FS urged to counter impact of inflation

The Federation of Trade Unions has called on the Financial Secretary, John Tsang, to implement relief measures in his budget next month to counter the effects of inflation. The union's legislator, Pan Pey-chyou, said high inflation would have a big impact on lower-income workers and the elderly. He said the government should do more to help people cope with rising costs. Dr. Pan was asked why he was making such a call. (6.14 mins)

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UK: The rise in VAT

A report says that retail sales in Britian will fall by about 2.2 billion pounds in the first quarter of the year because of the rise in VAT. It says consumers will rein in their spending after the standard rate of VAT rises from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent today. The Centre for Retail Research and Kelkoo, the online shopping group, say spending in the January sales will rise by about 1.6 per cent as consumer try to beat the rise. But they say this will be the "last hurrah" before the VAT rise kicks in. Nick Beacroft was joined by our UK correspondent Gavin Grey for more. (4.40 mins)

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Market commentary

Citibank expects the local stock market to rise 13 percent this year, followed by a 5 percent gain in 2010. It also predicts, as many other firms, that China will continue raising interest rates to curb inflation. Nick Beacroft asked the head of Investment Strategy and Research of Citibank Global Consumer Group, Catherine Cheung, why she was so confident of such a healthy rise in the market. (2.42 mins)

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Bloomberg's new publication

Is there still a place for newspapters and magazines in the increasingly internet-based world of journalism? Bloomberg -- the business news provider that has more than 300 million of its news screens around the world -- apparently thinks there is. It has already acquired Business Week and is preparing a new publication -- Bloomberg Gov -- to be launched in Washington. And it's been hiring high-profile opinion sharpers -- a move seemingly at odds with Bloomberg's motto of "news, not opinion." Ian Pooler was joined by Bloomberg's chief content officer, Norman Pearlstine, who's in Hong Kong to discuss the business of business reporting. Mr Pearlstine was asked to described Bloombergs existing presence in region. (4.40 mins)

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Sport News

American Football: And the playoffs get underway next weekend. To bring us to date on the post-season, we're joined by our North American sports commentator, Ray Jovanovich. (2.37 mins)

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