:00:00. > :00:00.tourists in Yemen. Those are the latest headlines from
:00:00. > :00:00.BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news in
:00:00. > :00:22.World Business Report. Jobs for the boys? PM Renzi appoints
:00:23. > :00:25.Italy's new captains of industry. Commodities giant Glencore sells its
:00:26. > :00:32.stake in a major copper mine for nearly $6 billion.
:00:33. > :00:40.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Maryam Moshiri In a minute we'll
:00:41. > :00:44.have more on Ukraine. Hundreds of the top jobs in Italian
:00:45. > :00:46.industry are up for grabs. PM Matteo Renzi will appoint executives to
:00:47. > :00:49.major state`owned companies. They include oil giant Eni, energy
:00:50. > :01:01.suppliers Enel and defence group Finmeccanica. Traditionally the
:01:02. > :01:04.three`year posts were often seen as rewards for political friends. But,
:01:05. > :01:06.Mr Renzi hopes to usher in a new era of professionalism and meritocracy
:01:07. > :01:13.in Italian industry. Our correspondent Alan Johnston joins us
:01:14. > :01:22.from our bureau in Rome. Tell us more about these jobs.
:01:23. > :01:27.We are talking about a very Italian tradition and a certain point in the
:01:28. > :01:31.governing cycle, the PM can appoint people to a great raft of senior
:01:32. > :01:37.positions in state`controlled enterprises. CEOs, Ward members,
:01:38. > :01:42.some 500 jobs are going to be handed out to date `` board members. Some
:01:43. > :01:46.of them are very important companies. It is a chance to put in
:01:47. > :01:51.place and echelon of senior management and change the managerial
:01:52. > :01:55.`` managerial climate of this very important area of the economy. This
:01:56. > :02:01.coming together of the worlds of politics and business can be
:02:02. > :02:03.problematic. Always the danger that political judgements will override
:02:04. > :02:09.sound commercial judgement. Friends of the PM 's party might be awarded
:02:10. > :02:12.and favours might be done for other parties, and the whole process is
:02:13. > :02:19.fraught with the possibilities of cronyism. Mr midtier Ramzi's
:02:20. > :02:27.supporters will expect more of him than that `` Mastteo Renzi. He talks
:02:28. > :02:31.about breaking with the murky practices of the past and liberating
:02:32. > :02:36.the entrepreneurial talent. He has pulled in a headhunting company to
:02:37. > :02:42.make this round of the recruitment more transparent and less political
:02:43. > :02:49.and that see if he can do that in the course of today when he
:02:50. > :02:54.announcements are made. White what else has he been doing to reform
:02:55. > :03:02.business in Italy press yellow `` what else. They are staggering out
:03:03. > :03:10.of the longest deep recession since the war. He wants to shock them out
:03:11. > :03:14.of what he calls the quagmire. He has set about the task in economic
:03:15. > :03:18.terms. The poorest Italians are enjoying quite a substantial tax cut
:03:19. > :03:23.this year, finding themselves with something like 1000 euros more in
:03:24. > :03:29.their pockets this year. Obviously, this is an attempt to stimulate
:03:30. > :03:35.domestic spending, which is very much needed. Companies will find
:03:36. > :03:40.themselves also paying less tax and paying less for their energy as well
:03:41. > :03:42.and all this is being funded by a war on wasteful spending, which
:03:43. > :03:47.includes a substantial reduction in the pay of top state firm
:03:48. > :03:54.executives, bureaucrats. There is a popular war of the privileges of fat
:03:55. > :03:57.cats and Matteo Renzi is also speaking about rearranging the
:03:58. > :04:04.labour market, making it easier to hire and fire and retreat young
:04:05. > :04:10.people. 40% unemployment among young Italians. He has a job on his hand.
:04:11. > :04:13.As we've been hearing, EU Foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg
:04:14. > :04:16.on Monday to discuss responses to the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
:04:17. > :04:18.Measures could include a new list of people to be targeted for sanctions.
:04:19. > :04:27.Jeremy Howell looks at their options.
:04:28. > :04:32.As EU foreign ministers gather for their talks, chaos reigns in eastern
:04:33. > :04:36.Ukraine. It's widely thought the Kremlin is orchestrating it.
:04:37. > :04:40.Europe, along with the US, has already imposed travel bans and
:04:41. > :04:45.asset freezes on named Russian officials. That is in response to
:04:46. > :04:48.the earlier seizure to Crimea `` of Crimea. A senior EU official said
:04:49. > :04:54.this week foreign ministers will plan further measures. If Russian
:04:55. > :04:56.forces were to invade Ukraine, options would include banning
:04:57. > :05:04.Russian banks and businesses from Europe's financial market, banning
:05:05. > :05:07.the import of Russian oil and banning the export of defence and
:05:08. > :05:11.technical equipment to Russia. For now, however, sanctions are likely
:05:12. > :05:15.to be much softer. We are talking about a block of 28 different
:05:16. > :05:20.countries, all of which have different than political, economic
:05:21. > :05:24.relations to Russia. It is difficult to come to consensus. The only thing
:05:25. > :05:28.they will be realistically is potentially, that is the key word,
:05:29. > :05:31.adding to the list of individual sanctions. It is unlikely such
:05:32. > :05:38.sanctions will change the Kremlin's strategy. Since the start of the
:05:39. > :05:42.crisis in Ukraine, share values have crunched on Moscow's stock exchanges
:05:43. > :05:52.and 100 within dollars of assets have been shifted out of Russia.
:05:53. > :05:57.But, and an analyst has said they are oblivious to the past. The
:05:58. > :06:00.economic pain is there and is coming and they have not reversed course
:06:01. > :06:04.which indicates that these kind of nationalist sentiment and
:06:05. > :06:11.ideologically based regathering of Russian land is kind of campaigning
:06:12. > :06:16.and is taking precedence over more practical ambitions. If any new EU
:06:17. > :06:22.sanctions are agreed, they are likely to be symbolic ones, to
:06:23. > :06:27.register a protest against Russia's continuing involvement in Ukraine.
:06:28. > :06:31.Later this week, EU officials will meet counterparts from the US,
:06:32. > :06:36.Russia and Ukraine to try and negotiate a diplomatic solution to
:06:37. > :06:38.the crisis. In other news: Pharmaceutical giant
:06:39. > :06:40.GlaxoSmithKline is facing a criminal investigation in Poland for
:06:41. > :06:47.allegedly bribing doctors, BBC Panorama has discovered. Eleven
:06:48. > :06:53.doctors and a GSK regional manager have been charged over alleged
:06:54. > :06:56.corruption between 2010 and 2012. A former sales rep said doctors were
:06:57. > :07:00.paid to promote GSK's asthma drug Seretide. The company said one
:07:01. > :07:05.employee had been disciplined and it was co`operating with the
:07:06. > :07:08.investigation. The European Central Bank is poised
:07:09. > :07:11.to start pumping money into the region's economy according to one
:07:12. > :07:14.board member. Benoit Coeure said the bank was looking at a US`style asset
:07:15. > :07:16.purchase scheme to prevent a prolonged economic slowdown across
:07:17. > :07:25.the euro area. ECB President made similar hints last week. Prices are
:07:26. > :07:30.rising at just 0.5%, well below the Bank's target level for a healthy
:07:31. > :07:34.economy. Alitalia looks set to announce a
:07:35. > :07:37.deal with Emirati airline Etihad. The Italian flag carrier could agree
:07:38. > :07:43.to sell up to 49% to its Abu Dhabi based rival. Alitalia is currently
:07:44. > :07:45.being kept afloat by a half billion dollar rescue package from the
:07:46. > :07:48.Italian government. Etihad boss Brent Hogan met Italy's PM on
:07:49. > :07:50.Thursday. But, it's feared thousands more jobs could go as a condition of
:07:51. > :08:03.any deal. China's appetite for raw materials
:08:04. > :08:07.shows no signs of abating. Sharanjit Leyl has news of another big deal
:08:08. > :08:18.from our Asia business hub in Singapore.
:08:19. > :08:24.A huge deal, isn't it? It is essentially one of China's biggest
:08:25. > :08:27.mining acquisitions ever. It is a consortium buying of the copper mine
:08:28. > :08:35.in Peru for six billion dollars. It will be an all`cash deal. The
:08:36. > :08:41.consortium is led by MMG Limited and includes companies like China said
:08:42. > :08:46.it metal and is expected to produce 450 thousand pounds of copper each
:08:47. > :08:52.year in its first five years. We know that China relies heavily on
:08:53. > :08:56.the metal and uses it in its electronics production. The
:08:57. > :08:59.acquisition is subject to all the usual regulatory approvals, but all
:09:00. > :09:05.parties expect the deal to be done by the end of set timbre. Analysts X
:09:06. > :09:12.act Glenn Ford to use the proceeds from the sale to try and reduce its
:09:13. > :09:19.debt `` analysts expect. That was only after the agreed to sell their
:09:20. > :09:22.stake in the project in Peru to a buyer approved by Chinese
:09:23. > :09:26.authorities, which is essentially what has happened. Now, the mining
:09:27. > :09:36.giant have agreed to fight a minimum amount of cough up `` copper to
:09:37. > :09:43.China for a period of eight years. The Nikkei down in the Hang Seng is
:09:44. > :09:56.up `` and the Hang Seng is up. That's it from me.
:09:57. > :09:58.Thank you Marianne for that. Patients will find out