29/03/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally

Hanging in the balance - workers at Tata's Port Talbot plant in South

Wales wait to hear their fate as the company's top bosses meet in Mumbai.

The FBI says they've cracked it, and can access the iPhone used

The court order to make Apple cooperate is dropped.

I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the programme:

The good, the bad and the ugly - we've got a lot

Our team in the region will make sense of it all.

The board of Tata Steel is due to meet in Mumbai today to decide the

The struggling plant in Port Talbot, South Wales,

was estimated to be losing more than a million pounds a day in January.

Following hundreds of job cuts, about 3500 staff still work there.

Steelmakers say they're facing the most difficult conditions

Producers blame China - accusing the country of 'dumping' cheap

steel onto global markets, driving down prices to unrealistic levels.

UK steel plants say they are also being hurt by high energy prices.

One industry group says electricity costs are substantially higher

for producers in Britain compared to European rivals in Germany

Let's go to the headquarters of Tata Steel, where this key

Our Mumbai correspondent Yogita Limaye is there.

We will persevere with the shot. It is a bit shaky, but let's talk about

what we might hear about the Port Talbot plant today. Are you getting

any indications were they might decide? The Tata Steel group have

confirmed this board meeting is being held today, close to where I'm

staying, at the headquarters. They have not disclosed what time the

meeting will start and whether we will have a decision on the Port

Talbot plant. A delegation of members from the Steelworkers union

community as well as a local MP from Port Talbot have been here in

Mumbai. They said yesterday they met with senior representatives of Tata

Steel and have described that meeting as constructive. They also

said the Tata Steel company has outlined the global challenges they

are facing, some of which you mentioned, Chinese imports. Within

the UK... For obvious reasons, we have lost our connection, which is

unfortunate. You are looking at pictures of the Port Talbot plant in

South Wales, but she was going to add that it is not only thinking

about the future of its operations in the UK, but also right across its

business. It is facing some serious challenges at the moment, so the

company is poised to announce lots of restructuring. We will try to

reconnect with her to carry on a conversation a bit later, but for

now, let's move on. The FBI has said it no longer needs

the help of Apple to unlock the iPhone that

was used by the San Bernardino Investigators had taken Apple to

court in order to force it to weaken the device's security

so data could be accessed. Our technology correspondent

Dave Lee has the details. Last week, the FBI said outside

party had approached them with the way to break into the phone without

the need for Apple's cooperation. It appears that method has worked. So a

court case that had the US technology industry united against

the FBI has the being gone away. Now this debate moves into more

uncertain times. The US government has knowledge of a security

vulnerability that in theory weakens Apple devices around the world. To

protect its reputation, Apple will rush to find and fix that for, and

eschewing it can do that, this row will go back to square one -- as

eschewing it can do that, this row will go back to square one -- --

side. Now on to the good news -

the Japanese are spending more Not as much as hoped for,

but still they are spending. However, the number of people out

of work has gone up slightly too, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is

saying he will not delay the second Sharanjit Leyl is in our

Asia Business Hub in Singapore. The increase in consumer spending

is a little but encouraging. It is significant, but it naturally

paints a mixed picture is yes, household spending did rise 1.2% in

February against expectations for a decline, but retail sales rose 0.5%

in the same month, and that defied expectations and people thought

would rise higher. The jobless rate also inched up to 3.3% despite

labour demand remaining fairly healthy, at its highest level in

fact in two decades. Say really a mixed picture about Japan. The jury

is still out where this economy is headed. Shinzo Abe was also in the

news, earlier telling lawmakers he has every intention of going ahead

with the sales tax hike unless the economy is heat by a shock on the

scale of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in 2008 or the massive

earthquake that struck in 2011. This is significant, because it is

against expectations by many analysts he would delay raising that

sales tax to 10% next year on lots of concerns it would start to derail

Japan's fragile recovery that we are seeing in numbers like what came out

earlier today. That fragile recovery of course continues to require more

government help. The debate is of course a really intensified debate.

Later, we are watching the Japan Parliament, who are said to approve

a record over $850 billion state budget for the fiscal 2016. A lot

going on in Japan. Thank you. One of the ways Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe has been trying to jump-start the economy is by

encouraging corporate Japan to include more women

in the managerial mix. While most firms are

struggling to achieve this, As part of our Jump Starting series,

Mariko Oi puts the spotlight MUSIC PLAYS

With this gadget commercial of shrimp chips, Calbee became a

household name in the 1960s. It may be an old friend, but it has new

ideas. Meet the team behind a current bestseller. In most Japanese

firms, this team leader would be expected to work late. But she is a

mother, and she keeps her hours. TRANSLATION: I was surprised when

they offered me the position, but we have many more female executives

now, so it is becoming the norm. When she took the top job at Calbee

2009, any 6% of managers were women. Five years on, the number of female

managers has more than tripled. The key is top management decisions or

policies, but some top management in Japanese companies are still

hesitant. You have been a vocal advocate for diversity in your

company. What you hope to see from the rest of corporate Japan in the

next 5-10 years? My expectation is to promote this diversity. Any, or

some, or major Japanese companies, like Nissan, such a huge company. We

want to achieve that goal. If they reach a certain level, most of the

other companies they do it. Calbee is small. But Toyota, only 3% of

managers are women, while at Nissan, it is slightly higher at 8%. Most of

corporate Japan is struggling to meet the government's original

target of increasing the proportion of female managers to 30% at 2020.

So in December last year, the target was cut by half. For working mothers

at Calbee, it is time to rush back to pick up their children. Something

most men don't have to worry about. But what will it take for the rest

of corporate Japan to revamp their recipe for success?

The markets open again in Asia today. Some were closed yesterday

for the long break. The Nikkei down slightly. The Japanese yen has

gained ground. The dollar has been falling. The US markets were open.

You can see a mixed picture there today. And just to say that the

Chinese insurance firm Anbang has raised its offer for Starwood Hotels

to $14 billion, extending a bidding war with Marriott for the group.

Almost 8000 jobs in UK libraries have disappeared

in the last six years, around a quarter of the entire workforce.