angie: mourners respect their respects to the founding father of singapore. these are pictures from the general hospital where lee kuan yew died at shortly after 3:00 this morning. the father of the nation, cigna pours longtime leader, has died at 91. singapore totook global success. disciplined and harmonious,

cigna port is the only asian nation with three aaa ratings. "elcome to "first up. coming to you live from hong kong, i am yvonne man. singapore's founding father has died, aged 91. he has been in hospital since february, suffering from severe pneumonia. his condition deteriorated overnight. has haslinda amin joins us live. he was a political giant. haslinda: a political giant indeed. he is credited for changing the fortunes of singapore. here would people have just woken up to the news. of the death was announced this morning just after 4:00. beial media beginning to filled with reaction to the death. #rememberinglky.

his passing will be difficult to digest for many singaporeans, despite his having been in hospital for the past few weeks in critical condition for several days. there has been a sense of anticipation, unease, in the country, when he was hospitalized. in all that time, the government was preparing the country for this eventuality. you can say his illness rally people together. it prompted the people to rally behind the prime minister, who is incidentally his son in power since 2004. trackingve been twitter and facebook, they have been filled with prayers, reflections of lee kuan yew's contribution and leadership. singaporeans left flowers and origami board --

birds. the outpouring is pretty unusual for a country that hardly shows emotions outwardly. it is a sad day or singapore. it is a huge loss for the country. we are selling like pictures from singapore general hospital, where his body lies. you talk about him being this dominant personality, the driving force in the fourth world oasis. he remained prominent in politics after stepping down. he left a significant mark on singapore. haslinda: absolutely. absurd stepping down -- after stepping down, he became mentor for the cabinet of his son. the turning point was the last election in 2011. the ruling party, the people's action party, won by the

slimmest margin since independence. it propped it him to retreat from politics, but he was never too far away. there were concerns about where the country was heading. that is typical of lee kuan yew. his famous words were, even when you are about to lower him into the grave, if something is going wrong, he will get up. lee kuan yew said he spent his life building cigna poor -- singapore. the first prime minister, and for many, his name is synonymous with the development of this government. lee kuan yew's is called singapore's founding father. he was the first prime minister, leading it through political and financial uncertainty as it

emerged from british rule to independence in 1965. rule, his three decade the country became one of the world's biggest economic successes with a simple guiding philosophy. >> of want to make sure that we command confidence. confidence brings investment and talent. with investment and talent, you will prosper. haslinda: a lawyer by training, lee kuan yew emphasizing pro-business policies. he moved businesses out of slums, molding them into an educated workforce, driving the nation to become a regional business hub and one of the world's largest foreign exchange and wealth management centers. overtook0, singapore the malaysian economy in size. when we think about the size of

singapore and when malaysia split, the idea was that we would fail and therefore come back to malaysia on their terms. haslinda: despite the rapid development, lee was aware of vulnerabilities. >> i am worried because if we let new leaders and the population as a whole, we will not realize the small base on which this is built. and it will take liberties so we go down quickly. the economy open, control over some aspects of life tightened, from family planning to freedom of speech. of beingccused lee authoritarian. the people's action party covered singapore for more than five decades.

even after stepping down as prime minister, his influence continued. he served as senior minister until being appointed minister mentor in the cabinet of his son, hisen loong. lee was likened to malaysia's former prime minister. the leaders of the neighboring nations often did not see eye to eye. >> was the number one critic of lky? dr. m. i said, what you think about this guy? he said, big fish and a small pond. but he is one of the outstanding political thinkers of our time. 1 --lee kuan yew, visionary. a period of mourning from today through sunday. the prime minister will give a live statement on television.

yvonne: again, has lin dunn on -- haslinda amin. a quick reminder of how wall street closed out the week. the nasdaq jumping to his ties level in 15 years, seven point short of an all-time high. gains for the s&p 500 and the dow jones. asx of about .2%. the aussie dollar strengthening u.s. cents. we are expecting consumer confidence numbers today. zealand dollar, likely strengthening right now, .75. openings in japan and korea. japan, futures pointing to a

higher open. nikkei closing up .4%. we are expecting stock futures, a pretty green day. dollar yen unchanged right now. it was strengthening in early trading today. profits since the.com crash, estimates falling to $7 billion after the collapse in crude. nopec is not expecting things to pick up in the fourth quarter. u.s. regulators are investigating whether nissan failed to fix airbag defect despite a massive recall last year. 100.4 relatedived complaints after repairs were made by the automaker. nissan recalled nearly one million vehicles last year over airbags that deployed with too much force.

the greek prime minister has warned it will be impossible to service the country's debt unless the eu provides more short-term it. alexis tsipras made the comment last sunday in a letter to angela merkel. she has said greece will only get more money if its creditors approve a new reform plan. tsipras will travel to meet merkel for more talks later today. visionary, we will continue our coverage of the death of singapore's founding father, lee kuan yew. ♪

yvonne: stories making headlines ,round the world, korea, china and japan, have agreed to summit meetings three years after they

were suspended. foreign ministers met in seoul and said the countries would work to improve relations. anti-japan sentiments of grown sharply in china and korea from the first half of the 20th century. nuclear talks enter a potentially decisive week that saying a deal is achievable. secretary of state john kerry says they are not at the finish line but do have the opportunity to get there. atomicinclude how much capacity iran can keep, nature of inspections, and when sanctions should be lifted. tehran said that should be part of any deal not decided afterward. lee kuan yew has died at the age of 91. he has been suffering from pneumonia. his condition worsened over the weekend. lee was a lawyer who led singapore through independence

in1965 until standing down 1990. he encouraged foreign investment and emphasized discipline, efficiency, and harmony. g, hasder son, hsien loon been prime minister since 2004. more reaction to the death of lee kuan yew joining us now is sir martin thurrell. guest: very sad day. yvonne: this was a man that said singapore was ideology-free. singapore succeeded in becoming a financial center. talk about his influence on the nation. guest: of phenomenal influence. i am very sad he did not see the 50th anniversary to the country that was in difficult straits. and built it over many years.

minister intos one of the leading states and a model that other countries follow. and model their systems on. an inspirational leader, fine man. it is a sad day for all of our people in singapore. we have more than 3000 people in singapore. i am sure they are very sad about the news today. he is inspirational. his memory will live on. our sympathies to his family, obviously, and to the people of singapore. yvonne: that is for sure. sir martin, i want to talk to you about why you are in beijing. the development form. the theme this year is new normal. you remain bullish on china. i remain so after the

weekend. we heard from the vice premier thate development forum there will be higher quality, lower level growth and an emphasis on the environment. an emphasis on the five-year plan on consumption, health care, because that is how people say for themselves and our families, and on the service industry. plan reads like a business for service companies, particularly professional service companies like wpp. we are enthusiastic about it. growth,a lower rate of 7% for the chinese economy, which is now a $10 trillion innomy, verses $17 trillion the united states, the u.s. is going at 3.5%. this year, is going to be very much about the g2, about the u.s. and china. inna's incremental growth

our industry will be greater than we are seeing in the united states. to last year end in mainland china, hong kong, taiwan. we started this year strongly. i am quite bullish. we had the third-largest market after the u.s. and u.k., 16,000 people in eight years. in cities around the country. we will see about $1.6 billion plus of revenue in china this year. yvonne: you talk about a third of your business coming from fast growth economies. there have been people doubting the 7% growth target, saying it will be hard to achieve. roubini saying he could see growth heading towards 5%. how does this impact industries and your clients? guest: if you think about the worldwide economy, it is going about 5.5%.

a 7% growth rate is still superior to what we are seeing in the u.s. and u.k., around 2.5%. in the u k budget, the chancellor lowered the gdp forecast by a smidgen. the latest forecast in the united states have been lowered a little bit. a 7% growth rate for china, at least high levels, second largest economy in the world. terms, therity largest economy in the world, 7% is still growing it. even if they were to slip to 6% which experts are predicting in the coming years, the incremental growth that contribute to worldwide gdp growth is so strong and so important that it cannot be ignored. our strategy will remain very bricks.on the books --

india is the star at the moment, may be followed by china. brazil and russia more difficult. run,u look at the longer these countries with growing middle classes, hundreds of millions of people in a growing middle class, are the future. the consumption emphasis of the chinese government in its planning, obviously, both well for the type of activities we do. not just for multinationals in china, but also for the local chinese companies. they are around 40% of our revenues. our objective is to make it an even 50% coming from local companies. those local companies are going global to. where it is now in terms of exchange rates, more opportunities for chinese exporters. we are seeing some of the technology companies like lenovo, like xiaomi,

all these companies with strong technology. we forget that chinese technology is on a roll and growing extremely rapidly and strongly and competitively. we will see i think the chinese economy offering us a lot of opportunities. yvonne: let's keep it on the tech beat. talk about companies like alibaba. where are the growth opportunities in e-commerce and china? to have a partnership recently. how are you expanding in this space right now? pulsar is one, and we will be announcing a joint .com here in jd china to develop e-commerce platforms, using social media here in china and beyond. we see e-commerce activities as a growth of what we call

proximity retailing. may be less big-box retailing. more retailing proxima's to people living in cities. as it is within other parts of the world, it will be 70% over the time. the planet will be dominated by smarter cities. cities in china over one million people, and i think we will be well over 200 in due course. -- opportunities for proximity really tailing. and the use of social media in sophisticated ways to encourage e-commerce platforms and development for big opportunities. we will be rolling out this joint venture with jd.com in the coming weeks. yvonne: sir martin, stick around.

i want to learn more about that deal. exciting news. we have to take a quick break but will come back to you after that. stay with us. ♪

yvonne: welcome back. let's get back to wpp's martin sorrell. , i know yougo

mentioned it pays to be paranoid about china. how so? guest: i think i was talking generally, not so much about china, but trying to run a major multinational marketing service company. nots talking about paranoia in the context of a fast-growing market. i think the geographical developments you see, whether it be vietnam war myanmar or potentially iranian solutions, even the opening up of cuba, it is relatively easy to forecast -- maybe not easy to implement -- but easy to forecast geographical developments. the paranoia was referring to is technology. it is difficult to forecast the impact of these changes. was asked, what is

the biggest threat to google? immediately,amazon but then they would say it is a garage startup somewhere. paranoid about technological developments and their impact. china, theok at technological advances, who would have thought xiaomi would have been valued at $35 billion? kia didrosoft and no their deal for the handset for about $7 million. when you think having share prices come back a bit since the most valuable company on the planet, it is incredible. there will be more. you see it with companies elsewhere like lenovo.

companies that we forget in the , not just play very strongly in the chinese field, but outside china and beyond. germany is expanding into india, as you know. indonesia and brazil. you will get to see chinese technology companies becoming more prominent. that adds a further complication of the paranoid development. to break in,sorry but that is all the time we have. i appreciate your insight on china. much more coming up later. ♪ just because i'm away from my desk doesn't mean i'm not working. comcast business understands that. their wifi isn't just fast near the router. it's fast in the break room. fast in the conference room. fast in tom's office. fast in other tom's office. fast in the foyer [pronounced foy-yer]

or is it foyer [pronounced foy-yay]? fast in the hallway. i feel like i've been here before. switch now and get the fastest wifi everywhere. comcast business. built for business. is 7:30 in singapore,

and the city wakes up to the news that lee kuan yew has died. you are watching "first up." singapore in morning. founding father died this morning at the age of 91. sinopece, sin impact -- in a slump, and their could be worse to come.

rally --buy out a pirelli's biggest shareholder, triggering a takeover. in australia, the asx fractionally up. the australian dollar unchanged right now. .70 seven cents. new zealand, down about .2%. weakening, dollar .75. we are counting down to the opens in japan and south korea. .4% up,ast closed futures pointing to a higher open today. the governmentg release of the monthly economic report. component tornings be raised, dollar-yen weakening right now, 120.11.

hasapore's lee kuan yew died at the age of 91. he has been in the hospital since february, suffering from pneumonia. let's go to our correspondent has haslinda amin. he played a remarkable role in singapore's success, didn't he? haslinda: not just in singapore, but the region. he put in place policies that would attract foreign investors, meritocracy, rule of law, and he always said there should be equality for all. thanks to lee kuan yew, singapore has been ranked the easiest placed to do business for seven consecutive years. the country will observe a seven-day mourning period from today. the first two days will be

private or family only. his body will lie in state for the public to pay respects until saturday. the funeral will be held on sunday. in a letter to his children a he would ago, lee said like his ashes to be mixed with that of his wife, who died a few years ago. he would like his ashes to be placed with hers. they shared up most of their lives together on earth and he wants them to be together thereafter. let's put his life and contribution in perspective. i am joined by an independent economist. a very sad day for singapore. >> said that we have to sit here and talk about lee kuan yew. only countrya: the in asia with a aaa rating. to be a littled island, less than 60 square

kilometers, and few resources to start with. policies had to be put in place to find employment, to find industries. it was a difficult period they had to start with. are some of the key policies that have helped singapore be where it is today? policy is one thing, executing them is another one. you need determination. with a team of people you are talking about, they are essentially thinking about how to get people employed. get people to come in to invest in singapore. i think a system in place that attracts essential businesses to come to singapore, which is why singapore, half of the gdp today came from foreign companies. ease of doing business, being

open, very clean, very transparent government. i think these are key features that make singapore what it is today. haslinda: to talk about execution. a lay therrent team fear there will be a change in policy? the fact that he has been so weak in the past two years, i think the current team is very well respected by both domestic and external investors. testify to the continuity and policies to be expected from the system. that has been put in place by mr. lee and his team. i think the last 50 years was about building singapore. the next 50, with the current team in place, government policies are overlooking. continuity is something which is the key. investors, generally,

take comfort from the fact there is continuity. haslinda: the next 50 years will be challenging. we are seeing a singapore that wants to be more vocal. critical about policies over employment, jobs. guest: the style of leadership has changed. the are talking about early days. that can be done today. singapore is going to be more demanding of how they hold their own future in their hands. you are going to see a government which is not just heart-head, but with a warm heart. a plan with the people in mind, such that the path can be maintained. 'ss --lee kuan yew

sun is trying to put a lid on foreign talent. guest: there was foreign talent coming in to build singapore. it is not under 60 square kilometers now, it is slightly over 700 now. it is getting a little more crowded. it is managing that in an environment where growth is still important for protecting the whole economy. this is where the balance between exploration of singapore has to be balanced with growth. it will be interesting. policies have to be formed with a warm heart as well. haslinda: you have been working in singapore for 25 years. what did lee kuan yew mean to you? guest: how much singapore has

transformed in the last 50 years. we look at it as a country with no resources. admirationt is great that i feel towards leadership and current leadership. haslinda: admiration from within and across the globe. coming up next,.com disappointment. by chinese internet stocks appear to be getting left behind. details coming up. ♪

yvonne: other stories, lee kuan at 91. died he had been suffering from pneumonia, and his condition worsened over the weekend. he was a cambridge-trained singapore through

independence until standing down in 1990. he encouraged to development and emphasized development -- discipline, efficiency, and harmony. his son has been prime minister since 2004. united nations says yemen is being pushed into civil war. rebelsning comes as seize the third-largest city in the latest battles. and interim base has been set up. the u.s. envoy to yemen warned of a protected conflict goes that happened in libya. the u.s. has withdrawn all its forces from yemen. cruz will announce his campaign for president today, becoming the first major republican to formally join the race. the houston chronicle says he set a fundraising goal of as

much as $50 million during the primaries. he is joined by chris christie and scott walker of wisconsin. they are all expected to run but have not formally declared yet. is numberhome, china one in many things, including the internet market. tech marketh, it's stocks have been left behind in the nasdaq rallies. david is looking into this. why are they being shunned? is this a good time to buy? david: i do not want to get into a lawsuit, but i will get you some names later on. you have -- earnings have been disappointing. the valuations looked a bit stretched last year. investors really placed the bar too high because of perceived growth potential. i think what you have right now is half of the 14 chinese ipo's

last year trading below ipo price. seven, alibaba down 30% from its peak. those stocks are mostly down 3% this year. we know that the nasdaq is going bonkers. clearly underperforming the last six months. talking about earnings, i think you have 16 out of 28 chinese internet firms on the china index that we use when you look at u.s.-listed chinese companies that actually missed earnings estimates. revenue is down. if the bar is set too high, investors will scale back valuations. the forecasts are ok. this comment from rosenblatt securities that mainland

investors are shifting their funds from the u.s. back home, u.s. long-term investors will tend to stay clear of small cap internet stocks if you do not have domestic support. a few names, you be the judge. these are the stocks which have fallen this year. and have a consensus rating of over 4.2, overwhelmingly bullish from analysts. alibaba and so forth. yvonne: up to you, the list is there. the other problem is the risk of default. the bond market, we are seeing quite a bit of distress. 11 companiesof yielding more than 15%. clearly one of the signs of stress. kt there is another company,

aiza, that cloud live technology shifted completely. march 4, when they said there may be some uncertainties over paying back debt, and another ia, i willnter-mongol not get into details. but i think the narratives for the second quarter is different from what we have talking about in that there is a record amount of debt that has to be paid. $242 billion from april to june. a huge amount of interest payments and maturities. rate hikes have not helped. rates areinterest still fairly high compared to when it fell back in december. so something to watch. yvonne: we will be watching closely. thea campaigning hard or yen to become the reserve currency. the reserve minister putting the case before christine lagar at

the development forum. christine ha has more from beijing. he was not scheduled to talk about that. reporter: he raised it at a panel that was supposed to be about monetary policy. he was pushing for the u.n. to the special joints right basket, which has the euro and the pound sterling. the final goal he is aiming for is for the yen to become the central currency. the central bank has been pushing this for five years. it is reviewed every five years. yen010, the imf decided the could not be added because it was not really usable. they say they will be reviewing the basket again this october with a preliminary review in may 3 hence the strong campaigning.

they did point out some ways in which the yen is becoming more freely usable, including the shanghai stockinette -- stock connect. and ways for investors to invest overseas this year. otherwise, he did not going to a lot of detail. yvonne: why now? he fought for this in many years. we are seeing china busy reforming their economy. slower growth. why now? christine: it can feed into the growth that china wants for itself. they are looking for more stability in the u.s., even as they are trying to free it up to make it more freely tradable. andt now, there is a fixed on reserve currencies. they offer less exposure to fluctuations.

china is still trying to move up the value chain. it will also likely be cheaper for chinese businessman to borrow in their own currency and make global deals, cutting out transaction costs. this could boost growth. and boost private enterprise as well. it also comes at a time when china wants to increase global influence. did speak about one of these initiatives at a conference at the asian infrastructure investment bank. the yen the coming a reserve currency could have a function. take a listen. infrastructure investment bank and the silk road fund are very important. they will follow internationally accepted rules in how they operate. provideitiatives will capital and strong support to the development of major projects, such as infrastructure and conductivity in countries. risk ofe: there is a

cheap borrowing costs creating bubbles within an economy that is known for risk bubbles. questions that remain are the strength of financial gard sayings, but lar timing could be a matter for discussion. maybe not this time, but we will see. they did say that they have to research and consider the topic a little more. christine, thank you so much. in china, a clash in commodity see -- prices has hit citizens hard. what is going on here? plunge in profits we have not seen in a long time. oil prices, it has had a direct hit on sinopec. 30%,arnings in 2014 down

$7.5 billion. analysts are saying 2015 will see a nearly 80% drop in prices. in thes given that fall london benchmark and texas intermediate. the reasons are many. you have opec maintaining production targets despite falling prices. opec does not want to impact its producers. you have the u.s. producing more oil, and you have record inventories as well. all of that leads to a continuing drop in prices. the new york benchmark. yvonne: you are talking about a 48% plunge at brent. sinopec's pain maybe consumers gain. are seeing plunging gas prices right now. zeb: this is a drivers bonanza

on the west coast. prices in los angeles, around three dollars. barrel. a huge reversal from what we saw a few years ago. prices that nearly five dollars a gallon. the cheapest gas in charleston, $2.11. the most expensive, in california, as you would expect. but crude oil still at its lowest level in six years. rising output, higher inventories, contribute into price declines. energy independence is evolving, and saudi arabia saying, listen, we are not going to cannibalize our own business. the are optimistic that saudi oil minister saying, prices will rebound. yvonne: coming up next, we will

tell you what country is being pinned as the next tiger economy in asia. ♪

yvonne: we have heard this many times before -- vietnam being picked as asia's next tiger economy. this time, it may happen. is enda.n why, here reporter: this time it is different. vietnam could be one of the fastest-growing economies by 2050, second to nigeria. china is becoming expensive for manufacturers. the anonymous filling the gap. last year, they became the biggest exporter to the u.s. for

the first time. there are signs it is beginning to emerge. yvonne: what advantages does vietnam have? reporter: a working population and a cheaper population. that is attracting manufacturers into vietnam. makers, movingng to vietnam. setting up shop. vietnam is politically appealing because there are tensions between japan and china, and vietnam is promoting japanese investment. yvonne: you talk about big companies like samsung, intel. they are giving vietnam a second chance. reporter: and hiring workers. there are challenges. productivity and vietnam is quite low. corruption is an issue. there are challenges for vietnam. yvonne: you talk about those -- could theyat

act as a brake overall? reporter: one of the biggest challenges of -- is reforming the banking sector. that is a problem they have to deal with. reform of state owned assets is a key challenge for the government in vietnam if they are to achieve their potential and hit this target set by 2050. yvonne: we have talked about them being a tiger economy. are you confident this will happen? reporter: we have heard this story before, but it seems like moving things are moot -- things are moving into place. yvonne: thank you so much for joining us. next hour of the show, the falling oil price drags down asia's biggest refiner, and analysts see an ugly year ahead for sinopec. singapore'sss from

prime minister on the death of his father. this is "first up." ♪

yvonne: singapore in morning. printerer of the nation has died at 91. pragmatic and visionary, he took singapore from colonial times to global success. disciplined, efficient, and harmonious, singapore is the only asian nation with three aaa ratings. good morning, welcome to "first up." coming to you live from asia. yvonne man standing in for angie lau.

singapore's founding father has died at age 91. it happened in the -- he had been in the hospital since early february suffering from pneumonia. he was a master of asian values, a political giant. reporter: a remarkable visionary. singapore is mourning the loss of a great leader. they have announced a 70 morning. starting today through sunday. this has prompted many to take to social media to express sorrow and condolences, admiration for the man who transformed singapore. in the early days no one thought singapore would succeed. i remember asking and during interviews, a few years ago, if this is the singapore he had wanted to fill -- build. not have that vision 50 years ago. he did not want -- know what to

think then. he never thought it possible for singapore do be a success. this was a country with no natural resources. when singapore was kicked out of malaysia in 1965, he wanted a malaysian malaysia. he had not planned for singapore's independence. the circumstances were forced on in. he did say he regrets nothing. on goodone, he had did faith for singapore's future. proud described himself as a political street writer, per se. you would know that the prosperous singapore was the result of his policies. but he is not without controversy. haslinda: he built singapore. because of this vision he had.

he often said his priority is survival and welfare of his people. that then only comes democracy. as far as he was concerned, democracy can be defended from time to time as needed. that is because to him, singapore remained fragile, built on a small base, nation of immigrants and different races. that must be kept together by policies. a unified people, not quite yet in its dna. that is how he felt about singapore. housing, economic, educational policies to ensure equality and transparency. he attracted foreign investors. he ruled with an iron fist. he said he knew what was best. he also used the law to eradicate political opponents you often were left and grabbed and unable to stay in politics. -- left bankrupt and unable to

stay in politics. didy decision he made, he for singapore at that point in time. i want to bring in someone who has spoken to him. let's get inside from a man who wrote a book about him. elliott, tom,om good to have you with us. you have spoken with him. what is the biggest thing about him? since i would think don't live in singapore and don't focus entirely on business, i would say both the way he redefined what is quality governance and the second thing would be the way he spoke to us about relations with china and how the world was evolving and the role of globalization. to me as an american journalist and columnist, he really was a tutor to me. i started with him in 1996.

our professional relationship went through 2010 when the book came out. to him forgrateful all of the time he's been with me. haslinda: he is known to be very authoritarian, and he only said that he knew what was best. did he? what is your take? was a shortainly but he was very smart. he surrounded himself with very bright people. he did not surround himself with mediocrities. singapore would outsource some of its problems to a harvard or m.i.t., and to get some of the best input. he was very confident, but at the same time he was always on edge. he felt that after the breakup that singapore would really be writing on a

riding on a shinar promise. he was very difficult opposition, but he did not think there were enough people in singapore to populate a two-party system. so he got if they only got enough smart political people to have one party, then that would be it. it was his way. a lot of input and he gave other people a lot of time and output. haslinda: where do you think him?ry will place we know that his influence goes beyond singapore. you mentioned that he played a crucial role in how china opened up. tom: i think his influence is phenomenal. not only was it important to nixon andeaders from kissinger up through the years -- i think all of the american

president values his input. you only had to meet him once to realize you are dealing with a special mind. visit by king, who realized china was not working came down to ping singapore and he needled him by calling him harry, he showed him around singapore and showed them how they did what they did. ng said, i guess it has something to do with our economic system. i think they'll was a very pivotal conversation. pinge was one moment where said, i'm impressed by this, but if i only had shanghai to do this, i could do this. [laughter] haslinda: many people are what willg now singapore look like without him?

tom: that's the million-dollar question. i asked him that for the book. he basically feels that it is unknowable. gone, and new generation will come in and decide where to take singapore. some american academics were rather pessimistic about that. they think it will unravel. i go the other way. i think singapore is uniquely situated to continue its very successful tournament run as it were. part of the reason is the nature of the world today. is entirely globalized. andapore has hinterlands, indonesia and malaysia, all around the world. a city they has a much better chance of surviving in the 21st century than the 19th century. i think singapore will do very well. joining us from alley,

we thank you for your insight. yvonne: we will continue our coverage of the death of singapore's founding father after the break. we will be live in the city dread the morning. they would this. -- stay with us. ♪

.elcome back to the australian dollar strengthening. japan just opening. the dollar yen strengthening right now, 119 .96. korea, fractionally low.

strengthening, 1112 .92. i need on end. it is monday, march 23. these are the top stories. singapore's founding father, lee age ofw, has died at the 91. he was a cambridge trained lawyer who led singapore through independence. he stepped down in 1990. he encouraged foreign investment, attacked direction, and emphasized efficiency and interracial harmony. the greek prime minister has warned it will be impossible to service its countries debts unless the eu provides more help. letter the comments in a to angela merkel. ify will only get more money creditors approve a reform land. they will travel to berlin for more talks. u.s. regulators are investigating whether nissan

failed to improve airbag defects despite a massive recall last year. it received 124 related complaints after the fix. nearly one million vehicles were recalled after their backs were deployed with too much force. the other story we are following. the collapse in prices has hit china's senate had hard. with more online profits are plunging. hitting hard even before the financial crisis. they have not seen this dramatic and in earnings since 2008. oil prices in the past year have dropped by half. it is a stunning reversal. west texas intermediate, the new york benchmark for the u.s. market, down by nearly 50%. all of it having it in part on -- impact on sinopec.

this led to a 30% drop in 2014 profits. this year in the past may not be better. look at what is happening in the spot markets. ahead --, 2015 going the analysts say there is an 80% drop in prices. this is likely to be carried out as other oil giants around the where inventories are high, the u.s. is producing more. opec and saudi arabia not changing production targets because they don't want to hurt their own members. there is a lot of supply and prices that continue to fall. yvonne: we have continued to see they have. investments and cut jobs here. opec's loss is again for consumers here because of drivers pumping gas and doing quite well for themselves.

zeb: certainly. prices falling across the united states. crude oil at a six-year low. gasoline prices falling in tandem. take a look at some numbers. in los angeles, you are paying $3.29 per gallon. that was the highest price in the lower 48. for los angeles that is pretty good. the cheapest is in houston, south carolina. $2.11 per gallon. in new york cents -- new york $2.30. these are very healthy for consumer as well as. it was for a five dollars a gallon now one point in california. you have oil and gas continuing to be high, prices continuing to drop. we will see how long this lasts. yvonne: four of the was five dollars a gallon in chicago.

thank you that -- zeb. stories making headlines. korea, china, and japan have agreed to resume top level summit meetings after they were suspended. foreign ministers met in seoul so they could work to improve relations. japan's attempts to outskirts military history has caused some tension. here i mean nuclear talks enter a poet -- potentially decisive week with negotiators saying a deal is achievable. secretary of state john kerry says they are not at the finish line yet. they do have the opportunity to get there. issues include how much atomic capacity ron can keep the nature of inspections, and when and how sanctions should be lifted here partey say this should be of any deal, not decided afterwards.

the u.n. says yemen is being pushed into civil war. the warning came as shiite rebels seized the third-largest city. -- the president fled the capital. the u.s. official envoy warned of a protected conflict like those that have corrupted in iraq, said -- syria, and libya. the u.s. has withdrawn all forces from yemen. coming up next, the dollar has had its worst day in eight months grade where does this leave the markets? we will look at the prospects after the break. ♪

david: i am david in class in hong kong. let's get straight to an update on the u.s. dollar. it is still under pressure following the sharp plunge friday. the biggest drop in eight months. now at a two week low. investors may continue to adjust for later and more gradual rate increases in the u.s. the philippine pesto is another currency we are tracking closely. most otherset --

gained against the u.s., the peasant had its biggest loss. a grant the slowest pace in six years. analysts say the slowdown will likely be temporary. the pesto, which has held its ground when most others felt, just needed a reason to come off. let's get to the latest interest-rate outlook for india. economists are expecting the , on top ofrontload the two that the central bank has already announced. pointwill be another 25 reduction next quarter. the next few months is a window for the r.b.i. to further, the analysts say if the fed starts hiking its key interest rates. when that does happen, we may see a disruption. nobody really knows when that will happen. quick check on yields are at

this point. what happenstween -- 193 is where we are for the u.s.. index, 9781. lowest in about two weeks. fell 1.6% overnight. japanese yen, as expected, stronger right now. about 120. saw a bit of a rally. closer to 105 last week. now closer to 108. not a lot happening.

fairly quiet as far as economic data for the australian dollar. drivinge the stories markets this monday morning. china is campaigning hard for the end to become -- you to become a reserve currency. they put that case before the imf. christine has more from beijing. i believe the name of the session was titled, sell monetary policy is the new normal. reporter: he took the opportunity to make a place -- case for the u.n. to be added to the special basket. at the moment, it has four currencies. in essence, what they were campaigning for was for the yuan

to become a global reserve currency. the central bank government has been pushing for this are quite some time. the010, the imf said that yuan was not a good candidate. since then china has really they havets programs opened up free-trade zones. hong kong shanghai connect happen. quite a lot of things to get the yuan circulating in the global economy. they have planned to free up rules for investors overseas. china is now the world's second-largest economy. -- may bee sun can't time for you guys to come into the basket. busy and reforming its own

economy. we are also seeing slowing growth and why now? china can't do anything unless it sees this fitting into its overall land. -- plan. this dust into the overall plan. longer-term by governments. china is looking to make the currency more freely tradable. as it looks to recap the currency, this can add something to the currency. when people buy bonds as they usually do with the reserve currency, it is money you can use for economy. china did learn that lesson with all the u.s. bonds they held in reserve for many years. this would also make the

currency cheaper for chinese banks. not necessarily a bad thing for growth. lagarde points out, the global economy is now tied to china. listen to this. >> the fate of the chinese economy and the fate of the global economy are intertwined. a growth that will be slightly slower than what we have witnessed so far. it's perfectly legitimate and can work with this twofold goal of driving both in china and in the global economy. lagarde said the comments were welcomed and the imf will work with china on this. she did say the timing was a matter for discussion. perhaps not this time, but a matter of time. yvonne: joining us live from beijing. back to the stop story. singapore's founding father, lee ofn yew, has died at the age

91. he had been suffering from pneumonia. he was a cambridge university trained a lawyer who led singapore from 19 59 through independence in 1965. he stepped down in 1990. he encouraged foreign investments, attacked corruption, and emphasize discipline, efficiency, and interracial harmony. world leaders have paid tribute to lee kuan yew. president obama said he will be remembered for generations to come as the father of modern singapore and a great strategist at asian affairs. george bush senior said he was proud to call lee a friend. ♪

are one hour away from the open of trading here in hong kong. a live look at victoria harbor. ."u are watching "first up, singapore in morning. the city first leader, lee kuan yew, has died at 91. the funeral is sunday. tensions near protest and hong kong over mainland visitors crossing the border. soars, china's internet boom is feeding.

half are trading below initial prices. good morning, back to the top story. the death of singapore's founding father, lee kuan yew. he was 91 years old. fromd been suffering pneumonia. it is no exaggeration to say he really built the nation. just builde didn't the nation, many say he did it single-handedly. lee kuan yew sook -- took singapore from third to first world economy. his preoccupation with survival was his prop -- top priority. death is being digested by singaporeans this morning. social media, twitter, facebook, told with prayers and reflections of his tremendous contribution and leadership.

up until last night, young and old left cards, flowers, paintings for him. many gathered at the hospital where he was awarded to show support. he is cinema -- synonymous with the development of this city state. l is often called --lee kuan yew is often called singapore's founding father. he was the first prime minister of the city state, leading it to political and financial independence. during his more than three decade rule, he became one of asia's biggest economic successes with a simple guiding philosophy. >> i want to make sure this place always comes out with confidence. confidence brings in investments and talent. with investments in talent, you will prosper. haslinda: a lawyer by training,

he emphasized how business policies. he moved the population out of slums, molding them into a well-educated work force and drove the small nation with limited natural resources to become a reasonable business have, and one of the world's largest foreign exchange and wealth management centers. >> in 2010, singapore actually malay economy. this is quite an achievement when you think of the size of singapore and also the fact that one malaysia split from singapore -- the idea is we would fail and come back to malaysia. despite singapore's rapid development, lee was also -- always acutely aware of all their abilities. : i'm worried if new leaders in the population as a whole don't realize the small

base on which this is built. and they take liberties with it. we could go down quickly. haslinda: as the economy open, control of her some aspects of life titans from family planning to freedom of speech. critics accused him of being overly authoritarian. the people's action party, which lee helped found, has covered singapore for more than five decades. even after stepping down as prime minister, his influence continues. he served as senior minister until being appointed mentor in the cabinet of his son. lee was often likened to a number of asia's key figures. malaysia's former prime minister. the leaders often do not see eye to eye. >> who was the number one critic of lk why was dr. m.

he said he is a big fish in a small pond and a mayor of a tiny city. and then he caused and said, but he is one of the outstanding political thinkers of our time. ,aslinda: lee kuan yew pragmatist, authoritarian, dignitary. let's go to kuala lumpur now good --. bridget, good to have you with us. in your view, what is his legacy? think you can't as much is that where he was seen as a defending -- defining leader. -- singapore is now seen as a successful economic model. and building a nation in terms community with singapore

coming together. his tenure was quite decisive. i would only caution that he did not do this alone. he was part of a team. as discussion of lee kuan yew moves forward, there is more emphasis of the collective process. he was the leader. that is important to emphasize. haslinda: he was very pragmatic. reporter: yes i think so. i think he does have -- he had sent the visions. the sense of pragmatism, the emphasis on merit and meritocracy, the emphasis on issues of limited government spending. these were things that were part and parcel of defining singapore at that time. i think the problem now is for singapore to come to terms with a new environment and make changes from these ideas. the heavy emphasis on credit

government has distanced the pmp from many have the people in its society. this involves the new environment and in some ways moving away from some of the .deas of lk why --lee kuan yew he did have sets of ideas. he was a respected leader but he was not loved by all. haslinda: do you think the current leadership, the hurt -- current party in power will be able to make the transition to being more consensual in its approach? reporter: i think it will be very difficult. there are going to be significant changes to take place. one of the challenges of frompore is to move away lee kuan yew in terms of some of the more rigid perceptions. whether or not is issues of race

relations, government spending, priorities, issues of how you govern in terms of connecting to more societies. these are some of the challenges son now kuan yew's faces. i think it will be very challenging indeed. haslinda: some people talk about possible split within the party. is that you -- what you are observing as well? reporter: there are differences within it as there are with all parties. i think in the immediate aftermath of his passing, i the party will stay together. in part because this is a time of transition and reevaluation for singapore and the php as well. i think we will see some of those differences emerge. we are seeing that in society as a whole, were different political positions are coming -- fore for many

years. those spendingw which was there at the time. hear this and and more. the question the party faces, which has been very successful is it the ability to whether or not they can adapt successfully and accommodate new voices. it is harder. it is a different environment. the environment today is of social media and much more complexity in society. less time to make decisions. the party faces the challenges which are very real. i think they will find they are not going to have an easy time as they have had in the past. haslinda: thank you for your perspective. just joined us from kuala lumpur. back to you. yvonne: thank you.

we will have more reaction to the death of lee kuan yew throughout the day here on bloomberg television, including a special show at 12:00 in singapore time, and a special screening of one of his last major interviews with lou gehrig's charlie rose -- bloomberg's charlie rose. --e now for look at what is corporate stories making headlines. reporter: china national chemical corporation is closing in on the italian tire maker early. irelli. it struggles with the second-largest that in europe. it will remain based in italy. optimism is growing in corporate japan. almost 75% of executives said the economy was expanding.

that is up 34% points from the previous survey. most of the respondents cited the week yen. none of the 145 surveys said they saw the economy was worsening. citigroupges allowing to process to bond payments in argentina. this will allow the lender to get out of a dispute threatening to cripple one of its oldest overseas units. last week argentina threatened to revoke a citigroup license. those are your top corporate headlines. i'm shery ahn. yvonne: protests broke out in hong kong over the weekend about parallel traders from china. it happened near a railway station close to the border with the mainland. feelings have been running high about the number of chinese people who come from -- to hong kong to stock up on supplies and pushing up prices. china is said to be live --

limiting the number of days to rest -- tourism to hong kong to ease tensions. the umbrella revolution is morphing into milk powder mayhem. young activists has set up residence in border towns with china and lashing out with mainland shoppers and parallel importers, who will back and forth across the border on multi-entry passes, snapping up in demand items like infant formula. example it is another of mainlanders overwhelming infrastructure and driving up the cost of living in hong kong. they claim the local government turns a wide-eyed. the conflict has been aggregating four years. it has come to the point of explosion. even our streetcorner interviews sparked heated exchange as passersby one after another, jumped into the debate.

we can't just kick out the chinese. we can do this kind of thing to tourists. no one would do this, only you guys. reporter: chinese visitors are getting the message. >> my friends are not coming anymore. they are worried they will get beat in my protesters. i have to come because i need milk powder for my baby. reporter: here is the dilemma. when an influx turns into an anti-chinese reflex. shows just how conflicted the people of hong kong are about mainland visitors. on the one hand, 50% of respondents said they are against the protest. sande other hand, 60% mainland visitors cause inconvenience to their lives. said they would like to see the individual visits reduced. >> i am against the protests.

hong kong's economy relies on tourism and visitors from china. they are now afraid to come. it would be like going backwards. governmentong kong is not doing anything, they would be out on the street. they should not be targeting tourists. now everyone thinks people from hong kong are not welcoming tourists. reporter: many believe the hong kong government is not looking out for interest. they're merely carrying out eight long-term agenda from beijing. >> they don't want a revolution to happen again. we feel like if we don't do them now, it is going to be doomed. reporter: nearly 18 years after the handover, integration seems to be the stiffest challenge. coming up next, like chinese tech stocks are lacking just as the night stacked pads -- nasdaq has.com era highs.

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stories making headlines. singapore's founding father, lee kuan yew, has died at the age of 91. he has been suffering pneumonia and his condition worsened over the weekend. he led singapore from 1959 to independence in 1965. he stepped down in 1990. he encouraged foreign investments, attacked corruption, and emphasize efficiency and racial harmony. his elder son has been prime minister since 2004. texas senator ted cruz will announce his campaign for president, becoming the first major republican to announce for the race. he has sent a fundraising goal or as much as $50 million. he is likely to face former florida governor jeb bush, chris christie, and scott walker of wisconsin.

there also -- all expected to run but had not formally declared yet here it former french president sarkozy has set the stage for a possible run after leaving his -- leading his party to a good performance. pushedlls suggest they the far right national front into second place. president, current the second round of the regional vote will be held on sunday. not to software firm which is nearly 15% owned by the founder , we are talking about getting soft. soft.ng thank you for joining us. congratulations on quite a good earnings report. let's talk about the revenue split. at 54% for the full year.

32% for games. 14% on office software. how has the strategy worked? guest: looking back from three years ago, our focus has been transforming the company from software to a mobile internet company. this has indicated that very strongly. 50%ere a company more than of revenue was on the inside. now more than 50% is on the other side. that is really indicating a transformation from traditional software company to mobile internet company. yvonne: you talk about games being one of your growth drivers. 10 more in the pipeline to come. this is continuing to be a very competitive space third how do you approach that? guest: if you look to our

history, we have already 15 years of experience developing blockbuster games. transforme work is to back from pc era into mobile games. released the first one last year and it was a success. yvonne: we heard last week nintendo is joining in as well. hadeed that -- how do you see that, as a game changer or a challenge? aest: we do not see it as challenge because it is a different factory then we see ourselves. it is the southeast asian market, where gamers are really in love with our games. traditional martial arts. let's switch gears. we talk about the cloud services which are very critical. in terms of investments strategies, what do you see -- it is also a very competitive

industry. guest: looking back, 2015 will be a year where all the chinese companies started embracing the cloud. if you talked about three years ago, people were having doubts about security and stability. laughter, -- last year it all changed. back to theat -- history, we have accumulated a lot of it. in technology. storagearly in the area. after a three-year effort, we have become the number one storage service provider. we were daily updating, and data is already over 258 terabytes. per day. we are very confident that the cloud will become -- we will become a leader in that space. yvonne: i want to talk about your chairman quickly.

he is also your predecessor. guest: the chairman. yvonne: talk about his exposure and his net worth. how will that benefit your expansion in the future? guest: he is definitely the leader of our company. he has brought tremendous benefit to king soft. xiaomi is also a major customer, and a large part of our storage came from xiaomi. when people talk about xiaomi cloud, they are talking about -- we are proud to tell people is backed by king soft cloud. thank you so much for joining us here at first up -- "first up," congratulations

again on a good earnings report. plenty more to come on bloomberg tv. "first up."hing ♪

yvonne: singapore's markets opening at the top of the hour. a lower open this morning. the city state is in mourning as they remember the founding father, lee kuan yew. next,g businesses up rishaad salamat with a look at what is coming up with continuing coverage on lee kuan yew. absolutely front and center. of asia's richest, if not arguably the richest country on a per capita basis. yvonne: they've had a bond that went beyond his policy. some people say they had -- he

was bigger than the policy. shot --anchor: the ambassador to singapore would be asking what he made of the men. it is not the only study -- cover -- story we are covering. the collapse of lehman brothers, that is coming in at 46 and a half billion yuan. well below the 53 and a half billion that they had been anticipating by the others. let's have awell, look. the coffee company is sticking with its race relations effort after they faced a backlash on social media. of the remarks coming through were quite extraordinary. yvonne: they said i don't want to have my coffee and talk about race. anchor: exactly, they have three

as cominging -- barists and putting comments on coffee cups. coming up next, see soon. ♪

anchor: it is monday, i'm rishaad salamat, and this is "trending business." a nationalou live, isning because lee kuan yew dead. his son says, we won't see the likes of him again. the father of the nation. guiding singapore from colonial trading post to a global success story.