, and travel at over 170mph. till now though, one thing they haven't been able to do is make competitive gliding commercially attractive for sponsors and broadcasters. but the sport's organisers are trying to change that. >>reporter: competitive gliding. where man pitches himself into the heavens...to battle the elements...and his fellow pilots...armed only with experience...guile...and what are true masterpieces of aeronautical design.... >>hibberd: this gliders made of carbon fibre. so quite expensive materials. carbon and kevlar same as racing cars and yachts... >>cowley: modern gliders have a glide angle of 1 in 40, 1 in 50. the best ones in excess of 1 in 60...which means for 1 mile of height lost you've got 60

miles gliding. that's pretty impressive technology. >>reporter: of course, that technology tends to look more impressive airborne...but on this gloomy day at the british club class finals in husbands bosworth...the gliders were firmly earthbound...conditions...farfro ideal... >>skysbrook: there is a cumulus cloud there, there is another littleone there, and they are the sorts of clouds the glider pilots are looking for. >>reporter: the basic problem is: this just not enough heat getting through to bounce them back up? >>brooks: yeah, absolutely. that's the main problem. >>reporter: that's the technical analysis of it. >>yeah, yeah, that's good enough >>reporter: but on a good day and in the right place...gliding races can be truly spectacular...with pilots flying at up to 300km/hr most commonly by riding winds lifting off mountain ridges, or jumping between rising columns of air called thermals, in an elaborate game of 3d chess.... >>tribe: in simple terms you climb in thermals and then you glide losing height until you get to the next thermal.

>>hibberd: i always look at gliding as it's an aeronautical form of sailing. making the most out of the weather. >>reporter: the thermals arise from patches of ground that have heated more quickly than surrounding areas. among a multitude of strategic decisions...spotting good thermals is a key skill.... >>tribe: the clouds themselves are very good thermal markers. >>spreckley: then you're looking at ground features....you think oh there's a factory down there...that might be heating up more than the surrounding area....so you have a go towards the factory... >>tribe: you're trying to string together areas of lift. >>johnson: we need a bit more brightness on the ground and very close, but not possible. >>reporter: it is very bright over there, behind you. >>richard johnson: it is too far away. >>reporter: another problem preventing the sport from lifting off commercially is that the field of play is justtoo big... >>hibberd: the difficulty with gliding competitions is that it's difficult for spectators to see what's going on. >>reporter: although moves are afoot to make the sport more commercially viable...and easier to understand....and the results are remarkable...

>>reporter: real time graphics, combined with multiple camera angles, can produce spectacular images as seen here at a gliding grand prix in new zealand... >>reporter: but creating such coverage doesn't come easy....in this case it required over 50 cameras, not to mention one helicopter to relay the onboard camera signals...plus another shooting air to air footage...along with over 60 satellites that handled the gliders telemetry readings.... >>reporter: however, despite these impressive innovations...gliding remains stubbornly resistant to income-generating sponsorship or broadcasting deals.... >>reporter: there's no big money tournaments. >>tribe: no, it's very much for the honour. >>skysbrook: i get a beer at the end of the night. it makes it all worth while.

>>spreckley: there's no money in gliding. it's costing us...you know we're having to pay to do it ourselves... >>treadaway: it's all about doing it for a hobby. so unfortunately you can't get paid for it. >>reporter: but while income is low...expenditure isn't... >>tribe: this one would cost you 20 thousand pounds upwards. 20-25000 pounds. >>hibberd: there are gliders on this earth that are worth somewhat more than 100 thousand pounds. >>reporter: gliders that mercifully got off the ground at last for a quick jaunt, from which they will hopefullyreturn in a few hours.... >>johnson: if we get a quick six or seven rounds i think that would be a great result and we would feel slightly vindicated about throwing them out into this sky. >>reporter: and sure enough...after a few hours....like well trained pigeons...they started coming home... >>johnson: we've had 13 back which i think is very good given the circumstances.

>>reporter: not bad at all...and not such a bad return for two days patience...as for the sport itself...it too must be patient...and hope that someday soon...it can translate the gliding experience, into something that can be followed, enjoyed, and funded...by more than just the few... >>that's it for this week's world business. thanks for watching. we'll see you again at the same time next week.