大象传媒

The Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, has defended the appointment of her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as her chief of staff. She has dismissed claims that his appointment to the cabinet was part of a strategy to shield him from an ongoing corruption investigation. Hours after the announcement protestors gathered outside the Presidential Palace. Our South America Business Correspondent Daniel Gallas gives us the latest.

The London Stock Exchange has agreed a merger with the main German share market, Deutsche Boerse. The 大象传媒's Ramzan Karmali has been finding out what the merger might mean for the City of London.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who oversees the country's finances, has been laying out his plans for the next year. The eye-catcher in this budget was the revised forecast for growth - down to 2% from 2.4%. But he was upbeat about the UK being the likely to grow faster than any other major western economy. So, does the latest budget herald brighter times ahead for Britain? We hear from regular commentator, Roger Bootle.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has kept its interest rate unchanged. The Federal Reserve Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, said this was because of fears for the health of the global economy. The target rate remains a half a per cent, after being raised for the first time in nearly a decade in December.

All this and more discussed with our two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific. Dave Shaw, Washington bureau chief of Marketplace and Sofia McFarland, China News Editor of the Wall Street Journal in Beijing.

(Photo: President Dilma Rousseff and predecessor, and new Chief of Staff, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva. Credit: EPA)