that is part of the story of asia. fast economic growth that has translated into a better quality of life for hundreds of millions of people, sustainable economic growth, and sophistication that is not fully visible to everyone in what we used to describe as the west. our single most -- our single largest operation in the asia- pacific. we have 9700 employees here. we are the largest employer of financial services in singapore. we employ more people here even than the big domestic banks because we have a collection of businesses. big businesses domestically, corporate banking, private banking, consumer banking. we have 1 million credit cards in singapore. on top of these domestic businesses, we have regional businesses that serve all of asia. our global markets which would be foreign exchange, interest- rate derivatives, commodity business is based here in singapore. a lot of our transaction services for our multinational clients are based in singapore. private banking from asia, this is a part of the world generating

to hear growth in asia is slowing. for example the growth rate of china's economy in the current quarter fell below 8% for first time in three years. there's data that clearly show that india's growth is also slipping. this economic outlook was released by adb. it's a further downward adjustment from its earlier projection. >> how much is the debt crisis in europe affecting asia's economy? >> well, i talked to the managing director general of adb about it. he thinks that effects are clear. the euro crisis will affect asia. >> we are, obviously, interconnected. i think it's also important to say that asia is increasingly able to consume within its own boundary. >> what he seems to be saying is that there may be some ups and downs in the short term, but we don't need to be so pessimistic over the mid to long term. this is a long-term growth prediction as calculated by adb. in the 1970s, asia was only a small part of the world economy. but in 2050, 52% of the world gdp is forecasted to be concentrated in asia. the grand s

the southeast asia market got a jolt last week. leading heineken to announce it reached an agreement with major singaporean beermaker for $4.1 billion. heineken is acquiring a stake of 80% of asia breweries or apb. it is known for the popular beer tiger brand. it will open the way for heineken to advance deeper into southeast asia. apb runs 30 breweries in the region and maintains strong marketing networks. we asked an analyst what's so attractive about southeast asia beer market and what we can expect ahead. >> i think the brewery market has been ten years of consolidation. there are few big players that offer heineken. i think there will be more to come as it increases the share in emerging markets. southeast asia will be popular because of the population. we can expect more production in the chinese market or even the african market. >> reporter: as the southeast asia beer market keeps growing, so does the competition among breweries that are trying to conquer the beer industry's last frontier. reporting for nhk world, singapore

the acquisition will open the way to advance deeper into southeast asia. apb runs 30 breweries in 14 countries in the region and also maintains strong marketing networks. we asked an analyst what's so attractive about the southeast asian beer market and what we can expect ahead. >> the brewery market, there's been consolidation. today i think there are few big players. i think there will be more to come as existing players increase their share in emerging markets. so southeast asia will be a big battlefield because of the 600 million population. the chinese market or even the african market. >> reporter: as the southeast asian beer market keeps on growing, so does the competition among global breweries trying to conquer the beer industry's last frontier. nhk world, singapore. >> following hinakin's announcement, a thai corporate group this week offered a buy a stake in apb. competition over winning share in the southeast asian beer market is expected to escalate. >>> the association of southeast asian nations has celebrated its 45th anniversary. the celebr

for the big event asia economic pacific.cooperation forum known as apec and reportedly the price tag for those preparations is topping twenty two billion dollars that's almost twice as much as for the london olympics to meet and that's the day planes while this event is so important for us. the fact that russia is spending so much money on the apec summit seems ridiculous first glance but let's face the facts russia's stance in the region is not as strong as it could be now it has become a member of the world trade organisation promoting trade liberalization is easier than ever before especially for the host of the event next there are obvious perks in trade let's take a look at this for example russia is an energy and metals champion though it's producing seventy percent of the world out of many of copper and nickel asia on the other hand is the main consumer of energy in metals and it accounts for fifty percent of the world's consumption of aluminum forty percent of copper and nickel this is a multi-billion dollar market n

to asia. the age of asia has no doubt arrived. this trend will continue. this may not be so obvious in the short term but in the medium to long term we will see a huge jump in asian growth. >> reporter: labor costs rising in china, how will that affect uniqlo's business model and quality of fashion? >> translator: even though labor costs are rising in china and production efficiency is still better there than any other country. at the same time, china is a major consumer of goods. the standard of living is on the rise. domestic demand is growing and we want to be part of that market. >> reporter: yanai also confirmed plans to launch production in myanmar. the nation is considered to be asia's final frontier. >> translator: myanmar is also a very good market. it's been under military rule. made in myanmar products used to evoke a negative reaction and could not be sold in the u.s. or europe. now that myanmar is on the road to democracy, i think we can start making our products there. >> reporter: bringing gu, uniqlo's sister brand, into asia is another reas

to asia. the age of asia has no doubt arrived, and this it trend will continue. this may not be so obvious in the short term, but in the medium to long term, we'll see a huge jump in asian growth. >> with labor costs rising in china, how will that affect the business model a low cost quality producer of fashion? >> translator: even though labor costs are rising in china, production efficiency is still better there than in any other country. at the same time china is a major consumer of goods. the standard of living is on the rise. domestic demand is growing, and we want to be part of that market. >> he also confirmed plans to launch productionmyanmar. the nation is considered to be asia's final frontier. >> translator: myanmar is also a very good market. it's been under military rule, made in myanmar products used to invoke a very negative reaction and couldn't be sold, especially in the u.s. and europe. now na myanmar is on the road to democracy, i think we can start making our products there. >> bringing g.u. into asia is another strategy for dominating the reg

oh considerably i think that's part of the given to to asia. part of the americans have the structure containing china important part of that of building up alliances on the economic front we have a cheapie of a chance to fix the ship and then drop all these military alliances now there's a certain set back in northeast asia a couple weeks ago when the chance said. through jand of a military alliance. between south korea and japan fell apart because of popular opposition in in south korea. india is not really going there way too much china and so forth to the south china sea is the one area where they have all the advantages they have missed real contest between saving the the various countries in the region so it's sort of a heaven sent gift if you want to. if you want to build up alliances if you want to keep the chinese off of. what we say. well you know countries may agree and disagree on certain issues by business is business and with china and the us being the world's a largest trade partners how far do you think will the united states go

look you know the conflicts that you're talking about go well beyond the middle east look at east asia we have china and japan in rivalries japan and south korean rivalries china disputing islands with the philippines in vietnam that's not because of u.s. meddling or anything like that that's inherent in international politics especially when you don't have a strong leader and what we've seen from the united states is really in some ways a lack of strong leadership to help contain those conflicts and sometimes george is correct we've actually engaged in correct strategies and policies that policies that have exacerbated conflicts ok we're going to was a lot said right there i think it's really likely right and we had john kerry and this is across the board and we had ryan jump in yeah i think it's completely wrong to think that the u.s. wants for example sunni's and shiites to just kill each other like in iraq that happened on its own it partially happened because of incorrect strategy but that was a decision made by radical sunni radicals shiites on their own and the u.s. engages in t

yes we are doing well in asia. if it's about further growth, accelerating growth, i'm sure a lot would come from out there. >> okay, that's three time you mentioned asia. how soon before we hear news on expanding your business in item of acquisitions? in that region. >> first of all, let me emphasize we already have a very good footprint in asia, being present in a lot of markets, very strong performance organically. as i've said many times, yes, we are looking at what we can do from an acquisition point, particularly in asia. as soon as i have specific news, i'm sure i'll talk to you about it. >> do you have a time scale by which you would like to have significantly expanded your -- are you thinking, look, by this time next year, or in 18 minuon, i'll be upset if we haven't got additional capacity? >> as i'm sure we expect, i cannot be specific on timing. what i can promise you is we are always monitoring, looking at what could be opportunities and options. when i have specific news, i will come back to you. >> ju

dollar as an intermediary curan see it is believed to benefit the two asia's largest economies due to more convenience in the business and considerable reduction off risks caused by fixation of the dollar as exchange rates on the world market. by not having to go through a third country's currency and by reducing transaction costs and lower settlement risks between financial institutions the decision will bring benefits because i believe this will enhance the convenience of both currencies and revitalize tokyo markets moreover the train will save the two countries some three billion dollars in transaction fees annually used to be paid to the u.s. central bank the move marks china is a mission to challenge the green bags dominance japan is hoping to make the yen and more widely accepted currency in global trade and investment it may not be the end of the dollar hegemony established by the bretton woods agreement in nine hundred forty four and which contributed to the united states decides if role in shaping global market rules and institutions but even despite the fact that over sixty

how much now is asia worth contributing? >> asia is central to our growth. we've seen the numbers, profits of 26%, which continued to make progress across the countries in the region -- indonesia, malaysia, hong kong, singapore, even our smaller thailand and philippines are up 50%, so growth continues to be strong and predictable. and the pressing thing is that we've had 126 million pounds of cash out of asia this first half. if you look back a few years, asia used to be cash-consumptive. >> you talk about profitable, but are margins going down a bit on your asian business? >> it's not really margins. what's happening is we have two different things, agency and bank, and the banking trend is less profitable than agency, but still is very profitable by any measure. so as bank of china grows faster, mechanically, margins are increasing, but that doesn't worry us at all. it remains very significant. >> i'm curious what impact, generally speaking, the low interest rate environment is having on your business as it becomes more and more clear that this isn't just

traders are obviously convinced the latest sounds from china would lead to some monetary easing in asia is a large just economy and that speaking of asia st petersburg might be russia's window to europe which is said to become its one due to age of the far eastern cities finishing up its preparations for a big event asia pacific economic cooperation forum known as apec it's hosting the about for the first time and reportedly the price tag has already top twenty two billion dollars that's almost twice the amount spent on the london olympics dmitri medvedev coke's point is why this event is so for rush. the fact that russia is spending so much money on the apec summit seems ridiculous of first glance but let's face the facts russia's stance in the region is not as strong as it could be now it has become a member of the world trade organisation promoting trade liberalization is easier than ever before especially for the host of the event next there are obvious perks in trade let's take a look at this for example russia is an energy and metals champion though it's producing seventy percent

family way square up in asia and new reports maps the extent of america's military buildup in the region is china is early chords allies of its own. and in the business bulletin the russian markets are certainly bullish on the first hour of trade mainly thanks to rising crude all the details of the story and more in the business for twenty minutes. this is going to live from moscow eleven am here on marina joshie welcome to the program. we are not a british colony and that's ecuador's reply to a british government threat to storm its london embassy and take joy in a songe by force whistleblower sought refuge there in june escaping imminent extradition to sweden where we now crossed over spawn and laura smith who is outside of the young the sea and has more for us on this one laura ecuador is not obviously happy about this embassy raid threat so what more can you tell us about this. but this is really turning into a bit of a diplomatic and political minefield really under international law the building that you see behind me the ecuadorian embassy is considered the territory of the foreig

have a weight square off in asia and new record maps the extent of america's military buildup in the region is china eagerly poor its allies of its own. party live from moscow i'm marina joshie welcome to the program where not a british colony and and it's ecuador's reply to a british government threat to storm its london embassy and take join us on by force that we can lease whistleblower assad's refuge they are in june escaping imminent extradition to sweden respond laura smith has more from outside the embassy. well this is really turning into a bit of a diplomatic and political minefield really under international law the building that you see behind me the ecuadorian embassy is considered the territory of the foreign nation i.e. ecuador but we understand that in a letter delivered both in quito through the embassy there and also verbal here in london britain has threatened to storm this embassy if today in a song isn't released the foreign office his says that they can give one week's notice and then that diplomatic status of this mission would be revoked and they would be able

employing every turn to asia policy ties between washington and beijing are getting tense. is becoming. a crucial region the u.s. interest is hanging along. because the u.s. is in march in more trouble they are coming into these regional security trying to. china. and that intention has already been felt south korea the philippines and vietnam have already held nato military exercises with several more countries in the region expected to have similar war games soon during a recent extensive tour of the asian pacific u.s. secretary of defense leon panetta said washington will relocate at least sixty percent of its naval fleet to the region by the end of the decade reason for such moves has been china's territorial disputes with the philippines in the south china sea but experts say that's only an excuse the us is now promising some kind of support for the armed forces modernization creating a so-called minimum credit credible defense posture but the end the end result would be more in favor of the us than in the philippines seeing that the us or so many economic and business

how -- does china's naval build up combined with america's pivot to asia, how should those change u.s. navy's spending pats earns on organization and et cetera? >> this has led to an increase in the navy's budgets and programs toward an emphasis on higher end warfare as opposed to lower ends kind of contingencies. things like antes submarine warfare and purchasing of destroyers and submarines. and of course aircraft carriers and carrier based aircraft. in general there's an emphasis on higher end warfare that has been i think renewed or strength ld as a result of this. >> and something that's going to be obviously you know a focus area for the coming decades is -- the united states and china comingle in an >> i think it is the current world. absolutely. >> ron, thank you very much for joining us, we really appreciate it. >>> up next a top raytheon executive on growing >>> with domestic buckets tightening, all defense companies are turning to international markets for growth including racion that already has a strong global presence. last month we spoke with tom cu lligan the senior vi

weakness in asia on trade figures. 0.27% to the downside. european as we see how that is carried into europe. ftse 100 is down by nearly a percent. as you mentioned earlier, this following several weeks of gains. have you to wonder, is it a pause in the rally or something more? >> one day in the big move. you say we're at those interesting levels. we'll look and see. as far as bond markets are concerned, another auction today of new 2014 debt out of germany. second offering no interest payable to investor. we're not necessarily expecting greatest demand for that over the course of the next hour. ten-year spanish yields are lower. yields continue to fall. good news for them italy down at 5.57. u.s. treasuries lower over the session, getting back up to 1.86%. 1.78% is the yield. currency markets, euro/dollar right now -- yesterday we got to a low and held onto the gains. we hit that two-year low back on july 24th of around 12040. substantially above that and we're back to the levels we hit at the beginning of july. dollar/yen, 79.31. aussie do

that, in turn will have an effect on the rest of asia because you know all of the countries in asia,their major trading partner is china not the u.s., not europe. so we see a very good situation in asia generally. >> now, you may as well have been a bit bemused by the olympic ceremony. national health services is planning on going global under the brand health care uk. it will offer expertise and skills to countries such as india, china, brazil and the states and middle east, profits would be reinvested back into the system in britain. was the olympics the start of a global marketing campaign for nh services overseas? >> do you think danny boyle would have been that complicit in the government's push? >> or was the government saying if it's going to be, we might as well use it as a launch pad. >> nhs being beamed to billions of homes around the world. whether this will draw that much interest. in the u.s. there's joke about british health care system. there's a perception issue that has to be confronted. >> there are precedents for this. moorefield's hospital has overseas units. cert

the heavyweight square up in asia new report maps the extent of america's military buildup and the region china eagerly core its allies of its own. in the russian capital you're watching r t with me marina joshie where not a british colony that's ecuador's reply to a british government threat to storm its london embassy and take joy in the sun by force the whistleblower sought refuge there in june escaping imminent extradition to sweden marina is reporting now with more on the standoff. the government of ecuador will announce its decision on julia songes application for political asylum on thursday twelve g.m.t. seven am local time that announcement was made by ecuador's foreign minister ricardo patino who during a press conference also said that britain has the right to storm ecuador's embassy in london to arrest julian a song which mr putin has said that ecuador had received from britain quote a written threat that could assault our embassy unquote if a songe was not handed over to british authorities julian assigned has been in the ecuadorian embassy since mid june avoiding extradition

they're coming out in about two hours time let's see the actual figures for the equity markets in asia and as you can see the nikkei's gaining more than a percent that's ahead of an interest rate decision from the bank of japan and hang seng is putting on around three quarters of her sound this hour on wall street overnight u.s. stocks ended wednesday's session mixed the dow closed the flat to positive for a four straight trading session the nasdaq was trading a low for the euro is bouncing back against the dollar after a losing streak on wednesday on weak data from the euro zone both major currencies retreated against the russian ruble as you can see there and of course we'll bring you all the latest as soon as the russian markets reopen in less than two hours time and let's now see how they closed on wednesday here those figures and they posted moderate losses less than a tenth of a percent each as you can see and that's mainly recovering ground once crude started trading in the positive territory toward the second half of the day and staying above the line this hour that is brutal f

all southeast asia and asia there are a lot of similarities. >> he is a male entity. he is not -- are you referring to the story? >> it's interesting you should say that. a unique indian concept is one of half male, half female. and that is -- unlike some dances the solo dancer portrays all of the parts in the story. you can portray a feminine aspect and then masculine aspect with the bow and arrow. the male has to portray feminine and the female has to portray masculine. there is a very fierce dance and a soft sort of dance and every dancer has to learn all those aspects. it's very, you know, my teacher i call him a guru in this art form you have to study very, very hard. you have to learn about all the cultural aspects. he says it's liberating because he enjoys and has to learn to bring up the feminine aspect. he's a strong character it's a challenge for him and he likes it. the stories are metaphor cal. i don't look at this that this is a man or woman. there are qualities we all have that some of us are in touch with and are not. in our culture we think people shou

what about the markets in asia?e have more out of singapore. >> asian markets extended yesterday's gains and ended in the green on hopes that ecb won't step up its policy support. investors are also looking ahead to key economic data from china on thursday. the mainland market is higher by .1%. resource companies gained that higher barriers will be imposed on rare earth industry. insurers were under pressure on the heels of china's profit warning due to lower investment returns. hang seng added .4%. casino stocks led gains. standard chartered hong kong shares plunged in late trading. closing down nearly 15%. over in japan that temporary trading halt of bond futures due to the system error didn't have much of an impact on equity trading. nikkei will climb .9%. australia equities also registered gains to hit three month high. rba cut its character rates unchanged as widely expected. back to you. >>> thanks for that. focus today very much on standard chartered. take a look at these stock price, the company listed both

mid east asia? >> predominantly the mid east and asia are predominantly the ones. there is turmoil and people are focused on what to do to modernize. >> the f16, a spectacular product for you guys, more nan 4500 jets delivered, almost two dozen air forces, what is supposed to be be replaced by the joint strike fighter and that is delayed and unit costs are rising. and analysts say the aircraft is getting unaffordable for the a lot of the f16 operators. >> there is a large market for upgrades but remember the whole program for a long time is the long-term replacement of f16s, f18s, carriers by an f35 but for a number of years, there will be -- the u.s. air force will be operating both f16s and f35s. but the program is to bring new avionics on the eastern radar, and the upgrades. there are several countries right now that have programs to begin that upgrade process. so we see a very robust market to bring new capability into an airplane, that has been serving almost two dozen nations around the world. >> how much longer do you think the f16 is going to be viable? how

deep into china and asia doing a great job. liz: you may be saying enough with asian markets that you really like it at the moment. >> growth in asia and growth in income. it is the namby-pambies way to play asia. liz: to we have a fox business translation? >> 2.7% dividend. who heard of an asia fund with the dividend. hands industrials and so on, up 16% this year. it is triple the asia index three times sins they started. there are ways of playing without the extreme volatility. liz: a little bit of asia. ahold bunch more. we have more coming up in a minute. in the meantime the closing bell ringing in 52 minutes. phil angelides says the business sections of the country's top newspapers are starting to read like a rap sheet. crime here and there. what a mess. coming up he is here. phil angelides, how he thinks it can be stopped. the chairwoman at latest attempt to regulate money markets a little more with shock down by lobbyists. we have big dreams. one is for a clean, domestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundan

the stock that didn't stop think of it another guy is set to become another window in this time to asia up on the far east is a visit is finishing up a chase back in august sauce is a gamble right now the far east that is finishing the preparations for the asia pacific economic cooperation otherwise known as apec the meeting is hosting the event the first time and apparently before his price tag already involves a twenty two billion dollars one. twice if it's your cost of the london and just to put it into perspective for you not to be tonight thank explains why the apec summit is so important for us. the fact that russia is spending so much money on the apec summit seems ridiculous first glance but let's face the facts russia's stance in the region is not as strong as it could be now it has become a member of the world trade organization promoting trade liberalization is easier than ever before especially for the host of the event next there are obvious perks let's take a look at this for example russia is an energy and metals champion now it's producing seventy percent of the world's