:00:00. > :00:00.capital, Kabul. A deputy Interior Minister said four foreign Nationals
:00:00. > :00:00.and two Afghani children were among those killed. Those are the latest
:00:00. > :00:00.headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with
:00:07. > :00:19.Alice. Stepping up sanctions ` EU leaders
:00:20. > :00:27.meet in Brussels to discuss Russia's annexation of Crimea.
:00:28. > :00:31.And 'Significant progress' ` that's how the International Monetary Fund
:00:32. > :00:32.describes progress in Ukrainian talks over the resumption of a
:00:33. > :00:47.support programme. Welcome to World Business Report.
:00:48. > :00:55.In a minute we'll talk to Singapore about why China's Yuan is at a 13
:00:56. > :00:58.month low. It is a crisis that is shaking the
:00:59. > :01:00.foundations of international order. European Union leaders meeting in
:01:01. > :01:05.Brussels have stepped up sanctions against Russia following the
:01:06. > :01:07.annexation of Crimea. The leaders added twelve more names to an
:01:08. > :01:15.existing list of twenty`one Russian and Crimean officials subject to
:01:16. > :01:17.visa bans and asset freezes. The meeting also asked the EU's
:01:18. > :01:22.executive, the European Commission, to prepare for broader economic
:01:23. > :01:25.sanctions if the crisis escalates. Earlier, the United States announced
:01:26. > :01:31.sanctions against twenty Russians, all of whom are close to President
:01:32. > :01:34.Vladimir Putin. The Western aim is to ratchet up the costs for Putin's
:01:35. > :01:41.annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and to head off any further Russian
:01:42. > :01:44.military inroads into Ukraine. Our Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt who is in
:01:45. > :01:54.Brussels, sums up the tightrope Europe's leaders are walking. What
:01:55. > :01:57.is taking up the time here is what Europe or how Europe would respond
:01:58. > :02:03.if there is an escalation to the crisis. And some, like Angela
:02:04. > :02:07.Merkel, very firmly believe that Europe would have to embrace
:02:08. > :02:12.economic sanctions. Some, like the Prime Minister David Cameron leaves
:02:13. > :02:17.that Europe needs to begin setting out what it would do in the
:02:18. > :02:22.circumstances. There are other countries here who are very wary of
:02:23. > :02:26.going down the road of trade restrictions against Russia. Some of
:02:27. > :02:33.those countries are dependent for their energy. The key thing for
:02:34. > :02:39.Europe, it is felt very strongly here, they need to display eight
:02:40. > :02:44.United front over all this. Lets take a look at those trade numbers
:02:45. > :02:46.Gavin was referring to. You'll see that the Europeans have much closer
:02:47. > :02:54.trade ties with the Russians, compared with the Americans. Last
:02:55. > :03:03.year, the trading of goods between Russia and the EU totalled almost
:03:04. > :03:06.450 billion US dollars. As for the United States, the same sort of deal
:03:07. > :03:10.was worth nearly just forty billion dollars. Most of what Russia sells
:03:11. > :03:15.is gas, and most of what it buys is machinery. But can these sanctions
:03:16. > :03:19.actually make any difference to Russian policy? Will it actually
:03:20. > :03:22.squeeze wealthy Russians and force a change in Putin's position? With me
:03:23. > :03:31.is Tim Ash, who is an Analyst, at Standard Bank. Talk me through the
:03:32. > :03:37.kind of sanctions that have been imposed. They are fairly limited and
:03:38. > :03:41.are aimed at people around President Putin more to signal than have
:03:42. > :03:47.affected. There are different ways that the west can impose sanctions.
:03:48. > :03:51.The report mentioned that trade restrictions, there is a reluctance
:03:52. > :03:57.in Europe to go down that path. The financial route is the most
:03:58. > :04:02.effective. The US could be highly effective if it wanted to buy in
:04:03. > :04:06.forcing existing regular tea environment more vigourously. That
:04:07. > :04:09.would close of global financial markets to Russian banks. They are
:04:10. > :04:16.highly dependent on international markets. There is a lot of
:04:17. > :04:29.refinancing that needs to be done. Are we seeing a reflection of the
:04:30. > :04:34.sanctions? I think it was SNP. Initially, a couple of weeks ago
:04:35. > :04:39.there was some shock in Russia that the Westwood go down the sanctions
:04:40. > :04:44.route. They were scurrying around to adopt measures. Russian market
:04:45. > :04:50.traded off initially but have come back because they don't really think
:04:51. > :04:57.the west will go down this route. It could be potentially damaging. Is it
:04:58. > :05:02.really Vladimir Putin's inner circle that is being targeted? That is what
:05:03. > :05:08.a lot of the headlines are saying. The first round of sanctions was the
:05:09. > :05:14.meaningless. The second round, particularly from the US, these are
:05:15. > :05:19.high`level people and very close. For years, there have been pretty
:05:20. > :05:25.close to him. The Americans have a right to the bone, not particularly
:05:26. > :05:33.to Putin himself but the guys around him. Will it have much impact? It is
:05:34. > :05:43.signalling without much impact. We will await and see. Many thanks. Our
:05:44. > :05:50.Moscow correspondent got a brief interview with one of Russia's most
:05:51. > :05:58.powerful businessmen. He has banking and newspaper interests. He has
:05:59. > :06:01.given us a view of what is at stake in this escalating drama. He said
:06:02. > :06:08.the only effective way of hitting Russia was to stop businesses from
:06:09. > :06:14.being able to borrow. You lack the stopping of Russia's access to world
:06:15. > :06:24.capital markets. That would mean of 750 billion Russian state government
:06:25. > :06:29.world. This will be good. That will mean Russia will have to use their
:06:30. > :06:32.reserves which is just under 500 billion. If you eat out the reserves
:06:33. > :06:40.to change Western state corporations, the prices will go up.
:06:41. > :06:44.Financial sanctions would be the best way forward? For that, you need
:06:45. > :06:52.reactions from investors. Meanwhile, the International
:06:53. > :06:54.Monetary Fund says that "significant progress" has been made in talks
:06:55. > :06:57.with Ukraine's new Western`backed government over the resumption of a
:06:58. > :07:03.support programme for the crisis`hit ex`Soviet state. The IMF team
:07:04. > :07:06.arrived in Kiev on March four for what had been meant to be a 10`day
:07:07. > :07:09.mission aimed at examining the new government's books. But the Fund
:07:10. > :07:13.decided to extend its stay in what analysts are seeing as a sign it's
:07:14. > :07:15.moving ahead with the approval of a vital assistance programme. Talks
:07:16. > :07:29.are now expected to continue until March 25th. We'll be talking to an
:07:30. > :07:33.expert in an hours time. Living away from the situation in
:07:34. > :07:36.Ukraine. The value of the Chinese yuan has fallen to its lowest level
:07:37. > :07:41.in almost a year. Here to explain all is Sharanjit Leyl is in
:07:42. > :07:50.Singapore. What is happening to the Yuan? It is at a low. A 13 month
:07:51. > :07:56.low. That is after the Central Bank though it the midpoint of its
:07:57. > :08:00.trading range. It is a daily rate setting that is a sign of how
:08:01. > :08:06.comfortable the Central Bank is with the currency 's recent losses. We
:08:07. > :08:11.saw it fall to a low of 6.2374 against the dollar today. All that
:08:12. > :08:18.following the move by the Central Bank last weekend. They widened the
:08:19. > :08:23.trading band to allow it to move up to 2% from that daily midpoint rate.
:08:24. > :08:27.There is speculation that the bank is trying to keep the currency weak
:08:28. > :08:31.to try and boost the country's economic growth. That is something
:08:32. > :08:39.the US has accused it of doing for many years. An analyst I spoke to
:08:40. > :08:45.said these moves are ineffective. They had of Asian currency trading
:08:46. > :08:50.said these moves to weaken the Yuan will only last another week or two
:08:51. > :08:53.and it is against the long`term strategy to move away from being
:08:54. > :08:59.exported a light and boost domestic demand. We know the Yuan has been
:09:00. > :09:04.down 3% against the US dollar this year. There has also been pointing
:09:05. > :09:10.data showing China's economy is showing weaker growth. We have seen
:09:11. > :09:14.the Premier stressing that China will try and speed up investment and
:09:15. > :09:20.construction plan is to ensure that domestic demand continues to grow.
:09:21. > :09:26.That is what they want to emphasise. Thanks for talking us through those
:09:27. > :09:33.fluctuations. Let's have a look at how Asian markets are getting on
:09:34. > :09:36.this Friday. Market found their footing after Wall Street shook off
:09:37. > :09:44.concerns about Federal Reserve policy. The spike in US yield the
:09:45. > :09:53.dollar at that level. From me and the team, that is all for this hour.
:09:54. > :10:03.I will be back for a look at the newspapers.
:10:04. > :10:11.Many thanks to Alice for that. An official report has concluded that
:10:12. > :10:15.children's services in Coventry are inadequate and leave youngsters at
:10:16. > :10:18.the risk of harm. Inspectors are critical of a local board that was
:10:19. > :10:23.responsible for the series case review into the death of a
:10:24. > :10:25.four`year`old. Two years ago Daniel was murdered by his mother and
:10:26. > :10:27.step`father in Coventry.