:00:05. > :00:15.World News. Now for the latest financial news with World Business
:00:15. > :00:18.
:00:18. > :00:22.Welcome to the program, your chance to catch up with all the latest in
:00:22. > :00:26.the world of business and money. Let's take a look at the headlines:
:00:26. > :00:35.Women drivers across Europe face a jump in insurance premiums as EU
:00:35. > :00:41.rules come into force outlawing gender discrimination.
:00:41. > :00:46.Asian markets are down after the US Republican proposal to do with the
:00:46. > :00:49.fiscal cliff failed to get support. Energy high on the agenda as
:00:49. > :00:59.President Putin meets EU leaders amid concerns that Europe is far
:00:59. > :01:01.
:01:01. > :01:04.too dependent on Russian gas. From today, insurers are banned from
:01:04. > :01:09.pricing their policies according to whether you are male or female as
:01:10. > :01:14.new EU rules on gender discrimination come into force.
:01:14. > :01:24.Young women drivers are among those particularly affected. They're
:01:24. > :01:26.
:01:26. > :01:31.the cost of car insurance. It is enough to put you off your
:01:31. > :01:37.driving lesson. If the 17-ylesson. If the 17-y woman passes her Test next month,
:01:37. > :01:47.she will be faced with a sudden extra cost. A big price rise for
:01:47. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :01:54.young women's driving insurance. pay because of males. At a traffic
:01:54. > :01:58.light, and male is more likely to zoom off whereas a woman is more
:01:58. > :02:03.like he did take her time. Because of the European Court ruling that
:02:03. > :02:07.gender cannot be a factor in insurance, women's coverage is now
:02:07. > :02:10.38% more ex 38% more ex will 38% more expensive. Some women will
:02:10. > :02:12.pay 30% more for life insurance and men will suffer when they buy a
:02:12. > :02:17.pension annuity. They could get as pension annuity. They could get as
:02:17. > :02:22.much as 10% less in retirement income. Insurer says that the ban
:02:22. > :02:27.on different prices for men and women is a backward step. By giving
:02:27. > :02:30.women discounts, they could encourage them to drive well. The
:02:30. > :02:37.more that insurance premiums can in centre five safe driving, the
:02:37. > :02:42.women drivers have better accidents means that there is less of an
:02:42. > :02:47.incentive to drive more safely. It is not much converted to jazzman
:02:47. > :02:54.could -- that men could see a cut in the cost. For many young people,
:02:54. > :02:57.car insurance is virtually impossible to fault afford.
:02:57. > :03:01.Asian markets are under pressure after an apparent deepening of the
:03:01. > :03:10.deadlock over America's budget next year, pushing the US ever closer to
:03:10. > :03:15.the so-called fiscal cliff. Explain this to our viewers around
:03:15. > :03:24.the world. This doesn't just a matter to the US. This could have
:03:24. > :03:29.the global implications. America being the world's largest
:03:29. > :03:35.impact impact here in Asia. Remembering
:03:35. > :03:40.crisis, there were some experts that said that Asia is decoupled
:03:40. > :03:45.and will be fine. We saw the economy slumped sharply as soon as
:03:45. > :03:50.the US economy was affected. That is partly why the progress in the
:03:50. > :03:53.US Congress is monitored closely here in Asia. This morning his
:03:53. > :03:57.example. The markets initially opened high opened high as
:03:57. > :04:03.soon as we heard the news that the Republican proposal to avoid the
:04:03. > :04:11.crunch in the US fell -- failed to get support, we started to see the
:04:11. > :04:15.monitoly monitored carefully. Many experts
:04:15. > :04:19.say that hopefully the US lawmakers will eventually reach a deal.
:04:19. > :04:24.That is when they get back from the Christmas holidays. Ten days and
:04:24. > :04:30.counting. The clock is ticking. It was a broad sell-off. Everything
:04:30. > :04:39.from oil to currencies. We did see oil prices as well as
:04:39. > :04:44.heard that news from the Americans. In the currency market, we saw the
:04:44. > :04:52.euro fall. One currency being quite firm is the Japanese yen which has
:04:52. > :05:01.been weakening especially after the elected as the next leader of the
:05:01. > :05:05.more moneta more moneta. Effectively, printing more money. We had been
:05:05. > :05:12.seen in -- see the yen for that it is now rebounding as this morning.
:05:12. > :05:16.We will talk you very soon. Now we should talk about an
:05:16. > :05:20.important meeting. Russia's president Vladimir Putin meets with
:05:20. > :05:25.the EU leadership on Friday in Brussels. The summit is expected to
:05:25. > :05:29.on a number of business issues like trade barriers and visas. But the
:05:29. > :05:32.big issue is energy. Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas.
:05:32. > :05:36.It wants to force Russia's energy pipelines
:05:36. > :05:46.pipelines to other companies in a bid to reduce its dependence on the
:05:46. > :05:50.
:05:50. > :05:57.state controlled company. Russia is resisting. A Russian economist
:05:57. > :06:05.joins us. Russia is resistant. No surprises. Can you explain how this
:06:05. > :06:15.company, it produces and then ships fall of the gas and it has complete
:06:15. > :06:15.
:06:15. > :06:21.control over that. All the way to his partners, it has two pipelines.
:06:21. > :06:28.It is in the process of building another. You may remember recently
:06:28. > :06:33.that they have also started the construction of other things.
:06:33. > :06:43.Vladimir Putin is in Brussels at trying to calm European leaders'
:06:43. > :06:50.down -- beers down. It is natural. We have gas and you need gas. The
:06:50. > :06:57.regulations that require that they should be a decoupling between the
:06:57. > :07:02.transport and distribution and company that produces, the EU
:07:02. > :07:06.things that they should not also produce -- transport. The same
:07:06. > :07:10.company should not be involved in transportation, production and
:07:10. > :07:19.distribution of gas. Is it fair to say that the relationship between
:07:19. > :07:25.Russia and the EU has been soured pipelines but also trade disputes
:07:25. > :07:33.on everything from cars to pigs. There have been a few problems but
:07:33. > :07:39.the EU, despite these problems, backed the Russian admission to the
:07:39. > :07:47.WTO. That gives a framework to resolve this problem. One of the
:07:47. > :07:53.the EU pushing Russia to get on with it and try to comply with the
:07:53. > :07:59.WTO membership rules. These are facilitation is another area or in
:07:59. > :08:06.which Russia is frustrated. The EU only two days ago signed a deal
:08:06. > :08:10.with Armenia and the Russians think, we should do the same thing. Do you
:08:10. > :08:13.think we'll get any breakthrough. Some commentators are saying that
:08:13. > :08:21.they are surprised about President Vladimir Putin is even bothering to
:08:21. > :08:24.make the trip. This is a symbolic step up by Vladimir Vladimir
:08:25. > :08:30.the third s the third slike to go there and come back with some
:08:30. > :08:34.tangible results. A visa simplification regime would be one
:08:34. > :08:43.thing. Also a breakthrough in gas issues. We will see that happens or
:08:43. > :08:46.not. We will keep our eyes on that summer. They queue.
:08:47. > :08:49.In other business news this Friday: Britain's biggest baiggest ba
:08:49. > :08:52.the prospect of being broken up after a parliamentary commission
:08:52. > :08:55.said UK government proposals for banking reform fall well short of
:08:55. > :08:58.what is required. In its first report, the commission welcomes
:08:58. > :09:03.plans to ring-fence savers' deposits from banks' risky trading
:09:03. > :09:13.activities. But it argues that tougher sanctions need to be
:09:13. > :09:20.available, saying the fence needs electrification.
:09:20. > :09:23.She shares in the owner of Blackberry plunged in the US. The
:09:23. > :09:27.company reported a smaller-than- expected loss of but admitted that
:09:27. > :09:32.the subscriber base had shrunk for the first time in its history.
:09:32. > :09:39.Blackberry had been struggling against the likes of the iPhone and
:09:39. > :09:46.the End Road based phones. There is a lot of hopes pinned on the launch
:09:46. > :09:50.-- Android-based phones. It is make-or-break for the company.