foxconn will absorb some.he buyers, all of the other electronics companies as well, have to absorb some of this. we need to be ready to put our money where our mouths are. >> reporter: steve jobs never visited the chinese factories, but his replacement was at one yesterday. in a statement tonight, they said, we appreciate the work the fla has done to assess conditions at foxconn, and we fully support their recommendations. our team has been working for years to educate workers, improve conditions and make apple's supply chain a model for the industry. the company boasts over a million assembly line workers. other watchdog groups think they can do better. >> in 2006, there was a similar investigation and found mass-scale overtime violations it's been six years, and nothing has happened. so i hope they're serious. >> reporter: how do you know they'll do this? >> there are two reasons. we'll monitor and verify it and report it publicly. but secondly, they made the commitment publicly now. and you guys and the con

the product is assembled by foxconn which is in china. keep in mind that the iphone's retail price is around the $550 mark and more than half of that money goes back to apple $321 from each phone sold. it's fascinating story, but some important advancements, i guess, made today and important discussions. nina? >> exactly. it's also important for consumers of apple because this story has been rumbling on for a long time. apple is listed on the nasdaq and the new york stock exchange, let's look at how u.s. stocks were doing on thursday's session. they were down for most of the day but rebound later on to nearly break even. what we saw as a string of weak economic reports, including jobs data that had the stock markets down. at the close the s&p 500 and the nasdaq closing in the red for a third day. when it comes to the nasdaq, that was down by 0.3%, the s&p was down by 0.16%. the dow was up by 0.15%. if we look at how trading on wall street is supposed to kick off about five hours from now, look at futures markets behind me. more or less ta

foxconn works for dozens of other firms, too. altogether, it produces some 40% of the world's electronics, with a workforce of 1.2 million. in a report about foxconn released yesterday, the f.l.a. cited excessive overtime, exceeding 60 hours a week, and problems with overtime compensation, several health and safety risks,nd "crucial communication ps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among its workers." the findings shed light on allegations of unfair labor practices that had triggered protests at apple stores. >> apple has changed the way we listen to music, how we see movies, how we use our computers. they have the creativity and the capability to make this better. they can make their products without horrible human suffering. >> brown: the f.l.a. also laid out recommendations that included a maximum 60-hour work week and changes to foxconn's overtime compeation poli. in a statement, an apple spokesman said, "we appreciate the work the f.l.a. has done to assess conditions at foxconn, and we fully s

. >> in other news, the highly anticipated foxconn report is out. foxconn is the chinese factory that makes many apple devices from the iphone to the ipad. the exclusive interview with the author of the report and joins us live with the details. >> reporter: the fair labor association went to china to investigate apple and the foxconn factory where apple products are made. fla did the first independent audit of the foxconn factories where the majority of ipads and iphones are put together. they released their findings this afternoon. 60 hour work weeks at foxconn are not uncommon and employees often work seven days in a row. they did what they call the equivalent of a full body scan of the chinese manufacturing facility. >> what we found pretty much what you would expect to find from a factory in china, they are working too many hours, too many overtime hours in particular. there are issues of workers engagement, participation in the trade union, and there are areas of health and safety which could be tightened up. >> apple responded to the report t

it's lifts the curtain on foxconn. the chinese manufacturr that churns out 40% of the world's electronics, including so many of the apple products we all love. abc's bill weir was the first network reporter to go inside to report on working conditions there, and he tells us what is changing tonight. >> reporter: last month, we walked passed the jumper nets into the sterile production line to get a first glimpse of apple products being born. it took a rash of suicides and two deadly explosions to make foxconn think different about the way they treat their workers. they also welcomed our cameras and the fair labor association to audit the factories and survey 35,000 workers. tonight the results are in. they found over 50 violations, biggest among them, forced overtime. hundreds of thousands struggle to keep up with the relentless demand for the latest apple product, most of them making around $2 an hour. while most said the wages are fair, 60% say they don't make enough to meet their basic needs. >> reporter: would you d

cnn has reported quite a bit on foxconn including examinations of working conditions at their plants. that report at cnn.com. apple itself joined fair labor association which is conducting an audit at overseas suppliers and apple told us it is providing regular updates on its website. maggie lake, cnn, new york. >>> bond holders who ensured themselves against the greek default are set to receive a payout of $2.5 billion. well, it covers bonds not used as part of that exchange. a crucial point we should remember investors of course protected by these swap, contracts that are often used as a form of insurance against default will be receiving some 78.5% of the -- on the euro of their greek bonds. however, having said that after months of negotiations with international lenders this man who is the man who oversaw that recent debt swap stepped down as the country's finance minister on monday. he was elected to head the movement known as the party a day earlier and he'll be taking over from george papandreou and will gain support ahead of the general election late in april or otherwise in

a taiwanese firm foxconn has been producing iphones and ipads for apple in china. the association surveyed over 35,000 employees at three plants in china. the group says the investigation has revealed multiple violations of chinese labor laws including unpaid wages. it has criticized both foxconn and apple for poor working conditions at the plants where it says employee suicides have continued. apple announced it accepts the survey results. foxconn says it will hire tens of thousands of new workers by july next year to reduce working hours at the factories. >>> a couple of japanese economic indicators for february came out this friday. let's start with how the job market is looking. the unemployment rate improved slightly. the internal affairs ministry says a seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 4.5%. that's down 0.1 percentage point from january. the number of people without jobs was about 2.9 million, while people with jobs stood at over 62 million. separately, the labor ministry has said job availability also improved. it marks the ninth straight month of i

. >> reporter: even so, foxconn announces big changes. while the fla asked for a maximum 60-hour workweek, foxconn is promising to lower it to 49 hours without lowering weekly pay which means they'll have to build entire new lines, dorms and canteens and hire tens of thousands of new workers to keep up with all those lines at the apple store. they released a statement, apple did, after the audit came out saying they fully appreciate the work of the fla, fully support their recommendations. their team has been working for years to improve conditions and make apple the model of the supply chain for the entire industry. and if foxconn keeps their promises, the entire industry will be affected. bill weir, abc news, new york. >> and that really is the powerful part of that story. obviously, apple is king of the hill but there are many other competitors that do business in china. if these changes come to pass, they hope other companies will look at their policies and salaries and working conditions in those factories will get better. >> those c

and if foxconn keeps their promises, the entire industry will be affected. bill weir, abc news, new york. >> obviously, apple is king of the hill but there are many other competitors that do business in china. if these changes come to pass, other companies will look at their policies and salaries and the condition in those factories will get better. >> those changes will add about $2 to each iphone, to the cost of each iphone. most people would gladly pay that. >> paying $500, 600 bucks already. >> wouldn't even notice. >>> a major study reveals a dramatic increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism. one child out of every 88 suffers from the condition. experts say the higher numbers are the results of better screen bug the results indicate more money needs to be spent helping families cope with the disorder. >>> crews battling a deadly wildfire near denver now say they are finally getting the upper hand. the flames have burned thousands of acres and dozens of homes as well. the fire is being blamed for killing an elderly couple. with more on th

a foxconn labor report. the mavericks surf contest. and the coolest google plus hangout. scott budman goes down under down under. that and more coming up on comcast 186. it was an underwater google plus hangout from australia. the only american journalist involved in that. it was very cool. >> and you'll be doing it as well. >>ly. >> see you at 11:00. [ teen ] times are good, aren't they, kids? it's nice having u-verse, isn't it? see back in my day, we didn't have these newfangled wireless receivers. fangled? no, we watched march madness in the living room... that's where the tv outlet was. what is he talking about? and if mom was hosting her book club that day, guess what...you missed it! we couldn't just move the tv all willy-nilly all over the house. ohh! ohh! kids today have it so good. ok. [ male announcer ] the new wireless receiver only from at&t. get u-verse tv for $25 a month with free hd for six months. at&t. [ female announcer ] introducing new nature valley protein bars. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts... ♪ ...creamy peanut butter, and a rich dar

. >>> now to some business news, where the manufacturing giant foxconn, known for making apple products vowing to improve working conditions in their chinese plants. the company has come under fire recently for violating industry labor codes with some employees working 60 hours a week and more than 11 days in a row. for more on this story and an early look at the markets, we turn to steve sedgewick of cnbc, live in london. steve, good morning. >> yeah, very good morning to you. this could be absolutely enormous for manufacturing of electronics products all over china, perhaps the world as well, because foxconn is one of the largest private sector employers in the world with 1.2 million workers, and 40% of the world's electronics products. not only apple is part of its groups, its products, but hewlett-packard, dell and amazon as well. and by raising salaries and also by curtailing some of those working hours, it could mean a big improvement in the standards of living for some of those workers globally. >> front page, steve, of the "wall street journal" -- "blackberry maker in turmoil,"

>> foxconn doesn't speak out much publicly. it's very rare to hear something coming from their ceo in terms of the working condition. and they're a taiwanese owned company so they're not working as a chinese owned and very rarely do they address these reactions directly and as a result, apple cop assumers are holding apple responsible for the problems in the working practices. >> when you look at these apple products, would they cost more if they were made here in america? >> well, steve jobs said that if the apple iphone had been produced in the u.s., it was going to cost about $35 more. over the last couple of months, i spoke to quite a few people asking them if they would be willing to pay $35 more for the iphone and everyone has said that they would. >> you look at this company, apple, shouldn't apple know better than this? does it surprise you at all that it's been caught in this web of negative pr? >> actually, i have been surprised because apple is unique in that they set such a high bar in terms of their industry standa

the world's most valuable corporation agreed today to improve wages and working conditions at foxconnactories in china. the announcement came as the fair labor association reported foxconn workers often put in more than 60 hours a week, making ipads and iphones. foxconn said it will hire thousands of new workers, cut back illegal overtime and improve safety protocols. spain was all but shut down today in a massive general strike by workers against labor reforms. factory floors emptied, ports closed and transportation slowed to a crawl. protesters marched in cities across spain, and some turned violent. in barcelona, hooded activists hurled rocks at bank offices and set fire to garbage containers. unions organized the strike against proposals making it cheaper and easier for companies to lay people off and cut wages. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to the latest look at the increasing prevalence of autism through a new government report. the number of children diagnosed with autism has been rising for several decades. last year, rober

this comes after complaints on labor abuses the average foxconn workers 23 years old and makes $403 a month and all that covers our basic needs it ... research in motion is trading higher as the company tries to assure investors it can survive the maker of the blackberry's smart phones fell short of analyst estimates with fourth quarter sales dropping 25% research in motion plans to focus on corporate customers as consumer demand dwindles ... more customers are opting for the apple i phones and google android devices stocks trading higher currently ... when you get your 401k statements for the first quarter you'll find it was the best we've had since 1998 >>there are new developments in the dispute over proposed nato protest march that set to coincide with the may 20th summit julian crews is live with a report the nato protesters had lost their bid yesterday an administrative hearing they hoped to force the city to allow them to begin their parade route originating at daley plaza but now they will go along with the city's wishes on with certain conditions: >>the verbal offers must be

the fair labor association says, foxconn is committed to reducing weekly work time to 49 hours, the legallimit in china. the company promised to fix health and safety violates if the factories. experts disagree on whether -- in the factories. experts dis grey on whether the changes will last. >> i can't hold my breath. -- >> made an example to all of china's manufacturing facilities this kind of activity cannot continue. >> foxconn says it will raise salaries to compensate workers for reduced hours. >>> california police departments have been getting millions of surplus military equipment. nonpartisan project for the center of investigating reporting say they've been pouring through data to determine where much of that extra equipment has gone. dan ashley has more. >> reporter: the u.s. military requires a lot of equipment to conduct operations overseas. when military operations in iraq wound down last year, local police departments were among the biggest beneficiaries of the draw down. concord police got this $300,000 armored personnel carrier, free. >> we are going to be using that for

in 2010 foxconn had profits of more than $200 million. foxconn stock zpiet the overall fall up by 1% today. >>> andrew, let's look at how the european markets are doing. they've only just hoped. a bit of a mixed picture as you can see. the cac, 1% underneath the flat line. the ftse doing okay. the dax hovering on the flat line. one thing we are focusing on very heavily on in "world business today" is the rising price of fuel and with those rocketing fuel prices right around the world, the cost of crude is still under close scrutiny by many an investor these days. this commodity has been dropping throughout the course of this week as concerns over consumer demand rise. also we've had fears over supply subsiding. right now this is the price of n nymex crude. it's up to the tune of 46 cents on the barrel trading at $105.81. must point out, it's down from a peak of $108 just on monday's session. at the center of the american fuel price concern is the keystone xl pipeline. this is a proposal that would link canada's oil fields with u.s. refine

foxconn has agreed to boost safety, hire more workers, and stop illegal overtime as well as improving workers' housing. the death of a homeless woman in st. louis, missouri last year is drawing national scrutiny over revelations of how she died in police custody. 29-year-old anna brown had gone to the hospital seeking emergency medical treatment for leg pain. when she refused to leave the emergency ward, she is carried to jail by her arms and ankles and left on the floor of her cell. within 15 minutes, she stopped moving and was soon after pronounced dead. the officers who arrested her reportedly suspected she was at the hospital seeking drugs. an autopsy later revealed she had blood clots in her legs and lungs, and had no drugs in her system. the st. louis police never announced her death. brown's story only came to light six months later after an anonymous caller tipped off the st. louis post-dispatch newspaper. brown, who is african-american, was the mother of two children. her family is reportedly considering bringing a wrongful death suit against the hospital and police. an updat

their hope to drew attention to the flight of factory workers employed by foxconn who an stem pull parts of the -- assemble parts of the ipad. [ unintelligible ] conrad and his son were among those in line in san francisco who one of the demonstrators' fliers. they support the goals of the demonstrators. >> i think apple has taken good steps to improve awareness and working conditions in their factories. >>> still ahead, a jury reaches a mixed verdict in the webcam spy case. >>> actor george clooney and his father in handcuffs today. >>> as we get rain in the bay area the sierra gets snow. get to heavenly to get more on the conditions and what you need to do to get there >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >>> live ammunition inside this burning napa county home forced fires to let it burn to the ground. the fire beganmow4 last night on mustang road. when firefighters started to hear ammunition they were forced to back off. the fire was snuffed out before 7:00 this morning. no one was injured. an elderly man was displaced. investigators are look into what started t

. >>> foxconn which produces iphones and ipads for apple in china have worked out a new deal to improve conditions for workers, reducing their long hours and raising their pay. >>> best buy is closing 50 stores and closing $800 million in operating costs to try and keep profits up. >>> the online deals website living social has launched a take out and delivery service in 26 markets nationwide, including chicago, boston, and san francisco. >>> and now you can dine like the passengers on the titanic. a houston restaurant offers what it calls the titanic experience, dinner for 12 for $12,000. it is a ten-course meal on dishes similar to those served to the ill-fated first class passengers the night the ship went down. it lasts four hours starting with a wine and beef appetizer and is completed with a brandy from the year 1900, which may explain that high price. >>> coming up, the thunderstorm hits the lakers, a puck hit a penguin, and a slugfest in tokyo. >>> plus, a monster between-the-legs slam wins the college dunk contest. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> loo

their hope to drew attention to the flight of factory workers employed by foxconn who an stem pull parts of the -- assemble parts of the ipad. [ unintelligible ] conrad and his son were among those in line in san francisco who one of the demonstrators' fliers. they support the goals of the demonstrators. >> i think apple has taken good steps to improve awareness and working conditions in their factories. >>> still ahead, a jury reaches a mixed verdict in the webcam spy case. >>> actor george clooney and his father in handcuffs today. >>> as we get rain in the bay area the sierra gets snow. get to heavenly to get more on the conditions and what you ...with a two-year-old at home. i have two daughters. we have five boys and a large family. i couldn't imagine not having at&t u-verse. like, if we're watching a movie in mom's room, and mom doesn't want us in her room, we just go in the living room and continue watching it. [ female announcer ] call to get u-verse -- now with free hd -- for only 25 a month for six months -- that's our lowest price ever! plus get hbo and cinemax free for three

apple and foxconn have promised a review of conditions. what would you do if he won $540 million in the lottery? lottery fever has taken over in the u.s. americans rushing to buy a ticket for america's biggest jackpot. it will be drawn on friday and has been growing since late january. good luck if you have a ticket. thank you for watching bbc news day. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.

. >>> and apple and its partner foxconn are promising to improve conditions at chinese factories wherehones and ipads are made. the companies will hire thousands of new workers, improve safety and eliminate illegal overtime. the changes come after fair labor association launched an investigation of those plants. good to see changes made there. >> absolutely. thank you, ashley. >>> straight ahead on your friday morning, we'll have the weather. in sports, deja vu all over again as the mavs take on the heat in a rematch of last year's nba final. [ male announcer ] new starbucks blonde roast is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. ♪ then we introduced liquid detergent with stainlifters. followed by the number-one super-concentrated liquid detergent. and now, the most concentrated all ever! introducing new all mighty pacs™. packed with all's active stainlifters... each mighty pac delivers more cleaning power per ounce to help tackle your family's tough

a report came out last night highlighting significant issues woodworker practices at the foxconn factories in china. these are the factories that apple uses. to be fair, along with a lot of other companies. apple uses them to make ipads and i phones. some of them working 60 hours a week, 6. last year, there was a spate of workers suicide. the question really, how damaging is this report for apple? >> this is an independent report. they were sent in by apple themselves. there's no way they can deny what this report says. in fact, they've accepted the findings and i think it does highlight that there has been a lot of truth behind the picture painted, but it also highlights the fact that these factories make not just apple products, but they produce these goods for just about every major manufacturer. the spotlight will now be on apple's rivals, as well. >> our technology correspondent joins us. apple, as he said, commissioned this report. apple fully accepts their recommendations. they want to be a leader in the supply chain for all the electronics and technology giants. that's it for busin

. >>> foxconn, which produces iphones and ipads for apple in china have worked out a new deal to improve conditions for workers, reducing their long hours and raising their pay. >>> best buy is closing 50 stores and cutting $800 million in operating costs to try and keep profits up. >>> the online deals website livingsocial has launched a takeout and delivery service in 26 markets nationwide, including chicago, boston and san francisco. >>> and now, you can dine like the passengers on the "titanic." not with leonardo dicaprio, unfortunately. a houston restaurant offers what it calls the titanic experience, dinner for 12 for 12,000 bucks. it's a ten-course meal of dishes similar to those served to the ill-fated ship's first-class passengers the night the ship went down. it lasts four hours. it starts with a wine and beef appetizer and is topped off with some brandy from the year 1900. there's the price difference there. >>> all right, millions of americans are going to be making a mad rush for those tickets for tonight's record-setting mega millions lottery drawing, and many will be buyin

the fair labor association looked at three foxconn plants in china that make iphones and ipads, finding excessive working hours, safety and health issues. electronics retailer best buy certainly wasn't for shareholders today. the stock plummeted 7% as volume jumped six-fold. the big box retailer says its evolving its business model. it will close 50 stores this year and layoff 400 workers to cut costs. those decisions come after reporting stronger than expected earnings last quarter. part of its evolution is opening smaller stores and testing a new format called connected stores, concentrating on mobile phones, internet and other services. another retailer desperate for a makeover is sears holdings. it has already announced its effort to turn around business by closing stores and thinking smaller. now, talk of its possibly selling the lands' end brand is back. shares have more than doubled this year, making it the best stock in the s&p 500. sears bought lands' end for almost $2 billion ten years ago. analysts think it would sell for less than that if sears sells it. in a different kind